My learning curve- Bagels/Cornbread/ and Sunflower Seed Bread
Well after making about a couple dozen bagels a week for the last 3 or 4 weeks, I figured I would try Cinn./Raisin Bagels as well as regulars.
I soon found out Cinn./Raisin Bagels are not like making regular bagels. The shaping really kicked my butt. Plenty of lumps, bumps, seams, oh what a mess. I have been making my bagels in 4.5oz. size. But with raisins I went with a 5oz. weight. After shaping I was really concerned they would end up looking like bumpy biscuits, but I was happy with the ending results. Most of the lumps smoothed out in the baking process.
After reading Tigressbakes Cornbread post I decided to give it a go. She is right in her post, it makes alot of cornbread. But it is a very good recipe. I took a shot of the outside and then later took some of the inside, but those photos didnt turn out so well. Here is what I did have.
After trying this out I decided to give Sourdough Guys "Sunflower Seed Bread" an attempt. Since I am still wrestlin with my starter I decided to try to adapt it to a White/Wheat bread with a white poolish. I used his weight ratios for the seeds. He warned that he didnt go 100% with them, so I figured what the heck, I'll try. So with that I took the entire added up weight of all flours used in the recipe and matched it with exactly the same amount of roasted seeds (per his spec.). WOW was that alot. It was a bit messy, and a whole lotta fun. I used Mike Averys folding method that I read about thanks to JMonkeys recent post, and here are my results. ALOT of seeds.......Tastes pretty good though if you dont mind so much crunch in your bread.
Well thats all for now...
TT
Comments
Well after a bit of technical difficulty, my very first Challah is done. I had a bit of a mix up mid-braid leaving me staring at my hands going uh-oh which turn did I just do? So on my third attempt I got back on course. However, my Challah is the new and improved version with the handy dandy carrying grip. As you can see toward the back.
This way you can carry your Challah like a club, to ward off villains. And when your hungry just take a bite out of your club....
Oh well, now just gotta wait till it cools and we'll see what my club tastes like.
TT
I love your sense of humor!
ALL of the breads look GREAT! I especially love the shape of the raisin bagels. There is a term in the design world called Wabi Sabi. It is actually Japanese and it means something like 'the beauty in the imperfection' or the 'perfection in the imperfection'.
I think that applies to all of our artisinal, home-baked breads!
Good job TT!
(now I really must confess that I am VERY jealous of the time that it seems you can find to bake!)
Thank you for your compliments Tigress.
Due to my long work days I only used to bake on weekends. But now that my addiction is full blown I have traded sleep time for baking time. Plus the house is much quieter after midnight, kids and dogs not running about causing havoc.
I wonder if they have support groups for "Bread Bakin Junkies", sooner or later they will probly name a syndrome or disorder for it..... ;-)
Ahhh, the power of bread....
TT