Baking
Log of (mostly bread) baking experiments over time.
Pineapple Cake
Day: Tuesday, October 22, 2024
First shot at baking a cake myself, baked it for a friend's birthday. Mother's recipe for upside-down pineapple cake.
Pretzel - I
Day: Tuesday, October 22, 2024
The Germanic breakfast treat. Not too hard to make, but also somewhat challenging, in getting the intermediate baking soda + sugar slow cook phase right. The pretzel rose more than my expectation, and became really chubby, but still tasted good (IMO).
This recipe from NYT cooking was a LIFESAVER. You might want to check out the video for it too, it helps to see exactly what the movements should look like
Foccaccia - IV
Day: Friday, October 11, 2024
Made the foccaccia with my fresh new sourdough starter. I think it was okay, but it was well-received. Followed this loosely.
Sourdough starter
Day: Sunday, October 6, 2024
I've made a sourdough starter before in Delhi, but I was attracted to try again here because of the reputation of the signature San Francisco Bay Area Sourdough™ and boy, it didn't disappoint. My starter was super bubbly!
The only trouble I ran into was the October heat wave, that made it hard for my starter to really grow. But I managed to work around it once I realized what was wrong, by immersing the starter jar in a larger container of cool water, which I'd replace everyday.
Foccaccia - III
Day: Sunday, October 6, 2024
This was a sort of house-warming, generally well-liked. Tried more lemon zest, gave a great edge to the bread.
Ciabatta - II
Day: Sunday, September 1, 2024
Tried again, with slightly higher hydration. Turned out aight.
Chai Tiramisu
Day: Thursday, August 8, 2024
Instead of coffee, tried making chai-based vegan tiramisu with a friend. Turned out pretty cool :)
Ciabatta - I
Day: Tuesday, July 30, 2024
The lovely Italian sandwich bread. Wanted to get my hands dirty with some high hydration doughs. Anyway, this didn't rise (fast enough) the first time I tried, so really this is the second attempt. I borrowed parts from this recipe by AlexandraCooks ↗ and by Cloudy Kitchen ↗, adjusted for the time I had. I reduced the 4 folding cycles to 3, but kneaded for around 10 minutes each time, and let it rise longer than overnight. Also, I let the dough autolyze, which I feel helped a lot. Overall, pretty satisfied with what came out!
A sandwich that a friend made with the bread :) better than I could've made, honestly.
Not the dough we deserve, but the dough we need.
The White Dough Rises!
Shaped traditionally (though unevenly) and ready to pop into the oven!
Baking begins!
Okay, enough with the Batman jokes. Do you wanna know my secret — gets shot in the head
Japanese Milk Bread - I
Day: Thursday, May 30, 2024
Came out pretty fluffy in texture, and slightly sweet in taste! It was fun to make and went well both toasted and used to make french toast. Followed this recipe by Kwokspots: Japanese Milkbread Recipe (Hokaido) ↗ . Looking to make it more authentic as possible, so if you know a recipe, let me know!!
Backstory: I think this is known as Shokupan in Japan; I had this at an Asian bakery in Seattle and have been dying to recreate it since :D
Foccacia - II
Day: Friday, May 17, 2024
Got very good aeration this time! Tried a higher hydration dough, and used lime zest, sundried tomatoes (added later), olives, and rosemary as toppings. Crust was nice, could've been crunchier. Baked it at 400 F for 20-25 minutes.
What I did this time: high hydration, let it rise for 18 hours, baked at a lower temperature to cook through evenly then blasted at higher temps at the end to crisp it up.
Backstory: Made this for the most special friends as a parting gift :). One of my closest friends had also come to visit and wanted him to try good bread with cheese.
Foccacia - I
Day: Monday, April 8, 2024
Baked at 425 F for 15 minutes, then at 450 F for 5 minutes, to try a crunchy crust. Well, I suffered from success because it was very crunchy, but almost unpleasantly so. It came out alright otherwise, except I didn't coat some of the toppings with enough olive oil so they burnt up. Overall though, felt it was nice for my first time.
What I did this time: First time trying foccacia, let it rise for ~12 hours, flash-heating it at the end for crisp crust.
