Rise to me: The Bread Thread

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Rise to me: The Bread Thread

Cimber: Feb 3, 2014

effika posted:

When I make scones that turn into scuffins it's because I used a recipe with eggs and didn't keep my butter chilled. Treat them like southern biscuits and they'll come out better.

Interesting. I wonder if the egg + the baking powder in the recipe i'm using is making too much CO2. I'll try another one next time.

# ? Dec 9, 2023 16:40

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# ? May 15, 2024 18:46

Sir Lemming: Jan 27, 2009; It's a piece of JUNK!

Cimber posted:

I pulled that recipe from the King Arthur cookbook. Don't need baking soda because baking powder is the soda plus cream of tartar that gets activated with the liquid. Baking soda needs an additional acid (your buttermilk) to activate.

How thick does her scone come out? Is it denser than my photo is of mine?

OK well King Arthur has never really steered me wrong, so so that's surprising. The flour ratio really threw me off though; it just seems so extremely different. I will say, from a brief survey of their website, the various scone recipes I'm seeing still seem to have ingredients proportioned much closer to the one I posted.

My wife's recipe is pulled from the Alice's Tea Cup cookbook (a restaurant in NYC). I was surprised to find very few photos of her scones, I have way more photos of my attempts to make gluten-free non-dairy ones (not terrible, but still kind of a work-in-progress). But here's one. A few different kinds pictured here, including a plain savory one which came out more crumbly than she'd like.

# ? Dec 9, 2023 16:56

Cimber: Feb 3, 2014

That looks more like what I'm aiming for, not the 'scuffin' as Effika aptly called it.

This is what I'm using, called Mrs. Humphrie's Scones: https://www.bigoven.com/recipe/mrs-humphries-scones/113937

If you have the Two Hundred Anniversary Cookbook its on page 63. (great book btw, well worth getting)

# ? Dec 9, 2023 17:03

Stupid Decisions: Nov 10, 2009; Slippery Tilde

Nettle Soup posted:

https://profoodhomemade.com/savoury-cheese-scones/

I made these the other day and they were so extremely good. Had to make my own mustard powder in the grinder, but 100% will make again.

I feel like UK recipies generally won't have buttermilk in because it's something I've never seen for sale anywhere. They'll normally be something like this:
https://bakingwithgranny.co.uk/recipe/scones/cherry-scones/

If you want to find buttermilk try a larger M&S or Asda, both my local ones stock it. It should be with the other creams (sour cream, double). Apparantly you can make it by mixing some lemon juice with regular milk but I haven't tried.

I used it to make some scones the other week for the first time and they were reakky good.

# ? Dec 9, 2023 17:13

Nettle Soup: Jan 30, 2010; Oh, and Jones was there too.

Yeah, I don't have a car and there's not much big around here, but I make it sometimes out of lemon juice and soy milk if I need it. It works fine.

# ? Dec 9, 2023 18:03

Cimber: Feb 3, 2014

Stupid Decisions posted:

If you want to find buttermilk try a larger M&S or Asda, both my local ones stock it. It should be with the other creams (sour cream, double). Apparantly you can make it by mixing some lemon juice with regular milk but I haven't tried.

I used it to make some scones the other week for the first time and they were reakky good.

Actually, making real buttermilk isn't that hard either. Get a quart of heavy cream, toss it into a mixer, turn that sucker on and forget about it for about half an hour. COme back and you have homemade butter, buttermilk at the bottom and a burned out mixer motor.

# ? Dec 9, 2023 18:56

therattle: Jul 24, 2007; Soiled Meat

Cimber posted:

Scones are a quick bread, so they count in this thread, right?

How come my scones seem to come out more like a muffin and less like a dense scone?

1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter (which is crumble and mix into the flour by hand)
2 teaspoons baking powder

All this gets mixed well together, then I add:
1 egg
1/2ish cup blueberries.
Mix this together, ensuring the egg yolk is broken up. Then:

less than 1/2 cup milk. I only add a dash of milk at a time and mix, until it just starts to come together as a dough.

I put a generous tablespoon into my triangle scone pans, cook at 425 for 15ish minutes. Comes out good, but pretty risen. Like i said, more like a muffin than a scone.

[edit] Here's what I made this morning.

Sir Lemming posted:

My #1 question is where's the buttermilk? #2, where's the baking soda? The flour/sugar/powder ratio seems way off too. Wherever you got this recipe it just seems to be missing a lot of the really basic elements. Although I will say we've never used a scone pan, so I'm not sure how that affects it.

