What are you Baking the Week of September 10, 2023?

[Mike Nolan]

I don't have any immediate baking plans but might make something just to test out my new stainless steel dough hook. (The enamel was chipping off the old one.)

My wheat starter is looking good, maybe I'll look around for a sourdough recipe to try.

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[BakerAunt]

Later this week, I might see if I can engineer an oil-based version of the Soft Barley Cookies in the King Arthur Cookie Book. I had to stop baking them due to the butter content, but I, and particularly my husband, think longingly of them.

[RiversideLen]

I made brownies from a box mix. I added all the ingredients the box called for (egg, a little water and oil) but also added a half cup of oats, milk and dried fruit. Also made a chocolate frosting for it (a cup of powdered sugar, 3 rounded tablespoons of cocoa powder (Hersey's Dark), a small pat of butter, a splash of vanilla and enough milk to get the right consistency. I used my new mini candy apple mixer for this and it all came out real fine. Real happy with it so far.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The Doughnut Fairy brought baked, chocolate doughnuts. Normally he uses an oil-butter mixture but this time it was all melted butter.

I am making challah again this week. They will be round for the season. I'll make eight, seven to give away. I am also aiming for schnecken but we'll see how it goes.

[RiversideLen]

With the cooler temps today and the next few days, I thought it would be a good time to catch up on pizza. So I made enough pizza dough for the next several days. I used equal amounts of rye, semolina, AP and white whole wheat, hydrated at 70% plus (I started it at 70% non fat milk and added a little water during the kneading process to get the right consistency). Plus a tsp of sugar, 1/4 tsp of salt and 1/2 tsp of yeast. The total weight of the flour was 360 grams, the weight of the finished dough is 650 grams.

I used my last sandwich bun for lunch so I am also making a new batch of buns.

[Mike Nolan]

I am making Jeffrey Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough Bread (version 1, with some rye flour) tonight. They'll be in the oven soon. The levain was very active, the final dough not as much, so I'm giving it a little extra time in final proof.

[Mike Nolan]

Well, the sourdough could have stood more proofing, both loaves had blowouts along the side, which is always a sign of underproofing. Might have been a little underbaked as well, but the outside is very crunchy, like many sourdoughs.

So my starter may not be quite as active as I thought it was, which means I probably need to adjust rise times.

Diane wasn't fond of it, both the texture and the taste. It is mildly sour, but I think the crunchiness put her off, and maybe the rye undertaste. I might have to bake sourdough breads at a lower temperature to keep the outsides from getting crunchy if I want any hope of her eating them.

I may have to try some kind of semolina sourdough.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them at the end of the week.

[Mike Nolan]

Here's a picture of a slice of today's sourdough:

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[RiversideLen]

Mike, that sourdough slice looks like something I would like.

[BakerAunt]

That slice looks great, Mike!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Very nice! What is the dough?

[Mike Nolan]

It's Jeffrey Hamelman's Vermont sourdough recipe, mostly wheat but 10% medium rye flour.

[BakerAunt]

As the weather has turned cooler, and since I have fed my sourdough starter twice within a week, my mind had also turned to sourdough bread to bake in a cloche. I have been adapting the Kind Arthur Rustic Sourdough recipe to make it more wholegrain, so that is the recipe I am using. My starter is my trusty milk-based one that I started around 1991. I like it because it is willing to let me ignore it for several weeks, although with my husband's love of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, it is now gets fed at least every two weeks.

[BakerAunt]

I had a day of baking on Wednesday. I am thankful that my husband helped me with the dishes. I baked my Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough Bread (made the levain last night), using the cloche top and the Rommerhof bowl. I did three shapings of the loaf, with 5 minutes between each time. Next time, I will do just two, as the dough becomes harder to form into a nice-looking round after the second time. The bread still baked well, and I look forward to slicing it tomorrow.

My second project was the wholegrain Pumpkin Snacking Cake, using a cup of peanut pumpkin that I had frozen last year. I am mindful that I need to make room in the freezer for this year's pumpkin bounty. The vendors have gotten to know me and have promised to save back a peanut pumpkin for me when they are ready.

My final bake on Wednesday was a recipe for Applesauce Muffins, from a Los Angeles Times Magazine piece featuring three muffin recipes from the 1990s titled "Muffins are Back." I recall at the time thinking that I had not known that muffins had ever gone away. I had cut out the page with the recipes and found it a while back as I was sorting some of my stacks of recipes. I had some commercial applesauce to finish in the refrigerator, so today was a good time to try at least one of the recipes, and the oven was already warm. I made some adjustments in that I used white whole wheat flour instead of AP, added some milk powder and flax meal, and added a bit of water as I did not have enough applesauce. I replaced the dried apricots and raisins with some dried fruit mix from King Arthur that I wanted to finish, and I microwaved the fruit with water to liven it up. I baked the recipe as six large muffins and will probably freeze a couple for quick breakfasts.

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