[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.

[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.

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