Wed. Feb 25th, 2026

Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29356
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      I baked 4 of the cinnamon/maple fan tan rolls this morning. I took them out of the freezer and put them in a muffin tin, preheated the oven, and put them in about 20 minutes later, at which point they were not yet fully defrosted. I baked them for 25 minutes at 325.

      They rose just fine in the oven, and the butter/sugar mixture stayed together longer since the butter was still mostly frozen, so there were lovely pockets of caramel in between layers. That made them better than the ones I baked the other day but didn't freeze.

      The only thing I might do differently is put them in some mini-loaf pans instead of the muffin tin, we may try that tomorrow.

      in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29353
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        We had artichokes for supper.

        in reply to: 2021 Garden plans #29351
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          I got tomato plants started indoors today, 8 different varieties. I'll probably start another set of them in a week using a slightly different approach. (These were done in pellet pots, the next batch will be in peat pots with soil.

          in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29350
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            The link I gave earlier used flour, sugar, water and milk. I can see how a little made with some yeast or a fat (including egg) might be softer but still enough different in color to make the cross visible.

            Or you could go the opposite way and make the cross darker, such as by adding cocoa.

            in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29344
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              I know my Zo Classic had a bell to signal when to add things like raisins, but I seldom heard it, probably because I was in another room. It also wasn't all that loud.

              in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29342
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                Well, the tangzhong batch of hot cross buns didn't rise as much as the original recipe batch, either in bulk proof (even though I gave them additional time) or in final proof. The internal crumb is a bit finer, a lot of smaller holes rather than not quite as many holes but bigger. Hard to compare taste, the interiors are different, the exteriors are similar.

                I'll see how they taste again tomorrow, but right at the moment I'm leaning towards the original version as better. I'll also be watching to see if they stay moist longer

                in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29339
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  Apparently one way is to pipe something like cookie dough on top.
                  hot cross buns with stripe in the dough

                  in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29338
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    I've seen hot cross buns where the cross is from dough baked into the roll, but I'm not sure how they do that. A different dough, maybe?

                    in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29336
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      We had salads followed by hot cross buns (with extra icing, of course.) Slightly better than yesterday's meal. 🙂

                      in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29333
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        The first batch of Hot Cross buns just came out of the oven, the second batch will be going in later this evening. That batch was made with 10% of the flour in a tangzhong roux.

                        in reply to: Coming Through the Rye #29328
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          Shipping costs have been going up because of increased demand. UPS has been advertising they're looking for more drivers. And cardboard boxes are in short supply, too, so they've also been going up in price. And I read in the Wall Street Journal the other day that more companies, including General Mills, Kimberly-Clark and Hormel, are planning to raise wholesale prices to reflect their increased costs, including COVID-19 mitigation. But the government still says inflation is under control. (Another Wall Street Journal article was talking about how the middle class is going to bear the brunt of the tax increases that are coming.)

                          I did actually find my wife's preferred toilet paper in the grocery store the other day, the first time I've seen it since last spring.

                          I've ordered from walmart.com, but they don't always have what I'm after, especially specialty flours. But Amazon doesn't have a lot of those, either.

                          in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29322
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I made some fan tan rolls today, the stacking process didn't go as well as I would have liked, I think my dough was too soft. As a result, some of the rolls didn't look much like fan tan rolls, though others did.

                            I made 7 with butter and 11 with sugar, cinnamon and maple syrup in between layers. The latter were even messier but were yummy! I also made and froze a dozen of the maple/sugar/cinnamon ones and will try making some of them in a few days.

                            Those wound up being supper tonight, not the most nutritious supper we've had lately.

                            in reply to: The cake that ‘Nailed It’ was emulating #29319
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              Chocolate, bananas and strawberry go well together, think banana split. But this cake is something that you'd need a big crowd to serve it to.

                              But sometimes that's the point of a dessert. My wife has made a Spanish Wind Torte a couple of times, it is a lot of work but when done right is a pièce de résistance at the table.

                              in reply to: Coming Through the Rye #29307
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                This is a REALLY good pumpernickel. It uses both a rye starter and some commercial yeast, I'm not sure how it would come out if you just used commercial yeast. It isn't assertively 'sour', though I can taste some sourness. Some of the rye breads I've made from the Ginsberg book have been in-your-face sour, this one isn't.

                                in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 28, 2021? #29306
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  I don't think I've ever seen Hot Cross Buns available around Easter in the stores in Nebraska, which was why I started baking my own.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 3,691 through 3,705 (of 7,858 total)