What are You Baking the Week of May 10, 2020?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Challah looks great. I think I will make some with my daughter this week. I may try for a rainbow challah.

I've started my first sourdough loaf with my starter but the house is cold. Can't tell if it's not rising or just rising slowly. I miss my pilot light oven which was great for being just warm enough to raise dough. I did not add any yeast.

We can do a trial zoom call tonight or tomorrow night. Mike you have my email. I can connect whomever wants to try.

[Mike Nolan]

I've got an online class tonight (HTML5 and CSS), let's shoot for tomorrow.

If you make the chocolate chip challah, it has really LONG rise times, I should probably have given it at least another hour in final proof. I made it with SAF Gold yeast. The recipe calls for ADY that is proofed, but I don't currently have any. James Beard's Monkey Bread recipe was one recipe where I found proofed ADY really outperformed IDY, though I never tried it with SAF Gold, because I didn't have any at the time.

The challah is very tasty, I cut the amount of cinnamon in the dough overall and added it, plus a little more, to the 3rd strand so that I had one dark chocolate strand, one strand heavy on chocolate chips, and one strand with extra cinnamon.

I need to make some practice dough to practice a six-strand braid, I've watched a number of videos, they make it look easy. (I'm still not sure if the method in 'Deli Man' is the same as the classic 6 strand braid, even though Jeffrey Hamelman says it is.)

[Mike Nolan]

The oven light will produce a warm environment for proofing dough, prop the door open a little if it is too warm. My small oven has a 'proof' cycle, all it does is turn on the light, though, and the temperature gets to about 105, which I think is a bit too warm for most doughs. The bigger oven doesn't get as warm, it gets to the mid 80's.

I like proofing dough at a temperature between 70 and 74.

I've got a seed starter heating pad, I've used it under a cooling rack a couple of times.

[Italiancook]

I'd enjoy munching on your challah in a heart beat, Mike. Loods good!KAF's site has Isolation Baking videos. Jeffrey Hamelman makes something every week. One week, he did challah, including, as I recall, a 6 strand. I've never made challah and when I try, it'll be 3 strands. I learned a tip that's probably important from Jeffrey. Start in the middle, then flip upside down when one end braided, before braiding the other end.

[Mike Nolan]

I've tried turning it around and flipping it upside down on a 3-strand braid, if you're careful there's not much difference. The key is to use the same amount of tension throughout, otherwise the dough stretches and your inner links are a lot fatter than the ends.

[BakerAunt]

I have the KAF non-stick baking mat with the instructions for a six braid. I find that I need to put the numbers across the top on a piece of paper to keep track of where I am.

On Tuesday, I pulled out one of the two cans of Red Tart Cherries in my pantry. I do not recall why I bought them, but they have been there a while, and I am making an effort to use such items. I searched at the Oregon Specialty Fruit website and found a recipe for Cherry Cobbler that would use one can. I made a few changes: I replaced ¼ cup of the AP flour with barley flour, I reduced the baking powder to 1 tsp. and added 1/8th tsp. baking soda and reduced the salt by half. I used buttermilk rather than regular milk. I used a 9-inch ceramic square dish, which I greased lightly with Crisco, and I reduced the baking temperature from 400F to 375F. I baked it on the second rack up of my oven. We liked it, but of course it would be at its best with some frozen vanilla yogurt--not available locally.

[RiversideLen]

BA, that reminds me, I have a can or two of tart cherries. I need to find a way to use it, that cherry cobbler sounds good.

I made my bread rolls today, I made 4 into burger buns and 4 into a 3 strand braid for sausage rolls.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made my first sourdough bread! Putting it in the oven with the light on helped. Thanks Mike. Normally I would not have been nervous but this is my first zero yeast, starter bread.

I shaped it and let it rise over night but this was too long as it fell back a little from when I checked it at 11. It didn't have enough oomf for any oven spring. And I didn't feel like staying up for another 40-50 minutes to bake it.

I'll cut into it after it's cooled.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[BakerAunt]

Congratulations, Aaron! I still haven't tried a completely sourdough bread. Maybe it's time to try.

[Mike Nolan]

The recipe I've been playing around with lately uses both some starter and a small amount of commercial yeast. I may try a 100% sourdough bread next time.

What I've been doing is creating what Chad Robertson calls an 'immature starter' by taking a very small amount of my rye starter and inoculating enough wheat flour and water to do the recipe, then letting it sit overnight, by which time it is quite active.

His method, with a non-refrigerated starter, tends to favor lactic acid producing bacteria over acetic acid producing bacteria, which will tend to dominate in a cooler environment. I think it makes for a less sour tasting bread but still with the benefits of a sourdough.

[Joan Simpson]

The recipe I use for sourdough is to make bread,sit overnight on counter and do all the kneading in the morning,shape and let rise,mine usually is over edge of pan in 3 hours,this works for me.

Congratulations Aaron on your bread.

• This reply was modified 4 years ago by Joan Simpson.

[Italiancook]

I baked a chocolate cake, but I didn't ice it. Tastes good plain.

[Joan Simpson]

Italiancook I like plain cake too.

[BakerAunt]

A Note on the Cherry Cobbler: It was in the area of ok yesterday, the day I baked it. Today, after having sat a day, it is very good indeed. So, Len, if you make the Cherry Cobbler, do it a day in advance of when you want to start eating it.

[Mike Nolan]

We seldom bother to frost a crazy cake/cake-in-a-pan, angel food cake is another one that really doesn't need frosting. A white or yellow cake is pretty dull without frosting.

Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake really needs the frosting, it is an integral part of the experience. I think I finally managed to make one with too much frosting on it, for a long time I wasn't sure that was even possible.

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