Quarantine baking (1,230 views)

Those look fantastic. I would bake more but I have very little flour so I’m rationing it. Once I can find some, I’ll start baking again

All of it looks incredible!
I've made several loaves of bread. Some all white, some white-teff and some white-rye.

Everyone's bakery looks wonderful!! And I can attest to the deliciousness of my bagels....had one toasted this afternoon with a bit of hummus next to my soup for lunch. YUM!

Patti-Your sourdough looks beautiful. I have never been a huge sourdough fan which is why I have not bothered making a starter of my own. My oldest son caught the cooking and baking bug from me. He lives on West coast now (in grad school in L.A.) and he loves sourdough. His room mate flew back home when all of their classes went on line so he has been bored crazy and his latest project has been making a starter. This past weekend he was still in the feeding stages but he said it was beginning to get bubbly. So maybe I can eventually cheat and get some of his starter once his is established!! And do try English muffins esp. before bagels. They are super easy to make. Bagels aren't that much more difficult. Just a bit more fiddly with the boiling step. The dough is also a very stiff dough that has to be worked well, but they are so worth it!

I've done some bread baking the last several weeks:

Irish Soda bread Paul Hollywood's Book of Bread. Turned out "ok". Discovered a typo in the book after cooking - the baking powder should have been baking <i>soda</i>

Quick White Loaf Bernard Clayton's Book of Bread. A go-to when I need bread NOW. Except, recipe didn't work so well this go around and I knew something was up while I was kneading it. I *suspect* it was because I used KA's bread flour instead of my usual AP flour. You wouldn't think it would make that much of a difference, but it did. The Husband is a good sport and is eating the rather dense loaf anyway.

Bagels are also on my "to try" list. I've made pretzels, bagels shouldn't be all that different or any harder. Still...they just seem...daunting.


Flour is appearing on shelves in my area again (Duluth, MN). Yeast has been slower to be restocked, but I did score a bag of Bob's Red Mill active yeast a couple weeks ago. It was the only option and I wasn't going to pass it up. Yay!

Varaile ---I still haven't found any flour or yeast (but I've been out only a few times, but struck out online too). I've been talking about trying the no-knead bread for such a long time (maybe longer than trying beans from scratch ... so its been awhile) and now when I want to try it and I soooo have the time, I can't find the ingredients. But then again, since I live alone and I've been basically in since mid March ..... do I need cookies and breads around. Uhh, yes. I can share with my neighbor or freeze it (laughing at the last part, that never slows me down).

Erin --- No surprise that looks so good!

This week's sourdough loaf was a KA Sourdough Pumpernickel Bread. It's a little sweeter than I prefer, but quite good.


I also made these sourdough crackers using Everything Bagel seasoning instead of the herbs in the recipe. I made some adjustments to the baking time because I tried this recipe last week and the baking time was much too long. I checked them every 5 minutes after 15 minutes of post-scoring baking time.


Everyone's creations look delicious.

Some more bread baking this weekend. A double batch of mini bialys with asiago cheese in addition to the usual onion poppy seed filling. I also have a batch of kringle dough chilling overnight. I have completed all the folds and just have to do a final rolling out, filling, and baking tomorrow. 

Baking cookies is stressful for me, but baking bread is happiness. So that is what I am doing.

Well this afternoon I baked Ciabatta Rolls...began the process last night with a starter, then mixed up/kneaded and let rise a total of about 5 hours, two rises in bulk and then one more rise as rolls...I have never attempted ciabatta before, think I was intimidated by the amount of time...I am so glad I finally made them and it won’t be the last time!

More baked goods. Danish Almond filled kringle. These were redemption kringle. My first effort a month ago tasted great but looked a bit rustic.....some of the filling leaked. These did not leak. YAY!!

More weekend baking. Gotta shift gears though as the freezer is getting packed with all my breads. I love bread and eat some everyday but we can only go through so much!!!!

First is Parmesan pretzels with lots of toppings-more cheese, sesame seeds, and rosemary
Second is pita bread recipe from Milk Street Kitchen

Karen the pretzels look amazing...I have never tried pretzels...will you share recipe?

Today I am baking a peasant bread from Bernard Clayton...it requires punching dough down every 10 minutes for one hour and then doing a final raise until doubled...then you divide and braid the dough...it sounded a little different so I decided to try it. 😁

The pretzel recipe is roughly based on the one below but I alter the flours used (~1/3rd whole grain mixture and rest bread flour) and the toppings. I have also made the recipe from King Arthur Flour whole grain baking book and brown eyed baker's blogs and those are both excellent too.

whatsgabycooking.com/parmesan-pretzel-knots/

Wallycat-pita are kind of fun to make. It's so cool watching them go from a flat pizza-like disc and then....voila...all puffy in literally 2 minutes. Only thing is you have to be careful not to bake them too long or they will get brittle and won't deflate. But then you get some yummy pita chips!!! Mine took 2-3 min. to cook at 500 degrees. (You need a hot oven to create steam to make them puff).