[aaronatthedoublef]

It's quiet here!

We did our challah bake at temple. It was fun. Not sure how many people actually baked their bread once they were home but the kids enjoyed it. I made a few batches of dough and I also made three loaves of challah for the kids to sample.

The one challenge was rather than cleaning the tables and having the kids roll the challah on the table, they had them do it on paper tablecloths. The kids either floured the paper very heavily and then had trouble making the strands stick or, like Violet they rolled them into strands in their hands. Then they weren't tight enough. While they stuck together the strands melted into each other while rising.

While waiting for the first loaf to rise everyone mixed their own batch of dough.

We baked off the first loaf waiting for the second to rise. Then I shaped it into a coiled, round loaf and we baked it. We gave it to one of Violet's friends who was at the house to take home.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Choco, those look great!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone. I hardly consider myself an expert. There are so many people who know so much more than I do. But I do use the temple kitchen once or twice a month to make 15 1lb loaves of bread so I know more than both our rabbis.

Mike and Len are right, this is ill advised but it's not my show and even when I was "leading" it the rabbis were going to do what they wanted to do.

They will go home with one or two braided loaves (the original plan was two) and a lump of dough that needs to rise.

Of course I am not sure how they will get the dough to braid. There is some number of volunteers bringing in enough dough to make two or four loaves that has been rising in the refrigerator some amount of time. I am delivering my dough at 8:45 in a disposable container. I'll use a turkey roasting bag as that is what I use to raise dough. Religious school begins at 9 and there is a 15-20 minute service. So between 8:45 and 9:30 we'll need to:

cut and pre-shape the dough.

Then the dough will need to rest and relax so people can roll it into ropes and braid it.

Then after we've braided it we're going to let it rise while someone walks us through mixing bread dough.

I am not clear if we're going to egg wash it at temple and I am not clear how we'll transport it back to our houses. I have bus tubs and roasting bags so my daughter and I will be okay. Not sure what others are going to do and no one has given me, as a dad participating in this with his daughter, any thing up front about what is happening.

Maybe I over plan but this is not the way I would do it. But they did not want to do it my way. I am doing what I can to support it.

I am hoping for the best.

[aaronatthedoublef]

My baking is way down (sort of) because my boys are gone.

I'm baking more for other people. I've been making chocolate chip cookies lately for mostly other people (I always keep some at home). I'm using brown butter, toasted sugar, and brown sugar. Kate took a batch to Ireland when she went to visit Henry, our middle.

I have to make a bunch of challah this week. Our rabbis want to teach people to make challah. They've asked people to volunteer to make a double batch so I said I would do that. They also want people to bring in samples of their challahs with the recipe so I volunteered to do that as well.

It should all come together next Sunday. The plan is to give people pre-made dough to braid and then have them make their own dough while the braided dough rises. Then they'll send people home with the dough they braided and the dough they made but no actual bread. I'm trying to keep quiet because they asked me to do this. I said yes and then they kept telling me I didn't know what I was talking about so I said they should do it without me. I'm hoping for the best.

I also have scones and cookies to make!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Joan, your cake looks great! And if you didn't say you'd had a minor mishap no one would know. A great pastry chef friend used to say "frosting hides a multitude of sins."

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi,

I've been baking ciabatta weekly although that will probably end this week. Sam is back at school and Henry leaves Sunday so a batch may last as long as a month if I leave them in the freezer after cooling.

I am making progress on shaping them. Less is more in this case. I don't handle them too much so they don't form tight rolls but are rustic buns. I also reduced the rise time after shaping and they came out of the oven higher so maybe I was over proofing them. They still shrink a bit after cooling but they are deeper than before.

I've been making chocolate chip cookies with brown butter and toasted sugar. I think the sugar needs to be toasted more. I think I told you about the first batch with melted butter. These cookies stayed globs and didn't spread. When I used the rest of the brown butter that had cooled and was solid, the cookies spread like normal. I remember reading some place that melted butter will coat the individual flour grains and prevent gluten from forming but is this why they didn't spread?

BA - when you moved from butter to oil did you see anything like this? What kind of oil do you use?

