[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone. I am cautiously optimistic.

Atlas Obscura has a St. Lucia's Day baking story today!

[aaronatthedoublef]

My mom used Log Cabin. She would sometimes also make her own which was usually either sugar or corn syrup in water, boiled down a bit. Mom probably had some kind of maple flavoring that she would add. We were three fast eating boys who may have noticed the difference but did not slow down enough to care.

I made BA's crackers yesterday. We were going to start cookie making last weekend but a call came from the school that Violet had been exposed to someone with Covid-19. We won't start baking for others until we're all in the clear.

[aaronatthedoublef]

For Donut Day I made not one but two kinds of donuts to make everyone happy. I had baked chocolate donut batter in the freezer so I thawed it out and baked them. I made pate' a choux and fried that, filled them with jelly, and sprinkled them with extra fine granulated sugar.

It was fun. I used to make choux all the time but haven't made it in years. And I needed to dig out my pastry bag and tips to fill them. Lots of stuff I have not tried in forever. When we lived in Seattle Kate had several French friends and always had me make them profiteroles which was terrifying.

Keeping the oil at the right temp for frying donuts is the big challenge. I'm wondering if a sous vide would work with oil. The sweet spot seems to be between 365-375.

Friday I made sourdough sandwich bread. I tried a few different things and the bread is different. But I changed too many things at once so I do not know what had which affect. Oh well, I'll make more!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike points to a book as not being for "beginners". I pulled out one of my oldest baking books to make pate' a choux yesterday. The owner of a Seattle cook shop in Seattle gave me to review. My response was "this is not for beginners". The instructions are sparse and it assumes knowledge and confidence.

It's not at all like a KAF recipe let alone one of their blogs. But I do like the chef's choux because it uses some milk and some water. I remember mixing his recipe with some elements of the recipe in the "Dessert Circus" - much better French baking for beginners because I liked it. Jacques Torres is much more accessible and gives advice like "mix the flour mixture until it stops steaming before adding the eggs" and "add the eggs one at a time and you may not need to add all the eggs". None of this is in the other book and I guess it's assumed the baker will know.

I'm glad I have them both.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for the words of encouragement about the potato buns! But I won't give up. I measure by weight. It called for 43 g of potato flakes or flour. I may try them again this weekend.

There are two main ethnic groups of Jews - eastern European and Mediterranean and Middle Eastern. Latkes or potato pancakes are traditional for eastern European Jews. Mediterranean/Middle Eastern Jews have sufganiyot which are jelly doughnuts so they are a very traditional Hanukkah treat which is why I created Donut Day. Hanukkah is a great holiday that features gambling - what did you think a dreidel is? - and fried food!

Violet wants chocolate donuts which are easy. I have batter sitting in the freezer and all I need to do is let it thaw. Henry wants Spanish style yeasted donuts which would be more authentic but are much more work.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have always used bread flour or patent flour to make scones, it has just been KAF flour. This flour has about the same protein. I found this description at a site called Breadtopia. I wonder if there is more wheat germ and that is what my wife is tasting. It would make the scones less bad.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. It is, indeed, Deb Wink. I love her site.

I know what you mean about Rose Levy Beranbaum. The white velvet cake recipe my family loves calls for 4.5 large egg whites. That's annoying (and the extra half doesn't hurt). At the same time her buttercream recipe leaves out some important timing. I had two batches break on me before I called my cake boss in a panic as I was making it for a friend's wedding cake. She told me to wait longer before adding the butter and that the color would change... And it's worked ever since even though I rarely make real buttercream. So she is fussy where it is not helpful and omits an extra sentence where it could desperately be used.

I am not going to buy myself any books any more. I just started reading "Sourdough: or Lois and Her Adventures in the Underground Market" and it turns out my wife bought me a copy as a present not knowing I had it...

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've made white velvet cake from the Cake Bible for my son's birthday. We had white icing. Sadly Violet was in a funk (and may even have been mad at me) and did not want to help. It was less fun but went faster.

I made scones for my family and another family whose dad was celebrating his 50th. I used the new bread flour I'd ordered from the small local place and my wife noticed the difference and did not like it. The bread flour is bolted but I have not looked up what that means yet and they do not explain it well on the site. My wife said the scones were too wheaty and less luxurious.

I made a batch of KAF potato buns for the first time. The recipe seems to not have enough liquid. By the time I added the flour and potato flakes (couldn't potato flour except on order) and dry milk the recipe is about 50% hydration. I either need to add more liquid or mix it in my mixer or both. Using my hands did not get it done so I need to do a better job mixing. They were not bun like at all and did not rise very well.

I made a batch of BAs crackers. I really like the whole wheat. I am not sure if it is because it is stone ground or because of the milling process but I can see bit of bran compared to the KAF whole wheat.

I have my sourdough loaf rising in the pans and will bake that later.

