Any Home Bakers Here?

[BoundlessLove]

Around here, the general consensus is to stay out of each other’s business - so even a cop will overlook an illegal still of it’s not harming anyone.

He was showing it off like a new car.


I finally finished all the baking and cooking. Chili is in the fridge now.

 

[kattabelly]

I don't think the water is supposed to be boiling. Some people put a pan of ice cubes in when baking bread.

That's more about safety - chucking some ice cubes into a pre-heated tray in the bottom of the oven won't create much steam in the time it takes to pull your hand out of scalding distance. Adding hot water is fine if you're careful.

When I did a bread course with a professional baker and patissier who trained in France, he used warmish water to steam the oven for baguettes but never mentioned the water temp mattering. I'd think hotter water would be better, since the oven will take longer to get back up to temperature if you add ice.

 

[Appalachickens]

True

We did the traditional “freeze a piece of wedding cake to eat on your one year anniversary”.
My mom kept it and sealed it for us.
Went straight into the freezer.
It was still semi soft and tasted okay on our one year anniversary.

I made chocolate cupcakes for our wedding and we froze the leftovers. We ate them for a few years after that and they were completely fine.

 

[Appalachickens]

We’re gearing up for the expected story so I hard-boiled a bunch of eggs and have sourdough rising on the counter. I usually bake bread in the morning on the weekend but there’s a good chance we’ll lose power so I’m going to cold proof it longer than normal and bake as soon as I’m done working. I’m curious to see how it affects the texture.

 

[Appalachickens]

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I don’t understand it. This is the third time I’ve tried making this recipe this week, and every time I make it, the bread splits. It just doesn’t look good, to me at least.

I’m going to open up a little bit. I may get emotional, so don’t be too hard on me.

In my mind, if it doesn’t look good to the eye, it won’t taste as good to the mouth. My grandfather taught me this, rather harshly, when I tried to cook for him once.

He criticize me so badly and so harshly it took me several years to be able to cook again, because it was so traumatic when I put so much work into a dish (in this case, it was clam chowder,) and my grandpa completely rejected it and told me everything I did wrong. He did this very harshly. He wouldn’t even eat it, even though I made it with love and it took me two hours to make.

This is why I seek perfection and making meals look good. I don’t want people to snap at me again for my mistakes.

Its completely trauma related.

Anyway, what can I do to make sure my bread doesn’t split again? I need to do better.

You don’t need to do better. It’s food, and taste is what matters most. In my book, the appropriate response to someone criticizing my cooking would be to never cook for them again.

 

[Rambling Iris]

You don’t need to do better. It’s food, and taste is what matters most. In my book, the appropriate response to someone criticizing my cooking would be to never cook for them again.

I agree, if they don't like my cooking they can cook for themselves. I have never had to worry about my hubby comparing my cooking to his mothers. She was a terrible cook and he knows it.

 

[Rillowen]

It wasn’t bad because the cakes were box mixes and the cookies are pillsbury.
I finished making the chili.
A quick fix - used some dried navy beans I had already cooked day before yesterday and some canned chili beans, tomato sauce, chili powder, little water, and smoked sausage (cut up and fried in a little oil). It will simmer for four hours and go in the fridge.

Oh nice! I am making chili today,
1lb dried black beans soaked overn8ght in baking soda water then rinsed and drained, put in homemade chicken bone broth and crockpot on low all night
The next morning (today) I add
1/2 jar home canned salsa (green tomatoes, onions, bell peppers, garlic, roasted jalapeños),
smoked dried jalapeño powder,
Smoked paprika,
Salt,
Cumin,
Chili powder,
Shredded chicken,
And topped with a dollop of homemade Greek yogurt with a sprinkling of shredded cheddar and wild garlic greens (commonly called onion grass)

Also making corn muffins from scratch, and my sourdough will be ready for breaking in an hour, but its for lunch tomorrow.

 

[Rillowen]

Are you prepared for a power outage? They said on the news that 1/2" of ice can weigh 500 pounds on a power line.

I'm filling all my large containers with water in preparation.