[aaronatthedoublef]

Best prices I've found for BRM are at Vitacost. They have a cyber week sale for 20% off right now. Use the code CYBER20.

BRM Semolina before the sale is $3.99 for three pounds.

BRM bread read flour is $5.09. Not as cheap as KAB bread flour at Costco but better than any place else. KAB is 10 lbs. for $7.99 at Costco.

I was gifted some KAB vanilla last year and I just used up the last of it. I was going to buy a new bottle but WOW, $80 for 16 oz. I just bought that at Costco for $11.98. KAB is better, less alcohol smell, but not that much better and not noticeable to people in my finished product.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I have used them to buy a dough hook. They were good but that was before shipping costs went through the roof.

Violet and I made Henry's birthday cake. I followed BA's advice (thanks BA) and made a buttermilk cake from the Cake Bible. I've decided I don't like the book because too many recipes call for either egg yolks or egg whites. Hen's cake called for four yolks.

I feel like I either have to make a second thing that uses up the remaining part of the eggs or I am wasting them. I supposed I could have made a meringue buttercream but time was short and, besides, my family likes the easy buttercream better than the real stuff.

I added a couple small lemons worth of zest and juice. It could have used more but everyone ate it and no one complained.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. Thanks BA.

I may make the Cake Bible white cake and add a couple of lemons worth of zest and lemon juice.

That is everyone's favorite cake with added lemon. The Cake Bible also has a lemon buttercream so I can use that too.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Last week was good. Sam came home on Tuesday instead of Wednesday. My in-laws came in Monday night which stressed out Kate some. But her dad cannot make the long drive for now, at least.

I made the crust for the pumpkin and pecan pies. Violet rolled out the crust, mixed, poured and baked the pumpkin pie all on her own! And her crust looked better than mine. I think I am trimming it too much.

Now I need to get her making the pie crust dough and melting the chocolate for the chocolate, hazelnut pie.

I made baked doughnuts, scones, and coffee cake for breakfasts. Sam took the last of the scones when he and his buddy drove back to NYC yesterday. They drove in a soft-top Jeep with no windows and mesh doors. It was in the 30s so I can only imagine how cold it was at highway speeds.

I have to make a birthday cake for Henry this week. He keeps asking for a citric acid cake. I am going to make a lemon cake. I have the frosting and filling figured but do you think I can just add some lemon juice and lemon peel to a yellow or white cake?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. Thanks BA.

Mike - I used to us a pinch of sugar in my pizza dough for the yeast. I've stopped and haven't noticed a difference. That may also be partly from shifting from ADY to instant. Challah has sugar in the recipe so adding a pinch wouldn't make a difference I suspect.

BA - One of the good things of the sourdough movement is slower, longer rises. My ciabatta from Jim Lahey uses .3% yeast. The rise is refrigerated for 18 or so hours. The rise after shaping really needs two or more hours. I'm not usually that patient but I still have a good, open crumb just not huge holes (which I don't like anyway).

[aaronatthedoublef]

I did an unintentional experiment when making challah. My recipe calls for 2% yeast which for my 14 loaves is 75g. I thought I had a lot more yeast with me than I did which was only 17g. 17g is about .45%.

I could have driven home and picked up more (I had a new, unopened 1lb package of SAFInstant yeast) but I just decided to see what would happen (kind of stupid in hindsight considering the cost of the other ingredients). But you all have talked about the strength of modern yeast and how we use more than we need so I wanted to see what would happen.

So I mixed it all and put it in the fridge for its usual overnight rise. I gave it a couple extra hours before I came in to cut and pre-shape it.

When I came in there was some rise but definitely nothing close to normal. I then cut the dough and shaped into balls. Normally these rest to loosen up but since I go back home for the rest I refrigerate them for a couple hours. This time I left them at room temp for three hours - more rise.

Then I came back for the braiding but turned on the oven first. I let them rise at room+oven temp for about 1 hour 45 minutes.

They might be a little denser than normal but they not so anyone other than I can distinguish - an advantage I suppose of not having regular "customers".

I think if this happens again I will go grab more yeast. I realized after the fact that I was only about five minutes from a Whole Foods. But it is also nice to know I can make this work if I have to.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I like this dough. It's tasty and I've always been a crust person anyway. But rolling it in sugar is a good idea. Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

One of the things I needed was more sheet pans. The kitchen used to have a big stack. Now they have four and I'll need all those for challot. I went and bought six full sized sheets.

I have OLD pie dough I just pulled out of the freezer.

I think it is still good. Can I just use regular pie dough to make hand pies? I see lots of recipes using a cream
cheese dough but I don't want to make another one.

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've made ciabatta rolls for sandwiches so far. This is also a dozen week for challot (plural of challah). I have two KAs so I am bringing one with me and I am thinking about making some cookies while the challah does its second rise. Need something in the slack time.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Never seen Sweet Emmas but if I did I would buy them because I have a lovely niece named Emma. She is definitely sweet.

I've been using honey crisps because they are on sale and are actually pretty inexpensive for now.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Might be worth the book JUST for a decent Italian beef recipe.

I searched for one for years with no luck. Then a couple years ago "The Bear", https://www.imdb.com/title/tt14452776/ Italian beef is all over the place!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA for the tip on toasting panko. My chicken strips used flour and baking soda, no bread crumbs. It was pretty crisp, too. It may be a little while before Violet can each them again, anyway a she is in the process of getting braces and her mouth is pretty sore. She couldn't even eat a cheese quesadilla last night. Grapes hurt too.

Today I made her some applesauce just as a way to give eat some soft fruit. First time I have made applesauce in many years.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I don't have a deep fryer and don't deep fry often. Believe it or not my kids actually prefer baked doughnuts so this is the first thing I've deep fried in a LONG time. I used a pot on the stove. It was a little tricky keeping the temp right but I erred on the side of keeping it too hot which was better than too cool.

Never thought about freezing it. That's a good tip. If I wanted to reuse it maybe I could strain it and freeze it.

I knew a fellow who would get used restaurant oil and convert it to biofuel for his car. His garage smelled awful and his car smelled like whatever the oil had been used for - fries, Chinese food. It was kind of funny.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made homemade chicken tenders. BIG hit with Violet. She ate them three days in a row.

I may bake them next time but this time I fried them in avocado oil. Do you deep fry things? What do you do with the oil when you're done. I've always thought about frying a turkey but it has the same problem on a much larger scale. What do you do with used oil after frying?

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike - now I have sheeter envy. I wish I had the space for it. Not sure I could measure 1mm thickness.

I am working with my synagogue to see if I can bring in equipment. I am storing flour, yeast, and eggs there. They're giving me honey leftover from the High Holidays but I am not sure how much they have. And having a big Blodgett oven is great. At some point I could expand to a lot more than a dozen loaves.

Ahhhh. This week I made more challah. My shaping is improving which is part of the reason I am making it each week instead of once a month. I'm also developing a routine in my new kitchen. I think I am going to bring my old KA mixer there and start making cookies or something in the slack time waiting for things to rise. I also need to bring in some more sheet pans.

I also made ciabatta again this week. I substituted a third whole wheat for bread flour and Violet didn't complain so that's a success. I also dropped the weight down from 5 to 4.5 oz. They have become our go-to sandwich roll and Violet prefers it to the olive bread from Whole Foods which is major coup for me!

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