Thank you! Doing the bake sale means that I get to practice my scoring a lot!
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Thank you!
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Do you score them after the final shaping, before they are proofed and ready to bake? This last time I forgot, and tried to score the bread just before I put it in the oven, and you can see, it didn’t work.
I score the bread right after I take it out of the proofing basket (after an 8-12 hour rest in the refrigerator) and before I put it into the oven. Having my dough cold helps with the scoring a lot, but I still try to work quickly so the dough doesn’t spread too much before I bake it.
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Ok, good to know. Thanks!
What temperature do you keep the proofer, and how long does it take to rise when you transfer it from the fridge to the proofer?
I keep the proofer anywhere from 72-75 °F while I’m proofing my dough. From the time I add the starter until the time I shape the dough and put it into the fridge is anywhere from 5.5-6.5 hours. I put my proofer at 80 °F when I’m getting my starter ready for the dough.
I tend to measure dough temperature more than proofer temperature. I want to keep the dough temp around 74-76 °F, the more whole wheat, the lower the dough temp.
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Gotcha, thanks!
That’s a lot of delicious bread! Did you bake your batch of bread in cast iron pots? Or you used another method?
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Thanks! I bake two loaves at a time using one cast iron cloche and one Dutch oven.
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Baking this today with the suggested citrus/poppyseed combo noted.
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Black Forest cake on the agenda for next week, by birthday boy-man’s request.
Anyone made one of these? Any reliable recipes or tips welcome.
Current plan is to use my now-standard chocolate cake recipe (oil / amazon), stabilized whipped cream - this is new to me, looks like cornstarch and gelatin are both options, I’ve ordered good cherries in syrup, and we have luxardo cherry syrup which I’ll use in place of kirsch.
The version of this I grew up eating has a thin biscuit-y/shortcrust pastry base which most recipes don’t include.
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I’m interested in this recipe too. I recently made a lemon meringue pie. I really don’t like the meringue topping. So I made a stabilized whipped cream which used cream cheese along with the heavy cream. I really liked the tangyness of the whipped cream. I also had to transport the pie in my car, and it was totally stable during the drive. It was a nice foil against the lemon. I’m not sure how that would play against chocolate, which doesn’t have those tangy notes.
I’ve also done a stabilized whipped cream using piping gel. It’s a smoother mouth feel, but really you still have the taste of the whipped cream.
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I was thinking either agar agar (instead of gelatin) or cornstarch. Im wondering if sharp palates will be able to taste the latter.
Here’s my weekend selection: lemon pound cake with a lemon soak and a lemon glaze.
Have I mentioned that I like lemon?
This is a Smitten Kitchen recipe, which I choose for it’s copious use of lemon. I bolstered the lemon with a touch of lemon oil in the cake. I also put it into two regular larger than recommended loaf pans because I wanted the soak to go into the cake, and not spill over the side while it was still in the pan.
Everyone enjoyed it!
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Made some coffee éclaires today. I’ve baked maybe twice all my life, but it was years ago. Yesterday suddenly felt like making them again and well, failed totally with the shells: I mixed up the steps, instead of cooking and drying the flour+milk mixture dough in the pot, I cooked and dried the next stage, egg dough in the pot. Result: dough didn’t raise and butter splitting during the baking, really messy.
Restart. Read the steps carefully this time, the pastry turned out correctly today.
Piped the coffee pastry cream into the shells.
The icing coffee glaze wasn’t my favourite part. I’ve no idea how to apply it thinner. Glad that it turned out fine and shiny.
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Sorry to hear about your dilema.
Need to be careful especially with baking … it is so precise.
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You’re very right about the precision in baking. No fooling around.
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It is truly quite scientific and measured very very precisely.
I am not a baker, however, I truly appreciate those who have a penchant or passion for the pastry arts. My mom and maternal grandmother bake amazing pastries.
Try it again, and go slower ! Be cautious !!!
Have a lovely weekend.
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Yum! Never tried. I’m inspired.
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