[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I measured the 2-qt. dough bucket this morning. It is 4 inches high and 7 inches in diameter. I remember now that I bought two of them so that when we go to my husband's family reunion (with my smaller bread machine in tow), I can make two concurrent batches of cinnamon rolls. I always lightly oil the bucket, with either canola (sweet rolls, most breads) or olive oil (pizza and certain specialty breads). The dough buckets stack inside each other nicely, and the 4-quart (which KAF does not sell, fits nicely with the smaller ones.

Yes, that is expensive flour. I will need to go back to the website and read the comments. Right now, I'm mulling over buying a special flour for a future attempt at the Rosetta Rolls, and I thought that was expensive.

[BakerAunt]

One of my friends, whose grandparents emigrated from Italy, prefers her pizza with just cheese. I wondered if a lot of toppings is an American innovation.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I have three sizes of dough buckets. One is a 6-quart, one is a 4-quart, and two are 2-quart. The largest and smallest came from King Arthur, but the mid-sized one I found at the local thrift shop for 5o cents. I have two of the smallest size because KAF had a better deal on two. I keep them stacked inside each other, with the lids on the top. The lids of the 2-quart and 4-quart are interchangeable. The 2-quart is only about six inches high. It's perfect for pizza dough or a recipe of rolls, or a single small loaf of bread. For a larger loaf or two smaller loaves, I use the 4-quart. The 6-quart is perfect for when I make three loaves. Snap on lids seem to help retain warmth, which I think is lost less quickly than in ceramic bowls. It also cuts down on the need for saran. The 4-quart (size KAF does not sell) is a bit shorter than the 5 lb. flour holders they sell.

You might want to ask if a recipe is included. I am intrigued by the Rouge de Bordeaux but not sure how to use it.

[BakerAunt]

For Saturday night dinner (Halloween!), I made my sourdough pan pizza. I topped it with homemade tomato sauce, frozen in August, Canadian Bacon, mozzarella, mushrooms, green onion, black olives on my side, and Parmesan cheese.

[BakerAunt]

For dessert on Friday, I adapted a recipe for Pumpkin Streusel Muffins from Breads, Breads, and More Breads, a Pillsbury cook booklet (#37). The recipe is a long time favorite. I replaced ¾ of the AP flour with whole wheat pastry flour, added some flax meal and milk powder, and made some other changes. After putting the streusel on top, I put some Halloween sprinkles on top of it. I used Halloween baking papers.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Friday night was Salmon and Couscous with Penzey’s Greek Seasoning, along with microwaved frozen peas.

[BakerAunt]

Unless your neighbor is one of the people who has the gene that makes cilantro taste like soap. In that case, your forgetfulness is a win!

[BakerAunt]

Last year I experimented with creating a maple cookie, low in saturated fat, using an Italian Breakfast Cookie recipe I had found, and using maple syrup in place of honey. It was ok. On Wednesday, I tweaked the recipe further, using maple sugar in place of regular sugar, using ¾ cup white whole wheat flour with ½ cup AP, and adding 1/8 tsp. maple extract. I used Halloween Nordic Ware Cookie Stamps on balls of dough, scooped out with scant 2 Tbs. dough (Zeroll #30), which gave me 11 cookies. I refrigerated the stamped cookies (took the impression well) for 30 minutes. I baked at 375F for 10 minutes, turning halfway through. The cookies needed an additional six minutes to be crisp on the bottom. We had a couple for dessert tonight, and the maple flavor comes through. These are not as sweet as most cookies, but we find them satisfying.

On Wednesday, I also made another batch of Maple Granola, and this time I had a stash of raisins, hidden from my husband to mix in after the granola baked.

[BakerAunt]

So, now I'm looking at Italian flours at this website:

https://brickovenbaker.com/pages/information-about-caputo-flours

I'm thinking that this one might be close to what would work for Rosetta rolls, but at $16.95 per 5 lb. bag, it is not inexpensive:

https://brickovenbaker.com/products/antimo-caputo-rinforzato-00-flour

I wish that they would state their shipping costs without making the buyer have to do the checkout steps first.

