I've caught the seasonal baking bug

[applestar]

In addition to cookies and daily bread, here are a few other yummies I've made so far

Pecan Pie Bars ............... Semi-sweet Chocolate Chunk Croissants

Extra fudgy walnut/pecan/date brownies

Actually DD made the brownies today with some help from me. We used 1/2 coconut butter and 1/2 butter, extra nuts, and added some semisweet chocolate chunks

[Voices30]

I'm jealous! I love pecans, those pecan bars look amazing! Nice work!

[applestar]

Thanks! What are your favorite baked goods?

I've run out of butter and eggs but as soon as I restock, I think next up will be snickerdoodles and muffin pan miniature quiche.

[digitS']

I still have leftovers from Thanksgiving!!

By that I mean, there was too much steamed Buttercup squash so some of it went to the freezer. There were too many apples from the orchard so they were baked as pies and sent to the freezer.

It's possible that we won't have apple and pumpkin (Buttercup squash) pies for Christmas. I'm surprised DW has only made 1 lemon meringue pie so far this autumn. It's her favorite. (I think she likes the looks more than anything.) I wish she would go for a bananananannna cream, instead !

Pumpkin Bread (Half Moon Bay recipe) would be nice. I even have 1 pumpkin still on a basement shelf .

I'd better stay away from the cookies ...

Steve

[Voices30]

Thanks! What are your favorite baked goods?

I've run out of butter and eggs but as soon as I restock, I think next up will be snickerdoodles and muffin pan miniature quiche.

I like pastries the most, and cookies, and cake.. well let me be honest here, I don't know if there has ever been a baked good I didn't like.... HA

[imafan26]

I usually make pumpkin rolls for Christmas. Since they don't keep that long, I usually do it all on Christmas eve. I have done cookies as Christmas presents a couple of times.

My favorite cookies to make were shortbread, Jan Hagel, Peanut butter, and Almond bar cookies. I also liked to make mini cheesecakes, Booze cakes, Dumpcake, carrot cake, apple cake, Sour cream apple cake (actually I like the ice cream it is served with), and Orange creamsickle cakes but those are mostly for parties. I also make lemon meringue pies with my Meyer lemons.

The one that gets requested the most in the last couple of years is the jello layered dessert. It is good, but not my favorite one to make. It has 3 steps, and each layer has to be set, so it takes at least 8 hours to be ready, and takes up a lot of space in my always crowded refrigerator.

[digitS']

The pumpkin from the basement shelf was just fine! I'm pleased with how well pumpkins grow in my garden, how I've learned to do one or two things with them, and their storage life . Unfortunately, I haven't come up with many ways to use them. This one has been waiting down there for me for 2 months ... while I've nearly used all of my winter squash.

Anyway, it was baked and I now have enuf pulp for 12 loaves of pumpkin bread ..! I brought the food processor out but DW claims it's too late to start. Tomorrow! There won't be 12 loaves of Half Moon Bay pumpkin bread but that is the very best use for them, there will be several loaves, and the remaining pumpkin can be frozen for bread after everyone oo's and ah's over what we have this week .

Steve

[applestar]

Sounds great! Is this a typical baking powder bread or yeast-leavened bread?

You are reminding me that I also have -- well this is a winter squash -- that I should process soon.... Maybe tomorrow.

[imafan26]

Have you done pumpkin pie with the winter squash? The only storage "pumpkin" that is common around here are the kabocha type pumpkins and they are available for most of the year from midsummer until they are used up. In a mild year like this one, squash are still growing. I just harvested another hyotan today. The kabocha pumpkin are put in soups and stews and cooked as a side dish. The hyotan pretty much I have two recipes, soup and pork an squash.

I did grow a regular pumpkin one year and it was ready in July. It rotted before Halloween.

I still have a couple of Christmas parties to go to. One tomorrow, one on Christmas Eve. I still have to figure out what I want to make for the party on Christmas eve or whether I will do the pumpkin rolls or something else. I have about 10 packages of cream cheese so it will probably be something with cream cheese as an ingredient. On December 28, I will be going to a mochi pounding and kado matsu party for New Year. I need a side dish for that one too. No wonder I gain weight every year.

