Topic: OT: The Bakery

[grit]

Thought I'd start a thread for all the baked goods everyone's been making! Here is a place to post your creations, recipes, and other sundry baking-related content.

I'll kick things off with some Hokkaido milk bread, fresh from the oven.

[Indofunk]

My second loaf of sourdough from my homemade sourdough starter! And possibly my best loaf of bread to date!

[Indofunk]

Wait, are these supposed to be film pictures? If so I need to delete my previous post

[grit]

Wait, are these supposed to be film pictures? If so I need to delete my previous post

Ha, I suppose they can be film if you want, but I meant it more as an off-topic thread - my photos were definitely shot on iPhone. I just started this because everyone is talking about baking lately, so I figured a dedicated thread would be nice!

[Pete_R]

Hokkaido milk bread? Never heard of it.

I've heard of milk bread, or more often milk rolls, which are softer than normal bread, but this seems to take it to another level. More of an enriched dough. In fact, a recipe I just found is almost identical to the recipe I use for making spiced fruit buns (same as hot cross buns but without the cross) but without the spice or fruit. Similar dough as I would use to make cinnamon rolls or Chelsea buns.

[Sandeha Lynch]

Wait, are these supposed to be film pictures? If so I need to delete my previous post

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

[Francois]

Wait, are these supposed to be film pictures? If so I need to delete my previous post

Desperate Times Call for Desperate Measures

No problem with phone pics. We all know that the iPhone is the new Ektar 
Besides, if Ed didn't have a camera phone, I honestly don't know what he would do?

[Pete_R]

This morning's granary loaf - now half eaten.

This is made from 2/3 commercial granary flour and 1/3 white flour. I find it difficult to get consistent results with 100% granary and the flavour doesn't change much. I add extra seeds to it. This one was done in the dutch oven but I usually do it in a tin.

[grit]

Hokkaido milk bread? Never heard of it.

It's really just a slightly sweeter version of Shokupan. You can get a loaf for under $3 at most of the Chinese bakeries around here in Northern California. Both Hokkaido milk bread and Shokupan are made with a tangzhong - a roux that is cooled and then mixed into the dough to keep the bread nice and tender.

Indofunk and Pete, those loaves look delicious. And speaking of granary flour, here's some flour news: a 1,000-year-old flour mill has resumed production in order to meet demand during quarantine.

[Bryan]

Imperial Stout I brewed and the bread made with the spent beer grains. 

[grit]

Bryan, you could photograph the bread and then develop the film in beerenol made from the original beer. High-concept!

Here's my weekend project. I watched the Great British Baking Show episode where they made Swiss Rolls, and I didn't really understand what the challenge was, but I definitely now have a new appreciation. The star of this roll is a lemon curd, cooked sous vide! It's a pretty fantastic recipe if you happen to have a sous vide gadget.

[Pete_R]

Good job Grit. The problem with the traditional way of making lemon curd is the fact it can split. Your method, I guess, gets around that.

Sometime ago, I found a recipe that got around the problem a different way. Can't remember where I got it but here it is.

2 Lemons
4 Egg yolks
6 1/2 ounces caster sugar
4 ounces unsalted softened butter
2 teaspoons (level) of cornflour

Beat the butter and sugar in a mixer. Add egg yolks, lemon zest and cornflour. Beat again. Add lemon juice. Beat again. You should have a nice emulsified result. Now put into saucepan and cook slowly, stirring continuously until thick. It might look grainy to start but it will come together as it cooks.

[Bryan]

Bryan, you could photograph the bread and then develop the film in beerenol made from the original beer. High-concept!

That would require wasting good beer, I only develop with cheap stuff.  A few years ago I had a problem with a bottle of beer I brewed, I did use it to develop film. 

[Francois]

These are what's leftover from my birthday cupcakes
Vanilla flavor with brown sugar icing...

[Pete_R]

Brown sugar icing is a new one to me. But we have a shortage of brown sugar at the moment so won't be trying it anytime soon.

[Francois]

We always have good quantities of the stuff, my dad puts it in his oats.
It's just brown sugar, margarine and a bit of milk. Simple.

[Pete_R]

My first attempt at baguettes. A bit flat. Dough was too wet.