[BakerAunt]

Wow! 3D printers are amazing. Thanks for posting that picture, Mike.

Thanks, Len for the advice on flour. It certainly helped when I turned the rolls back over.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

If Italian wheat varieties are not as strong as American varieties, that may be why Cass told me to use half KAF All Purpose and half Bob's Red Mill Artisan Bread flour.

I've also wondered if Italian flour already has malt added to it. The KAF and BRM artisan bread flours certainly do.

I will need to give some thought to what I might do differently next time. I still think that the shaping of the balls before they are stamped may play a part.

The taste of the Rosetta Rolls is wonderful, so even if I were never to achieve the hole and the perfect design, I would still bake them.

[BakerAunt]

Today I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough I made up last week (or was it longer?)

While I like my quartz kitchen countertops, one drawback is that they are white with specks, and sometimes it is difficult to see where the parchment ends against the countertop. The parchment also slides while I'm rolling out the dough. A more serious problem is that when I put a metal baking sheet on the counter, after transferring the dough to cut into crackers, the rubbing of the metal on the quartz leaves black marks that I have to rub off. I had been moving the baking sheet to the dining room table, a not so efficient solution.

Today, I had a brilliant idea. A long time ago--back when King Arthur carried unusual and useful baking items, I bought what they called a "tagliere," or Italian kneading board. I had to look up the name to write this post and discovered that is actually the word for cutting board. What I have is a spianatoia or kneading and pastry board. It is made of wood--my husband says either maple or birch--with a lip on the underside in front that pushes against the counter and a backsplash 2 1/2 inches high. The dimensions are 24x16 inches. I used it a lot for kneading breads, hooking it on the edge of my kitchen table, although I then had to scrape off the flour that stuck. After I discovered Silpat mats, I tended not to use it. The kneading board has been sitting in the kitchen area of our garage apt., and I was thinking a few weeks ago that I wish that I could find a use for it.

I sent my husband to fetch it, wiped it off, then discovered it is a perfect fit for my kitchen peninsula. I rolled out the crackers on parchment on it, and I did not have the sliding, and I could see where the parchment ends. As an added bonus, the 3/4 of an inch I gain made it much easier to roll out the crackers--much less bending over and so much more comfortable. I've found a place to store it between the cabinet and my wooden rolling cart. I am so pleased.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for the tip, Mike. I'll try that next time I use a stamp for rolls.

I'm thinking as well that, in addition to the stamp, there may be a technique in how the ball of dough is shaped. I looked at some online pictures, some at The Fresh Loaf, and they are close to what I was trying to do at the end, but not quite.

Another possibility for getting that hollow in the center may be the kind of flour. I saw some discussion of that, with one person suggesting low protein flour and another advocating high protein. I think that the latter is correct. I could try using more of the BRM artisan bread flour next time. I noted as well that a lot of people were baking the rolls much darker, but I don't think that is right. I believe my recipe is from Daniel Leader, and he says the color of sand.

Another person swore by using the convection setting on the oven so that there is heat over and under.

So, no hole in the one I sliced today, and I doubt there will be any with a hole. I had it as a sandwich, with onion sauteed in olive oil, then put on the plate while I scrambled an egg. I put that on the rosetta roll, put the cooked onion rings on top, and ate it for lunch. Ideally it would have had bell pepper as well, but the one we have that is almost turned red in the house is slated for pizza this weekend. Why the scrambled egg sandwich? Because Cass remembered eating the rolls this way, and it is my way of toasting him. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--the crust is chewy, not hard, with a pillowy soft interior. I note that some I am seeing on line seem darker than mine, but I do not think mine are under baked. There seems to be a raging debate on how strong the flour should be. I certainly like the taste! My husband asked about a whole grain version; I told him that I have not mastered the white flour version!

