[aaronatthedoublef]

Choc, happy birthday to your husband!

It's funny how panettone has become a thing. There was a NY Times article about that I think Mike pointed to over on the BBGA. I would add the link but the way past the paywall was to search for NY Times panettone article. We used to only be able to buy them at Christmas and now we can find them year-round. We've found some good, mass produced ones. A couple Italian friends, a Piemontese and a Venetian, swore by Trader Joe's so that is what we usually buy. None of my baker friends make it because it is too much of a pain and has some very expensive ingredients. The Christmas morning bread-cake here tends to be stollen and even those can be tricky. I remember Matt shaking his head about a batch that came out beautifully and he had no idea what he had done differently to make them better.

BA - you could probably modify your biscotti to make it for your dog and your husband. If any baked good comes close to a dog biscuit it is an overbaked biscotto. Add some extra flour and salt to toughen it up, bake them an extra 15 minutes, maybe leave the oven door open some to let out some moisture and there you have it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

After the article/video about challah I was inspired. I made enough for 3.5x1 lb. loaves. Four strands. I am happy with two. The third is a little janky and was too long for the pan. I am using boiled cider to replace most of the water. I am still within legal limit for juice in bread because I have enough other liquid. Although I am not sure if eggs count as liquid...

Violet does not like challah. I know, we're all baffled too. But she came and smelled my dough and said, "smells bad which means it's right."

We said the blessing and pulled it apart. Kate likes it with some butter and honey. I did not tell her how much sugar is already in it...

So three loaves this week. I have to up may game next week. I probably also need to start it Thursday night so I can be ready to bake Friday morning instead of Friday afternoon.

A couple other things... I am trying something new with my pizza to try for a crisper crust. I take it out of the ove and put it on a rack to cool before I put it on the cutting board. I want to see if it will release some more moisture that might be in the crust.

Costco has started to carry KAB bread flour in 10 lb. bags! It's $8.47 or something close which is is only $1 more than a five lb. bag at the grocery store. I already had 20 lbs. of BRM but I bought a bag anyway because, well, can't have too much flour, especially if I am going to shoot for 12 loaves of challah. I don't know how long they will carry it but if it is long term, it will be the least expensive way for me to buy bread flour. I do like the five lb. bags because I just realized I just drop the bag in my flour container but the price is too good.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

Challah is supposed to be a pull-apart bread. My mom always wanted to slice the challah but my dad's preference (and the pre-COVID tradition I know) was to pull off a piece, take some, and then pass it around the table. and we followed suit. I've done that at much larger tables with more people. After Sabbath services the kids (mostly the boys :-)) will do that to the challahs our temple puts out. The texture is supposed to be long and feather when it pulls apart.

BA - six strands is REALLY hard. I have gone to my challah book to re-learn four strand. I have not seen many people except some professionals make six strands except for crazy people like us.

Once I get my four strand I will start back on six.

My goal is to make 12 challahs a week to give away. Not there yet...

[aaronatthedoublef]

Happy New Year everyone!

BA - thanks for the pumpkin puree recipe. I wish it were something I could try before Halloween but there is not a pumpkin to be found.

Aside from lunches and breakfast I made fried rice with chicken and broccoli. We didn't have any white rice so I used the brown rice without reading the instructions and it was mushy so the whole thing was kind of a big soggy mess. But Sam is home so instead of lasting for three meals it last for one and a half (Sam eats about five meals a day).

No baking yet. I was waiting to find out about jury duty but since I have filled my commitment I am free to bake.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made a batch of my regular sandwich bread yesterday. I have gone back to pan loaves from batards. I don't think I let these proof quite long enough before baking as I was in a rush but they still look nice on the outside. I'll see how they look when I cut one.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I was taught baking powder doesn't last six months in an open container so, like you, I wonder what the potency would be after six months.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks again, BA. I read through this and it is pretty interesting. Hansel and Gretel popularized gingerbread houses so that is probably a reason not to make them taste good. Keep the kids away lest they end up in a witch's oven!

I have a question about one of the recipes that uses a powder from deer antlers (red stag I believe) as a leavening agent. It says it is supposed to sit for several months but if you use a leavener that is activated by acid how long will the rising strength last? Six months seems a long time.

On his pancake episode Alton Brown says to make all your pancakes immediately before the baking soda dissipates. Mr Brown has obviously never made pancakes for teenage boys or else maybe I am supposed to keep making up small batches of batter. But at any rate wouldn't the leavening power of stag antler or baking soda for that matter be gone after six months?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hey Skeptic, you can use pancakes like scones... Spread some jam or clotted cream on them and they will be very tasty! Or, I've used pancakes as a replacement for bread to make sandwiches on occasion. It doesn't work for everything but when it does it's great.