[pepperhead212]

Speaking of pumpkin, I have to make another pupmkin pie on 12-24 - the same one that I made for Thanksgiving, and is so popular that everyone wants it again! I make it in an 8" deep tart pan, rather than a 9" pie pan. Definitely my favorite pumpkin pie recipe.
https://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/ ... Pie-350490

Today, it's cookies!

[digitS']

Pumpkin Butterscotch? Oh, My!

Pink Banana squash were my choice for pumpkin pie when I lived where there was a long enough season to grow them. I guess they are called Candyroasters some places. They are pretty darn big! And, they take a pretty long growing season to mature properly.

I've used Buttercup squash more recently. I've also used Cha Cha Kabocha. Both are great for pies! The recipe I've used absolutely forever, is on a can of Carnation evaporated milk. Note: 15 ounce can of pumpkin = 1 2/3 cups of the real thing from your garden .

Steve
Here's the Half Moon Bay pumpkin bread recipe.

[applestar]

They both look so good! I'm definitely trying them out soon

I was really impressed by the way the croissants puffed up into soft flakey rolls, so I tried something else today. I took the full recipe and added some soaked Irish oatmeal to the dough, then folded in not just butter but brown sugar/cinnamon/butter/coconut butter mixture and chopped walnuts and some leftover orange/cranbury sauce that nobody wanted to finish. Final smear of all of the filling rolled up into a loaf, ends folded down and plopped into parchment lined oat bran sprinkled casserole. Strengthened the parchment with folded foil for additional support for final proofing -- it rose magnificently, and even more while baking ...nearly got stuck on the upper coils of the toaster oven even though I positioned the oven rack on the bottom.

Here it is, waiting to cool before the slice-and-reveal -- It LOOKS pretty edible from the outside....

...I'll let you know...

[applestar]

It's DELICIOUS

...OK -yeah- I need to improve my bread-forming technique -- I'm guessing I should have pinched it together when I rolled the final time to form the loaf. But the flavor was just right -- not too sweet -- and I had my two slices with thick-sliced deli roast turkey breast slices in a sandwich YUMMM!!!

Family liked it too.

Next time, I'm making one for me that I really wanted to make today, but nobody else in the family would eat it if I did -- fresh rosemary, olives, lemon zest, and EVOO.

[digitS']

cell phone picture

[pepperhead212]

Nice breads! I am really late with my Christmas baking, since it's been so hectic at work this year.

While I didn't bake any yet, today I made 15 more recipes of cookie dough, and now have 19 logs of dough in my freezer (habanero gingersnaps, sesame icebox, oatmeal icebox, Tennessee icebox, wienerstube, chocolate coconut nut, cardamom icebox) . I still have maybe 4 more to do, and the baking is the fast part, with my huge oven. My usual helper is sick, so I'll have to do it myself, so I'll only have one small recipe of hand formed cookies (pine-nut cookies for my Mom). I am only using about 6 lbs of butter this season, so it is a light year. I used to think it was a light year when I stayed under 20 lbs! LOL One season, between me and a friend's wife, who brought dough over to bake (they would use my oven, and in return, I got a bunch of helpers!), we used over 26 lbs of butter!

[digitS']

Good Heavens!

I think I'd need extra habanero in my ginger snaps just to ..

. keep moving!

Steve

[applestar]

I just want to go sit in pepperhead's kitchen and smell when he's baking all those cookies!

[pepperhead212]

I wish you had been here, applestar - I could have put you to work! LOL

I baked all of my cookies today! I baked a little over 1,000 in less than three hours, then I baked about 120 more later - the ones that do better in a non-convection oven . Here are the photos:
https://s24.photobucket.com/user/pepperh ... t=6&page=1

[Voices30]

wow you guys did a great job! I wish I could have been there to help eat it! We did a pumpkin pie for Christmas, and we bought a pre-made, super heavily processed, pile of sugar mess from "Edwards". It was a "turtle pecan" or something like that, and I have to admit, I am really trying to get off the processed foods and break from the industrial agriculture complex that dominates every isle of the grocery store here in the US, but that processed pile of pie tasted TERRIFIC!

