Sunday and Monday it was just plain hot, temperatures got into the mid to upper 80's. Today it was back down into the 70's with a morning thunderstorm. Supposed to drop down into the 50's and 60's for the rest of the week and into next week.
I did bake bread yesterday and today, but had the windows open yesterday evening and all afternoon today to cool things down.
I made a batch of semolina bread today, then used several slices of it to make a simple pizza bread, spreading some tomato sauce on each slice and topping it with havarti and mozzarella cheese. Very tasty.
I've had muffins that were much sweeter than cupcakes, even ones with a thick layer of frosting.
I made two changes in the Ginsberg Jewish Deli Pumpernickel Rye bread, one intentional.
I was out of caramel coloring, so they're lighter than the first set of loaves, you can easily see how far down the sides the egg wash went, it's even lighter below that point.
I also forgot to put the 2nd sponge in the refrigerator overnight, so it sat on the counter for 14 hours before I mixed up the dough. That may result in a loaf with a more prominent sour taste, I'll know in a few hours. It did seem to rise more than the last batch, whether that's due more to not being refrigerated or the house temperature being a good 5 degrees warmer today is unclear.
I made the first two stages of the Ginsberg Jewish Deli pumpernickel recipe yesterday, I'll finish it today.
I will probably make more pumpernickel this week and another batch of semolina bread, since we're on the last half-loaf.
My rye starter is smelling a bit sweeter, I've been feeding it more frequently.
I am doing a small pre-sliced ham today. Well, I'll heat a few slices for me, my wife prefers hers without being marinated and baked.
Probably some potatoes au gratin, too.
Somehow I don't think crab stuffed shrimp (they must be big ones) is the 'easy' route, though.
King Arthur has posted instructions for making rye puff pastry (using rye and wheat flour) and several things you can make with it
I started a batch of sauerkraut today, probably about 9 pounds. We'll use it mainly for snacking, I suspect.
You could make a whole wheat flat bread or pita and cut it into wedges then bake it a second time into chips.
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.
We had artichokes for supper.
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.
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.
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.
