What are you Baking the Week of October 15, 2023?

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--King Arthur is (was?) running a special where some of its unusual flours were on sale for $4 off the regular price. I had some Bakers Bucks to spend, so I ordered some of those flours yesterday, including another bag of the Italian-style. I'm not sure if the sale is still on for today.

I was irritated with King Arthur, in that they were offering a free spatula yesterday, with a minimum purchase amount. However, I was told that I am not allowed to use a Baker's Bucks coupon and a free spatula code on the same order. I politely declined the spatula, which the rep. said was the better buy, as it normally costs $16, and my BB coupon was for $10. While I would have been happy to pick up another spatula for free, I preferred to use my coupon. I'm considering writing a complaint to King Arthur, as that should have been spelled out in the email.

[Mike Nolan]

Yes, I roll them out on the parchment, that way when I'm done I just move the whole thing onto a half size sheet pan for baking. You do need a little flour under the dough so it doesn't buckle as it gets thinner, but that's true when you roll stuff out just using the platform.

I use a straightedge tool (like the kind used for painting or wallpapering that are reinforced so they don't bend, see link below) and just press it down firmly into the dough. I start by trimming the edges into a rectangle (the trim gets added to the dough for the next tray), then just work my way across. They aren't quite the same size, but pretty close.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Warner-12-in-Plastic-Paint-Guide/1000024777

When I took my chocolate course, that's what they were using as a straightedge. So now I have them in two sizes.

[chocomouse]

BakerAunt, I'm always annoyed with KAF! You probably haven't noticed, but unless you are ordering online (and having the goods shipped to you) that the sales don't apply. Since I live just 10 miles from the store, it would be ridiculous and wasteful, for me and the environment, to have something shipped to me instead of picking it up when I go by the store. And any "savings" would be spent on shipping.

[Mike Nolan]

I stopped being annoyed with King Arthur after I realized I could find most of what they sell online, including many of their branded items, sometimes at a cheaper price and/or with free delivery and no minimum order size.

[BakerAunt]

I baked my Pumpkin Snacking Cake again on Wednesday. I put Halloween sprinkles on top.

[Mike Nolan]

The sourdough cheese crackers that I baked this week are OK, I still think I need to use a finer ground whole wheat flour. I could taste the cheese more, but I think they could be even cheesier. I can't say I could tell there was rye flour in the dough but there wasn't a lot of it, maybe 10%.

I didn't brush any oil on the top or sprinkle on salt, though I did add some salt to the dough and there's some salt in the cheese as well. They still seemed a bit bland, maybe more salt is needed.

I might try the Azure Standard durum flour in a batch, it's whole wheat but very finely ground. It'd be nice to have a way to use it up, too, we've decided it doesn't work in pasta or in semolina bread.

Bakeraunt, do you let your crackers rise after rollout before baking them? I think they rose some during baking but still seemed a bit dense.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I may need to start making BA's crackers again!

I made ciabatta. I finally let it sit long enough on my second rise and I have some of the big bubbles I am supposed to have. I'm less of a fan of open crumb than a lot of people maybe because most of what I use bread for are sandwiches. I made ciabatta rolls so the open crumb is less of an issue. I forgot to set some aside for pizza so I may make some more this weekend.

I made a batch of challah dough which is resting in the kitchen at my temple. I'll shape and bake today and then we distribute Friday. I tried to convince the temple to let me in the kitchen at off hours but they said no. I'll make 14x1lb loaves - 12 to give away and 2 for us. We're doing this once a month to see what works and the logistics of finding drivers to deliver is a little challenging. I am doing some of the delivery myself even though I wanted to avoid this because I didn't want to know who received the bread.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--I don't allow the crackers to rise before I bake them. I usually roll them out, brush with avocado oil, cut them, prick each cracker a couple of times, then put them into the oven. With the first two trays, I don't turn on the oven until the second tray is started, so it does sit longer than the rest. I have not noticed any difference. I think that some of the main development comes from the rest period of 5-7 days in the refrigerator. I divide the dough (double recipe) into four pieces, wrap in saran, and park it in the refrigerator. I've baked them earlier than five days, but I think the taste suffers.

I'm going to post my updated oil recipe later today--probably with the original recipe as an alternative.

