The Baking Topic

[Quof]

They made bread on The Trailer Park Boys????

[larapu2000]

2 hours ago, mansonlamps said:

 

Here you go.  And, trust me, I am no baker, but this is idiot proof and very delicious.

I don't even care that I really shouldn't eat carbs right now, I'm DYING to try this out.

[DeLurker]

I just bookmarked a recipe almost exactly like this last week!  I even picked up the yeast and Kosher Salt for it. This one just says salt.

[biakbiak]

Just a tip for anyone getting into bread baking and also a COSTCO member their yeast is so ridiculously inexpensive to what you buy in the super market and keeps for years in the freezer.

Edited June 19, 2018 by biakbiak

[mansonlamps]

14 hours ago, DeLurker said:

I just bookmarked a recipe almost exactly like this last week!  I even picked up the yeast and Kosher Salt for it. This one just says salt.

For what it's worth, I used kosher salt because that's all I have in the house.  Worked great.

[DeLurker]

I have made the dough and will impatiently wait until I can bake it tomorrow.  I knew I should have started it last night!

[Quof]

Do you have some nice French or Irish butter to go with it?

[mansonlamps]

What brand of butter is French?  I know Kerrygold for Irish and Plugra for European, but I don't believe I've seen French butter in my supermarket.  I'm intrigued.

[DeLurker]

I'm partial to Kerrygold, but have some lovely fancy oils & vinegars I got for Christmas.

[DeLurker]

My first bread!

Love the crust and it has a nice chew factor!  Could probably be baked just a bit more and I had hoped to get those nice airy pockets inside...hopefully future efforts will yield these things.

[mansonlamps]

Mmmm, looks delicious.

[MargeGunderson]

I  bought a box of peaches at Trader Joe’s last week for the purpose of making pie. Finally made a ginger bourbon peach pie yesterday before it got too hot. I used a store bought crust because there was no way I was making one from scratch in this heat. It only took twice as long to cook for the crust to be done (underdone crusts are a perpetual problem for me).

[DeLurker]

Peaches used to be my favorite fruit - there was such a short season when they were in the stores near me and a super short span of time when the crops were at the perfect stage of flavor.  I don't know if the fruit now is just more bland or I am just spoiled because they are available for a much longer time.

[dwayne22]

True Baking is a great and amazing passion 

[BooksRule]

I just put this cake in the fridge to chill and will cover it with whipped cream (all right, Cool Whip) tomorrow morning.  I hope it comes out okay, but so far I do know that the lemon cream cheese layer is good (I scraped the leavings out of the bowl before I washed it).  If you don't like to use boxed mixes, I'm sure a from-scratch lemon cake would do fine (as would real whipped cream).  I love anything lemon.

https://www.greatgrubdelicioustreats.com/cream-cheese-lemonade-poke-cake/

[Spunkygal]

My BFF recently gave me a pie crust recipe that has canola oil, not butter or shortening. I was dubious but, boy, it comes together beautifully and is so tender and flaky. It would be difficult to overwork it like I tend to do with other recipes. Now I have confidence going into the holidays!

[fairffaxx]

1 hour ago, Spunkygal said:

My BFF recently gave me a pie crust recipe that has canola oil, not butter or shortening. I was dubious but, boy, it comes together beautifully and is so tender and flaky. It would be difficult to overwork it like I tend to do with other recipes. Now I have confidence going into the holidays!

Is it similar to this recipe using olive oil?  Omit the herbs for a sweet tart or pie, of course -- & it's vegan, for when that matters.

[Spunkygal]

37 minutes ago, fairffaxx said:

Is it similar to this recipe using olive oil?  Omit the herbs for a sweet tart or pie, of course -- & it's vegan, for when that matters.

It is quite similar. This recipe uses regular flour, “cooking oil” so I used canola since I’m making a sweet pie and didn’t want the EVOO taste, milk and salt. I had no idea a delicious crust could be so easy! Adding herbs to the dough for a quiche or a tomato tart would be brilliant! 

[fairffaxx]

I've only used the olive oil recipe for fruit pies & there's been no taste from the oil (mine isn't extra virgin or expensive, canola oil would probably work the same way).  I'd forgotten about the herbs version for savory pies/tarts/quiches -- I'll try to get around to that soon.

[larapu2000]

My great grandma used Crisco along with butter in her pie crusts, and that is our family's Holy Grail recipe.  So flaky and delicious.  These all butter crust people are NUTS.

[caitmcg]

7 hours ago, larapu2000 said:

My great grandma used Crisco along with butter in her pie crusts, and that is our family's Holy Grail recipe.  So flaky and delicious.  These all butter crust people are NUTS.

