August 3, 2017 - 2:30am
Eclipse Bread Challenge
Friends, Loafers, Home Bakers and Enthusiasts! Lend me your Ears! What do you think of baking up a special commemorative Eclipse Bread for the US Nationwide Solar Eclipse happening on August 21st?
Don't ask me what it is, decide for yourselves, get creative and post a picture of your interpretation of an Eclipse Bread. Right in this thread!
Participants.... "Turn on your Ovens!" :)
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Now to get my thinking cap on!
get those thinking caps on and let the summer heat inspire you!
I think I might just make burger buns and "eclipse them!"
What a great challenge! I too will be putting some thought into this one.
A long low and slow preferment seems fitting. Then I'll do the final mix and put it in the fridge to delay everything and make a 3 day loaf of 85% hydration sourdough bread. I'll bake outdoors in my ceramic cooker, so it can howl at the moon.
shape(s) or even scoring as in Ian's front page picture roll on the far right in his post. Perhaps a combination of two doughs -- representing Moon and Sun. Perhaps a double crusted pizza or a twist on a favourite sandwich loaf, making that great afternoon eclipse sandwich to enjoy while watching and waiting. I'm starting to see examples everywhere... I cut open a boiled egg and saw a round yolk eclipsing the white. Heck, even a fried egg this morning looked like an eclipse.
The long wait, a long ferment. I see that too! A round loaf with an open crumb, sliced and mounted onto another slice of fine crumb... I also see the tail gate parties this event may inspire or the open air Barbecue pits, corn on the cob and a cooler full of cold drinks. August can be terribly hot. Even if it's cloudy (relief from the hot sun) there will be some differences as the sky gets darker so stay with it.
In Canada, I watched a partial eclipse under an umbrella on a rainy afternoon. The clouds turned interesting shades of blue. I think most driving along the road thought it was just a darker phase of the storm. The clouds had actually broken up a bit and the rain was only a slight drizzle. The clouds were lovely, the animals silent, the only sound being traffic and tires splashing wet pavement, a click from the traffic lights as they changed.
I'm in!
I'm starting to think about it.
Karin
This will keep me pondering for a bit!
That's why I posted early, to give time to ponderings. :)
Many bread loaves tend to imitate suns and moons and stars naturally in shape.
Hi Everyone,
I thought about doing something different for this challenge, so I had some fun hydrating the flour mix using sparkling water. I also used sprouted flour (spelt) for the first time since it is not available in my region. I brought some from the US the last time I went there on business travel.
The overall result was excellent as the pictures below show. The weather here yesterday was 33 C with a real feel of 38 C, while relative humidity around 76%. I have not retarded bulk or proofing, so everything was done at ambient conditions in a little more than 5 hours.
Proportions were 10% starter at 100% hydration, 52% all-purpose-flour, 12% rye, 32% sprouted spelt, and 69% total hydration.
Happy eclipse day to you ALL,
Pul
I get it! ...and that last photo could be an eclipse collision.
Thanks for the entry! Lovely Spelt Bread!
I have to think now about what to bake. It will be a great fun!
Happy baking Mini,
Joze
Decided to try to score a solar cut on my french sized sourdough loaves. I tried to set up two long scores down my loaves showing the path and then setting up a moon crossing infront of the sun with rays moving to the right of the sun. This is my basic recipe, so nothing symbolic there. I will share the after bake picture.. don't know if it will turn out as nice.
just love "before and after" shots! :)
I did a hollow loaf, more like a wreath and took a photo over an old National Geographic star chart. It looks more reminiscent of a black hole than an eclipse. Lol Will post the pic after I drag it over here. Still have buns in the works...
The loaf is a Black Turtle's Raisin Bread from Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book but without the molasses, half Spelt half AP with brown sugar. I tell hubby to close his eyes and think Brioche. The crumb is very dark. Double recipe almost gone.
and sounds absolutely delicious... I love that "close your eyes and think Brioche" idea and will have to try that with my husband, too...
Thanks again for the challenge!
I love the stars from the chart peeking through!
e first post bake picture. Those first bakes sure inspire you to try a little more on the later ones. So, you will see some of the later ones. I made the path line wider, dusted one side with flour for the sunlight. Behind the moon I scored some stars. There are mini versions as well as large. On the multi-grain loaves I made one long ear and then put a sun on the other side with some rays. It was a great baking day and a lot of fun to change things out. Hope this gives you some inspirations. The sourdough recipe has no significance.