In my quest for a crisp crust I tried something new with pizza. I have been rolling them out and leaving them in the refrigerator for about 12 hours and that dries the top but the bottom on the parchment stays damp. I tried putting them on a paper towel and that didn't really do anything.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi Skeptic. I live in CT. And you are right. Wool generally insulates when wet. But convertible mittens leave then ends of fingers exposed and then they become cold while working. It might happen with waterproof mittens anyway. I just don't like wet hands.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, Skeptic, Senator Sanders mittens were indeed lined. The woman who made them went to high school with a friend of ours here in CT so we had the inside scoop. Her mitten business on Etsy went through the roof for a while. Not sure where it is now.

I like the flip-top mittens that turn into fingerless gloves. The only problem is I can only find knit ones and I need a pair that are water proof, especially for snow removal.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. The Museum of Science and Industry had a "Christmas Aroun the World" exhibit every year and there was a day dedicated to each country represented by the exhibit. Polish Christmas Day would usually have the highest attendance of the year with between 70-100k visitors. Chicago used to have the most Polish people of any city outside of Warsaw.

A nearby town has a "large" Polish population. I'll look for a bakery there and see what they have. They basically come in a single size and a large size which are called coffee cakes. Maybe they'll feature them on a future episode of "The Bear" and then everyone will want to make them.

BTW, Giordano's has annoyingly dropped all reference to "stuffed" pizza and now just refers to it as deep dish which is really sad.

Before I went to Bennison's for pastries we walked by so I could show Violet the cup! She was suitably impressed.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi,

I've contemplated some 1/8th sheet pans. Now I have halves and quarters. They have become trendy here among restaurants to use as plates.

I made chocolate chip cookies. I used browned butter and toasted sugar and the cookies were brown, even though lightly baked. They did not have the flavor I was looking for either so I need to figure out how I made this one batch that tasted amazing.

The other interesting thing that happened was I usually brown the butter and let it harden then cream it with the sugars. This time I just dumped the liquid butter and some of the browned solids into the sugar and mixed. Then I followed the usual process - eggs, vanilla, and then the dry mixture, flour baking soda, and salt. The cookies stayed in lumps. they did not spread at all. Kind of weird. I flattened the last two batches.

We were in Evanston briefly before the 4th. I went to Bennison's. One of the things I bought on impulse were some sweet rolls. I miss those from when I was a kid. Are they a midwestern thing or a Chicago thing. The closest we have in the East are "Danish" which are good but not the same.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. So with the possible exception of the extra dark, Guittard is probably not couverture.

I think I'll compare Guittard with Nestles and Kirkland and Ghirardelli. I may not find exact information but I can usually find the percentage of cocoa.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Your baking all looks great. Maybe we could schedule a My Nebraska Kitchen meet up? We had the virtual pizza night during Covid.

This week was supposed to be a challah week but my logistics partner is laid up after surgery so we're skipping May. But I think I'll bake her one next week.

We're expanding challah production. Not quite sure how we'll do it yet. One of the rabbis wants to have more people involved and I also want to do this for a second congregation. Part of this too, is to convince people who are already making their own challah to give a loaf away. Most traditional challah recipes will make two loaves (at least). It's tradition to have two loaves on your sabbath table. It would be great if everyone took one of those loaves and gave it someone else.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I've noticed differences in semisweet chips beyond the amount of cocoa they contain. I always considered Guittard a step up from Ghirardelli. For example, their white chocolate has cocoa butter and Ghirardelli does not.

I checked the ingredients in Guittard chips and Callebaut bulk chocolate the other day and with the exception of the extra dark 70% chips the first ingredient in Guittard is sugar. In Callebaut it is cocoa. Is bulk chocolate consider coverture? I have some Callebaut callets. They don't have the same mouth feel when uncooked as chocolate chips. I am starting to use them instead of the bulk chocolate because I am lazy and I don't have to break them down. They're also harder to find than bulk which I can buy at the grocery store. I have to order the callets.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Congrats Mike. Glad you found something that works.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hmmm... Violet did not forget. She just did not want to do it because she is "not good at decorating." I asked her how she expected to improve if she didn't try. I also asked if she were on the "Kids' Baking Challenge" if she would hand in two, unfrosted layers as her cake to which Violet replied "I'm not on the Kids' Baking Challenge."

SASSY!

Then she couldn't find a recipe, blah, blah, blah... So I just made it and frosted the cake. If I'd known she was leaving it to me I would have done it in the morning and had time for a proper crumb coat.

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