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New baking
Dec. 6th, 2020 11:43 pmOne side effect of watching Bake Off and Sugar Rush is that it makes me want to bake new things again. This year, I've actually been making a lot of bread, the same recipe of no-knead bread where you mix the dough on the weekend, stick it in the fridge and then pull out enough for a loaf 2-3 times during the week. I've also made a number of savory pies, mostly pork and vegetable that we can put in the freezer and heat up for a couple of dinners.
While I was on vacation in November, I finally got around to ordering rye and pumpernickel flours and made my first attempt at Russian black bread. It turned out okay. I used this recipe, and I generally liked it. The initial flavor was good but it was a bit bitter in the finish of it, and I'm not sure what that's from. The recipe has black cocoa and espresso powder, and I'm wondering if it's one of those two ingredients. Next time I make it I might fiddle with the recipe to see. I also may experiment with rye versus pumpernickel flour, since the recipe says you could use either. I'm also on the lookout for another recipe to try, maybe.
A bakery in my parent's town makes the absolute most delicious Russian black bread, and that's what I'm going for.
Today I made a buche de noel, inspired by one of the Sugar Rush Christmas episodes where one team made mini buche de noels. I have fond memories of buche de noel from my 8th and 9th grade French teacher who would bring one in at the holidays. There are a lot of recipes for these out there. I went with Mary Berry's, which, hmm, I don't like as my definitive version. Like, it's not bad bad. All the parts are fine, but together it's a little high on the chocolate. The filling is whipped cream and doesn't really provide a contrast. I also think I need to keep practicing my sponges, because the chocolate sponge was on the dense side, and when unrolled it to put the filling in, it cracked all the way through at one spot.
Pro-tip: don't eat the holly, it's pretty but poisonous.
I'm going to experiment with different jams when I eat more of it to see if there's a flavor that could be good to balance the chocolate. I think it needs something a little tart to just bring it all together, as the judges say.
On the decorating front, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The directions did say to pipe, but I left the ganache in the fridge for an hour so it was really stiff. I ended up just using a knife to spread it and then and fork to make the bark and tree rings.
I made a huge mess in the process because I was scooping it out of the piping bag, so chocolate got everywhere. My lovely Husband cleaned it up for me -- and did dishes afterward (I did do the regular dishes this morning, so it balances). He also cooked dinner while I was finishing the buche, so he also gets mad points for that.
While I was on vacation in November, I finally got around to ordering rye and pumpernickel flours and made my first attempt at Russian black bread. It turned out okay. I used this recipe, and I generally liked it. The initial flavor was good but it was a bit bitter in the finish of it, and I'm not sure what that's from. The recipe has black cocoa and espresso powder, and I'm wondering if it's one of those two ingredients. Next time I make it I might fiddle with the recipe to see. I also may experiment with rye versus pumpernickel flour, since the recipe says you could use either. I'm also on the lookout for another recipe to try, maybe.
A bakery in my parent's town makes the absolute most delicious Russian black bread, and that's what I'm going for.
Today I made a buche de noel, inspired by one of the Sugar Rush Christmas episodes where one team made mini buche de noels. I have fond memories of buche de noel from my 8th and 9th grade French teacher who would bring one in at the holidays. There are a lot of recipes for these out there. I went with Mary Berry's, which, hmm, I don't like as my definitive version. Like, it's not bad bad. All the parts are fine, but together it's a little high on the chocolate. The filling is whipped cream and doesn't really provide a contrast. I also think I need to keep practicing my sponges, because the chocolate sponge was on the dense side, and when unrolled it to put the filling in, it cracked all the way through at one spot.
Pro-tip: don't eat the holly, it's pretty but poisonous.
I'm going to experiment with different jams when I eat more of it to see if there's a flavor that could be good to balance the chocolate. I think it needs something a little tart to just bring it all together, as the judges say.
On the decorating front, I'm very pleased with how it turned out. The directions did say to pipe, but I left the ganache in the fridge for an hour so it was really stiff. I ended up just using a knife to spread it and then and fork to make the bark and tree rings.
I made a huge mess in the process because I was scooping it out of the piping bag, so chocolate got everywhere. My lovely Husband cleaned it up for me -- and did dishes afterward (I did do the regular dishes this morning, so it balances). He also cooked dinner while I was finishing the buche, so he also gets mad points for that.