It is very possible to make a flaky and delicious all-butter crust. All in the technique, I'd say.

[larapu2000]

8 hours ago, caitmcg said:

It is very possible to make a flaky and delicious all-butter crust. All in the technique, I'd say.

I have no doubt.  But many all butter crust fans are so snobby about using Crisco or other oils.

[Mondrianyone]

Ina Garten's standard recipe uses a combo of butter and shortening.  I've made it often.  It produces a very nice crust.

[GreekGeek]

I'm a butter + shortening person also. Butter for flavor, shortening for tenderness.

[BooksRule]

I usually make a sour cream pound cake at least once during the Christmas season, and tonight was the night.  I just took it out of the pan, and had to cut myself a little sliver while it was still really warm.  I have to say 'yum'!  I'm taking it to a luncheon tomorrow.  As soon as it cools some more, I can put it in the cake keeper and go to bed.  It's been a long day.

[BooksRule]

I'm creaming the butter and sugar for my second sour cream pound cake of the season.  I also plan to make a Lemonade Poke Cake (recipe link below), but will probably make it first thing tomorrow morning (unless I get motivated tonight--the first part has to chill at least 4 hours or overnight).  The lemon cake seems a little summery for Christmas, but I made it for the family in July and it was requested for Christmas.

Oops, forgot the recipe link:  https://www.greatgrubdelicioustreats.com/cream-cheese-lemonade-poke-cake/

Edited December 24, 2018 by BooksRule

[callie lee 29]

This year I only made 8 cream cheese pounds cakes. If course the "season" isn't over yet. Be the time January rolls around I never want to see flour again. I am going to try to make one with gluten free flour though for some celiac friends (& gotten intolerant kids). I'm skeptical.

[Mittengirl]

On 12/26/2018 at 7:30 PM, callie lee 29 said:

I am going to try to make one with gluten free flour though for some celiac friends (& gotten intolerant kids). I'm skeptical.

Have the kids gotten intolerant of the parents for being gluten-free, or did being gluten-free cause the parents to receive intolerant kids?  I never knew that was a side-effect.

[callie lee 29]

@Mittengirl Oh jeez, what did I type there!! She's has celiac and 2 of her kids are intolerant (I don't think they have celiac). I don't know what I was typing in that sentence!! 

[Mittengirl]

Well, I would think having to eat gluten-free food, if I didn’t have to, would make me pretty intolerant towards the person forcing it on me.  But I can be kind of crabby, so...

I knew what you meant, but the typo cracked me up.

[BooksRule]

All of the baked goods that I had at Christmastime and I get the urge to bake today.  I'm justifying it due to the fact that I had two pie crusts in the freezer, some apples that were starting to get soft and some cranberries that I needed to use.  So I made an apple cranberry double crust pie.  It's still in the oven.  It's not a pretty pie, but hopefully it'll taste good.

[MargeGunderson]

So today I baked a slab pie with a cinnamon swirl top crust. The top slumped a bit, I probably should have chilled it longer before baking so the top would retain its shape a bit better.

Edited May 27, 2019 by MargeGunderson

[Mondrianyone]

30 minutes ago, MargeGunderson said:

So today I baked a slab pie with a cinnamon swirl top crust. The top slumped a bit, I probably should have chilled it longer before baking so the top would retain its shape a bit better.

That's very impressive! Are there apples in there between the bottom crust and the top swirls?  Something else?  Great job--I'm sure nobody complained about the slump (which I don't even see).  I'll take a slice of the slumpy bit!  🥧

[MargeGunderson]

15 hours ago, Mondrianyone said:

That's very impressive! Are there apples in there between the bottom crust and the top swirls?  Something else?  Great job--I'm sure nobody complained about the slump (which I don't even see).  I'll take a slice of the slumpy bit!  🥧

Yes, it was an apple filling (how did I forget to mention that?). I can confirm that the slumpiness did not affect the taste. It is also delicious for breakfast. Now I have to go pawn some off on my neighbors because it is a lot of pie.  

This is the recipe I used: Martha Stewart Cinnamon Swirl Apple Slab Pie

[Mondrianyone]

Actually, I do remember seeing that on Martha Bakes not too long ago, and I was thinking it would be fun to make for a potluck or a party.  Now I can say I "know" someone who had a crack at it.  Thanks for the reminder, @MargeGunderson!  I think yours came out fabulous.

