What are you Baking the week of November 3, 2019?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Good idea. I need to find people to give it away to until I start selling it (going to start selling bread locally, online). It will help me to have feedback.

Thanks

[Mike Nolan]

It's too bad we're all so spread out, I'd love to taste test your recipes and have you taste test mine.

I've never had any trouble giving away excess bread, several of my neighbors will gladly take it. I will sometimes send in items to my wife's office for taste-testing, but I don't really get the kind of feedback I'm after, they think nearly everything I send in is great. (I'm far more observant of the differences between batches and critical of any flaws. As a thread on the old KAF BC noted, bakers don't taste the bread in a restaurant, they EVALUATE it!)

And all the 'good' baking and cooking classes seem to be on the east or west coast.

[BakerAunt]

Now I'm craving a sandwich made with Aaron's rye bread! Ah, the testing parties and potlucks we would have if we all lived close to each other....

After lunch on Thursday, I baked Apple-Cider Doughnut Cake, a recipe from Martha Stewart’s A New Way to Bake, which, is also available on the internet. I made some minor changes in that I used white whole wheat flour rather than whole wheat. I also increased the cinnamon in the batter to 1 ½ tsp and added ¼ tsp. nutmeg. I don’t use kosher salt in baking, so I used ½ tsp. salt in place of the ¾ tsp. After reading some comments, I reduced the olive oil to ¼ cup and made up the difference with ½ cup canola oil. I also added ¼ cup Bob’s Red Mill milk powder and 2 Tbs. flax meal. I used cider we bought at a local orchard. I decided to try it in my 10-cup Nordic Ware Autumn Wreath pan, instead of a 12-cup Bundt pan, and it fit well. I used The Grease, and the cake easily came out of the pan. The pattern shows up pretty well, but I am concluding that it will never be as sharp as it can be with a butter cake. Nonetheless, I’m opting not to do the cinnamon sugar “coating,” as I don’t want to obscure the pattern that is there.

Here is a link to the recipe: https://www.marthastewart.com/1513135/apple-cider-doughnut-cake

Update: We like the cake a lot and don't think it would need the sugar coating. I will bake it again, with the same changes I made this time.

• This reply was modified 5 years ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 5 years ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 5 years ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

The University of Nebraska, where my wife works, has banned potlucks, defined as when more than 6 people bring homemade items, as well as on-site cooking of foods like burgers, unless it's done by a professional caterer.

So the annual baking contest, the chili contest, etc. are all finished.

[BakerAunt]

Oh, no! Mike, what is the rationale for the ban?

[Mike Nolan]

I don't think an explanation was given, but I assume it was due to concerns over food-borne illnesses or allergies, though I'm not aware of any significant problems related to either of these at UNL.

It is still possible for her to bring things we make, but it just can't be a group effort any more.

[chocomouse]

Today I baked KAF's recipe for pull-apart buns, but used whole wheat instead of the AP flour.

[Joan Simpson]

I agree with you all,I'd love to live close for taste testing and to be able to have a class together.Mike that's sad the University has banned the group potlucks.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I can give away most breads but rye is hard for some reason. Yes, it would be nice if I could ship you all stuff to taste.

I baked the English muffins I made dough for yesterday but without griddling them first (is griddling a verb?) they turned into rolls. I will talk to the chef and see if they have a griddle I can use. Or has anyone ever baked English muffins without cooking them on the griddle first.

I made brownies but burned them. Didn't account for the speed of a convection oven. So I tossed the brownies. I might go in tomorrow morning to bake some more.

I was going to make pizza dough but I didn't feel like cleaning up again so I'll make it now.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--Few things are as sad as burnt brownies.

It takes a while to get used to a different oven. I'm still learning about my new one and where to put the rack for different items. I've not tried the convection feature yet. My small countertop oven is a convection, so I check much earlier than I otherwise would.

In my family, rye bread was a treat that my Mom would buy around the holidays. We looked forward to it. Of course, once I began baking my own rye bread, it was a revelation how much better it was than the commercial store breads.

[skeptic7]

Aaron;
I bake my English Muffins all the time and they often turn into little rolls. I enjoy them like that especially when they are little mushrooms.
I am sorry about the brownies.

[RiversideLen]

I baked a chocolate cake from a box mix. Frosted it from a can. <hangs head in shame>

[Mike Nolan]

Every now and then I make a boxed Brownies mix, it's just different from home-made ones. I'm kind of tempted to try the sugar and hot water frosting idea on one.

Canned frosting is something we used to keep on hand, just to slather it on cookies or eat it with a spoon.

When I made the 10x10 Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake for my wife's office for Halloween, I also made an 8x8 one for us. But there was enough left over from the bigger one that we put the smaller one in the freezer. I'll be curious to see how it takes to being frozen.

I need to get started practicing some of the recipes for my Thanksgiving bread basket.

[Mike Nolan]

I've tried two different recipes for English muffins. One was quite liquid and really needed the rings to stabilize the shape. The other could probably have been done without the rings at all, and those could probably have been just baked, though that would likely change the surface texture, since frying them produces two fairly flat surfaces. I suppose I could flip them mid-bake, but at some point it seems like not any less work than starting them on the griddle.

[Joan Simpson]

Len nothing wrong with a box cake,I can bake a really good pound cake but my husbands favorite is Lemon Supreme Pound cake made from lemon cake mix with pudding added in then glazed drizzled over and my brownies are never as good as a box either.

I made English muffins a few times and grilled them on top of stove then sprinkled with corn meal and did as blog on KAF site placed a light sheet pan on top and they cooked fine and I didn't have to bake them in oven.

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