Truthfully I don’t find most pate sucree very sweet. The amount of sweetness is just enough that you can tell it’s not unsweetened, but still pretty neutral. I’m sensitive to sweetness and I don’t think there’s been a tart I’ve made where I thought pate sucree was the wrong move because of sweetness.
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I do not think it was the Yeast.
I believe “Desert -Dan” is saying that he tried to bake a loaf of bread using ONLY the Poolish, not just using the Poolish as a Preferment.
But only Dan can answer that. 
I made up a small amount of poolish the night before and added it to the balance of my dough mixture. The poolish did rise (overnight). I also tested the balance of my yeast, it did foam before up prior to mixing.
I think I screwed up in the rising and proofing stage. The dough could have also been too wet.
The birds didn’t seem to mind, though. I have a feeding area for them that is on a platform. (I’ve been told they feel safer feeding from a platform vs. the ground) Although they got their normal amount of seed earlier in the morning, they feasted later in the day on my poolish bread mistake. Maybe they are trying to bulk up a bit for the winter.
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Yes please. Holiday baking season is coming up, and I think a shared set of fails will help us each feel better about our own. I promise to contribute!
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On the rack!
I baked a loaf of bread after ages.
Was fully expecting it to fail because I decided to experiment with an untested mix of flours (3/4c AP, 1/2c WW, 1/4c spelt), and it did not look promising after the first rise. Decided to stick it in the fridge for a few days.
Continued messing up by forgetting I had to do the folds right out of the fridge and then let it proof for a few hours (SE modified NKB)… but instead I let it come to room temp and rise for a couple of hours, then did some folds… only to realize I was running out of time before I had to leave for dinner, and had only 30 mins to prove it I was to finish baking before I left.
Well, I decided I’d go ahead given that I was anticipating failure already.
Bread was done in 30 mins instead of 45, good spring and color, and now that I’ve cut it open, apparently nature compensated for my multiple bouts of idiocy because it looks fine. Toast for breakfast!
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@maccrogenoff - what don’t you like about Midwest Made? My copy is packed up during kitchen reno but would love to know. Ive made a number of successful recipes
Midwest Made is one of my favorite baking books. I have baked so many recipes from it. One that comes to mind is the chocolate chip cookie recipe. So quick and delicious to make.
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You’ve made me want to make a pumpkin pie! Here’s the recipe I’ve used for years. I think the filling was based on a Bernard Clayton recipe, don’t remember origin of the cornmeal crust.
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Nectarine/raspberry almost pie. The galette has four large nectarines, the last at the FM and several hands full of raspberries. There is amaretti crumbs plus Moondust on the bottom to absorb excess juices. This was baked in a 7” deep quiche mold and the bottom browned up very nicely. Time for apples and pears!
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Adorable!
Voting for Cookbook of the Month closes at 5pm today if you’d like to join in next month:
Devil’s Thumprint from Baking with Dorie. This is a good cookie for the holiday tray. I made half the recipe and got 25 cookies. Dough should be refrigerat
ed for at least 2 hrs.Just a teaspoon of dough is used and the centre is pressed with a wine cork and pressed again after baking. They spread a bit. Its a crunch cookie on the outside and chewy inside. The demerara sugar makes it quite sweet. Although i would have preferred to use apricot or raspberry jam I had a bit of chocolate raspberry ganache and some pistachio buttercream frozen so used that.
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Thank you!
What kinda fail? Looks okay from here. Nothin’ a slab of butter couldn’t fix, melted cheese or dipping into the soup. Lucky birds anyway.
Especially misshapen cookies that resemble the grinch!
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Many of the recipes contain gelatin or vegetable shortening, two ingredients that I don’t eat.
The author’s taste simply doesn’t line up with mine. I made her chocolate chip cookie brittle which I thought I would love as I’m a fan of crunchy cookies. I disliked it.
I bought Midwest Made due to so many people on Chowhound recommending it.
I made a couple of recipes and found them lackluster. The Italian bread didn’t have enough flavor in my view despite my using the longest rise time.
The only recipe I likes was the sunflower seed bread.
I sold my copy on Amazon.
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ATK’s giant blueberry pan biscuit. This is turning into one of my favorite new recipes of the year. Photo is before brushing with the honey butter.
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I made sesame seed bagels yesterday. Really simple and a great chewy texture. Excuse the uneven sizes, I was too lazy to weigh the portions out.
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These are impressive. What recipe did you use?