Aaron--I'm glad to hear that your challah project continues successfully.

[RiversideLen]

I made another batch of sandwich/burger buns, again making 9 instead of my usual 8. I tempted one when it came out of the oven and it was a few degrees higher than it should be (209 v 205f). They look fine but I think next time I'll take 30 seconds off the baking time.

[Mike Nolan]

I baked off the other two trays of sourdough cheese crackers from the dough I made several days ago.

I used my micrometer to measure the dough as best I could, it appears that both the 5mm and 2mm settings on the sheeter are fairly accurate.

I also tried an experiment to see if letting the dough sit for an hour after final shaping made any difference in the thickness after baking. The answer is no, I measured about a dozen crackers from both batches, nearly all of them were 3.4mm thick.

I used my docker on this batch and I also brushed them with grapeseed oil.

[BakerAunt]

I baked Beets, Greens, and Greek Cheese Flatbread for dinner on Thursday. My elder bonus son and I ate some of it, while my husband had leftover hamburger stroganoff, as he does not care for beets and cannot eat onions. These beets, from the local farmers' market, were not as sweet as beets that I have had in the past. The tops were good, so I used them in place of spinach in the topping.

One other thing I do on the crackers is let the dough come to room temperature before I roll it out. I found that made it easier. However, it may not make a difference with Mike's sheeter.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday morning, I made a double recipe of my adaptation of Soft Oatmeal Cookies from Jennie Can Cook. We took some with us for our hike in the Indiana Dunes State and National Parks.

[Mike Nolan]

I do let the cracker dough warm up a little, usually a half hour or so, before running it through the sheeter. With laminated doughs, it's more like do a turn, rest dough in fridge for 15 minutes, do another turn, etc. You don't want the butter to get too firm, or it will shatter, or too soft, in which case it soaks into the dough.

I haven't tried it yet, but I think I could be working on 3 trays of laminated dough simultaneously, in stages, 2 in the fridge and 1 on the sheeter. I don't have a reason to make that much dough at one time right now.

I'm getting ready to build up the wheat starter to make another batch of crackers, but I've got quite a few of them left to eat first. I think the next batch will be made with the durum flour, because it is a finely ground whole grain flour. It ought to have good extensibility from the durum wheat.

I'm thinking I might add either more salt or more cheese powder if not both. I was also wondering if I could dissolve some salt in water and brush it on either instead of the oil or in addition to it. (Salt will not easily dissolve in oil, heating it or adding a surfactant is possible but not always reliable.)

I wish these crackers were a little less dense, but am not sure how to do that without messing up the recipe. I suppose I could add some commercial yeast, or possibly a little baking powder.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a batch of bagel dough (Hamelman's recipe) this evening, it will sit overnight in the fridge, in the morning I'll let it warm up a little, then shape, boil and bake the bagels.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I continued working to adapt Ken Haedrich's Pumpkin Soda Bread recipe. I had baked it with the changes I made last year upon first baking it. I replaced the butter with avocado oil, and I used 2 ½ cups of King Arthur's Irish Style flour. I increased the pumpkin by ¼ cup, since I freeze my pumpkin in 1 cup containers. I added 3 Tbs. Bob's Red Milk powder. The recipe calls for forming two loaves on a baking sheet, which is what I did last time, but as soda bread is messy, I decided to bake it as a large loaf in a ceramic bowl I bought from King Arthur some years ago. (It is white with snowflakes around the flat rim, and they had a couple of bread recipes for it.) I did not lower the temperature from 400F, which may have been a mistake. After 40 minutes, it was not done but browning a lot on top. I lowered the temperature to 375F and covered the bread to prevent overbrowning. After another 15 minutes, it read 160F. It took another 10 minutes to reach 200, which various internet sites said was the correct temperature for soda bread. I cooled it in the dish for ten minutes, then turned it out onto a rack to cool.

The crust is slightly too dark, but I had good reviews from my husband and elder bonus son on taste, and I agree that the flavor and texture are good. I seem to recall from last year's attempt with this soda bread, when I baked it on a baking sheet, that it was still a bit too dark on the outside and not quite cooked through, so this year's bake is an improvement. It went well with the soup, and it will be excellent as breakfast tomorrow.

[Author]

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