2/15/2009

Saturday of baking

This Saturday, I did a bunch of baking. Did a batch of challah.


Did a batch of my "Pumpernickel in Quotes".


Did some whole wheat cranberry-pecan cinnamon (WWCPC) bread. Need to get some different yeast before I try this one again. Have been reading a new book on baking called "Advanced Bread and Pastry" authored by the founder of the San Francisco Baking Institute. It talks about osmotolerant yeast which is a special strain of yeast that survives highly acid or sugary doughs. Since the WWCPC bread is made with buttermilk and has lots of sugar, it should be a perfect application for this. Been digging around and the folks at King Arthur Flour have SAF Gold yeast which appears osmotolerant based on the writeups on the internet. My next order to King Arthur will have to get some.



Which reminds me, buy King Arthur flour. For the holidays, I bought 25lbs of bread flour from SAMS in an effort to economize. I certainly regretted it and my wife had to endure much swearing. So, now I am back to buying KA bread flour in 25lb orders from the web site.

The other baking project this weekend was an attempt at Red Velvet Cake for Valentines Day. Lou made dinner and I was in charge of the cake. I used Bobby Flay's recipe for the cake and modified the frosting from my carrot cake recipe by adding a little milk and powdered egg white. It turned out pretty good but the cake wasn't as moist as I would have liked, but that didn't stop Lou and I from eating it...

1 comment:

PJH said...

Whoa, it all looks great, Mark. Sorry you had to get through 25 pounds of Sam's Club flour, but glad you're back to King Arthur - there really IS a difference, huh? Thanks for your loyalty - PJ Hamel, King Arthur Flour baker/blogger, on behalf of my fellow 167 employee-owners.