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What Are You Baking?


monavano

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Thanks to my wife, I'm devouring the best super fudgy, chocolaty brownies I've ever had.(or at least since I made them last time). The recipe is from the Sticky Fingers Sweets cookbook. The same/modified version is available here: http://www.today.com/id/46284329/  when we got this cookbook for my sister-in-law who is often going through vegan phases, I whipped up a batch and they are just so good. If you like fudgy and not cakelike brownies, give these a try.  (skip the s'mores extra steps in the link unless that is your thing). 

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Shortbread! Proper Scottish shortbread like my grandmas used to make. It had always been a bete noire of mine; when I made it, it was always far too crumbly in the pan to cut. I have one of my grandma's recipes (maternal, probably, as my mother is far more a keeper of recipes than my father; although they really did both make the same dish), but I never had watched closely to see how the dough was made.

The recipe: 8oz butter; 8oz flour; 4oz cornstarch, 4oz confectioners sugar. (I added a pinch of salt). I'd been making this like a shortcrust pastry and rubbing the butter in until I had pea-sized lumps, taking care not to let it get too warm. That left me with a crumbly dough to press into the tin. This time, I kept working the dough until it really was a ball of dough that held together, and that made all the difference. Prick the top with a fork to make a pattern, bake 50 min at 350F, sprinkle with sugar.

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Tonight I am making pepperoni rolls for my office secret santa (it won't be secret after she gets them), but she will be very happy.  There are just some things you can't acquire outside our "home" radius of Western Maryland/WV.  I am making a lot of them in case the people at our office need to try one.  After I go to a toy drive tonight, of course.  Nothing like too much to do.  

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Baking question(s).

I'm thinking of getting dough hooks for my hand mixer.

1. Should I bother?

2. Are mixer parts interchangeable between models? I have a toastmaster mixer which doesn't appear to have additional parts available. If I buy somebody else's dough hooks, will they fit?

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Baking question(s).

I'm thinking of getting dough hooks for my hand mixer.

1. Should I bother?

2. Are mixer parts interchangeable between models? I have a toastmaster mixer which doesn't appear to have additional parts available. If I buy somebody else's dough hooks, will they fit?

My rec would be to use that money to start saving for a stand mixer. Hand mixers are almost by definition ill-suited for kneading heavy doughs that require time. You'd probably burn out the motor and wear out your arm trying to hold it steady.
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Thanks, Zora!

It's not so much the cost of the stand mixer--it's the real estate on the countertop. And frankly, I don't make bread often enough to make the investment, in money OR space.

Kneading bread dough by hand is far too satisfying to give it up to a machine, in my always humble opinion.

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Thanks, Zora!

It's not so much the cost of the stand mixer--it's the real estate on the countertop. And frankly, I don't make bread often enough to make the investment, in money OR space.

I also can't imagine this working with a hand mixer.  Do you have a food processor that can have a dough attachment?  That would work similarly well to the stand mixer.  If not, I would do it by hand.  I love my stand mixer though, I wouldn't make bread nearly as often without it, just as a time sort of thing.  It's one of the few appliances that earned space on the countertop.

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then again, you can make no-knead bread, which is easy-peasy, once you get the hang of it. By the way, Anna Phor, my Kitchenaid does not reside on the counter--way, way too little counter space for it. It stays in a low cabinet under the oven. I don't use it as often as I would if it were out all the time, but it is still incredibly useful for making cakes, cookie doughs, and using the various attachments, like the meat grinder.

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1. I did not know I could get a dough attachment for my food processor. That's awesome.

2. No knead bread. I've made Bittman's; I love it. I'm just never organized enough to make the dough 18 hours before I'll have three hours at home to let it have the second rise and then bake it. If anyone knows of a method to do this that would result in fresh baked break on a worknight Tuesday, I'd love to know about it. Could the second rise run more than two hours? Like nine hours? (Now that I've thought of this, I might use a bit of my vacation time to find out. Will report back if I get a chance to try it out.)

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Made some of these yesterday - http://www.washingtonpost.com/pb/recipes/pretzel-cowboy-cookies/13763/

I liked them, but I thought they leaned too much toward the salty side of the spectrum and needed maybe a little more chocolate?  Strangely enough, husband thought they were too sweet.  To each his own.  :D

A follow up on the pretzel cowboy cookies - they hardened (like they were going stale) SO fast, I have no idea why (they were in airtight containers), and it really ruined them.  I have some of the dough in the freezer, as the recipe suggested, but I guess I will have to be prepared to serve them right out of the oven.  Boo.

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My sister wants to know if she can substitute peanut butter for the Nutella filling. I might have to try that...

I think you could substitute any kind of nut butter for the Nutella - they are essentially the same consistency, and you're basically just putting a little dollop in the middle of all the cookie dough.  Depending on the PB you used, you may want less sea salt at the end to preserve the salty/sweet balance - but, that precise balance is very personal.  I say go for it!

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I think you could substitute any kind of nut butter for the Nutella - they are essentially the same consistency, and you're basically just putting a little dollop in the middle of all the cookie dough.  Depending on the PB you used, you may want less sea salt at the end to preserve the salty/sweet balance - but, that precise balance is very personal.  I say go for it!

I suppose the logical (ultimate) extension to this is then using the Speculoos Cookie Butter from Trader Joe's inside. A cookie with cookie paste in. I would probably destroy Pinterest were I to do that.

