[Mike Nolan]

We had artichokes for supper.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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

[Mike Nolan]

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

[Mike Nolan]

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?

[Mike Nolan]

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

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

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.

[Mike Nolan]

The Reubens we had last night were so good, we made them again today. One of the two loaves of pumpernickel is gone already. I'm hoping the other will last long enough to be available for ham on Easter.

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