[aaronatthedoublef]

Bagels look good Mike!

BA good to know about your cracker dough. I have some in the refrigerator that is a few days old. I also have scraps in the freezer and when I am up to a few hundred grams I'll turn them into crackers.

I made more bread this weekend. I am up to three loaves a week weighing in at about 6 pounds.

I made yeast doughnuts this weekend. Violet was very excited to hear doughnuts but then disappointed that they were not the baked, chocolate doughnuts which are much easier. I made KAF yeasted doughnuts from the website. Pretty simple but there is a rest followed by a rise followed by a second rise.

They did not have center holes because the doughnut cutter I have is HUGE and would have used most of my dough for one doughnut. There was not enough of a difference between biggest and smallest circles of my biscuit cutter. If I'd been smart I would have cut the dough into strips and formed them into circle or just made churros.

I used canola oil instead of the recipe required peanut oil because that is what I had. But peanut oil might also have left a taste and canola is more neutral. The oil required constant adjusting to keep it at temp and most of my doughnuts are a little dark but they do not taste burned. I might be better served here by using an electric hot plate that I can set and leave instead of adjusting a gas flame but that is what I have.

I made a chocolate glaze with some semisweet chocolate and some milk and dipped he doughnuts in them.

After the oil cooled down I filtered it and reclaimed it and will reuse it.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Len - your bread looks great!

Yes Violet did get something sweet. I found some chocolate chip pancakes and added a healthy dose of syrup. She was happy.

Then Sunday I made doughnuts but I'll save that for the week of July 26.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Chocomouse that is a very cool idea. What do you do with Sir Galahad?

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have a sourdough loaf in the oven. I did a long (probably too long) proof in the basement which is cooler than upstairs it's between 70-75. I let the bread sit out for 24 hours. It was very loose so I did some folds and stretches and put it in the loaf pan and let it rise for another hour and a half. I'll see how it turns out. Sam and Henry will eat it. 🙂

I made dough for crackers while waiting for the second rise. I'll bake those either today or tomorrow.

Violet has requested something sweet.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'm a little at a loss Len. Last few times I made pizza outside I used my beehive oven which is radically different from a charcoal grill. I blogged about it at the time. Rereading it I may have to go back to it.

My experiment with my whole wheat seems to be working. It is usually moldy in a couple days but it has been around since Saturday or Sunday and no mold. We've been eating it. The desiccant may be working.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Looks good Len.

Did you have the lid off the entire time? It might help cook the top if you lowered the lid for a time.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Don't know. I could try that. I remember bread coming in waxed paper bags when I was a kid. Haven't seen one in years.

Found them on Webstaurant.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA Thanks.

I've tried that. You need to change the paper towel. Otherwise it pulls out moisture and then holds it against the bread.

[aaronatthedoublef]

A couple ways I know to do this:

1) Push the coals to one side and cook over the non-coal side.

2) Keep the grill well oiled

3) Dough on the grill. This requires you to par-cook the crust then add sauce, cheese, and toppings to the cooked side and and put it back on the grill.

Or

Put you pizza stone on the grill and cook on the stone the way you would in the oven.

If your oven only goes to 500 or 550 you can generate much higher heat with a charcoal grill.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made pancakes the old fashioned way yesterday instead of the sheet pan way. My kids like them better

I baked my sourdough loaf. It came out nicely with a little bit of side blowout. I think next time I will try a batard.

I tried to talk my family into ordering pizza last night but they wanted mine. I added red pepper flakes to veggie pizza and my wife was not happy with it. Oh well...

[aaronatthedoublef]

I haven't used cheese powder yet and my wife asked me not to as she likes these with cheese.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike - I did add a little honey my whole wheat bread.I replaced 15 grams of brown sugar with honey to see if that helps. My daughter saw me adding the honey and asked what I was making. She told me honey does not go with bread and I told her it was actually a regular ingredient in bread. She was surprised and curious.

It may be time to order some micro-perforation bags like Mike is using.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Rice... That's funny. We used to have rice in the house. Then my 17 year old learned how easy it is to make and he mixes it with some microwave Indian food. And now we have no rice. 🙂 I think he has used about four cups uncooked in the last five days.

I need something food safe and inedible. Just took 100% whole wheat out of the oven. It's red wheat and I do not know where it is from. But don't look a gift bag of flour in the mouth! It is the Stella Park recipe from Serious Eats but I dropped the hydration from 75% to 70. And I dropped the second rise time to about 1.25 hours from two or so to make up for a warmer house. I may try dropping hydration another 5%. It is still pretty slack and loose but now I am starting to get some peak.

Oh, and my wife has decided she likes my sourdough. I'll bake that and maybe more crackers tomorrow.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 4 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have sourdough and pizza dough rising refrigerator and a whole wheat autolyse on the counter. The sourdough and pizza dough should be ready tomorrow (pizza dough is on day 4). I'll make the whole wheat today. We're almost out of bread. We've gone through three loaves this week.

BTW, anyone have any recommendations for preventing mold? Sourdough is fine but the whole wheat goes moldy very quickly. I slice the loaf and freeze it taking a few slices out as needed. I have some medicine that comes with the little moisture absorbing packets and I am thinking of saving them and adding them to the bread bags.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Cass - Thank you. I'm looking at Rose Levy Birinbaum's website now. I've been using the Cake Bible for 25 years now. I knew she had a pie bible too and apparently a bread bible and a baking bible as well.

IC - one note I left out from pancake making is I've started to sift the dry ingredients. They absorb liquid better and reduces lumps and mixing.

It's interesting. KAF and Alton Brown give very different advice. Alton Brown says to mix the batter and use it right away to take advantage of the baking soda lift which is why minimal mixing is important as it agitates the glutens. KAF says to let the pancake batter rest for at least 10 minutes and even overnight to relax the gluten. I use pastry flour so there is less gluten and sift to reduce mixing. So take my advice with a grain of salt.

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