I should have put in the full amount of salt (I only put in three-quarters of the amount). Otherwise, the bread had a good texture and rose surprisingly quickly.
Please visit the host for the week for the recipe: Dawn at Simply Sweet
I had attempted making croissants a while back and had got only to the rolling of the dough stage at which everything broke down and collapsed into a heap of unusable mess of dough and a sense of hopelessness. So when this week’s baking task was croissants, I thought long and hard about whether I wanted to subject myself to misery once again.
So, I gritted my teeth and cleared out some place in the fridge. It started off well enough. The dough and butter oval were easy to put together. Then, the baking weekend arrived - and lord was it a humid one! Why oh why are the weather gods trying to thwart me!
Decided to make half a batch so that I would not have a whole lot of waste if it went wrong. I went off track at the first rolling out when I think I rolled it out a little too long (and hence too thin). Spent the rest of the turns trying to cover up for that one. In the end, I ended up with some sort of laminated dough (slightly too thick with butter in some places and with butter poking out of others). Cut out the triangles, which did not end up stretching much as the butter sometimes came out of the sides! Proofed them. Coated them with egg wash… and stuck them in the oven.
Butter bubbled out over my baking sheet (did anyone else have this problem) and when I pulled them out I got an assortment of croissants, and I think about 4 perfect looking ones. They definitely had a load of butter in them and were somewhat flaky.
Will I try these again? Not for a while. I am dreading when we need to make these again for danish pastries…
… but I did manage to make it further this time….
Do get the recipe at Amanda’s blog: Girl+Food=Love
Oatmeal Bread with Cinnamon and Raisins (from Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman)
I absolutely love the smell of bread baking in the kitchen and so decided to take the plunge and attempt to host a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. In fact, it was Dorie that introduced me to the adventures of bread baking in 2007 as the first bread that I ever baked was her raisin swirl bread from “Baking: From my Home to Yours” and since it was a huge hit, I have never looked back!
So during the long holiday weekend that we had here, I set aside some time to bake up this bread (since it needed a 24 to 36 hour refrigerated rise).
The result? - sprinkled with some fresh rosemary, it was one delicious bread and a recipe which I will attempt again (though I may decide to give the Peter Reinhart focaccia recipe a try sometime in the future). I love the openness and air pockets which are characteristic of focaccia - it definitely gives the bread an artisanal feel.
This was a lovely bread to make - the dough silky and easy to knead, the way it rose beautifully, the lovely smell of cardamom as it was baking.
It was slightly odd having something called “finnish pulla” and have that flavoured with cardamom - because, to me, cardamom is a distinctly indian spice. Well, we do learn while we bake along with Julia!
I skipped the scattering of pearl sugar as I wanted it to be more savory and I don’t think it was the worse for wear.
Initially I didn’t want the hassle of forming a wreath but after braiding the dough and ending up with a long “rope”, I thought “heck it” and joined the ends up.
Do visit the host of the week for the recipe: Erin of The Daily Morsel
These were a treat to make. They came out of the oven smelling like honey - absolutely delicious!
The loaf rose beautifully and the crust was a lovely gold colour.
The hosts’ for the week were: Michele from Veggie Num Nums and Teresa of The Family That Bakes Together
Oh so decadent even though I reduced the butter a little during the laminating and a lot during the coating of the tin (could not make myself layer that much butter outside the bun).
The dough gave me a good workout as I did that by hand and the whole recipe took me 2 days.
The pecan sticky buns were a good experience but probably not one I will be trying again any time soon.
The recipe for these treats are at the hosts’ for the week:
Lynn of Eat Drink Man Woman Dogs Cat or Nicole of Cookies on Friday.
TWD - Irish Soda Bread (from “Baking with Julia” by Julia Child)
Recipe at: Cathy of My Culinary Mission and Carla of Chocolate Moosey
Going through life without a map
No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted – Banksy
The reason people find it so hard to be happy …
Life is like riding a bicyle – Quote by Albert Einstein. Design and typeface (Ride My Bike) by Guisela Mendoza
Cookie Monster
Start where you are, use what you have, do what you can.
The trouble is, you think you have time - quote by Buddha
Source: visceralmoue