My wife makes scones all the time and this is the recipe she uses (for sweet berry scones, others have some variations):

3 cups flour (all-purpose)
⅓ cup sugar
� tsp baking soda
2� tsp baking powder
� tsp kosher salt
1� sticks (� cup) unsalted butter
1� cups buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Then there's a mix of roughly 1-2 cups of mixed berries, and optionally some heavy cream and sugar to be brushed/sprinkled on top.

It sounds like you're probably doing the butter right, but just in case, make sure it's as cold as possible and you're cutting it into the dough without melting it. And then to shape them, basically the dough just gets gently shaped into a thick disc and then cut with a dough cutter.

Also notice no egg, though I'm not necessarily saying that's a requirement. Just posting what works for us.

I don�t know what the gently caress those are but they aren�t scones (at least as they are known in the UK). How would you eat those?

# ? Dec 9, 2023 21:40

Aramoro: Jun 1, 2012

I made some seeded spelt loaves. Came out nice, quite chewy bread but I like that.

I started using a small amount of rice flour in my bannetons and it's been a revelation for it popping out easy.

# ? Dec 10, 2023 11:25

Cimber: Feb 3, 2014

OK, so tried scones again, this time making a modification of the recipie i'd used yesterday. Added more flour, a bit more sugar and baking powder but with reduced proportions with the flour, and stayed at 1 egg. Increased the butter to 1 stick that I shredded on a cheese grater. Gotta tell ya, thats the best way to prepare butter for incorporating into flour.

Also didn't use the scone pan but instead made a patty then cut wedges.

Before:

After:

This seems to have come out better than the last time. Not as fluffy as 'scuffins' but not a rock or cookie either. I'm pleased.

# ? Dec 10, 2023 14:51

Sir Lemming: Jan 27, 2009; It's a piece of JUNK!

That definitely looks way better. The flour amount was the single biggest question mark in the other recipe. Nice job!

You see them shred cold butter all the time in the Great British Bake-off, so it's definitely a proven method. You can also get one of these:
https://www.target.com/p/oxo-dough-blender-with-blades/-/A-76341853#lnk=sametab

# ? Dec 10, 2023 15:09

Cimber: Feb 3, 2014

I honestly prefer to work all my butter/lard/shortenings into flour with my fingers. I just have a better sense of the texture of the ingredients and can find those little globs that need to be broken apart. If I do it lightly and rapidly I don't have to worry about melting the butter with my body heat.

# ? Dec 10, 2023 15:19

Submarine Sandpaper: May 27, 2007

I can't find a recipe but I've had some with, I think, using the method of melting the bigger and drip pouring that into very cold milk/cream or whatever to get it small. They were good, grater may be better.

# ? Dec 10, 2023 15:34

bolind: Jun 19, 2005; Pillbug

I have a cake recipe that's like:

100% flour
50% cold whole milk
5% active/fresh yeast
6% whole egg
15% sugar
1% salt
15% cold butter

This bread calculator says resulting hydration is 50.5%.

Recipe says to let it rise for 2-3 hours at room temp. I'd like to turn that into 8-10 hours so it can sit while I sleep, opinions on how much I should scale down the amount of yeast to hit that?

# ? Dec 12, 2023 13:41

Cimber: Feb 3, 2014

bolind posted:

I have a cake recipe that's like:

100% flour
50% cold whole milk
5% active/fresh yeast
6% whole egg
15% sugar
1% salt
15% cold butter

This bread calculator says resulting hydration is 50.5%.

Recipe says to let it rise for 2-3 hours at room temp. I'd like to turn that into 8-10 hours so it can sit while I sleep, opinions on how much I should scale down the amount of yeast to hit that?

Put it in the fridge and cut the yeast in half.

# ? Dec 12, 2023 13:59

bolind: Jun 19, 2005; Pillbug

Cimber posted:

Put it in the fridge and cut the yeast in half.

I'd rather avoid the fridge if I can, I don't think I'd be able to fit it all.

# ? Dec 12, 2023 14:44

Cephas: May 11, 2009; Humanity's real enemy is me!
Hya hya foowah!