~ The Mrs.
Those are really neat looking, are you selling them?
Very nice scoring and nice loaves!
happy baking,
Joze
They're about to go in the oven, so I'll round up all the pictures later and post. Or the post might have to wait until Sunday or so, because I've got my usual 40 or 42 loaves to bake for sale tomorrow. :)
I'm sure there will be some pics taken during the event. ...a bread with a corona?
Awesome. What type of oven do you use? I had a large batch and was just using my kitchen electric oven. sniff, before we moved we had a wood fired brick oven. ~ The Mrs.
Whirlpool electric wall oven. The small cast iron pots fit in there perfectly!
Thanks so much for this challenge - it has been a lot of fun! The other entries so far are gorgeous, and have me wanting to taste, but I'll console myself that at least I can taste mine (and they are delicious) ;)
I haven't seen a full solar eclipse since I was a kid, and my overwhelming memories are of all the warnings to not look directly at it (and lots of argument whether using film negatives over your eyes would give adequate protection), and the absolutely stunning "diamond ring" as totality ended...
We're out of the line of totality (somewhere around 74% coverage, I think), but if we get to see anything through the smoke, then I'm thinking that it will be a darkened sky, with a few visible stars, and the slash of darkness from the moon's shadow sliding across the yellow light of the sun...
That's a dark chocolate banana rye "sky" with millet "stars" in the background, with a blueberry / raspberry "moon shadow" crossing in to the durum / cornmeal "sunshine".
I can't bake for a specific look (trying is a guarantee of things going terribly, terribly wrong!) and am a lousy photographer, but still had a lot of fun trying to bake something that reflects my old memories.
Thanks again, and looking forward to seeing the rest!
And I really love the millet 'stars'! The photo is perfect and shows the effect.
Mine just came out of the oven, so I need to sort the photos and start blogging (and post a link to the blog on this post). The crumb shot won't come until later when I can cut one (and I won't know until then if they are good enough to sell, considering I made nine of them!).
in the crust, a band between the millet stars, love this challenge!
It is so nice to see here so many ideas! Very nice, indeed!
Happy baking!
Joze
The loaves are out of the oven, and so far so good. You can read the whole blog here, but here's the teaser picture...
And now, I'm off to make the dough for three more breads and shape four for tomorrow's baking!
Wow! Just look at those sun spots! Good idea linking to your blog. Will have to check it out....
Like the idea, very nice bread!
Happy baking!
Joze
This is my first post about the bread I prepared for this challenge. I will come back with more details after some hours. I have actually prepared two different types of bread, but need some time to prepare the whole post. So for now just the most interesting part of bread #1.
Stay tuned for more! Joze
UPDATED: Here is the link to my blog post at TFL.
horizontally making really big sandwiches and then cutting them into sections. Wow! Cool picture!
But finally I decided to cut it in a "traditional" way. But it was a great fun.
Thanks for the challenge!
Joze
Just wow! Your bread is amazing!!!
Here we go:
Solar Eclipse Bread - A Crusty Sesame Loaf for a Rare Event
More about the bread and the recipe at http://hanseata.blogspot.com/2017/08/solar-eclipse-bread-crusty-sesame-loaf.html
The Moon can be tapered to whatever eclipse zone or phase you happen to find yourself. :)
here in Maine. My Solar Eclipse bread was the only eclipse we had! Bummer!
Very nice interpretation and innovative idea!
Happy baking!
Joze
Joze, that's a very nice compliment!
Hope you can stand a late entry. I intended to make mine this weekend, but instead traveled to visit one son, his wife and my sweetheart 9-month old grandson. No apologies - it was wonderful to spend time with them. So my eclipse bread will be coming this week.
Mine is late as well. Had so many things come between me and my dough.
This is another bread which I may call also "volcano" bread. The dough was colored with charcoal, proofing basket was the Hokkaido squash.
Here is the link to my blog post.
Solar Eclipse Simulation:
Here is the volcano eruption:
and eclipse-y. How did the eruption part taste?
I have never eaten before such bread and was quite sceptic about it. But was really nicely surprised because the taste is the same. If one would be blind I bet he would not notice the difference. I think we have kind of a mental reservation in our heads which tells us that this black bread is not good. The eyes eat first.
Happy baking!
