[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for the tip!

My family's favorite cake recipe is from the cake bible and calls for something like 2.5 egg whites or you can measure by weight which is what I usually do.

I've only worked in a couple of bakeries and the recipes were all numbers of large eggs. But I always cracked them into a separate bowl or measuring cup and added them to the recipe in case some shell went with the egg.

I know with my pancake/waffle mix I've upped everything except the eggs and it still seems to work. And I used flax meal in it so maybe that is why it's worked without adding more egg.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks! I remember watching an episode of a Julia Child show where she would cook with young, up-and-coming chefs.

The chef that day showed Julia an early generation bread maker which baked vertical loaves with a hole in the bottom. Mrs. Child smiled and was gracious but was less than impressed. I never saw her with anything like an instant pot but I wonder how she would have reacted to that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Interestingly, an English friend of mine who has lived in the US for many years now maintains that all British biscuits are twice baked. So they differ from most American cookies in that regard. However I have several recipes for things like shortbread that are only once-baked so that has me wondering. I'll have to research that. Also, years ago, when I took my cooking class in Italy, "biscotti" referred to twice baked cookies and was translated as "biscuits". I do not know if biscotti were always biscotti or if that is something that developed from British English which is still the dominant English in Europe.

I am now a member of the Clandestine Cake Club and affiliated with the Boston chapter. But they do not appear too be very active. So perhaps I will try to start a Hartford chapter.

I am up for celebrating Cake Week if Mike will allow us to do that through his site.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi. I baked off some challah dough I had in the freezer. I put it in in March so I figured it was approaching EoL and I needed to bake it. I made a six strand braid which came out pretty nicely. They really do have a nice, three-dimensional look that three and four strand braids do not have. It was a two and a half pound loaf that my two sons polished off in a matter of hours. It's not my normal recipe and I don't like it as much but apparently my boys did not care.

I also made another double batch of rye bread and learned a few things. First, I figured out what caused my blowouts. I made two two-and-a-half pound loaves. I put them too close to each other in the oven and they expanded until they were touching. Without room to rise evenly on both sides they each blew out the opposite side.

I like three slashes better than five but that is an aesthetic decision.

I did not check my ingredients before I started and ran out of first clear flour half way through. So the loaves were half real clear and half bread flour. I do not like the color as much and I do not like the taste as much as the all-real clear loaves. But it did have a slightly higher rise in the finished product. Cass was right as usual.

I left one loaf unglazed and brushed egg wash on the second. I like the cornstarch the best (pace Mike). But it is also more of a pain in the neck as the cornstarch glaze involves cooking.

[aaronatthedoublef]

So was "Biscuits" cookies?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hmmmm... Potato chips and French fries cause cancer... Hmmmm... sounds like a way to scare people out of eating junk food!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Sorry BA. I read through the whole article.

Yes Mike, we should aim for aa National Cake Week. I could actually use Instagram for something for a change.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I see it in the word "article but I'll put it in here:

I just registered for the Clandestine Cake Club. The closest club is in Boston (there are only three in the US) which would be a two hour drive but it might be worth it to stretch my cake muscles again.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, Chocomouse, I also have a hazelnut tart recipe. My wife gave it to me many years ago for Thanksgiving because she does not like pecan or pumpkin pie. She actually does not like pie. I think it is from Real Simple.

It uses a chocolate cookie/hazelnut/butter crust that is dead simple to make - just crush everything in the food processor and push it into a tart pan.

The filling is a chocolate ganache which is different from BA's recipe. The measurements are volume not weight so I use volume. I would probably follow whatever is in the recipe I am using. If a recipe has weights and volumes, these days I would probably use weights.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Amazon has had grocery stores and even produce stands I Seattle for a while. They may have had them other places as well. And in big cities (or so I hear because I don't live in one of those places) Amazon which do same day delivery to your door of just about anything they sell. In Seattle and NYC Amazon has restaurant delivery as well (maybe Chicago and LA?).

Whole Foods just started a Peapod-like delivery service here (and if they are doing it here they must be doing it other places).

Walmart still has a better selection and better pricing than either Amazon or WF.

Interesting times. Interesting times.

[aaronatthedoublef]

When I make pie crust I use heavy cream instead of water. It's something a friend of mine taught me and 3-4 tbls sounds about right.

It you were making a ganache with the chocolate chips and cream that usually calls for a 1 to 1 ratio chocolate to cream so it would need a 1/2 cup to go with the 1/2 cup of chocolate. Not sure what the other ingredients would do to that though.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Happy belated birthday KP. Your missives are always entertaining and educational!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike, Not sure about the caraway seeds either but in Jewish Deli Rye from Secrets of a Jewish Baker they also add the caraway seeds in the starter not when making the dough. Maybe, as you say, it absorbs some of the water. Maybe it flavors the sponge/starter which gives a stronger flavor in the final product.

BBGA being coastal-centric is fine for me as I am on the East Coast.

BA, I do not use my mixer for bread anymore. It's just too small for anything over four cups of flour (KA rated it for 10 cups), it overflows, and I have to play with it too much and the clean up is way too much. Also, when I was teaching the kids to make bread they all went home and asked their parents to buy a KA mixer. So for the next class I started to do it by hand and now I just have continued that.

The only thing I've used my KA mixer for in recent memory was making whipped cream.

So it is as consistent as I can make it doing it by hand.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I am not a BBGA member although it may be a worthwhile investment at this point. And you're right about side-by-side comparisons. I just haven't had the time or the space to make and store multiple doughs at once.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Cass, Mike, BA, Thanks. I appreciate the help and wisdom.

I did not know about patent flours so that is new. I can always use bread flour instead of clear since that is what the original recipe called for. I subbed in clear because reading Secrets of Jewish Baker he recommends clear. I also like the bran left in clear.

I should probably try using bread flour to see the difference in taste and texture.

Also, I made five loaves and only one - the two pound batard - had a blow out. I made three, one pound, round loaves that came out fine.

This is what KAF says about clear flour:

First clear flour is what remains after milling patent flour, giving it a darker color and higher mineral content. Traditionally, Jewish bakeries used first clear flour to bake their rye breads – the protein in first clear balances the lack of gluten in rye flour to give rye breads loftier rise and better chew.
Combine first clear flour with flours that typically produce denser loaves (like whole wheat, rye, or spelt). It'll improve the rise and final texture of your baked goods.

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