[BooksRule]

I probably won't do a lot of baking this year (I'm trying not to let my eating get out of hand more than I have to).  I know I can bake and give away the goods, but it's almost impossible to do that without sampling one (or two or...) pieces, slices, etc.  However, what little baking I plan to do started tonight.  I just put a sour cream pound cake in the oven for an office holiday party tomorrow (we usually have it in December right before the campus closes down for the year, but due to some renovation issues, we're having it early).  I'm looking forward to the house starting to get that good almond-y smell in just a few minutes. 

[annzeepark914]

I just made that double layer pumpkin cheesecake, and I also made the topping for Ina's apple and pear crisp (so all I have to do in the morning is peel apples and put the rest of the seasonings in with the apples, then top it with the crisp). I also made chocolate crackle cookies but from the Ghirardelli mix for the first time.  In the past, I've made them from scratch. Think I'll go back to scratch.  The mix is fine but maybe because it's Ghirardelli...it's OTT chocolate-y.

[larapu2000]

These take like a minute to make if you just roll them into a log versus rolling them out.  I slice them and freeze the slices, then bake them off throughout December as needed.  A little unique but very in line spice wise with Christmas.

https://www.saveur.com/honey-spice-hazelnut-christmas-cookies-recipe/

[Spunkygal]

10 hours ago, larapu2000 said:

These take like a minute to make if you just roll them into a log versus rolling them out.  I slice them and freeze the slices, then bake them off throughout December as needed.  A little unique but very in line spice wise with Christmas.

https://www.saveur.com/honey-spice-hazelnut-christmas-cookies-recipe/

I am definitely making these next week....thanks!

[caitmcg]

I don’t bake yeast breads all that often, but I tried a couple of new-to-me things the past couple of weeks, and they turned out great. First khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread both stuffed and topped with a mix of feta and mozzarella) from the cookbook Supra, and then English muffins from this King Arthur Flour recipe, but using part whole wheat flour.

[Trini]

Well, now I'm hungry. Those look great!

[Spunkygal]

@caitmcg, yum! The deadline to sign up for auditions for The Great American Baking Show is tomorrow....just sayin!

[biakbiak]

I adore khachapuri. Haven’t made it in awhile maybe soon but at least for Easter.

[Mondrianyone]

Really beautiful baking, @caitmcg.

[xaxat]

I heard that baking is really big right now (for obvious reasons). I checked and the pound of yeast I paid 7 dollars for a couple of months ago is now is now seventeen bucks on Amazon.

I think I'll try bagels next. The ones at my local supermarket were tolerable, but with the pandemic, they have stopped making loose baked goods like donuts and bagels. So I don't even have that.

[PRgal]

I've been baking soda bread lately.  I'm kind of impatient so waiting for dough to rise just isn't for me.  I found a recipe online which calls for just self-raising flour and kefir (in a 2:1 ratio) and takes about two hours from start to finish.  I've toyed with the original recipe, making my own self-raising flour with different types of grains.  So far, I've done quinoa and spelt (quinoa flour is really overpowering.  The bread was very...quinoa-y) as well as Kamut and whole wheat.  I've posted pictures on my social media and I think some of my family members (particularly those who live in Asia) find me a little...odd (at least two of my cousins would probably say "gum ging -ahhhh!!"  (translation "wow!!!  AMAZING!" (but it comes out sounding a bit sarcastic.  Cultural differences?  I don't know).

 

 

Edited April 15, 2020 by PRgal

[Trini]

I'm actually trying not to bake much to conserve ingredients; but at the same time I'm looking for ways to use up some of the older, random stuff I've accumulated.  My go-to is cookies, but 2/3rds of my household either can't eat or don't like (processed) sweets. So I can make stuff but I kind of don't want to since I'll mostly be the only one eating it. sigh.

[caitmcg]

On 2/27/2020 at 1:36 PM, caitmcg said:

I don’t bake yeast breads all that often, but I tried a couple of new-to-me things the past couple of weeks, and they turned out great. First khachapuri (Georgian cheese bread both stuffed and topped with a mix of feta and mozzarella) from the cookbook Supra, and then English muffins from this King Arthur Flour recipe, but using part whole wheat flour.

I’ve made English muffins twice more since, using the same recipe and 239g whole-wheat flour/300g bread flour. They’ve been very popular with friends and family. They’re very satisfying to make and better than store-bought, so I’ll likely never buy English muffins again!

[SheriGoddart33]

It's my birthday soon, but all the pastry shops are closed and I can’t order a cake. Have to bake myself, I never did that. I'm afraid to burn everything

[biakbiak]

2 hours ago, SheriGoddart33 said:

It's my birthday soon, but all the pastry shops are closed and I can’t order a cake. Have to bake myself, I never did that. I'm afraid to burn everything

If you like chocolate this is dead simple.