What are you Baking the week of March 29, 2020?

[Mike Nolan]

No immediate baking plans here.

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[skeptic7]

I did cheese pizza.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made pizza too. No mushrooms because we were out. 🙁 But we had cheese, olive, sausage, and veggie which included olives, orange peppers, and red onions.

I want to make bread again this week. See if I can do it without overflowing the food processor.

[RiversideLen]

I too made a cheese pizza last night.

[Joan Simpson]

Baking a box of brownies now.

[Mike Nolan]

I think I may do some brownies this week, too. I'm running out of chocolate snacks, and I've got a couple of box brownie mixes I bought on sale.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I began to miss cookies in earnest. I had one more blood orange that needed to be used, so I surfed the internet for biscotti ideas and found “Triple-Orange Pecan Biscotti”:

Triple-Orange Pecan Biscotti

I didn’t have enough juice for the entire recipe, so I halved it, using the two smallest eggs in the carton, as I didn’t want to mess with trying to figure out 1 ½ eggs. I used white whole wheat flour, which is my go-to for cookies these days (and I have two unopened bags in the apt. refrigerator). I used just ¼ tsp. salt and added 1 Tbs. of Bob’s Red Mill milk powder. I had about 4 tsp. of juice from the blood orange. I do not, alas, have Grand Marnier, so I just used the tsp. more of juice, which would make the recipe only “Double-Orange Pecan Biscotti.”. I figured that the two eggs would make up for any loss in liquid.

I shaped into two thin logs on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, using damp hands, which is much easier than using floured hands. I sprayed a piece of saran with cooking spray, laid it on top, then refrigerated for an hour. I do that with my lemon-pecan biscotti that also use oil. I got the idea from my oil pie crust recipe that calls for refrigerating the crust in the pie plate for an hour in order to “relax the gluten.”

After the rest, I sprinkled with KAF’s sparkling white sugar. I baked for 20 minutes, turning the baking sheet halfway through the time, then let cool for 25 minutes. These are a rather flat biscotti, as there was a lot of spread. I sliced each ½-inch thick, then stood them up on the baking sheet (original recipe puts them cut side down and turns them over). I baked for 12 minutes at 325F (original recipe was 350F), checked, then gave them an additional 3 minutes. They are a delicate, light biscotti, with just the faintest hint of the blood orange. I will definitely bake these again.

[RiversideLen]

BakerAunt, I think an easy way to measure 1 1/2 eggs would be a whole egg and either an egg white or a yolk. But I don't think 1/2 egg makes much of a difference.

Today I made a batch of sandwich buns.

[Mike Nolan]

The easiest way to measure partial amounts of egg is to beat it then weigh it. A whole large egg will weigh around 50 grams (or 1 3/4 ounces), so 1 1/2 eggs will weigh around 75 grams.

[chocomouse]

I made two loaves of rye sandwich bread today, so we had tuna salad sandwiches on fresh bread for dinner.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Len and Mike. Part of it was that I didn't want to deal with half an egg in the refrigerator. Silly perhaps but true.

On Tuesday, I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough that I made last week.

[Mike Nolan]

I can understand that, actually, I've been known to just go ahead and use 2 eggs when a recipe calls for 1 1/2. You can wind up having to compensate for the extra moisture and proteins to avoid having something that seems 'eggy'.

Egg whites keep better than egg yolks, you can freeze egg yolks but I think they have a weird texture afterwards.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I decided to try again my pottery bread baking bowl that I bought from King Arthur about six or so years ago. I used the KAF recipe for Fruited Sourdough Sandwich Bread, as there was a note that it could be baked in the bread baking bowl. I made a few tweaks in the recipe by substituting ½ cup white rye and ¾ cup whole wheat flour for that much AP and reducing the salt to 1 tsp. I added 2 Tbs. special dry milk and 1 Tbs. flax meal. Instead of a Granny Smith, I used an unpeeled York apple (from those we got last December that have been wintering in the garage). I used golden raisins and opted to use 1 Tbs. sugar (recipe stated 2 tsp. up to 4 Tbs.).

I used the bread machine to mix and knead. I was concerned it needed more water, so I added 1 Tbs., which I probably should not have done, as I had waited to add the apple. I wasn’t sure when to put it in, so I did it before the “additions” beeps, and some of the apple was bouncing around, and I ended up adding a bit more white rye. I added the raisins when the machine beeped. I ended up with a somewhat sticky dough, but it rose well both times (an hour on the first rise and 50 minutes on the second).

I spritzed with water before baking. After 20 minutes, I tented it with foil and then checked 25 minutes later. The interior was only 170F, so I put it back in, re-tented, and let it go another 9 minutes, which brought it to 200F (recipe says 190F). It’s cooling on the rack and looks and smells great. The bread bowl baker worked well on the second rack from the bottom, and with the top tented, I did not have the problem of an overdone top and an underdone bottom. I look forward to slicing it tomorrow at breakfast.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt;
That bread sounds wonderful. York apples are very good keepers, I keep my in plastic bags with air holes in the refrigerator for months. Do you have to do anything special to store your apples? I've seen cardboard forms with hollows for the apples so they don't bruise each other and the air can circulate around them. I find apples need a bit of care - not enough air, like in the vegetable bin of the refrigerator encourages rot, too much air lets the apple dry out.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--we left the apples in the bags from the orchard. The York were in a paper bag. They are starting to get slightly soft, so I've stuck the bag in the house refrigerator. I plan to bake an apple pie tomorrow, which should leave two or three that my husband can eat. I've wondered about finding a better way to store them. Our garage is heated, so the temperature does not go below the low 40s, and it is built into the hillside, which also protects the temperature.

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