[aaronatthedoublef]

What is more important than what I am baking this week is what I did NOT bake this week - a birthday cake for my oldest. His little sister insisted on making it herself (and was annoyed with me for hovering). She did make some mistakes so the texture was off but it tasted good.

Of course she considered "making the cake" just mixing and baking the layers. While I was making the birthday dinner and cleaning off the outside table and chairs I also had to make frosting and frost the cake. But it all worked.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi BA. Yes, I think Sam honestly forgot the cookies. It is sad. Maybe I'll bake some more and send them to him. Still he couldn't share them with his friends in Boston. We have baked cookies for his cross country meets a few times.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I am not sure about his recipe. I will ask, including why he is using baking powder. Maybe I'll try making them with him.

[aaronatthedoublef]

We now have TONS of chocolate chip cookies. Sam left his when he went to Boston but Violet needed "cute, little" cookies. I used brown butter in both but the first batch butter was browner. I like them better. I now know I need to let the browning go longer.

I will probably make more ciabatta rolls this week and challah either this week or next.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Been a big cookie week so far. Sunday was hamantaschen day at religious school. We had pre-K through sixth grade come through and shape and fill hamantaschen. There were some very nice cookies made by some very small hands!

Then last night Sam wanted to make cookies to take with him to visit some friends in Boston so I helped him make chocolate chip cookies. We incorporated two of the changes from the new KAB chocolate chip cookie recipe - brown butter and using all brown sugar. They came out well. Now Violet wants to make some to take to school tomorrow for a movie day her classroom won for doing the most minutes of reading. She wants to make the same ones as her big brother so I need to brown more butter.

I haven't decided if I'll make more challah this week. I want to try some time-shifting in making in the first and second shaping.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Happy Pi Day!

BA - "I baked Len's bun..." I'm still laughing at that. Sorry, in an immature mood.

I made ciabatta. I will probably make cookies tonight or tomorrow. Sam is coming home and I have emergency cookie dough.

Henry made an interesting cookie from the KAF cookie book - Golden Diamonds. They are sort of like a shortbread dough with yeast. Instead of adding the sugar into the dough you spread it on the counter and roll the dough over it. Nice flaky texture. We all think Henry baked them a little too long but he liked them.

Interesting happened with the mixer - Henry was using the paddle and the bowl kept coming loose. We switched it to the dough hook since it was a yeasted dough and it smoothed out the mixing.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Look good. We aren't at substituting carbs yet but it is good to know there are options.

I asked my runner son about carbo loading and his response was that they don't do special loading rather they just eat more carbs than the average person and probably more than athletes in other sports. He even knew what other runners eat to maintain their carb levels. He is a funny kid.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi Skeptic,

For me, buns are flatter and useful for sandwiches. Rolls are more like dinner rolls. I know there are things like sub rolls. I have been adding a pre-shape where I would roll my dough into nice, tight little balls and then a final shape where I tried to get it to spread. It never worked. I realized that if I just skip the pre-shaping I can get a better sandwich roll.

Toasted sugar has some caramelization to it from baking. I toasted it for about a half hour and could probably have gone a little longer.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi Mike,

Good luck to you and Diane.

These days the runners I know try to eat a pretty balanced diet. My oldest runs between 75 and 100 miles a week. I can ask him about carbo loading. When he is home he just eats A LOT - fruits, vegetables, proteins, carbs - as I said, balanced. His typical Sunday run is about 15 miles.
 
Protein doesn't have to be meat. There was a story a while back about basketball teams loading up on peanut butter sandwiches and the various spreads of different teams. The story made it seem as if it were spreading from player to player and then from team to team.

And what about steak and eggs for breakfast?

[aaronatthedoublef]

It's been a while. I've been lurking and reading but not posting. Was busy at work but I realize now I was working too fast. I finished my two-year contract in nine months. Oh well... something will turn up.

Len - I like your idea of health food! Your cake looks great.

A while back I asked you all about making buns as my buns kept turning into rolls. I realized they were turning into rolls because... I was making rolls. I made ciabatta a couple weeks ago and instead of doing my usual loose shaping, for some reason I rolled them into nice, tight little balls. While I could flatten them some they just popped up into nice rolls with a tight crumb - not very ciabatta like at all. Duh... I'm tempted to make a batch of natural starter and see if the same thing works.

I am kind of off starter. Mine is sitting in its home in the freezer now. I sort of want to see if I can revive it. What I've been doing with pizza dough is saving a couple hundred grams from batch and then using it in the next recipe. It will give me a nice, funky, fermented flavor without starter and in under five days. It also is softer than the sharp flavor I tend to get from sourdough. I may try that with my ciabatta.

I've made a few batches of brown butter/toasted sugar shortbread. I think I like toasted sugar better than brown sugar at least for now. I was reading the KAB brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe and they take the brown bits out. I like to leave them in as it gives a nuttier flavor. Is there any reason I should be taking them out or is that just a preference?

Have any of you ever made your own white chocolate? I want to try this to make a less sweet white chocolate.

Hope everyone is doing well. Condolences to BA's mixer!

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made 14 1lb challot. They are becoming less wonky and adding a thermometer to the oven helped keep them from overbaking. Amazon had a 4 probe Thermopro for $25 so I bought it.

I was going to bring home two but a nice lady who was rehearsing for an organ recital smelled the bread and came back to the kitchen and asked if she could buy one. I told her "no" and gave her one. I brought one home and the other dozen are being delivered Friday morning.

We need to recruit some more drivers.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Speaking of expiration dates, how long will brown butter last in the fridge?

I think what I'll start doing is browning a bunch, using some and freezing the rest.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Choco -Tang! Cool. I haven't seen that in years.

I over-proofed my ciabatta rolls so they are very flat. It will be hard to use them for sandwiches but I'll figure out something.

I made a double batch of my molasses cookies to take to my volunteer gig on Wednesday. This was a solo effort and it reminded me, again, of why I hate KitchenAid. My mixer, which was rated by KA for nine cups of flour, was almost overflowing. I had to "utz" it as my mom would have said. I had four cups of flour, two cups of sugar, one cup of butter and two eggs. COME ON!

This is a challah week so I'll make the dough Wednesday and the loaves Thursday.

I need to make pizza dough and more ciabatta too.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Something with a 6\27 expiration date is still good. Some of this depends on how it was stored, too. Storing things in the refrigerator or, better, the freezer, extends expiration.

See Len's bake with his expired SAF Gold.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made ciabatta rolls again. The kids like them but I don't think Kate has even tried them. I doubled the yeast to see if it made a difference but it is still a tiny amount - the standard recipe called for .3% and I doubled it to .6. This is becoming my go-to. I like my sourdough but Violet and Kate won't even try it. I am still playing with roll shape to find what is best.

The kids and I made molasses cookies. I mixed them and they both came in and offered to help so I had them shape them and put them on the sheet pans and into the oven. I tried very hard not to freak out at the shapes. I never realized how fussy I've become. But I didn't say anything to the kids, just thanks for helping.

Kate told the kids they were topping the cookies with too much sugar to which they replied "this is what Dad does." They listened to their mom (which they should!) and then I added a bunch more sugar before they went into the oven.

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