Did
@Karate Monkey start a Bread Thread?
Temps dipping into the low 50s last night can only mean 1 thing.
That sentence makes no sense. It could mean hundreds of things, and if I were Ryan Reynolds there would be an entertaining video.
Anyway - bread season is upon us. I'm going to try a fig sourdough. the fig harvest has been prolific this year.
Probably going to be 200+ by the time it is done.
Fed the starter a couple days ago. It fired right back up after being dormant for a couple months.
Gotta dehydrate the figs -
And do the easy - mixer rise knockdown rise bake method
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I haven't, but I've been doing not much but making sandwich bread/pizza dough. Sometimes 'monkey' bread, too. That one is super easy: make pizza dough (sub butter/shortening for oil--add sugar/honey, if desired), and let it rise twice, then fold it into a tight ball. Get a bundt pan (the fancier the better, but a 'normal' one is fine, too), then grease with butter/oil/whatever, and dust liberally with flour. Flip it over/knock off the excess onto your work area. Chop off pieces of dough about the size of a golf ball, roll tight, and dip them in melted butter (keep a small dish over a bowl/pot of hot water so it isn't scalding). Roll the balls in a mixture of cinnamon/powdered sugar, then toss into the bundt. Stop when you are a little over half way to the top, cover with a damp towel, and allow it to rise while the oven is preheating to 375ish. When you are about 1" below the rim of the pan, get a piece of parchment, and lay it over the top of the bundt pan; using a peel/cookie sheet/baking tray, flip the whole thing over, leaving the bundt pan on top. Place in the oven for ~35 minutes, checking the internal temperature passes 180. Once it does, remove from the oven, take the pan off, and allow it to cool. You can ice it if you want, but I don't.
I've put dried fruit in it,
a la pannetone, and it comes out nicely. I prefer sweeter stuff like blueberries, strawberries, and raisins--add them in at the very end of the kneading with the mixer/by hand.
I think I'm fairly well done noodling with sourdough, at this point. It was a fun experiment, but it takes way too much time (not baby sitting, just overall). I spent a bit of time making milk-bread, which is interesting, but WAY too sweet for my liking. Even 1/2 the amount of sugar is too much. I'll try using the tangzhong in my normal recipe and seeing if it makes an appreciable difference as far as storage life, but 2 loaves don't usually make it to the end of the week, so...