Live Stoners AFN Baking (breads n things)

[Mañ'O'Green]

View attachment 1070891 My better half made a lemon meringue pie today...I butchered it a little when cutting it up but it tasted amazing!View attachment 1070890

Picture perfect pie. Tell the Mrs. she did well!

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Hey what is going on in the Bakery? It is too quiet in here. I have been saving my starter waste from the feeding and I am proofing a batch of it to use tomorrow in the bread machine I will use a huge dose to see if I can pump up the flavor. More info tomorrow.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

My starter was ripe this morning so I am baking this recipe in my bread machine as I type:

I used bread flour and no oil for a crisper crust. Pictures later.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

OMG the whole house smells incredible like SOURdough bread.

In 15 more minutes the butter test..................

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

Better sourdough flavor than most commercial products but still not what I am looking for. The crumb is tight because regular active yeast provides the rise in a short time in the machine and that is ok. The crust is chewier than I was expecting also a good thing. Considering how easy this is to make it is a real winner. I just had to feed my starter twice to bring it to ripe and double the volume to get the 454 grams. I did this over two days but the work time is less than 20 minutes total. I used the 1.5 pound French bread cycle with dark crust settings on the bread machine. I am going to buy "The Original San Francisco Starter" from Ed Wood's and see if I can find that sour flavor I seek.

 

[Mañ'O'Green]

I just ordered the SF Starter but look at all of the other strains I need to try!

Oh man you guys have created a monster

 

[Dr.Bubbles]

I haven't gotten any notifications from here....so I manually come here through Firefox to see Greeny in the kitchen.

Awesomeness

I made a loaf about a week ago that was too strong. I had this perfect dough ready to go and Nurse B failed to return it to the fridge. I woke up to a balloon. I peeked online to get some tips to salvage it, but man was it tangy. You could still taste it half an hour later...lol. It made some goodGREAT cinnamon toast though. A little sugar to tame the beast..think lemonade.

That discouraged me and I missed a regular feeding for the first time. Not sure if it was the overproof or the fact that it was just stout from existing, but it was too strong for my tastes.

I decided to see if going longer between feedings would chill it out...which it did!! Either that, or the overproof situation (which only happened once) but regardless, the last loaf I made was stellar. It had huge holes inside, what pro bakers would call crumb I believe. The sour was at a perfect level, which made me happy.

So...I have what HOPEFULLY will be my finest effort yet in the fridge right now. This dough has been behaving exactly the way I want. I am starting to get a sense for the way it shoule feel in various stages. From a shaggy sticky mess, through kneading, to a actively proofing bubble gum state, to the final smoothed out and shaped dough ball ready for the oven.

I thoroughly reccomend the preheated Dutch oven method for baking. Super consistent and it makes an amazing crust. I will grab some shots of the current iteration this afternoon.

She should be perfect...cross them piggys

 

[Dr.Bubbles]

View attachment 1070891 My better half made a lemon meringue pie today...I butchered it a little when cutting it up but it tasted amazing!View attachment 1070890

Nice job on the meringue. Stiff peaks with a toasty finish...has that toasted marshmallow vibe in spades. Save me a schleish.

* You guysch got SCHLEISHEZ?
Some little kid came into Pizza Hut back in the day and asked that. It was HILLARIOUS. Say it out loud with some spit...kinda like Neil Goldman (Mort's son) from Family Guy would with his retainer in.

 

[Mike20132]

Finally made a batch of pretzels yesterday. Used the recipe at this link, and did not deviate from it.

In hindsight I should have used about 50% more sodium hydroxide, and less butter. There's always next time.

Do not attempt this recipe unless you are familiar with the dangers of handling sodium hydroxide. Wear gloves and eye protection from the moment you grab the jar of hydroxide pellets until after you neutralize the solution you made with it. If it gets on your skin, just wash it off. If it gets into your eyes, mouth, nose... you're in for a world of hurt - and in the case of your eyes: permanent damage.

Make sure what you use is food/reagent grade. Drain-O will likely produce less than stellar results. And kill you.

I implore you to research and be prepared.

Here they are before the lye dip:

Here they are out of the oven:

I only salted the ones on the right, and they might look ugly, but the taste was nearly spot on.

Enjoy!

 

[Mike20132]

A word on sodium hydroxide solution..

Use stainless steel bowls/spoons/etc. The solution will warm after you mix it. That's ok. Let it cool to room temperature before using it. Do not under any circumstances consider heating this to boiling (or at all, really) before dipping in the pretzels. Hot hydroxide solution is a totally different animal than room temperature solution. At boiling temps and at high enough concentration, it can dissolve glass. GLASS!

As mixed in the recipe above, it will have a pH of 14. You'll note the pH scale doesn't go any higher. Before discarding it, you need to bring the pH down a good bit.

You can use any acid to bring the pH down. I recommend powdered citric acid. It's relatively cheap and not a very strong acid (meaning safe to handle). Mix in as much as you need to until a pH strip comes back at 8.0 or lower. At that point, it is safe to pour down the drain.