The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Photo thread: Thanksgiving baking

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Photo thread: Thanksgiving baking

Please take pictures of your holiday spread on Thursday (with particular emphasis on the baked goods) and share them here!

If you are unsure how to post photos here, please see the Posting Photo FAQ.   If you have accounts there, you can also include your photos in our Photopool on Flickr or our Photobucket group.

 

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

I had to bake the dinner rolls the day before so the picture is ready now.  I slashed half of them because I didn't know which way I would like better.

Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Eli's picture
Eli

Lead Dog those look great. What kind of crumb do you get?

Eli

LeadDog's picture
LeadDog

The crumb isn't as fluffy as store bought dinner rolls but looks great.  I had to test one to see how it tasted and to see if we would need the backup plan.  I had never made rolls before so I was a bit nervous as to how they would turn out.  They look great and when I split one open it seemed just a little bit tougher to split apart than a store bought roll.  I really don't think anyone would notice anything unusual about them unless they were told that they are homemade sourdough.  Thanks Eli for the comment.

Stephanie Brim's picture
Stephanie Brim

Pumpkin Pie Cookies, straight out of the oven

Yes, they taste like pie. The recipe is here with all the information. I wanted to bake rolls, but people keep insisting that I don't have to. Next week is going to be my big baking week. We'll see how things go. :)

nbicomputers's picture
nbicomputers

 

Apple and Sweet potato

Jumble cookies

Rugelach (cream chease Pastry)

Left to right Parker house, onion pocket, knot

Sweet Pumpernickel

 

ehanner's picture
ehanner

The knotted rolls are a work in progress for me Norm. I made 24 batch and they look OK but not as puffy as yours. I was watching to not over proof them and maybe baked them a little early. Still delicious!

When the holidays are past you will have to share the recipe for the Rugelach. Looks delicious.

Eric

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Man, I *love* rugelach.  They look great.  I'd be interested hearing your recipe too.

I hope you're having a good Thanksgiving!

siuflower's picture
siuflower

Love the sweet pumpernickel roll.

 

siuflower

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

All made with the same dough, I assume.

I'm looking forward to leftover turkey on your knotted rolls, made a couple weeks ago and frozen.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

David

JIP's picture
JIP

Sorry I ate everything too fast no pictures.....

Floydm's picture
Floydm

  By request, I made the sweet potato rolls again this year.

I slightly underproofed and underbaked them, but I was the only one who noticed.  They were a big success again.

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Very impressive spreads, everyone. 

I baked two loaves of North Woods Sourdough and four loaves of french bread today.  My timing on the french bread was off, so when the last two loaves were ready to come out of the oven, I was waiting with my coat and boots on and five minutes to jog to my neighbors down the road for dinner.

No time for pictures of melting snowflakes on freshly baked bread.

 

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Thanksgiving baking included Brown Dog's cranberry pecan rolls, here:

Cranberry nut rolls

So what if the original intent was that they be served with breakfast?  The cranberry and orange makes a great counterpoint to turkey, too.

Like Brown Dog, I passed on pouring cream over the rolls before baking them, but I can imagine that they would have been even more luscious if I had.

Paul

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Those look great.

Soundman's picture
Soundman

Paul,

Forget the turkey, I could eat those straight out of the oven. Beautiful job!

Soundman (David)

pmccool's picture
pmccool

Since these came out of the oven about 4 hours ahead of the turkey, they were at risk of being eaten before mealtime.  The only thing that saved them was the repeated remonstration "We have company coming to dinner!"

Paul

Soundman's picture
Soundman

Paul,

Nice job keeping those goodie intact until your lucky company arrived!

Soundman (David)

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Your rolls look delicious...I have a weakness for anything with buttermilk and cranberries.   I would love to bake these any time of year!  Thank you Paul and Brown Dog for the recipe!

Sylvia

KansasGirlStuckInMaryland's picture
KansasGirlStuck...

I spent Thanksgiving alone except for the cat this year.  Not actually a bad thing because my Maryland "adopted" family can be a bit much to take sometimes when they all get together.  I did not go without though.  I made myself a traditional meal with turkey (a whole bird), homemade dressing, real mashed potatoes, giblet gravy, oh yeah, and homemade bread.  I tried something new this year for the potatoes.  I forget where I read this, but it involved "baking" the potatoes in the microwave, then scraping out the insides and proceeding as normal with the mashing and adding hot milk and butter.  Of course I use cream instead of milk and I always add cream cheese to the potatoes for an extra little twang.  Taste is great and one less pot to clean.

Here are the pictures of my "spread"

 

I did actually have some vegetables later just to be a little bit healthy.  The bread is a french bread made with a pate fermente.

I spent most of the time the turkey was in the oven packing for my upcoming move.

Anne

ryeaskrye's picture
ryeaskrye

I baked a couple loaves of long-ferment San Fran for the family dinner:

John

Mako's picture
Mako

I've never been able to get the blister look on the top of the loaf, what did you do to achieve that?