[Indofunk]

I originally started baking (like, a year or two ago?) specifically because I wanted to make baguettes. After a bunch of attempts with varying degrees of success, I moved to more traditional round-loaf-in-Dutch-oven baking and had a lot more success. Then much later I was watching a YouTube instructional video and it started with "you, like many others, probably started off with baguettes just to find out that they are some of the hardest breads to bake" I was quite embarrassed that a stranger on the internet knew so much about me

[Indofunk]

My latest home run hit has been chili bread. I have this batch of diced South African chilies in olive oil (not completely soaked, just barely enough oil to coat the chili pieces). So I just throw a couple of strong teaspoons into the bread dough right at the start and it comes out great!

[Francois]

Baguettes are really deceptively hard to do. Simple in appearance but not within easy reach. In France most bakers have to go to school just to learn how to do these. They even have competitions to figure out who's the best baker.

Another thing that's really hard to do is Croissants. I've never had one that tasted like they do in France.

[Indofunk]

The thing about croissants is that they even *look* hard to make Baguettes just look like, you know, long pieces of bread But you're right, they're really deceptively hard. I've made a lot of absolutely delicious baguette-shaped breads, but nothing that I'd actually call a baguette

[gothamtomato]

Here's my attempt at recreating Meghan & Harry's Lemon Elderflower Royal Wedding Cake :

[Pete_R]

Ahem! Yes. I think theirs looked a little more professional but a good try (as my teachers used to say).

I tried making their cake as well. Looked OK but tasted disgusting. One slice and the rest was binned. I love elderflower, but elderflower and lemon... an acquired taste I think.

[Francois]

mmmm....
I can just imagine their face if they had been served that at their wedding....

But fore some reason, I'm always a bit wary of the ingredients lists and instructions that are given in the media when it comes to celebrity meals.
If the pastry chefs of the world all gave away their secrets people wouldn't line-up at their shops for a taste of their cakes.

And ever since I learned how recipe books are written, I don't trust most of them either.
(for those not in the know, most of these books start with the photos that are often pulled from stock photography services and then the author tries to figure out what ingredients were used, not the other way around)

[grit]

Following the theme of cake decoration somewhat below professional standard, this is the red velvet cake I made for my sister in law's birthday:



I have to say though, it was delicious. Maybe the best-tasting cake/frosting combo I have ever made. The cake batter includes red wine, and the frosting is cream cheese beaten with butter and then whisked together with vanilla custard and a squeeze of lemon. I will definitely try the recipe again sometime with, let's say, a little more attention to detail.

Does anyone watch Chef's Table? One of my favorite scenes is the "Diatrabe on Cake," a rebellion against cake-decorating perfectionism.

Francois, I have never heard that about cookbooks! But now that I think about it, some of my favorite recipes are from cookbooks without any photos.

[Francois]

These are definitely the best.
But yeah, they write the recipes to match the picture and not the other way around.
The people who write these things fully know that cookbooks with plenty of mouth watering images are essentially porn for the stomach. They also know that most people don't cook, so almost nobody will attempt to make the recipes. Those who do will either know how to adjust the recipe to make it palatable or just fail and worship even more the "star chef" who wrote the recipe.

One time we got a chance to meet one of my mom's cousins when she invited us for dinner (OK, her mom forced her to invite us for dinner). She made 2 leg of veal with mustard sauce using a recipe she found online with a beautiful picture. The recipe called for cooking the meat for 1 hour in a low oven. When we were served, the center was still pink and harder than boot leather... but it looked good in the picture.

[Pete_R]

Blueberry muffins cooked for a friend. Personally I don't like them.

[Francois]

I'm not a big fan of baked blueberries either.

Maybe if they were chocolate-blueberry cupcakes it would have been better...

[Bryan]

One of my first jobs was picking blueberries for $0.15 per pound, it takes a lot of blueberries to make a pound.  I worked the whole season and made about $65, haven’t been a fan of blueberries since. 

[Indofunk]

I'm sorry Bryan, I laughed out loud after reading your story That is unfortunate, though, and reflects the plight of migrant farm workers (who are now considered "essential" workers because although they hardly make enough money to live, they are certainly essential to the rest of us). I'm sorry you now dislike blueberries, I grew up with wild blueberries in my backyard and used to love just eating them off the vine. I still love them, fresh, dried, baked, jamed, whatever My mom for some strange reason eats them with salt, I don't know where she got that from but definitely don't blame me

[Bryan]

That's ok Satish, I can look back and laugh about it.  It's not that I don't like the taste of blueberries, I just don't go out of my way to eat them.  We have plenty of wild huckleberries that grow around here, they are closely related to the blueberry.  They are a bit more tart tasting but I graze on them when I'm in the woods. 

[Francois]

The problem with picking blueberries is that it can turn into a challenge of will. Do you want the blueberries more than the bear that's at the other end of the patch.... 

