What are you Baking the Week of September 18, 2022?

[Mike Nolan]

Today might be the last blast of summer, forecasted high is 101, with 71 as tomorrow's high.

[skeptic7]

The apple galette looks wonderful. I wish I was there to eat it too. A glass of milk and a little cheddar cheese would go so well with the apple galette. Did you sprinkle it with sugar?

[Mike Nolan]

Yes, I brushed the crust with some egg wash and sprinkled sparkling sugar crystals on it.

It may have hit 102 here today, which would be a new record for 9/20. But it looks like the heat will break overnight, with rain possible. I don't see any 90's in the forecast for the next two weeks, in fact nothing above the mid 80's.

[BakerAunt]

To go with beef stew for dinner, I made the Scottish Scones with half whole wheat pastry flour and half regular pastry flour. I like this recipe, as it makes eight, which are very much like biscuits and uses just 1 Tbs. sugar and 1 Tbs. oil. I baked it in the countertop convection oven, dropping the temperature to 400F and situating the pan on the upper rack I usually use for re-heating, and that worked very well. The little oven also does not heat up the house.

[Joan Simpson]

I baked the one layer chocolate cake today and turned leftover cream cheese icing into chocolate icing.That'll be our snack tonight.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Joan, I'm interested in your one layer cake. What pan did you bake it in.

I made ciabatta. I used the Sullivan Street recipe. It is the wettest dough I've ever made - about 88%. Still handles really nicely and requires little shaping so that was easy. Still baking now.

If I like it I may make another batch for pizza night. What people emphasis about Jim Lahey is no-knead but his really point is a low-fuss method without lots of equipment and stretching and multiple shaping.

He does, however use lots of pots because his method uses really wet dough without all the stretching. I'm going to try some more recipes.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Pictures of my ciabatta. You can see the one I started to round has a huge cavity. I should have either done a real round or shaped it back like the other one. Violet gave taste a thumbs up. Kate hasn't tried it yet.

I did not do this in a clay baker like the book suggests. I baked it right on the stone and spritzed water into the oven. I don't have Nolan-nater Steamer yet.

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[skeptic7]

Looks nice. I read the Fleischmann's yeast version of the recipe. Did you let it rise on a floured towel and then just flop it on a baking sheet? I always distrusted the no-knead high hydration doughs, since I couldn't see how they avoided having parts of the dough being too dry and other parts being too wet. How did you avoid this?

[Mike Nolan]

If you've read the original Jim Lahey/NY Times no-knead recipe, you mix the dough until it is shaggy, then you let it sit for 12-18 hours before shaping, then it is placed on a towel to rise (which will wick some of the moisture out). It rises another two hours before it is transferred to a hot pot or Dutch oven and baked, inverting it as it is transferred, so any air pockets at the top of the risen loaf are likely to collapse somewhat under the weight of the dough.

The lengthy time is the key, that's a substitute for the kneading or repeated stretch-and-folds of a more traditional recipe. And I suspect letting it rise on a towel also has a major impact, and the inversion will definitely impact the dough structure.

I think some of the derivatives of the no-knead process suffer from the changes made to the process.

[Joan Simpson]

Aaron your bread looks good!

My one layer chocolate cake is baked in 8" round pan and when baked it stays nice and flat on top.
'Lil' Chocolate cake
1-cup a.p. flour
1-cup sugar
1-cup hot water ( I use 1 cup hot black coffee)
1/2-cup cocoa Hershey's
1-tsp.baking powder
1-tsp.baking soda
1-egg
1/4-cup melted butter

1.Preheat oven to 350* grease and flour 8" baking pan
2.In medium bowl combine 1st.6 ingredients
3.Add egg and butter mix well
4.Pour in pan-Bake 30-35 minutes or till toothpick test done.Cool

This is my favorite chocolate cake recipe.I usually put all dry ingredients in bowl mix with whip then add coffee and butter and egg.It's a very thin batter but bakes up very nice. No mixer needed just use whisk.

[chocomouse]

I made another cobbler, peach this time. I tossed the sliced peaches in brown sugar and ginger, and sprinkled maple sugar on top of the dough. It is delicious. Next up? I'm thinking a fresh fig cobbler might be nice.

[Mike Nolan]

A fig galette might be nice.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike, do you cook your apple pie filling before you freeze it? Does it break down the apples at all and change the texture?

What does everyone use in their apple pie filling? So far I use cinnamon and some sugar. Sometime I add ginger.

Lahey does not call for raising dough on a towel in his book. First rise is always in the bowl for 12-18 hours. I think this is probably easier for most people and, as Mike says, the water is absorbed into the flour, some probably evaporates off, and it is easier to handle.

I did my first raise in a greased baking bag in a measured dough bucket. Second rise for Lahey is "in a warm, dry place" covered with a towel. I put it on a floured cutting board and covered it with plastic wrap and a tea towel over that.

This will be good for rolls and I may try it for pizza too.

I'm not a big Bittman fan. Someone gave me his "How To Cook Everything" and I still prefer the "Joy of Cooking"

[aaronatthedoublef]

One more note - Lahey's loaves don't take any longer, they just take less fussing. At Uncle Matt's I'd start with an autolyze which was 1-2 hours. Then mix everything together. Then stretch and fold three or four times at 30 minute intervals. Then preliminary shaping and first rise, then final shaping and second rise which was overnight in the walk-in. Someone would come in at 3 am, take the overnight out and let it come to temp then put it on the peels, slash it, and put it in the oven.

So except for the ciabatta all Matt's loaves take about 24 hours from start to finish.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't have his book, the version of the recipe on the NY Times site these days, which appears to have been modified a little several years ago, says to use a cotton (not terry) towel for the final 2 hour rise.

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