I made a whole wheat loaf with fresh rosemary and italian green olives. Kinda effed it up a bit--I couldn't tell if my sourdough was underactive when I mixed it in (it passed the float test) or if the dough just hadn't expanded as much as I thought it would due to being 75% whole wheat flour. So in a panic I added an extra 7g of yeast and let it proof for a couple hours while the dough was still cold from the fridge... Which led to the surface of the dough developing some bubbles. Then baked it for 25 minutes at 350 degrees, realized it was still raw, and blasted it at 450 degrees until the interior was fully cooked. For such a problem child, it turned out alright, thanks to the herbacious flavors and a healthy brush of extra virgin olive oil.

Next on my list of breads to try out are rosemary lavender bread and Welsh bara brith (yeasted). The idea of a bread whose liquid content comes from strong black tea sounds so extremely appealing to me. If it turns out well, I might try making lots of variations on it.

# ? Dec 13, 2023 02:00

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

Xpost from General Questions thread.

Arsenic Lupin posted:

We're giving boxes of three home-made crackers for Christmas. King Arthur's sesame crackers, King Arthur rye crackers, and ??. I was planning on making Chetna Makan's cumin masala crackers, but it turns out they require a different masala than my usual, requiring two ingredients I'm having to mail-order and won't be here on time. (Very rural area, no, I can't go to my local Indian market).

Can y'all suggest any homemade crackers you've liked? The simpler the better; my two attempts at Knekkebr�d were disastrous. I'll be rolling anything thin out in the pasta machine, because I haven't been successful rolling a scant 1/8" by hand. I don't have a sourdough going, so anything based on sourdough discard is out.

# ? Dec 13, 2023 21:14

Soul Dentist: Mar 17, 2009

Why not try KA's Sourdough Discard cracker recipe?

# ? Dec 13, 2023 21:20

Vivian Darkbloom: Jul 14, 2004

Boris Galerkin posted:

Should I buy a bread machine

I like the idea of throwing poo poo into a pot and pressing a button and getting bread out without any of the mess involved in mixing and kneading bread.

I got one because I like set-and-forget gizmos instead of paying attention to cooking. I have gotten good results but only after several loaves I had to throw out, so expect that you will need to experiment with recipes to get good results. The King Arthur site has better recipes than the ones that come with the machine. My favorite custom recipe uses half white, half whole wheat flour with some poppy seeds and onion bits. I usually eat it with butter or jam instead of making sandwiches, because the cross-section of the loaves is weird.

e: I looked back at my old posts and recalled that the first bread machine I got didn't work at all and I had to return it. ymmv

# ? Dec 13, 2023 21:26

effika: Jun 19, 2005; Birds do not want you to know any more than you already do.

Soul Dentist posted:

Why not try KA's Sourdough Discard cracker recipe?

I only suggested it because it's so versatile & easy, and one of the Q&A answers even says to just replace the absent discard with 113g each of water and flour! :negative:

# ? Dec 13, 2023 23:40

Cephas: May 11, 2009; Humanity's real enemy is me!
Hya hya foowah!

Whole wheat chocolate sourdough with currants. Out of curiosity, I went heavy on the cocoa (50g for a 1kg boule). It's a strange flavor, but pretty good with butter.

Pretty impractical bread. I don't really know what to eat it with besides sweets or butter. The color is very appealing, though.

# ? Dec 15, 2023 04:31

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

What's the cause of and solution to the bread tearing as it rises? I score it but it does some extracurricular tearing.

# ? Dec 15, 2023 17:44

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

Mr. Squishy posted:

What's the cause of and solution to the bread tearing as it rises? I score it but it does some extracurricular tearing.

Score deeper and longer? The bread is telling you it didn't have room for expansion.

# ? Dec 15, 2023 20:16

tuyop: Sep 15, 2006; Every second that we're not growing BASIL is a second wasted; Fun Shoe

Mr. Squishy posted:

What's the cause of and solution to the bread tearing as it rises? I score it but it does some extracurricular tearing.

Either score better or incorporate more steam early in the bake. I couldn�t get my scoring to work no matter what until I put my loaves in a pre-heated Dutch oven for the first 20 minutes or so so they steam.

# ? Dec 15, 2023 20:28

Mr. Squishy: Mar 22, 2010; A country where you can always get richer.

My Dutch oven is ceramic, I'm always a bit worried it will crack if l let it heat up before putting ice on it

# ? Dec 15, 2023 22:37

Ishamael: Feb 18, 2004; You don't have to love me, but you will respect me.

