Oh this is interesting!
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What did you use to purée: food processor? Other?
I used a mini processor because I only had 1 small squash. He uses a blender.
I read how did you purée the food processor
Cause I’m thinking that would void a warranty or 2.
Thank you! I needed the laugh
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Earlier this morning, I tried to make a loaf of bread from a poolish. I’m making a nice soup for dinner (tonight) and wanted some crusty bread to go on the side for dipping, etc. So I made a starter poolish the night before and tried to make the bread this morning.
FAIL!! Not just a fail, but a TOTAL FAIL!! It just laid there flat, no oven spring, nothing. Oh well. Both Sunshine and I tasted it and it wasn’t very good.
Not wanting it to go to waste, I tore it up into small pieces, mixed it with some bird seed and put it out for the local birds. All gone in about 45 minutes, so I guess something good came of my failure.
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Keep yeast in a well sealed freezer ziplock in your freezer. My yeast, stored this way, never seems to expire.
I know you want crusty bread but sometime try the Milk Bread recipe, I posted it on The Woks of Life thread. Easy and so good toasted.
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Yeah I feel sort of weird in feeling this way because so many pies are made with flaky crust (rather than mealy, which imo is better cold) and served cold— like cream pies— and I truly feel flaky crust doesn’t taste great when cold.
Pumpkin is great in gingersnap crust and even something like Maria cookie crust.
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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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