A baking thread

[omaniphil]

Scoring my bread is a skill I haven't yet mastered. I always seem to end up with too tough a surface on my loaves that prevents the razor from doing anything but digging into the dough rather than slicing it.

Are you using a razor or knife? How are you letting them sit after forming? If it's a sticking issue you can lightly grease the blade with oil, but this will slightly change how the score works. I've never had much luck trying the disposable razors, but a lot of people like them. The blade needs to be clean, I would wipe or clean it after every score. Hopefully others will chime in. After going keto my baking skills have faded so I can't offer more tips.

I've never bothered scoring my bread since I just was under the impression it was an aesthetic thing. Is there some sort of functional benefit?

[5hout]

Scoring my bread is a skill I haven't yet mastered. I always seem to end up with too tough a surface on my loaves that prevents the razor from doing anything but digging into the dough rather than slicing it.

Are you using a razor or knife? How are you letting them sit after forming? If it's a sticking issue you can lightly grease the blade with oil, but this will slightly change how the score works. I've never had much luck trying the disposable razors, but a lot of people like them. The blade needs to be clean, I would wipe or clean it after every score. Hopefully others will chime in. After going keto my baking skills have faded so I can't offer more tips.

I've never bothered scoring my bread since I just was under the impression it was an aesthetic thing. Is there some sort of functional benefit?

The really shallow scores are pretty much purely aesthetic, but the deeper scores (in theory) open up the inside and help create a lighter, more open texture. The skin after forming can be tough and prevent the oven spring from really taking as much effect, so the right system of scores helps the oven spring do it's thing. Also, dumps some excess moisture from the inside of the bread (and creates burnt crispy bits (ears)) which are super tasty.

I'v never really done a lot of decorative baking, so can't speak to that. But if you're hunting down good bread flour and doing flour/water/yeast/salt breads with high-protein flour I'd say scoring and steam are the 2 things that can realllllllllyyyyyyyy push your bread to pro quality. Bonus points for a pizza stone, but I'm not convinced the annoyance is worth it.

EDIT:
This is the knife I use/used to use for doing my scores, pretty much only use the last 1 inch of it. I don't use it for fish and I keep it surgical razor sharp. The useful part is not the "fillet knife" part so much as the ultra-thin, slightly curve tip. http://www.wusthof.com/products/knives/ ... her-sheath

[GrainsAndGains]

Made sourdough. Great crust, good taste, OK crumb. A little disappointed with the volume.

[omaniphil]

Easter morning cinnamon rolls! The cream cheese frosting is key.

[PuddingFace]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

[rjharris]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

Is it this recipe? If so, did you try freezing the butter before cutting it? It doesn't explicitly say to do so, but it may help. It doesn't seem obviously too wet to me.

[omaniphil]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

Are you looking for something lighter or on the denser side? I have a recipe that I developed over time that works really well for strawberry shortcake. It's not very buttery, but its pretty fluffy and works well at sopping up strawberry juice.

Combine in order below:
2 cups flour
1tsp salt
1Tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp soda
6 Tbsp cold butter (food processor)
1 cup yoghurt (stirred in by hand)

chill for 30 minutes and then shape into 6-8 pucks.

450 for 7 min

do an egg wash for optional additional browning.

[PuddingFace]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

Is it this recipe? If so, did you try freezing the butter before cutting it? It doesn't explicitly say to do so, but it may help. It doesn't seem obviously too wet to me.

Yes that's the recipe. in the book it indicates to use 1/4 cup additional if using buttermilk. Butter was frozen. This i think would have made a good drop biscuit, but really didn't work for rolling out the dough.

[PuddingFace]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

Are you looking for something lighter or on the denser side? I have a recipe that I developed over time that works really well for strawberry shortcake. It's not very buttery, but its pretty fluffy and works well at sopping up strawberry juice.

Combine in order below:
2 cups flour
1tsp salt
1Tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp soda
6 Tbsp cold butter (food processor)
1 cup yoghurt (stirred in by hand)

chill for 30 minutes and then shape into 6-8 pucks.

450 for 7 min

do an egg wash for optional additional browning.

Thanks for the suggestion. Target application is biscuits & sausage gravy - so i'm thinking more on the denser & buttery side. I haven't had strawberry shortcake in quite some time though - so will give this a try to see what happens.

[augeleven]

My first shot at a Swiss cake roll. I kinda cheated and doctored up a box mix, as we didn’t have the proper ingredients. Buttercream and ganache from scratch though. I made a strawberry jelly roll last year (wow, time flies!). If we all survive acute dia-beetus, I wanna give it a second go.



It’s ganache-ed and chilling in the fridge now, testing our patience

[Savs]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

Are you looking for something lighter or on the denser side? I have a recipe that I developed over time that works really well for strawberry shortcake. It's not very buttery, but its pretty fluffy and works well at sopping up strawberry juice.

Combine in order below:
2 cups flour
1tsp salt
1Tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp soda
6 Tbsp cold butter (food processor)
1 cup yoghurt (stirred in by hand)

chill for 30 minutes and then shape into 6-8 pucks.

450 for 7 min

do an egg wash for optional additional browning.

Thanks for the suggestion. Target application is biscuits & sausage gravy - so i'm thinking more on the denser & buttery side. I haven't had strawberry shortcake in quite some time though - so will give this a try to see what happens.