Here, the blueberry pickers use a tennis racket like tool to send the berries into the basket.

[Pete_R]

This mornings baking...



Nothing new.  A typical Saturday morning's fare. Granary loaf, white seeded bread rolls and a lemon drizzle cake.

[Francois]

Yummy!

[Moto-uno]

  ^^  So tell us how tight your sweat pants are now , Peter

[Pete_R]

  ^^  So tell us how tight your sweat pants are now , Peter

Wouldn't be seen dead in them.

[Moto-uno]

 ^ Nor would I , but , pretty soon I'm going to be looking for comfort fit jeans  , Peter

[Francois]

  ^^  So tell us how tight your sweat pants are now , Peter

Wouldn't be seen dead in them.

Sweat pants still exist? 
How classy...

[Indofunk]

  ^^  So tell us how tight your sweat pants are now , Peter

Wouldn't be seen dead in them.

Sweat pants still exist? 
How classy...

Pants still exist? 

[Pete_R]

One to watch out for...

If, like me, you soak your sultanas in tea before use and then put far too many into your fruit buns which you then split open and toast, one is likely to fall out of the bun and short out the toaster.

⚡⚡⚡😲😲😲

You have been warned.

[gothamtomato]

I'm not a big fan of baked blueberries either.

Maybe if they were chocolate-blueberry cupcakes it would have been better...

A couple of years ago I had the bright idea to make chocolate chip cookies, except replace the chips with blueberries. When they first came out of the oven they were great; crispy around the edges and chewy inside - really DELICIOUS. I thought, wow! I'm a genius! I invented Blueberry Chip Cookies! How did no one ever think of this before? I'm going to be rich! So I put them in a container overnight to take into work, but the next morning when I opened the tupperware, they had turned into soggy muffin tops and all stuck together in one big blob.

So these are the cookies that for a few minutes, almost made me rich...

[grit]

Blueberry cookies! I guess the solution is just to eat them all the day you make them.

Blueberries never last long enough around here to make it into baked goods. We just eat them out of hand.

I stumbled across an interesting recipe for dinner rolls this week. They're not nearly as nice looking as Peter's, but they are unusual in that you can make them start to finish in about an hour, even though they are yeasted! Link to recipe is here, although be warned, the rolls in the recipe photo do not look even remotely close to the finished product (Francois, you were right!). This is how they actually came out (delicious, fluffy, and with a definite honey taste):

[Pete_R]

Interesting recipe Grit. Seems counter productive to me - adding butter and eggs - as that generally holds back the yeast so doesn't lend itself to a quick proof. I guess the increased yeast is enough to get over it. Interesting it uses AP flour too instead of bread flour. I might try this - or something similar.

And thanks for the generous comments about my rolls.

[Francois]

Couldn't find anything that actually tasted good in the cupboard. So this can only mean one thing: Cupcake time!
Vanilla cupcakes with confection sugar and vanilla icing.

[Pete_R]

My first attempt at almond macaroons (there were more).

[Francois]

These macaroons look yummy. Definitely better than the stuff we get in a blister pack at the grocery store.

[Pete_R]

Now I'm back at work I have less time during the week for baking. But I'm not up to buying my lunch from a store yet. So I'm double shifting at the weekend to make enough bread for the week. Started 7.00 this morning and just finished. It's now noon.

I still manage to make a few other things too.

Cinnamon buns.

[Sandeha Lynch]

I'd forgotten about this thread, but a few weeks ago I made some Estonian sourdough rye bread and this last time I modified the recipe with 1/3 strong white wheat.
It looks almost like two loaves of different colours, but that's just the skylight shining straight down on the slice. 

[Pete_R]

I'd forgotten about this thread, but a few weeks ago I made some Estonian sourdough rye bread and this last time I modified the recipe with 1/3 strong white wheat.

Adding a percentage of white flour seems to be the thing for a lot of breads. I do it with Granary. Doesn't seem to effect the taste or texture much but makes it easier to work and generally more stable.

[Sandeha Lynch]

I'd forgotten about this thread, but a few weeks ago I made some Estonian sourdough rye bread and this last time I modified the recipe with 1/3 strong white wheat.

Adding a percentage of white flour seems to be the thing for a lot of breads. I do it with Granary. Doesn't seem to effect the taste or texture much but makes it easier to work and generally more stable.

Agree. Full rye has its place and was once the staple when I lived in Denmark, but I now prefer to blend the flavour with the lightness.