[digitS']

"Pile of sugar"

Jobs for food chemists.

Slave-like dependency of the masses ...

Where does someone who knows how to grow food fit in? Experiment! Try a different flavor and one that isn't artificial. We, each and every one of us, have different tastes in food. Celebrate that! ... and, hang out with good cooks ...

Steve

[imafan26]

On Christmas day, I made 5 pumpkin rolls to give away to my family for Christmas and I had made a jello cheesecake dessert a couple of days before for two parties. I have some left over filling for the pumpkin rolls so I think I will make a few more and I have another party to take it to on Sunday. It is a mochi pounding and kado matsu party that we have at the Garden I volunteer at most years.

My sister said she wanted the Jello cheesecake for New Year not Christmas, so I told her I needed to get more strawberry jello or they may just have to settle for lemon meringue pies instead. I have a lot of Meyer lemons on the tree for that.

I'm tired already and I am almost out of eggs.

[applestar]

I love it! I'm getting all kinds of ideas

I made some individual mini pumpkin cheese cake pies and apple/cherry tarts

image.jpg (32.94 KiB) Viewed 9071 times

...I forgot to take a picture of the mini lemon cream tarts made with puff pastry

[pepperhead212]

Nice pastries, applestar! I made a small, 3" tart with the leftover pastry and the leftover batter from my pumpkin pie, only because all the batter would not fit in the original pastry, and there was no way I was going to waste it! LOL

[imafan26]

I think I just gained another five pounds just reading this thread. I wish I could bake bread better. I only had success with dilly casserole bread and Sally Lunn. I should try again before my yeast expires again.

[pepperhead212]

Nothing like home baked bread! I still haven't mastered sourdough, as it's finicky, but I'm still working at it. The problem is, I can't make enough bread to use the culture often enough, as I'm the only one eating it, for the most part. After the holidays is when I get back to bread baking - a bunch of breads to go with the soups.

[imafan26]

I remember once getting starter. It was called something like friendship bread. Someone makes a starter dough and gives a part of the starter and the recipe to friends who uses the starter to start another batch and in turn gives part of that starter to others and it just keeps traveling around.

https://www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com/p ... ad-starter

[applestar]

I might try sourdough again. My last starter languished in the back of the fridge after a flurry of baking passed, and finding it much -much- later kind of turned me off

Kids and DH wouldn't eat sourdough bread but they had no objections to sourdough pancakes, waffles and muffins (I secretly put some in those )

My best successes with bread that wasn't too flat/dense and chewy -- I mostly use whole grain flour -- have been using the no knead method and this latest croissant recipe/technique. I was really pleased with the croissant since I altered the original recipe to use (1/2 bread flour and 1/2 white whole wheat flour) instead of (1/2 bread flour and 1/2 all purpose flour).

I might try combining the sourdough in the no knead technique and see how that turns out. I might have to give in and increase the proportion of the bread flour since most "dough conditioners" I've come across for improving whole grain dough have contained wheat gluten, milk or soy -- and I really shouldn't eat the bread if any of those are added. (I wonder which is worse -- more white bread flour or whole grain with added wheat gluten.... )

I think I'm going to try this: https://www.thekitchn.com/the-secret-to-making-really-great-100-whole-grain-bread-183881

Also, using whey doesn't affect me as much, so once I start exploring cheese making, I may have something else to work with.

[applestar]

Not sure if I want to show you the entire loaf because it burnt a little on top... And I cut and ate a slice already

...oh I don't know, maybe I'll post a full view a little later...

[Susan W]

I'll try to write out the recipe for my regular bread. I do 3 loves as that's what I can get in the oven. I make a batch every week or so, one loaf often going to the kids (especially if g-son here and helping). I am not a fan of regular whole wheat, so use the white whole wheat and other grains. Amounts are more-or-less.

