[Mike Nolan]

I made marbled rye bread, Diane made oatmeal-raisin-date spice cookies.

[Mike Nolan]

BA, does the sourdough cheese cracker dough have a best-by date on it? I made a batch over a week ago and what with picking up my son and granddaughter and all the other holiday stuff, it's still in the fridge.

[Mike Nolan]

Today's semolina bread, I'm working on making sure my loaves are consistently shaped, these two look pretty similar.

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[Mike Nolan]

I thought the croissants were just a bit overdone, especially on the bottom, but there's only one left after supper tonight, so they must have been OK. It wouldn't surprise me if I make them again in a few days, my son and granddaughter are both here and enjoyed both the chocolatines and the croissants.

I might make bagels tomorrow or Friday, and I'm about out of semolina bread, so I'll probably make that tomorrow.

I was pleased that our granddaughter seemed to enjoy the chicken and mushroom dish I made to go with the croissants, too.

[Mike Nolan]

I've used that method or variations on it. I take a big bowl, heat it with near-boiling water (an instant hot water tap is great for that), pour the water out, then invert it over a platter with the stick of butter on it.

[Mike Nolan]

We had chicken and mushrooms in a cream sauce, with croissants.

[Mike Nolan]

Today's croissants, about 40 grams each:

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[Mike Nolan]

So you would think a 2 hour final proof would be fine under those conditions?

If I was answering a question on the food safety certification exam, I'd hesitate before saying yes, but I think as long as the fillings are cooked to at least 180 degrees they should be fine, and with most breads the internal temperature is more like 190-200.

The general rule of thumb is 2 hours in the danger zone (40-140) is the upper limit, 1 hour if at 90 degrees or hotter.

Would proofing in the refrigerator be possible?

[Mike Nolan]

I've been using sticks I made from Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate (54.5% cacao) but most of the bakeries use pre-made sticks, so I bought a box of 300 Callebaut croissant sticks (44% cacao).

The pre-made ones are a bit smaller, 3 inches long and 5.3 grams each vs 4 inches long and about 10 grams for the ones I made, so I used 2 per chocolatine.

I had enough of the home made chocolate sticks left to make 2 croissants, the other 7 were made with the pre-made sticks. I tried some of both, and found it hard to pick a favorite.

[Mike Nolan]

The ricotta in a cannoli usually has some sugar added, would the cranberry sauce supply much sweetness, it tends to be tart.

[Mike Nolan]

How long can I let a meat filling sit around while the bread dough rises?

Meat and egg fillings should be OK with a 2 hour final proof after shaping and filling, are they cold, room temperature or warm when you fill the bao?

[Mike Nolan]

Today's chocolatines came out much nicer looking.

And less butter leakage, too.

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[Mike Nolan]

We're leaning towards doing a ham for Christmas this year, probably a spiral sliced one that has been marinated in Dr. Pepper for 24 hours.

[Mike Nolan]

We had tomato soup and cheese sandwiches tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm working on another batch of croissant dough, I'll make some chocolatines and some croissants.

I've got my 3 turns done (1 simple fold, 2 letter folds for a total of 37 layers) and I rolled it out to the point where I need to divide it into two parts for final rollout to 2 or 3mm thick. I'll make some chocolatines in the morning, bake them in the afternoon, and do the croissants on Thursday or Friday.

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