Joze
that plays with our preconception of foods. A pretty bold way to block out the sun too!
I wonder what would happen... You mentioned the bread bonded with the squash, I wonder what would happen if the squash was cut in consecutive circles or a spiral and it rose up with the dough? Would it create a stacked look or a snail look as it rose up with the bread? Hmmmm. I suppose that may depend of the thinness of the rings or cut. I just love browning squash.
A Dutch Oven made out of squash. Do you think the heavy lid might force the dough out between the two halves? If a jack-o-lantern was cut... would the eyes pop out?
I have heard of bread baked in cabbage leaves. Haven't tried it yet. It's on my bread bucket list along with wet wet dough in banana leaf baskets.
Bread baked inside a jack-o-lantern! You never cease to inspire me to more exotic thinking-outside-the-box-or-bread-pan, Mini. Just wait until October...
Finally, my entry for the Challenge. Not as pretty as the image in my head, but a crescent moon, fragrant with Pesto filling - basil, garlic, pine nuts and parmesan,
And the one to hold while looking straight up with sun goggles on your nose. Ever notice how hard it is to eat looking straight up?
I haven't had pesto in a long time. I do have tropical basil, sort of a bush variety. Have you made cheese toast with a few slices?
We had a few slices with a bean and tomato soup, but the rest went into the freezer. Cheese toast sounds like a great plan!
I love the "green cheese" idea (it made me giggle to remember that from when I was little), and the resulting loaf looks amazing.
Cheese toast, or a tomato bruschetta, or... oh, anything really - that bread would work well with so many flavours.
Thanks for sharing a great bake, and a giggle!
but as promised, I came as soon as I could.
Not too surprising as there are lots of videos and sites I can't pull up.
This is my round #1 with Spelt dough burger buns shapes. Not too bad but the next round should be an improvement.
Sort of a mini oven short epi idea (must put a thicker one in the middle) and various suns and moons... One is just flat with a butter tin can impression (I'm trying to be simple) and moons where brushed to darken a bit. I ate one from the first run. hot with butter and jam. Used the butter tin to cut out most rounds. Was thinking along the lines of baking powder biscuits. Was having trouble with oven temps too... I could have let the first group rise more too.
so many! Eclipses, moon phases, suns - and all perfectly munchable. One great thing about a baking habit is the house doesn't fill up with the products!
Thanks, again, Mini, for challenging the members. It brings out the creativity and competitiveness in us!
Cathy
All that sizing requirements gave me a major headache every time I tried.....
- It's a challenge of the challenge that I cannot meet.
Anyway, I just wanted to say "hi" and catch up with you...
I've enjoyed everyone's fun with this challenge. I am also too far away to witness firsthand the eclipse but my heart was there, right where this eclipse crosses the one I saw as a kid back in 1970. There was a rainbow around the sun and I will continue to enjoy them, hopefully with a bite of fresh bread! Moving around does have advantages as I've seen more eclipses than I would staying in one spot.
I've got my steel plate and when the rain lets up, time to get that WFO together! Then back to some more eclipses! (Me eclipsing my oven door and the like....) :)
Your whereabouts is always a mystery to me :)
Yippee, Your Eclipse Challenge Bread is beautiful! I wanted Mini to see it, so I grabbed a shot from your blog:
That's very nice of you!
Did you just copy and paste the image in the comment? I'd do anything to bypass unloading pictures to my TFL account...
Your bread was too pretty to not share! I wish it had been as familiar as copy/paste, but no, I used the small tree icon and uploaded the image that way.
Happy baking!
Thanks again, Cathy
. Now I'm curious what would happen if I copy and paste...
PAC-MAN...Did you ever play?
It works!
such great breads in this challenge.
Leslie
It's been fun!
Nice shot! Looks like a yummee yippee yclipse cake!
It's so pretty that it looks more like a "cake" than any actual "cake" that I've ever made!
Thanks for sharing the pics here, and for the link to your blog for even more pics.
Keep baking happy!
Happy Baking to you, too!
Yippee
A "phase" for everybody - what a grand idea.
It's funny, but as soon as I saw the baked pic, I had a memory of a post you did a long time ago doing basically a bagel finish on some rolls, and I could just see that as that little bit of extra "dark" for something like this.
Now I'm going to have to go searching for that old post again.
Thank you!
Yippee, I'm in northern Laos on the Mekong River. Sticky Rice culture. Rainy season. :)