2 paks yeast (Hodgsons my usual)
2.5 c liquid, mostly milk
1/3 c softened butter
1/3 c honey
salt
Then the flours and grains, varies every batch.
1 -1.5 c rolled oats, given a whorl in the blender
1/2 - 1 c graham flour, brown rice flour, spelt, barley flour (I try to have graham plus 2 others, all Bob's Red Mill)
After all of these mixed in, just keep adding the regular flour (Hodgsons naturally white wheat) I tried a different one from Kroger, could have been Kroger brand, and it was terrible.

The usual, mix, knead, let rise in bowl, punch down, put in loaf pans, let rise, bake.

[applestar]

Sounds good! How/when do you add the butter?

Here's how this one turned out. If I'd powdered the top with flour or oat bran, it would have looked a bit more presentably rustic. I also couldn't lame the top because the dough was too wet, ending up with this volcanic looking natural fissure. LOL

I left it to proof longer than normal because my timing was off, and the sourdough was losing strength despite second feeding and becoming more like a wet batter, so I ended up adding a packet of yeast ... added a tbs of molasses AND mixing in some white bread flour to resuscitate the dough ... I really wanted to avoid a too dense bread with this one. I think the bit of singed top came from the molasses plus forgetting to reset the timer on the oven after removing the lid (ended up baking for additional 25 min instead of 15-20 min and internal temp was at 210F which is max of the desirable 190-210 range).

Still, can't beat the no knead bread technique for forgiving little mistakes -- crusty crust and chewy moist inside, a bit more sour than my kids will like, but it tastes fabulous and will be great sandwich and dinner bread -- should go really well Kielbasa.

[Susan W]

After I wrote this out, realized how one jumps over things, especially when it is in one's head, and then needs written.
I shorted you on liquid. I use about 3/4 cup lukewarm water, teaspoon sugar added, yeast sprinkled on top. That's in the mixing bowl. Let that do its thing, get other stuff staged, and when ready get back to it. For the bulk of liquid use 1 - 1.5 c milk, warmed, and enough warmish water to make about 2 3/4 c. total
When yeast done enough, stir in salt, butter, honey, liquid. Then go for it with the grains!

An alternative to honey is sorghum molasses, and it is slightly darker. I can get regional sorghum at the store, more available than regular molasses. The oats help with texture and I think help to keep bread moist. As mentioned above, I use Hodgsons Mill flour, and I think King Arthur has a good white whole wheat.

[applestar]

Found this in the Hoo-ha, so I moved it to Recipe’s and I’m bumping it in case other members want to read it again.

[pepperhead212]

I have baked a bunch of bread in the last month and a half (had an accident on 12-15, and knee surgery on 1-17, so I've been home a lot) - batches of 3, 3, 2, and 3 of rye breads, plus a bunch of Indian flat breads. The latest batch of rye bread that I made had something in it that I have been using for years, but I had forgotten about it, until I looked up a recipe in my "blue book" of favorite recipes - a potato pumpernickel, that I have made since the 70s,and at the bottom I added a note: "This bread is very good made with pickle juice". That's right, pickle juice! Don't remember what CB I found it in, but ever since I found this trick, I have used it for dozens of loaves of rye bread. I never throw away the juice from dill pickles! I use it for about half of the liquid in a recipe, reducing the salt some.

And speaking of potatoes, the latest flat bread had potatoes in it - Aloo Naan. It also had a little garam masala, and minced green chilies and cilantro, to add some spice to it. The original recipe calls for parboiling then shredding the potatoes, but I microwaved them for 3 min., then shredded them, which worked well. And it called for baking on a stone in a 500° oven, but I used a cast iron skillet on the stove top, which is probably more authentic, and works well.

[rainbowgardener]

Has anyone gotten into the mirror glazed cake craze?