Mike--I agree that something is needed to prevent sticking, so that the stamped roll can be easily picked up, before being turned down on the baking sheet. I was relieved that the floured pan worked well for the long refrigerator rise, and that there was no sticking after baking.

[BakerAunt]

Well, I didn't get the hollow center, at least not in the four we had tonight, although I did serve the ones at dinner with less design. I'm hoping the one that has more of the design, which I will cut for lunch tomorrow, will have a hollow, but I think that I need more practice with the stamp. Here are my notes from the first attempt. Pictures will have to wait.

Rosetta Rolls (Notes on Baking)

On Sunday, October 25, I mixed up the biga at 8 p.m. I followed Cass Avona’s suggestion to use half King Arthur AP flour and half Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread flour. (The recipe states “unbleached bread flour, preferably high gluten.) I used the metric weights for ingredients. I put it in a 2-quart dough bucket, lightly coated with olive oil (no specific oil was mentioned). It was to rest in the container on the counter for an hour before refrigerating, but it was rising so fast (house temperature about 74F) that I moved it to the refrigerator after 35 minutes. When I checked it an hour later, it was at the top of the dough bucket on the lid. I oiled a 4-quart dough bucket and moved the dough to it for the overnight time in the refrigerator.

On Monday, October 26, shortly after noon, I put the biga in a bowl, added the water (70F) and broke it up with a spatula until most of the water was mixed in. As my 7-quart stand mixer does not do well with small amounts of dough, I used the Zo bread machine to mix and knead. The recipe states a Kitchen Aid mixer on speed 4 for 10-12 minutes until smooth and elastic, and that is equivalent to what the bread machine does. I stopped the bread machine 16 minutes into its cycle, which after the initial mixing of several minutes, should give the correct kneading time, and the dough was smooth and elastic. I put it into a 2-quart, lightly olive oiled, dough bucket.

This rise is to be for 35-45 minutes (at 70-74F kitchen). I put it on the dining area table, which is a bit warmer than the rest of the house but registering at 67F. Bread machines do add some heat in the mixing, which I hope will give the dough sufficient warmth. Due to the coolness of the room, I gave it an extra 10 minutes, for a total of 55 minutes.

I patted the dough into a rectangle that would make it easy for me to divide it into twelve pieces. Forming the pieces into balls was initially difficult, as the dough is slightly tacky. As I worked, I found it best to take a piece and start folding it in on itself with one hand, while holding it with the other hand. The directions call for an unfloored countertop; I used my Silpat mat. Using the stamp will take some practice. I found that it helps to flour it. It also helps to pick up the resting ball of dough and move it before stamping (less sticking). It is still tricky getting them onto the silicone turner, so that they can be put, stamp side down, onto a floured baking sheet. (I wondered about using parchment but decided to follow the directions exactly. I might, next time, try putting the ball of dough on a wide silicone spatula and stamping it on that before moving to the baking sheet. I discovered that I needed to press down the rosetta stamp completely into the dough. I finished at 2:10 p.m. and put the baking sheet, covered in saran, in the refrigerator for the required 3-8 hours. My plan is to bake them after the spaghetti squash lasagna that I am making for dinner, as the oven will be close to temperature and can be heated up to 500F from there.

I was able to flip over the rolls with a silicone spatula when I took them out of the refrigerator after about five hours. The design was not that distinct, and on a some it did not show up at all. After a 20-minute rest at room temperature, the pan went into the oven. I used the third rack up. They had nice oven spring and after ten minutes had developed good color, so I removed them. (The directions say 10-15 minutes but best when lightly baked.) We each had two with dinner. Neither had a hollow, but they do have a lovely light texture and delicious taste. I will try one that has a bit more of the rose design at lunch tomorrow and see if it has any hollow area. I will do some reading about how to best stamp them before I give the recipe another try.

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