Saturday is Donut Day - a made up Jewish holiday that I started when before Violet was born and the boys were little. The first Saturday of Hanukkah is Donut Day. Now though, they want me to make them and they cannot agree on baked, yeasted, or cake. I have created a monster!

[aaronatthedoublef]

I haven't seen a book on sourdough but I also haven't looked. For science Mike pointed me towards an article by a woman who is a microbiologist that was amazing. It had pictures but the text was pretty dense so I am not sure how it would be for Will. I cannot remember her name but it was fascinating.

It seems like starters are like kids - figure out what you want to do and then find the expert to say it is "right". I think those of us with starters here all have different ones and we all produce results we like. I would play around more and try some other things but I've reached the limit of my wife's patience with the two jars on the kitchen counter!

I was reading about an Italian starter that is more solid, like dough. Mine is 100% hydrated and more like batter. I arrived at that by trial and error and figuring out what my family liked.

And I still cannot get my batards to hold their shape! 🙁 But they are eaten...

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made scones yesterday. Only thing I've baked by myself because I was up early and my helper was still asleep.

[aaronatthedoublef]

That's a great idea Len! I always have clumps of flour on top. Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. In the bakery we dusted the tops with flour before going in the oven but I never asked why.

I also dust my bread during its last rise so the plastic cover does not stick to it. Some of the flour invariably stays on after I take off the plastic.

[aaronatthedoublef]

My wife cubes and roasts sweet potatoes (or maybe they're yams). My oldest and I eat them like potato chips. They are very tasty.

In New England they have squash pie in addition to pumpkin pie. It looks and smells the same but it is made with "squash". The grocery stores even have cans of squash next to the cans of pumpkin. I have not seen this in other parts of the country where I've lived. I first saw it in college and when I asked the cafeteria lady what how it tasted she said "just like pumpkin". I have never looked for recipes to see how it is different or similar.

Violet and I made hazelnut chocolate pie yesterday and pumpkin pie (I swear it wasn't squash) Wednesday. I made the pumpkin pie on the back of the can. Usually I make KABC's from their big baking book. I like the KABC recipe better. I made the chocolate wafer cookies for the chocolate pie crust from the KABC Faux-reos recipe. People kept eating them and I almost did not have enough. I may need to add faux-reos to my seasonal cookie making. Violet is asking to do more and more. She used a pairing knife to trim the pie crust which was a huge first for her. She rolled out the pie dough and also made the chocolate pie crust.

I also made sourdough bread yesterday. My little brother and niece and I were texting pictures back and forth of our baked goods. They made pumpkin and pecan pie and an apple tart. Then they made pie dough cookies with the leftover pie crust. Mine is in the freeze and I'll use it for something sometime.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Made my pie dough this morning. I'll make the pumpkin pie with Violet tonight. Speaking of which, does anyone know any good kids baking books? It will be something she can read and it will teach her fractions (which they have not taught in school yet).

I bought some local flour from a small mill about an hour away in MA.

I've opened the whole wheat so far and it's very nice. I can see the wheat. I'm going to make a 100% whole wheat loaf this weekend to see how it is. I also have a bolted bread flour and I need to use the bread flour in my container first. I'm curious about the pastry flour because the website says it 13% protein. When I asked about a lower protein flour (under 10) they replied that the 2020 pastry flour was 9 so I'll try it with pancakes. And I am craving biscuits lately.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi. Been a crazy few weeks at work and home. I made apple pie w/my daughter. First time making apple pie and making pie outside of Thanksgiving. I used tartlet pans to make mini pies. The crust was too small so it did not fit the sides snuggly. But the pie tasted good and I used the leftover filling on pancakes the next day.

I went looking for chocolate cookie wafers and none were to be had so I made my own this morning. Not sure they came out well but my family keeps trying to eat them and I keep saying I need them to make the tarte crust. May have to make another batch. I used black cocoa and they are so black they are blue (but I am color blind so it may be my eyes.

I heard Nathan Myhrvold interviewed and he is coming out with a pizza book. He says it's not the heat from the oven but the infrared rays in the oven that cook the pizza. Not sure I believe him but if his pizza book is like his "Modernist" cook books then it will be too expensive for my blood. Still, my oven has a infrared broiler so I tried that. It did not seem to make a difference and a couple times I forgot to turn the boiler off when I move a pizza onto the top pizza stone. I thought the pizzas were too burned to eat but my sons disagreed. Thinking of writing a parody of "What the Dog Ate" called "What the Boys Ate".

Making lots of bread and crackers each week. I was experimenting with the crackers and made them a little thicker. This was not popular. I've also discovered if I salt them and let them sit with the salt on them they are crisper. I don't put oil on them before I salt them so this also makes the salt stick better.

Sadly we're having out smallest Thanksgiving ever. My in-laws are not coming up and our friends are not coming over. We were talking about having dessert together outside but that is not happening. All the kids want pie. No turkey since no one really wants that. My wife is making butternut squash lasagna. I'll make the chocolate tart and a pumpkin pie.

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