I'm thinking I would like to make one for valentines day



but it seems like something you would have to practice or you might end up with a failure

[thanrose]

Oh my, RBG, those look fabulous. I'd eat the last one, too. Cake should be fun.

Have to look them up. Just thinking it may be some sort of fondant to cover, and then torched for the glassy look? However it's achieved, does the shine have a distinct separation from the rest of the frosting layer, like taffy on an apple?

I inherited my parents' baking stuff. Not so fantastic, but utilitarian. Huge pottery bowl my dad used for making five loaves of depression era potato bread at a time. Cake pans and racks of multiple shapes and sizes from my mom.

The potato and the water it cooked in were added early in the mixing. Dad used the starchy water to proof the yeast. It seems the potato made rougher flours a little smoother, at least from what I've read. We'd make his bread with or without the potato and it still came out great. The instructions were handful of this and pinch of that and until it feels right. While remarkably vague, it is good training for a cook to learn to trust one's senses. I cook by smell and look and hearing.at times.

My sister cooks by following a recipe exactly as she understands it. In this Age of Pinterest, that's dangerous. Bad recipes executed by a poor cook. We have three kinds of oats in the house now, and she doesn't eat them at all. She just read a recipe that called for steel cut, and one that called for minute, and... She told me she made a whole wheat bread recipe three times and each time it was way too dense and impossible to knead. She asked me for advice, and over the phone I realized that she was reading five cups of flour as equivalent to a five pound bag of flour. I don't even know how she managed to incorporate it at all. Guessing she had flour coated balls of cement at the end.

Pepperhead, that tip about the pickle juice is brilliant. Not only the flavoring, but the vinegar (any acid really) can make a more tender and flavorful crumb. Food science at its best.

[rainbowgardener]

Yes look them up! Some of them are fabulous works of art.





No, it is not fondant and there is no torching involved. I don't believe the shine is separate. It just comes from the combination of ingredients. Ingredients include sweetened condensed milk, gelatin, LOTS of sugar (I'm thinking this frosting might be too sweet to really eat), white chocolate chips.

You have to freeze the cake first for the glaze to cling to it. I think people often put a mousse or jelly layer on top of the cake to give a very smooth surface.

The art of the coloring is similar to if you have seen people making colored oil films on a water surface, by dripping different colors in (water marbling)


Then they can lay a piece of paper on top of the design and transfer it to the paper.

If you look it up, there's tons of videos out there of the mirror glazed cake process and of water marbling

[Gary350]

Winter is a great time too bake the house can always us a little extra heat from the kitchen oven. I have been having fun baking too. If I bake the 2 of us have to eat it. I made & apple pie day before yesterday from a bag of apples it will probably be another 3 days before it is gone. Before that I made a peach cobbler. Before that I made a small batch of cinnamon rolls. Before that artisan bread. I made a pastry with orange marmalade jelly topping it was very good. I have been wanting to make donuts then boil them in water like pretzels but not got around to it yet. Wife baked a chocolate cake today, I love chocolate the pie will have to wait.

[digitS']

I'm sitting here with a piece of cake, a cup of coffee and thought of this thread. The cake is for DW and Valentine's Day; it's from the bakery and I pretended that it's seasonal because it's strawberry. However ... there's 5" of new snow outdoors and more falling so I can't say that it's from the local strawberry crop .

It was a pretty cake, although not as pretty as the prettier ones RBG has shown us .

DW caught a baking bug (after she recovered from that cold bug ). She found some zucchini at the supermarket a few days ago and baked four loaves of zucchini bread! How's that for a lingering condition? I thought we had passed through the valley of zucchini bread contagion back in October!

Steve

[imafan26]

I think zucchini bread is the perfect use for all that leftover zucchini.
Today is wet and rainy and it has been like this for three days now. I am ready for a cup of hot chocolate and some fresh baked bread right now.

[rainbowgardener]

I chickened out on trying the mirror glazed cake for the first time for company. So I just did individual heart shaped red velvet cakes.

I am not going to frost them, just top with real home-made whipped cream