Any Home Bakers Here?

[sunflour]

We stopped at the Penzeys store on Saturday. We have three kinds of cinnamon in the spice cabinet now. It is amazing to me how different they each smell and taste. For my carrot cake, I used:
Korintje Indonesia Cinnamon Sweet and mellow, Korintje cinnamon is the type of cinnamon we all remember from our childhood. Fragrant Korintje cinnamon is as strong as China cinnamon, but smoother and not as nippy.

The other types I have are the Ceylon Cinnamon and Cassia Cinnamon. I use each for a different type of food. I even have the generic store cinnamon for crafts.

AND They now have a granulated Roasted Garlic - that stuff is good!

BTW - the Schaum Tortes are Weight Watchers friendly!
So not all recipes on here are diet busters, lol.

Lots of culinary education on this thread….for real.

Never knew there was but one cinnamon. I love cinnamon, gotta investigate those. We don't have a Penzeys - never heard of them.
They sound interesting.

Thanks for the post.

 

[isabella2014]

I'm trying my hand at baking bread in Dutch Oven.As they recommend heating the container to 450 degrees with lid. I line the Dutch Oven with parchment. The bread has a nice crust all over and no burning.
The No Knead bread is interesting.
Made my first bread : sour dough. Left my sour dough bread to bubble and rise about 18-20 hours. This first try had a nice rise in the Dutch Oven however my second attempt was quite sticky and didnt rise as much tho the second loaf tasted better.
Im using Bread Flour...should I switch to All Purpose?
Anyone trying this method?

 

[K-Kritter]

Cheesecake visited here about 3 weeks ago. First was the chocolate one with a dark chocolate cookie crust. Then came the traditional New York one with a graham cracker crust. For someone that had never made one before, I managed to make 2 (TWO) of them within a month. Oh my aching pants.

(But they were so good!)

Okay, you gotta share those two recipes!! My DH is a huge chocolate-lover and so are my two kids. So I would definitely try the chocolate one. Me, I'm happy with the traditional.

@wyoDreamer - Never knew there was more than one kind of cinnamon. How exciting! I will have to look for those around here. What kind of store are you finding those in, a regular grocery or some other kind?

 

[wyoDreamer]

Penzeys is a spice store - they have over 60 stores in 29 states. They started in the Milwaukee area. You can order online if you want. I would go to their website and sign up for their catalog at the very least. It has recipes and articles and such; and it comes Quarterly. I get all silly when my Penzeys shows up.

People tend to love them once they shop there once. I see bottles of their spices on cooking shows all the time. I had a co-worker out in Wyoming who was originally from Wisconsin and her husband had created a spreadsheet of the Penzeys spices that she liked, how much she had on hand and kept track of how much she used each year. That way they knew what to order when the free shipping offer happened; now that is a devoted fan (or a total geek).

 

[N F C]

Okay, you gotta share those two recipes!! My DH is a huge chocolate-lover and so are my two kids. So I would definitely try the chocolate one. Me, I'm happy with the traditional.

@K-Kritter , the chocolate cheesecake recipe was from Alice28. She posted the recipe on Feb. 6th and ronott1 put it in a PDF version that same day (post #'s 743 & 747). I posted the chocolate cookie wafer recipe Feb. 13th, post #775 and a photo on Feb. 16th, post #789.

The New York Style cheesecake recipe was posted Feb. 23rd, post #844. There's a photo on that same day, post #841.

If you have any trouble finding these, try using the "Search This Thread" function (or just give me a shout).

 

[sunflour]

I'm trying my hand at baking bread in Dutch Oven.As they recommend heating the container to 450 degrees with lid. I line the Dutch Oven with parchment. The bread has a nice crust all over and no burning.
The No Knead bread is interesting.
Made my first bread : sour dough. Left my sour dough bread to bubble and rise about 18-20 hours. This first try had a nice rise in the Dutch Oven however my second attempt was quite sticky and didnt rise as much tho the second loaf tasted better.
Im using Bread Flour...should I switch to All Purpose?
Anyone trying this method?

Hi, glad to meet you.

I have had luck with sourdough using King Arthurs unbleached all purpose flour. I think it has more gluten than regular AP flour? But the only SD bread recipes I have tried were by KA..

Sticky though sounds too wet?

I'm a novice, maybe NorthFlChick or the others with better bread skills will chime in.

 

[wyoDreamer]

When you are making bread, you will need to be a little more relaxed about following the recipe than, say, making a cake. The amount of flour needed in a recipe can change. I have made bread two days in a row from the same bag of flour and needed to add additional flour on one day and not the other. Humidity of your kitchen will play a part. For bread, you are looking for more of the texture of the dough, than the actual amount that the recipe calls for. If it seems too sticky, add a little more flour and mix it in well. check the texture, and if it needs more, go ahead and add more flour. It also goes the other way, if the amount of flour called for in the recipe makes a dough that feels too tough and firm, go ahead and add a little water to it.
When I make bread, I actually leave a little of the water out from what the recipe calls for. Then, as it is mixing, I use a squirt bottle to add more liquid until the texture is correct -I take a little pinch of the dough and roll it around in my fingers to gauge the texture. I actually measured it once and each squirt from my bottle is 1/4 teaspoon. This is actually a big help in making pizza dough that will window-pane for you, that takes just the right texture.

 

[ronott1]

Hi, glad to meet you.

I have had luck with sourdough using King Arthurs unbleached all purpose flour. I think it has more gluten than regular AP flour? But the only SD bread recipes I have tried were by KA..

Sticky though sounds too wet?

I'm a novice, maybe NorthFlChick or the others with better bread skills will chime in.

I use organic all purpose flour from costco.

Sourdough will always be sticky--Go by stiffness..sorry to be so vague but it takes experience to figure it out.

Added: this applies to the addition of flour--the amount of flour in the recipe is a guide. It is rarely the amount listed in cups. Weight measurements will be closer but we do not use weight in the United States.

 

[isabella2014]

Thanks!
It was wet-like. I didnt deviate from the recipe and it stated not to add more flour. Naturally it froze my natural instinct to add more flour so I plowed onward. Yes we have had very humid days...I remember my first batch required 1 3/4 teaspoon of salt and the family said it was bland so I increases it 1/4 teaspoon more of salt. Could that make a difference?
Not giving up as the family likes the sourdough.

 

[isabella2014]

Perhaps posting the recipe will help:
Sour Dough Artisan Bread
No Knead
3.5 cups of flour
1/4 teaspoon yeast
1 3/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup of sourdough starter
1 1/2 cup of water

Combine flour, yeast and salt in mixing bowl...whisk together.
Combine Sourdough starter and water in large mixing cup. Combine well.
Cover bowl and wrap loosely at room temperature.
Walk away for 12 - 18 hours.
When ready dust board or clean cloth liberally with flour.Scrape dough loose from sides and turn out on floured board or cloth.
Let rise about 2 hours.
About 30 minutes before 2nd rise , place Dutch Oven in middle of oven rack to heat at 450 degrees.
Once oven reaches desired temperature place bread into parchment lined Dutch Oven and place lid on for 35 minutes. One can dust a coating of coarse cornmeal on bottom and top of dough before cooking.
After 35 minutes, remove lid of Dutch Oven and bake an additional 15 minutes to brown.
Remove bread from Dutch Oven and cool one hour.

The only thing bad about this cooking method is handling the extremely hot Dutch Oven. Its definitely not a method recommended to be done with small children.

Its fun to make but when the last batch was sticky to wet...that was the puzzle when it said Add No More Flour!

Thanks for your replies!