Mr. Squishy posted:

My Dutch oven is ceramic, I'm always a bit worried it will crack if l let it heat up before putting ice on it

The Dutch oven has to be thoroughly preheated to work correctly, and I don�t think there�s any possible way some ice could crack it. So I say go for it.

# ? Dec 15, 2023 23:09

Arsenic Lupin: Apr 12, 2012; This particularly rapid💨 unintelligible 😖patter💁 isn't generally heard🧏‍♂️, and if it is🤔, it doesn't matter💁.

Mr. Squishy posted:

My Dutch oven is ceramic, I'm always a bit worried it will crack if l let it heat up before putting ice on it

I've had good results in a Romertopf without any steam source other than soaking the lid beforehand.

# ? Dec 15, 2023 23:20

bengy81: May 8, 2010

Hey friends, I would like to try my hand at making a panettone, would any of you have a recipe you can recommend?

# ? Dec 16, 2023 00:34

null_pointer: Nov 9, 2004; Center in, pull back. Stop. Track 45 right. Stop. Center and stop.

Panettone is kind of a pain in the dick, from what I understand? At any rate, King Arthur Flour's recipe should set you right: https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/overnight-panettone-recipe

# ? Dec 17, 2023 14:55

null_pointer: Nov 9, 2004; Center in, pull back. Stop. Track 45 right. Stop. Center and stop.

In other news, King Arthur Flour's cinnamon star bread recipe continues to be killer:

# ? Dec 18, 2023 16:14

Toast King: Jun 22, 2007

null_pointer posted:

In other news, King Arthur Flour's cinnamon star bread recipe continues to be killer:

Hell yeah, I love how impressive this recipe turns out every time. I�ve had requests to make a Christmas coloured version with either basil + sundried tomatoes, or strawberry + pistachio to see how they turn out. Both options are sounding pretty great to me.

# ? Dec 18, 2023 23:47

null_pointer: Nov 9, 2004; Center in, pull back. Stop. Track 45 right. Stop. Center and stop.

I must have been too smug about how that star bread came out, because my KitchenAid stand mixer just died.

It's been a few years (early COVID, actually) since I took it apart, changed the grease, and replaced the gears. Within the past couple of months, it started making a noise that sounds like a combination of a helicopter and that weird bongo riff from early Scooby-Doo that played whenever Shaggy and Scooby were running in place.

I didn't have it in me to rip it apart, diagnose it, and replace the motor and/or gearing, and I guess I paid the price. I was in the middle of making a Christmas braid when it started making a horrible screeching noise for a few seconds while they mixer arm stopped rotating. It did that a few times, before I threw the switch.

I ordered the gear overhaul kit, but I'm wondering if it's the motor or controller.

# ? Dec 19, 2023 00:28

Cephas: May 11, 2009; Humanity's real enemy is me!
Hya hya foowah!

null_pointer posted:

In other news, King Arthur Flour's cinnamon star bread recipe continues to be killer:

this is nothing short of a holiday triumph.

null_pointer posted:

I must have been too smug about how that star bread came out, because my KitchenAid stand mixer just died.

and a holiday tragedy :negative:

# ? Dec 19, 2023 01:07

Aramoro: Jun 1, 2012

I had a go at making some croissants following the Tartine recipe. I think they came out OK for my first go

They took absolutely ages to proof after shaping them and they came out a bit bready but tasted really nice.

# ? Dec 19, 2023 18:27

Nettle Soup: Jan 30, 2010; Oh, and Jones was there too.

Yeah mine took a while to proof too, about double what the recipe I followed said.

Looking good!

# ? Dec 19, 2023 18:39

Gwaihir: Dec 8, 2009; Hair Elf

That's more than OK, looks like a perfectly flaky layered cross section to me!

# ? Dec 19, 2023 19:35

IT BURNS: Nov 19, 2012

Also made my yearly batch of croissants since it's only cold enough where I live to do it between December and January. I like Claire Saffitz's recipe for NYT cooking. It's better if you accept that this is a 2-3 day process and just let everything rest/proof way longer than you think you need to. For this practice batch, I used "inferior" ingredients - AP flour instead of bread, regular store butter instead of Kerrygold, and 2% milk instead of organic whole - but they still came out feather light and delicious. It's really more about treating the dough gently during lamination than it is what you put into it (to a certain extent). Last pic is for size comparison. Also, I like mine browner than most, so I did two light layers of egg wash.