We had some unscheduled baking this morning. Kate made up a strada last night to bake today and we bought a panettone too. Violet would not eat either or anything else we had. So I pulled out my little Elizabeth Alston biscuit book and we made a recipe she has for biscuit cinnamon rolls. The recipe only used a cup of flour and 1/3 cup of milk but was supposed to make way more than we had. We had enough and some left over so it was okay but I think the recipe is wrong. I already had biscuit dough too but I'd just put it in the freezer last night.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hey Skeptic, you can use pancakes like scones... Spread some jam or clotted cream on them and they will be very tasty!

We had some unscheduled baking this morning. Kate made up a strada last night to bake today and we bought a panettone too. Violet would not eat either or anything else we had. So I pulled out my little Elizabeth Alston biscuit book and we made a recipe she has for biscuit cinnamon rolls. The recipe only used a cup of flour and 1/3 cup of milk but was supposed to make way more than we had. We had enough and some left over so it was okay but I think the recipe is wrong. I already had biscuit dough too but I'd just put it in the freezer last night.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA - thanks! This article is fascinating and very cool. It seems like this happens a lot with food.

I'm starting to research sufganyot which are traditional Hanukkah doughnuts. I swear they used to be made from pate choux. I even have a recipe from Duff Goldman that uses choux.

But all the recipes this year are for Dutch/German style raised doughnuts.

BTW, Violet wants to make her own pumpkin puree for pies next year. BA, I told her I was shipping her out to you to learn.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Merry Christmas everyone! No snow but cold. We had a few inches on rain Thursday night through Friday with high winds and then the rain stopped and temps dropped. The high was in the teens yesterday but warm compared to the Midwest.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Here are the candy cane cookies. A little wonky. They were very soft and we needed to work faster. But Violet's happy.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike - Thanks. I looked up gingerbread house kits and found a bunch too. I mostly stay away from Amazon these days unless I know exactly what I want. It's just too complicated otherwise. Walmart has some as does Michael's (not sure if Michael's is in the Midwest) as well as Etsy. I think I still may make my own to give as gifts with a gingerbread mix. Fun project for after the holidays.

Len - those look beautiful. I looked up the recipe and they have baking powder instead of baking soda and shortening to make them puffy. Did you use butter-flavored shortening and if you did does it really add butter taste?

I remember the episode where he made these and made chocolate chip cookies four ways. I read something recently - I think on Test Kitchen but I cannot find - and they talk about using baking powder AND baking soda in cookies to make them chewy and give a rise. I may have to try that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA - thanks for the pointer to the gingerbread cookie cutters. They're pretty neat and along the lines of what I want but a little small. But I can search for bigger ones now.

If you all were using something like this would you want plastic or metal?

Pretty cool Navlys. I wonder how often people run into the things you ran into and give up. How many people does that turn off from baking.

Attached is a picture of my biscuits. No leakage! Based on advice from you all and Solveig (the recipe creator) I used my pastry cutter and cut the butter in instead of just tossing it. This is a big recipe and even cutting it back by 60% I still have a lot of dough left over after making two dozen midsize biscuits. Even better, Violet and Kate who both "don't like biscuits" like these! I may also use some for pizza crust this weekend if I make pizza.

The bad news is Violet tested positive for COVID so one more Christmas without Nana and Gramps. We're trying to make this as special for the kids as possible and doing last minute things - like getting a tree - that we had not planned on doing.

I added a picture of Violet's elf, Daisy, who spent a couple days on our gingerbread house. She has been very mischievous this year and has been taking cookies and candy.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

I have biscuit dough chilling in the refrigerator. I'm not sure what I'll do with it yet. I also need to make some bread. We were going to leave for VA today or tomorrow but now Violet has covid and Henry may so we're staying put again. At least we had Thanksgiving. And we may try to head down for New Year's.

I gave Violet a Duff Goldman cookie cookbook for Hanukkah so whatever cookies I was planning are on hold (unless I sneak them in). She has already read through the book twice and is deciding on what to make.

Has anyone seen a set of cookie cutters for cutting out the parts of a gingerbread house? I have some friends who have a maker space - they have tools and knowledge to help you make things. It might be cool to give some people gingerbread house kits that are slabs of pre-baked gingerbread. I'll make them if I cannot find what I want.

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