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Thanks for looking that up! Have you thought of just baking shallower breads? I normally make mine in a cast iron frying pan so perhaps 2 inches high. I've made double batches in a 9x13 pan so also fairly shallow. Not traditional shapes but it cooks completely in half the time or less.
Mike;
Have you ever overkneaded a dough when kneading by hand? I've kneaded some doughs for a considerable amount of time without getting close. I've always assumed that I would get bored before reaching the limit. I had one cookbook that recommended overkneading to make good English Muffins so thought it would be possible.
I am surprised that it would take 30 minutes to overknead by machine. I was afraid that kneading only a minute or two too long would have problems.
ThanksGood Morning all;
First thanks for all your good advice on machine kneading. Otherwise I would have panicced and worried about overkneading.
The start of this was much like doing it by hand. Mix the sponge ingredients and let it rise. Stir together cocoa, sugar, salt and part of flour. Reserve the rest of the flour in a convenient container.
The first change was beating the eggs and butter together. I don't think the mixer was made for such small amounts. It would have been faster by hand especially trying to cream the butter. The butter was still in chunks when I gave up.
Then I mixed in the sponge and that went better. However it is much harder to add ingredients than with a tilt head mixer. Lowering the bowl doesn't really give clearance to pour in ingredients, and taking the bowl out lets the beater drip onto the base. Also using a spatula to scrape the bowl is harder.
I then changed to the dough hook and added most of the dry ingredients. A hook is a really inefficient mixing tool. The mixer bowl is hard to scrape down even in its lower position. I found I could unfasten the hook and then the bowl so I could effectively run a scraper along the sides. Its also wierd to trying to carefully add the flour without using your hands to gauge the stickiness. This is where I was so glad for your advice. I went over the 2 minutes of kneading and then decided to continue until the sides were cleaner and the dough started climbing the hook. I think I went around 6 minutes, then added the walnuts and cherries and kneaded 2 more minutes.
I left the dough in the mixing bowl to rise, and started cleaning up. This made less of a mess than kneading by hand and took less time. Washing the mixer was a little awkward, I had to put it on its side to clean the underside of the head. The nice thing was that the mixing bowl was a good size to let the dough rise. I just put a pan lid on it and left it.
This made 24 rolls which baked up nicely and turned out light and fluffy. A little drier than last time.Chocomouse, I am glad that you are well and safe. I went through Vermont last month and Interstate was being repaired in places. I guess with all the mountains the rain will just be funnelled into the lower areas very quickly. I hope the covered bridges survive. KA was having computer troubles when I stopped by on June 29.
I think I am going to do a Chocolate yeast bread, its the last bread I made by hand and I want to see how the experience differs. I used all the tricks to make hand kneading easier starting with a sponge, then resting the dough before kneading, and kneading the butter into the dough instead of adding it earlier. Since I use the butter on my hands and the kneading board I don't need to add as much flour giving a moister dough.
Now it seems that instead of kneading for half an hour, I only have to knead for 2 minutes and don't have to worry about easiest ways to mix ingredients.I found the model number and the serial number and it looks like it was made in February 2006. It was very expensive new, no wonder it was a group gift. It is old enough that I don't feel too bad at offering less than a third of the original price.
I did baked pancakes -- my normal whole wheat pancakes but baked in the oven until done. Chocomouse is right this is easier and less likely to burn than doing them on the stove top. Ate half of them with strawberries and Greek yogurt for breakfast; and the other half for lunch.
I did another chocolate yeast bread using a different recipe. This one has walnuts but no cherries and I used more butter than the recipe called for, and added some potato flakes. I also formed it into rolls instead of a loaf. Its been about 4 days since it was baked and its still fairly soft and tasty.
Chocomouse; I'm in Lexington Ky currently so haven't experienced any smoke yet. I'm hoping that the wind patterns never bring the smoke this far West.
I never thought of a Texas Sheet Cake in anything but chocolate. I've a friend who would love this, he likes strawberries.
chocomouse;
How are things in New England? Friends in the DC area are complaining about the Canadian smoke problem and you are even closer.
Also how did you like baked pancakes? I only did it once and I like the sort of pancakes fine but didn't feel an urge to try it again. It would probably work better in the winter than summer as the whole oven would need to heat up. today was relatively cool but the previous 5 days were very hot.I did Mrs. Cindy's chocolate cherry bread. I used KAF all purpose flour instead of bread flour and left out the chocolate chips. It turned out a very light brown, I thought it would be darker, and mildly sweet. I baked it in a 9x13 pan getting a very flat bread about 2 inches high that I cut up in squares instead of a loaf. It cooks faster which is an advantage in summer time.
I might have to buy a new range/oven combination as my father's stopped working a couple of times while this was baking. My father bought this used from a neighbor some years back but was feeling very put upon when I told him it would have to be replaced. He uses the oven very little so since the range works he doesn't feel the urgency of getting a new one.I loved both videos. I wished I was in New York and could eat some of the hand rolled bagels. I've never made bagels by hand. Is the boiling stage very complicated? It seems the bagel cooks and expands while boiling, neat.
Riverside Len; the Rye buns look great. They are more like English Muffins in size. What do they taste like toasted, with butter and jam of course? Well if life gives you muffins, then reach for the butter!
I did KA Flours Moravian Fruit Coffeecake, but left out anything for which I didn't have the ingredients like potato flour and dried milk, also had to use KA all purpose flour as I didn't have anything else. This came out surprisingly well, it was like a pan pizza with sugar crust and of course plums. I went off to look at other Moravian Sugar cake recipes and King Arthur had made some modification of their own. The original recipe had mashed potatoes instead of just a mere trace of potato flour.
I also did minature scones with dried cranberries.I am so glad that you are going to be there! I was afraid for some reason that you couldn't make the journey. If no crisis arrive I will be there and look forward to seeing you. I want to meet so many people I haven't seen for ages and look at all the sheep and fabric and tools.
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