What are you Baking the Week of September 27, 2020?

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I baked Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake from the KAF site. I had to forgo the espresso in the cinnamon filling because my espresso powder was caked and cemented to the bottom of the jar. I could not pry it out or make a dent into it. Last time, I had been able to put the caked espresso in my grinder and pulverize it but not this time. It went into the trash still in the jar. I bake this cake with white whole wheat flour, and I add 1/4 cup of powdered milk. I replace ¼ cup of the oil with buttermilk. I also reduced the granulated sugar in the cake from 1 cup to ¾ cup and the brown sugar from ¾ to 2/3 cup. There is an additional 1/3 cup brown sugar in the filling. I baked it in my Nordic Ware autumn wreath Bundt pan rather than a deep Bundt pan, so I put half the batter into the pan, then all of the filling on top, then the rest of the batter. I baked for 50 minutes on the third shelf up in my oven.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, why did you wait a day before slicing your Spelt Sourdough Bread? I'm always worried that if I wait until the next day to slice it, the bread will have already started drying out.

Weather here has cooled, and I forgot to take that into account when making dinner rolls. During the planning phase, I didn't consider the kitchen would be colder than when I made them during the summer. When the time for the first rise was up, the dough had barely moved. Immediately, I knew it was the room temperature, but I was tired of the project and wanted out of it ASAP. I revved the oven up to 400 degrees as if to preheat it. When it was around 200*, I turned off the oven, opened the door for a few minutes and popped the muffin pan with the roll dough into the oven and shut the door. I wondered whether I should cover the pan with a towel, but didn't. After ten minutes, the dough had popped up to the point where I, in my desire to be done, would feel comfortable baking them. I pulled them out of the oven, covered, and set the gouge to 400*. Baked. I'm unhappy with the end product, but the taste is there. They have a stick of butter, so how bad could they be? They had no oven spring from the actual baking time, and that is my disappointment. I'm reminded of a Pennsylvania Dutch saying a teacher loved: :The hurrier I go the behinder I get."

A few hours later, I baked Jenny Jones' jennycancook.com Chocolate Chip Loaf. Somehow, I must walk away from chocolate, but it's my Covid comfort food. That turned out as planned. The top edges of the loaf were bordering on black, so I think it needs to cook 5-7 minutes less in my oven. But the bread tastes good and isn't dry. It's for breakfast tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I usually slice my bread the next day because we mostly eat bread at lunch. This particular bread is not meant to be a soft bread but a chewy one. I let breads cool for about four hours, then wrap them or put them in Tupperware.

I ran into the same cold kitchen issue when I made my sourdough pan pizza this week. I was lucky in that I had started early enough that I could wait it out. In the case of the spelt bread, the cold was a blessing, given the electrical disruption.

You could put the pan of rolls on a rack over a pan of hot water next time. You would still have to wait on the second rise, but they would rise. Another option might be to just refrigerate them and let them rise overnight, then bake the next day.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, thanks for the suggestion of a pan of hot water. That would have been the ticket. I think the reason I didn't have oven rise is that I put them in a too hot oven and the yeast bit the dust. I also like letting the rise in refrig. I've done that with pizza dough, but never with rolls. It would work.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--also, depending on the size of the pan and your microwave, you can heat up a cup of water in the microwave, then put the pan inside and close it. That makes a good rising chamber. Just don't let anyone hit the controls while the rolls rise.

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