[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I like the tips on tempering. It may be time to buy a sous vide.

I've tried scoring the chocolate with a hot knife and it didn't work. It's about inch thick blocks. It also may be time to start ordering chocolate in callets.

I have one of those giant forks to break up the chocolate but I always gouge the counter or wreck a cutting board with it.

I wonder if I could score it and then soften the chocolate and then break it. I may have to experiment.

[aaronatthedoublef]

My weekly challah bake. Only had enough for six loaves as I miscalculated my apple cider. 🙁

Braiding is better. I dropped off four at the temple.

Thanks Mike. I have a chocolate chopper but I've never been able to cut neat chunks.

I need something like a corona wire in a printer but those things are truly dangerous.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

It's a little off topic but does anyone have a method for neatly chopping chocolate?

I'd like to cut is in neat, small squares to put out for people to sample and see the difference between different chocolates so I don't want the rough chop I use for baking. I tried heating a chef's knife but the chocolate and that didn't work. Should I melt the chocolate and poor it into molds? Then I probably need to temper it which I've never done and is another, non-trivial process in itself.

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

The pie looks great! I think we will make a late, fruit pie this weekend. I took my pie dough out of the freezer too late for actual Pi Day.

[aaronatthedoublef]

We also lose Star Wars Day! May the 4th be with you.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I took my pie dough out of the freezer too late! Plus I had work so no pie here.

But I had ciabatta dough I had to use to make room in the freezer so I made some buns from that. They were more successful than my last attempt!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. I saw that coupon. It came the same day as my big order from Vitacost. 🙁

Of course I am running low on pastry flour...

[aaronatthedoublef]

Crumbl is opening here. They are building out in the same shopping center and the bundt cake franchise store.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. My parents bought some challahs (the actual plural is "challot") but most of them were made by my mom sometimes with a little help from me.

To your point about inspiring others, we're starting with a dozen to see if we can make the logistics work. But if this is successful and the delivery folks can handle it I think I can make 24 on my own provided I can find an oven to handle that. If I can inspire some people and this grows then I can rope some people to come in at 4:00 am to shape. Or if I can just convince people to make their own and make an extra loaf to give away, this will have been a success.

I want to try your oatcakes but I need to find Scottish oats. All I can find here is steel cut and rolled. I may try to order some or I could probably grind some steel cut in the blender.

Matt used spelt a lot in the bakery. For a while it was really inexpensive. He was always switching around trying to keep good flavor and margins without raising his prices.

Mike - You are right. I need an NFP. The I can buy wholesale and there are a number of places to do that around here. Back when my restaraunt friends bought bread flour for $15 for 50 lbs. they would give me bags. But now it is just too expensive.

[aaronatthedoublef]

First, thanks for all your wise counsel and for being my sounding board as I embark down this path. I cannot tell you how much it means to me.

I made challah. Six loaves and no rolls this time. I'm getting the process down and my braiding is getting better but it is still not where I want it.

I tried raw honey from Costco to replace the local honey I use normally. It's not as good but my testers didn't notice the difference. I do but I suspect that is because I know it is different. The local stuff is four or five times as expensive and food costs start to add up. I'll need between 8-10 lbs of flour a week. Even if I buy BRM bread flour from Vitacost which has the best price around here, that's still $12 just for flour. I'll use 10-11 eggs and we all know about that. I need to setup a 501c3 and that will help me contain some of those costs.

My distribution is shaping up too. I have people who will pick up the bread at our temple and deliver it.

If you're wondering why I'm doing this with challah (aside from the obvious) is that we have some very generous bakeries here who donate day old bread. And with many of their loaves the flavor actually peaks probably 12 to 24 hours after it comes out of the oven. So day-old may actually be a better product.

But challah on Saturday is too late. So if I can get this to people before sun down Friday they can have challah for the Sabbath.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone.

According to Bing Chicago Metallic sub roll pans can be found at a Sysco about 10 miles away from my house. I'll check to see if they actually have them. There are other ones available on Amazon but I haven't looked to much. I need a couple full size sheet pans and a couple of BIG bowls for challah so I can do this all in one trip.

I still like a couche because I can use it for this or baguettes or other things then brush it, fold it, and slide it away.

I used a flip board at Uncle Matt's. It's pretty neat how something so simple can make a big difference.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Looking online I can find sub roll pans but not the Chicago Metallic. I bet I can on eBay. But I'd rather just form these by hand.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I had biscuit dough in my freezer and needed to free up space so I turned it into cinnamon buns.

My family said "too buttery". Of course they have eaten this dough many times in other forms. I used turbinado sugar instead of white and I needed more of it. It lacked sweet.

The layers looks pretty good and they survived in the freezer pretty well too.

Have any of you ever tried mixing maple syrup with cinnamon and using that?

Thanks

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[aaronatthedoublef]

Add croissants to this list. Here in southern NE (I'm including Boston) bakers can't just leave a croissant alone. They load them up with all sorts of stuff. The most extreme I've seen was a baker who makes beautiful, wonderful, croissants fill them with pastry cream with fruity Pebbles in them for Pride Month. There is something to be said for simplicity and purity and a plain croissant is just wonderful and a cup of good coffee.

The sad part is his plain croissants are great.

Most of the bakeries I know have crappy cookies. The same baker who made the fruity pebble croissants said it is because he has to make cookies and doesn't really care about them. But they are the worst item he sells.

If you load up a cookie with peanut butter cups and buttercream and all this stuff then
you can hide a lot of mediocrity.

Good cookies just don't need all this junk.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. Thanks BA. I'm am out of space for new pans and I still need a couple of full size sheet pans. I may invest in a couple of couches. I can fold those and they take less space.

Mike, I did try to shape these like baguettes. Instead of a proofing board I used the back of a half sheet and I know I did not flour it enough so it was hard to take them of the pan and onto the stone. Thinking about this as I type, I could have just put the whole pan into the oven... As Homer Simpson's baker brother said "dough!"

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