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Just baked two pans of my favorite cornbread recipe.  Some is for dinner tonight and the rest is for a cornbread stuffing/dressing I'll probably be making tomorrow or Monday.  I've never doubled this recipe before, so we'll see, but it looks perfect cooling in the pans.

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Pie, why won't you bubble in the center? You have been in the oven for 40 minutes past when you should be done, the edges are bubbling nicely but the center is a runny lake of goo (with streusel topping on the verge of burnt).

There is some kind of curse, or strange thermal vortex within my oven wherein all baked goods take 1.5 to 2 times as long as they should to cook. The oven thermometer swears that the temperature is correct, and yet.... Cakes are jiggly twenty, thirty, forty minutes past the timer, pies refuse to set, and it doesn't seem to matter which pan I use or what kind of recipe it is.

Pie, please start bubbling soon. My apartment is sweltering, the oven has been on for hours, and I have to get up for work tomorrow.

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So I have leftover homemade strawberry icing from making a two layer cake, it's a little thick, but I could thin it out.  I probably have about a cup of it, what should I do with it?  I was thinking maybe making cookies since it isn't really enough to ice a lot of cake or cupcakes, unless I made like a small sheetcake?

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14 minutes ago, ktmoomau said:

So I have leftover homemade strawberry icing from making a two layer cake, 

Thin butter cookies - turn them into sandwich cookies!

Or perhaps a small batch of mini cupcakes.

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A loaf of Buttermilk Pumpkin Spice Bread is baking in the oven right now.  It's mainly designed to be part of breakfast tomorrow, but it will also be good for an afternoon snack today.  It feels strange that this is the only holiday baking I've done this year, but it's been a strange year.

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For Christmas Eve brunch I baked three brioche nanterre, one Finnish pulla, and cinnamon rolls. And Parmesan palmiers. I have leftover puff pastry in the freezer and leftover blueberry compote and apple compote (for blintzes), so I think I'll be making turnovers and freezing them for a future occasion. Now I need to stop goofing off and bake an apple pie for my mother-in-law.

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I am determined to use the last can of pumpkin in my cabinets this week- I also had cream cheese icing the fridge leftover that I needed to use.  So I made pumpkin whoppie pies.  I will use the last cup of pumpkin for some pumpkin cornbread later this week.  I also have no-knead bread processing.  

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I made chocolate chip banana bread over the weekend. I thought it would be a fun project to do with my toddler, but she wasn't really interested aside from eating the chocolate chips. I defrosted overripe bananas from the freezer. The recipe didn't specify how many chocolate chips to use (it said to use as many as you want). I used 2 cups, which was too much. The chocolate flavor overwhelmed the banana flavor. The bread was still tasty, but next time I'll try cutting the chocolate chips down to 1.5 cups.

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I made homemade bread this weekend, and used my new peel and baking stone to make boulles.  The bread came out a little mis-shaped, but it definitely stuck to the peel, so that may be why.  I am not sure how to avoid this except to perhaps have more flour below the bread, and perhaps my cuts for hot air escape weren't deep enough.  But it tasted very good.

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3 hours ago, ktmoomau said:

I made homemade bread this weekend, and used my new peel and baking stone to make boulles.  The bread came out a little mis-shaped, but it definitely stuck to the peel, so that may be why.  I am not sure how to avoid this except to perhaps have more flour below the bread, and perhaps my cuts for hot air escape weren't deep enough.  But it tasted very good.

Maybe place the dough on parchment paper, slide the peel under the parchment paper, and slide the paper and dough onto the baking stone. After you take it out it should slide off the parchment paper with no problem. If that does not work you can try putting a little oil on the parchment. That is what I do to make no-knead bread (although I use a cast iron pot and not a baking stone). 

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16 hours ago, dcs said:

Maybe place the dough on parchment paper, slide the peel under the parchment paper, and slide the paper and dough onto the baking stone. After you take it out it should slide off the parchment paper with no problem. If that does not work you can try putting a little oil on the parchment. That is what I do to make no-knead bread (although I use a cast iron pot and not a baking stone). 

I previous to getting my stone always used parchment, but reading some bread books- wanted to switch to bread directly on the stone.  It was my first attempt, so I think I just need more practice and will figure it out.  I think my peel technique just needs work, but certainly until I get it figured out while baking for company- I will use parchment so it is pretty.  

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17 minutes ago, porcupine said:

Been on a pastry bender recently. Some creations need a bit more work, but one that came out well I call "cacio e pepe" rolls: croissant dough with plenty of black pepper and pecorino romano, rolled, sliced, baked in muffin tins.

That sounds really good!

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I'm trying to get back into baking myself.  I (on a whim) replaced my broken Zojirushi bread machine w/ a Hamilton Beach model (I like to use it to make dough & proof starters). So far, I've made sour corn rye bread & pain ancienne (recipes from 'Rustic European Breads from your Bread Machine" by Linda Eckhardt & Diana Butts). Although I keep a stone in my oven, I've never tried the peel transfer (I think once I used the bottom of a sheet pan w/ cornmeal).

i also went on Chowhound the other day for the first time in ages, & the baking cookbook of the month for March is 'Classic Home Desserts" by Richard Sax, which I've had for ages. I made the Piernik (Polish Honey cake) last T'giving, wasn't overwhelmed w/ the first taste, but after a couple of days, it was very more-ish, not too sweet, perfect w/ a cup of tea.

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