Homemade Bread

Discussion in 'Food & Drinks' started by John Brunner, Aug 29, 2020.

  1. Faye Fox

    Faye Fox Veteran Member
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    Pound cake is called pound cake because the original recipe was passed along by word of mouth and a pound of each of the four ingredients made a four-pound cake. Remember butter, sugar, eggs, and flour, and a pound of each and success is yours. I cite the high sugar content as my reason for not making it, but the truth is I am too lazy. :) Friends say I could make it and give it away, but I have never made a cake I didn't eat and don't plan to start now. :p
     
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  2. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    I knew that but it's more fun to make lame jokes with Brunner. :D:D My recipe isn't a pound of each but it's a kick-ass cake. The cream cheese replaces part of the butter and gives the cake a little something extra. This is my sister's recipe and it's the best pound cake I've ever tasted.

    You should do some baking, Faye. I find it relaxing and fun, plus you can freeze most baked items to have some later. I see my oncologist on Tuesday, so after I step on the scale I might have to "scale back" my baking obsession!! :D
     
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  3. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    At least put some fresh fruit on it, just for pretenses. ;) Actually, it's got me salivating. I may have mentioned that I used to live around the corner from a World's Best Cheesecake bakery, and would pick up a 2# cheesecake every Saturday just for me to go through during the week. Fresh kiwi was mandatory. Mmmmmm.....

    ps: My ciabatta biga is rising as we speak.
     
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  4. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Must... resist... laugh.gif

    p.s. I like sour cream slathered on my pound cake, because it's not sufficiently calorie-laden. (And it's pretty tasty if I do say so.)
     
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  5. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I said as we speak, not because we speak. And thanks for noticing. ;)

    I be S.C. adds a nice bite to it. I just looked up Cream Cheese to see substituting it for that last stick of butter might have made the recipe less unhealthy. Nope.
     
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  6. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    Here's my first batch of ciabatta sandwich buns:

    Ciabatta buns.jpg

    The rings did a good job of keeping them in shape, and they are the perfect diameter. I did not use diastatic malt powder (I forgot.) My Italian bread does have more depth of flavor. The dough undergoes (3) 1 hour rises with some handling at the end of each one, then the shaped loaves rise for an hour. Ciabatta rises untouched for 2 hours, then the shaped buns (or loaves) rise for an hour. They both use a starter (biga) that's developed overnight, but the ciabatta has a little more liquid (although this recipe uses milk rather than water.)

    7 buns is all that would fit on my Breville stone, but that's too few for this recipe...they came out too large. I need to make 8-10 buns, which means I gotta use my full-sized oven. No big deal.

    I just had a burger with one of them. It's pretty good...much better than store-bought buns and definitely worth the effort. Next time I'll try making regular burger buns.
     
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  7. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Well save some for me, I'm trying to gain some weight. Your an inspiring woman Beth, so glad you beat that monster.
     
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  8. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    Looks delicious, but this time of year no time for much baking for us, although hubby made me a chocolate cake he took over the kitchen after his accident. I don't cook as much now.
     
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  9. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I like to keep a supply of homemade Italian bread on hand to have with meals, so I try to wait for a cool day or a rainy day for that activity. Other than that, I don't often bake sweets (just me in the house), nor do I do roasts (just me in the house.) I might get tired of store-bought cookies so I'll make a batch of homemade (usually coconut) and freeze them, but that's maybe once or twice a year.
     
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  10. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    Good job! Those look great. I'm still searching for a "light" burger bun; my biggest complaint with the two recipes I've tried is that they are too heavy and "bready"... they overpower the meat and just seem like too much bread.
     
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  11. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I agree regarding the flavor of the bun overwhelming the burger. Here's a purported Fuddrucker's burger bun recipe. link (The recipes I see posted by other self-acclaimed ex-employees are not scaled down: 6 quarts of liquid, 6 quarts of eggs, 4# of sugar...) I've not tried it, but those were mild burger buns in the restaurant. For 6 cups of flour, you use 2 cups of milk, 1 stick of butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 2 eggs, plus a little water, salt & yeast. Then you roll the dough to 1/2" thick and use a 3" cookie cutter to stamp out the buns, then let them rise. Ain't that different???

    Perhaps one secret is to make the buns smaller (thinner) like the small McDonald's burger buns so they do not overwhelm the burger. The trick then is to slice them so you get a complete top and a complete bottom.
     
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    Last edited: May 7, 2022
  12. Marie Mallery

    Marie Mallery Veteran Member
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    We freeze the store bought bread but not even close to homemade of course.
     
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  13. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I freeze all my breads & sandwich buns. I like to have a variety handy, but even if I stuck to one thing, it would go stale before I finished it.
     
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  14. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I've been eating the ciabatta buns, but as @Beth Gallagher said, homemade buns are really "heavy." It's supposed to rain on Saturday so I'm gonna make a 1/2 batch of the Fuddrucker's Bun knock-off recipe I found and see how those turn out. I've never before made a yeast roll that's been cut out of rolled dough as a biscuit would be.
     
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  15. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    Pound cake my favorite baked good, I'm the opposite I like the poor on the calories.
    Put one slice on a plate smother it with soft vanilla ice cream put another slice on top, my favorite dessert sandwich.
    The other way I like it is take a slice and toast it then buttered it. Yum
     
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