[aaronatthedoublef]

I made my bread this morning. I upped the load size from 900g to 1k and I think I over-proofed them. But that's okay. They're a little ugly but that never seems to slow down my eaters.

I also made BA's crackers this morning.

[aaronatthedoublef]

And I thought dyeing the Chicago River was cool! AWESOME.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'm not sure how much time I would have for the conference but I am interested. I may sign up. It's not horribly expensive.

The slap steak looks okay but the slap chicken does not look appealing at all. And it takes twice as much energy to cook it compared to a regular oven. I didn't see any build costs either and he never managed to build one that didn't break or come apart. But my son showed me this yesterday afternoon and we were still talking about it and laughing this morning and that is always good.

[aaronatthedoublef]

FWIW I went to Costco the other day and it was the first time in a long time that there were no limits on toilet paper, paper towels, and Clorox wipes.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'm about 24 hours behind. Rolls just came out. I let them rise, as usual, with a sheet pan on top but then took it off to bake them. I like it better when I bake them with the top pan on but it was worth a try.

My bread is still rising and I'll let it go another hour maybe before I bake it.

I need more BA's crackers so I'll make those tonight or tomorrow.

I did not make pie because I made chocolate chip pancakes for breakfast (and for breakfast today and tomorrow at least...). And then I made pizza. My daughter is spoiled and was not happy despite having pizza and chocolate chip pancakes!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Sourdough: A Novel

This is another one. I've read it and enjoyed it immensely! Kate secretly bought it for me and then saw me reading my own copy and said "where did you get that?"

It's about a secret starter with a mind of its own.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made BA's crackers. I've been using the pasta roller and rolling the dough at room temp. I chilled it to see if I could roll it thinner. Not only could I not roll it thinner it cracked and shredded even at the "1" setting. So I warmed it in my hands and rolled it out on "2".

My second batch of whoopie pies came out nicely. I may add a little melted chocolate to the recipe to see what that does. I thought the filling was too buttery and not marshmallow-y (is that a word?) enough. Kate disagreed which was surprising because she usually favors sweet over butter.

I made sandwich bread again but haven't had a chance to make raisin bread. I'll get up early one morning this week and make it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Len - your pizza is a work of art!

Mike - is my math right? Are you really putting 14 ounces of cheese on your pizza? Your my hero!

Does anyone ever par-bake their crusts? I'm thinking about it for my veggie pizza where the raw veggies give off lots of water and for my sausage pizza where the sausage gives of lots of grease (I went back to Chicago method for my sausage).

I've now made two batches of whoopie pies. The first spread too much. I then noted that I had changes the recipe and added more flour so my second batch of cakes looks very nice. I'll make the filling tonight. Violet helped with the first batch but not the second because I had to make them quick and early this morning. I'll let her help with the filling.

I was going to bake some crackers but ran out of time. I'll do that tonight or tomorrow. The dough is resting right now.

I have my first COVID 19 vaccine this weekend! The scheduling system here is a mess! Badly thought through and I'm not convinced that federalizing it would have made it any better. Yes, I know how hard building a massively scalable scheduling system is (I've worked on them). But they came up with multiple new vaccines in under a year which is MUCH harder.

[aaronatthedoublef]

More bread and crackers and pizza. We made chocolate chip cookies.

I am going to try raisin bread at some point this week. Found a recipe I like.

Violet has decided that whoopie pies are her favorite thing I make and she needs the recipe and a picture for a school project so I may make those. Kate thinks Violet should use scones so I'll probably make both this week.

Kate bought some raisins... 🙂

[aaronatthedoublef]

After months of suggestions for making and using starter I now receive at least a couple "scoring" lesson suggestions a day. I think a lot of people are asking for that now.

[aaronatthedoublef]

This is amazing. But if it doesn't have egg is it challah? That's more a philosophy question I guess.

Does it use some egg substitute?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike.

I suggested they shave a little time off the baking to see. I've only done banana, pumpkin, or zucchini quick breads and those are never dry.

I'll ask about the shaping instructions.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. Biscotti are twice baked and that accounts for some of their dryness. Not sure about Mandelbrot. My mom never made them and I was never much of a fan so I've never tried them.

This was definitely supposed to be bread. I've found a few recipes for almond bread like it online.

I've also found some that use baking powder and a quarter cup of almond milk.

What surprised me a was the lack of liquid (even though there are five eggs) and the lack of leavening. The vinegar and baking soda will have finished their reaction before the pan hits the oven.

[aaronatthedoublef]

More snow yesterday and more crackers. But I was transferring my starter to a clean jar and the dirty jar fell and broke. 🙁 I lost a few hundred grams of starter. I split the remaining jar between two clean jars and am building it back up so I do not have to start from scratch.

A co-worker sent me an almond bread recipe to ask why it was dry. It is a quick bread and seemed odd that the only leavening was baking soda and vinegar and the only liquid was eggs. Any advice would be appreciated. Here is the recipe:

2 1/4 cups blanched almond flour
1/4 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine texture sea salt
5 eggs
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made pizza last night. Sam and Violet teamed up to prep the dough. It had a very different feel because I let it sit out on the counter overnight to help it ferment faster. I usually make it Thursday and this week I made it Friday. Violet and Sam cut, weighed, and wrapped the dough. It was pretty cut and Sam and I had a fun conversation on Adam Smith and the division o labor.

I baked of my bread too. I usually start that Friday making a sponge then put it all together Saturday morning and let it rise 24 hours. The I bake on Sunday.

I've been trying to make flat sandwich buns and some of this came from increasing hydration but they were still more round and roll like than I wanted. This time I sprinkled some flour on top, covered them with parchment, and the put a sheet pan at a slight angle so it rested on the edge of the other sheet pan and kept the buns more bun-like.

And we shoveled... and shoveled... and shoveled. We had about 5-6 inches of snow and my snow blower is down.

I've also started using a new mixer - my hand!

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