If you’re still interested, I got some decent, buttery biscuits tonight that might meet your specs. I’m a newbie baker, so feel free to ignore this!

I ran out of bread flour and all purpose flour, and the only flour I could find a few days ago was (King Arthur) self-rising flour. So I’ve tried making biscuits last night and tonight. The batch tonight came out okay, buttery for sure. I used this recipe.

I used milk, folded the dough four times (I'm defining this as one time (that’s not my photo)), cut the dough into 6 square pieces, baked at 450 F for 12 min with the rack in the upper third of the oven. Simple, for sure. And pretty tasty!

[GrainsAndGains]

An attempt at Normandy Apple Bread. Sourdough starter, Apple cider and dried apples in the dough. I may have eaten too much of it, but we're going to try and make French toast with what's left tomorrow.

[PuddingFace]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

Are you looking for something lighter or on the denser side? I have a recipe that I developed over time that works really well for strawberry shortcake. It's not very buttery, but its pretty fluffy and works well at sopping up strawberry juice.

Combine in order below:
2 cups flour
1tsp salt
1Tbsp Baking Powder
1 tsp soda
6 Tbsp cold butter (food processor)
1 cup yoghurt (stirred in by hand)

chill for 30 minutes and then shape into 6-8 pucks.

450 for 7 min

do an egg wash for optional additional browning.

Made these yesterday, they turned out great. We used greek yogurt, and added a little cream to get everything to come together. Thanks for the tip, this will become a starting point for experimentation (depending upon how long lockdown lasts i imagine).

[Idlehands]

ahhh found my new favorite thread.

This only for bread? What we got here?
Made pretzles last week. May do those again with a gruyere finish dusting if I can get more yeast. I want to practice a tiramisu any tips/tricks on that?
Made a flan for friends last week, tuned it up with some grande marneire (spelling help please!)

[omaniphil]

Only kind of sort of related to baking, but I baked a batch of choc chip cookies in a cast iron pan, and then served ice cream over it. Split it with the family, but I still dont even want to think about how many calories it was.

[Idlehands]

not so much baking but I fucked up a tiramisu this am. Missed mixing the heavy cream with the mascarpone. Damn recipe wasn't clear on the whipping cream part. It was a practice run always and giving to a friend. I ended up adding whip cream to the top top layer after the fact. It shouldn't be terrible just not perfect!
I think it may be boozy af too

[alek]

Made some gluten free chocolate cupcakes this afternoon. Decadently delicious. No need for any icing and such.

[alek]

Anyone have a favorite biscuit recipe? We made the buttermilk recipe from Better Homes & Gardens cookbook. Turned out ok, but didn't seem quite right, way too wet of dough. Recommendations or tips would be appreciated.

Chef John from Food Wishes.



And make his biscuit gravy, too. I just use sausage, but do whatever.

[5hout]

24 hour bread using AP flour.

~3:1, 3 tsp salt, pinch of sugar. In large stock pot with a tight fitting lid mix yeast, warm water, sugar. Whisk, add maybe 1/4thish flour, mix. Salt. Add rest of flour. Sort of smoosh it around bottom of pot until it forms a shaggy mass. Lid and place in fridge for 12-18 hours. Remove from fridge, place in warm place. Allow to expand, it may double in size, or a bit less. Knock out the gas, gently work the dough (may need 1-5 tbsp more flour to work the dough). Form into baton (long and skinny) or batard (medium and chubby) on cutting board (either shape works just fine). Preheat oven to 375F (convection) for at least 1 hour before baking. If you have a thin metal loaf pan preheat the pan for a few minutes, I used Silpat mats propped up by upside down meatloaf pans (if using Silpat preheat for at least 20 minutes).

Very gently roll the loaf back and forth immediately before placing in oven, roll the dough (do not lift, roll) off cutting board into pan/Silpat trough. Bake for 50-80 minutes. At 50 minutes you may want to roll the dough in 90 degrees in the pan. The complete lack of fat in the dough and long rise time makes for a rock hard, crunchy crust. May be painted with egg wash for more golden color. May used steam to increase crunch factor, but I do not (for this dough) use steam, because it is already very crunchy.

Allow to cool for ~1 hour in oven, without opening door, after baking time. This bread should be moist, with a moderately open texture and spring back forcefully when a slice is pushed. Bread should be more cylindrical than oval in cross-section, however the long initial rise and relatively short second rise after shaping may make this tricky. It needs a minimum of 10 minutes more baking than you think, the long rise time really locks the moisture into the dough. Dough was not scored*, the score-ish mark on the right side was from an un-floured spot of the cutting board that grabbed as I was rolling.

Same dough and beginning procedure may be baked directly on a stone in a 500 degree over for 30 minutes. Procedure same until right before you go to place it on the stone. Mist dough lightly with spray, then roll dough off cutting board directly onto stone (applying boiling water to steam tray) and shut door to oven for a minimum for 20 minutes. Dough will form similar loaf shape, without pan, rising directly off stone. However, may need to bake for 20 minutes at 500 and then open door and drop temperature down for 20-30 minutes to bake through. Also, use of steam and moisture on stones will crack lesser stones almost instantly.

*The texture of this dough, even after formed and allowed to rest, is particularly difficult to score.

[GrainsAndGains]

Best loaf I've ever made. It made delicious grilled cheese sandwiches and melts the next day.