 

Mako

Floydm's picture
Floydm

I'm pretty sure refrigeration leads to those blisters.  I get them on non-sourdough breads like my poolish baguettes when I refrigerate the dough for an hour or two.  I don't have to use the fridge to get them, either: this morning I'm eating a sourdough that fermented overnight in my "cold room", which gets down to around 45 degrees fahrenheit at night.  It too is covered with blisters.

ryeaskrye's picture
ryeaskrye

Mako,

I'm still a beginning baker and always want the nice blistering, but rarely get it, and never to this extent. I was quite happy when they came out.

There are wiser bakers here than can probably tell you why better than me, but Floyd may be onto to the reason as this had a very long ferment in the fridge.

I can tell you they were sourdough loaves at around 70% hydration and I baked them on a hot (510°F) FibramentD baking stone. They were heavily misted with water and covered by a preheated hotel pan for the first 20 minutes.

Not sure any of that had anything to do with the effect or not.

John

 

 

LindyD's picture
LindyD

Floyd is right on.   Dough retarded under cold conditions, then brought out after anywhere from a couple to 18 hours, will produce the blisters when baked. It's the cold that produces the effect, not the oven temp or misting.

John, you're lucky to have an oven that will get to 510F or above; makes for great pizza baking!

 

hansjoakim's picture
hansjoakim

Indeed, blisters appear during baking of retarded dough. Here's a relevant quote from a science book I got from the library the other day:

Quote:
Perhaps the most common of the quality losses associated with retarded and frozen doughs are the very small, translucent blisters or "white spots" which sometimes occur on the top and bottom crusts of the baked product. ... The mechanism by which these white spots are formed still remains to be fully elucidated, but it is clear from research that any change which affects the production of carbon dioxide gas during the retarding or defrosting phases will influence their formation. The occurrence of white spots is associated with significant gas production before or during retarding. They are most likely to occur with high yeast levels, high storage temperatures, long storage times and even very slow defrosting in the case of frozen doughs. This evidence suggests that the significant factor in their formation is the high solubility of carbon dioxide gas at low temperatures as discussed above. ... In summary they have their origins in almost any change which affects gas production or retention. They can be eliminated or reduced by lowering yeast levels in the retarded dough recipe, adding fat where it will not adversely affect other product qualities, reducing bulk fermentation after mixing, and reducing delays before retarding and freezing.

Pretty vague, but that's probably because the occurrence of white spots (and their explanation) is a complex issue that's not fully understood yet. Breadbaking is so fascinating :)

arzajac's picture
arzajac

That makes sense.  The solubility of gas in solution increases as temperature decreases.

That means that if you take a glass of water and put it in the fridge, it will remain clear.  But when you take the glass of water out of the fridge and put it in a warm area, bubbles will come out of solution. 

I wonder if those blisters can be created simply by putting the proofed loaf in the fridge for a very short period of time before baking - like fifteen minutes or so.

The next time I have the chance, I will do a head-to-head comparison of a dough that has been split in two, with one part cooked right away and the other being put in the freezer for short while and then rewarmed quickly.   Just to see if it is really the temperature gradient that causes the blisters or if you really need to spend a longer period ot time at a low temperature.

 

 

 

siuflower's picture
siuflower

gaaarp's picture
gaaarp

Hree are my sourdough rolls from Thanksgiving day.  I made the dough while we were packing to leave, then let it bulk ferment on the way.  When we got there, I formed the rolls, then retarded them in the fridge overnight.  They were delicious.  By the time I went to bed, there was one roll left.

Sourdough Rolls

The picture is a bit blurry, but the rolls were nicely blistered.  I sprinkled some herbs de Provence on them just before baking.

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

With all the other food, including bread stuffing, I didn't serve bread with Thanksgiving dinner. However, we did have bread with other meals this long weekend, and they were enjoyed.

 

SusanFNP's Sourdough

San Joaquin Sourdough

This was a hit with salmon baked on a bed of sautéed leeks and fennel.

Turkey on Norm's knotted rolls, Yum!

And these rolls are not just for turkey. Naomi thought they were pretty good with home made almond butter and strawberry jam.

 

I hope everyone enjoyed Thanksgiving as much as we did.

David

Floydm's picture
Floydm

Lovely breads.  Glad to see you have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

ericb's picture
ericb

Wow! What a bunch of beautiful loaves, rolls, and other goodies. Thanks to everyone for posting.

I don't know about you, but I felt a certain fellowship on Wednesday night knowing that all you other TFL folks were baking right along with me.

I went a little overboard this year and baked something like a dozen loaves. This was in addition to the 6 or 8 loaves I had in the freezer, just in case I messed up!

Behold the madness:

About half of these were 100% whole wheat; the others are dsnyder's Pain de Campagne.

Despite the fact that I have a half dozen loaves in the freezer right now, I'm still anxious to get baking again. Once we finish up our current stock, I think I'm going to venture into the world of flat breads, crackers, rolls, and enriched bread. Something in me has always wanted to bake a fruit cake, despite the fact that (a) I don't like them, and (b) no one else does either!

In the meantime, I'm going to be eating a LOT of whole wheat toast for breakfast.

Eric

dmsnyder's picture
dmsnyder

David