Hello all!

Having just pulled yet another crusty loaf out of the oven, I'm wondering what I might be doing wrong. You see, it seems that whatever I bake, be it cake, bread, muffins... and whichever recipe I follow, I always get a crust that is a little thicker than I would care for. This is not only the exposed part of the bread (or muffin etc), but also the part that is inside any pan I might use.

The other possibly related symptoms are that the things I bake are never as light as I would like, and drier than I would like too. They are not complete disasters, quite edible (according to others too) but I'm not proud of them at all.

I'm using a fan assisted electric oven, I do everything by hand, I live in Northern Ireland where it is not especially humid or dry, hot or cold. I use instant yeast (though in other news I have had a starter growing in my kitchen for 10 days now and I can't wait to try it!) or brand new bicarb if I'm making soda bread, strong organic flours... I don't have a thermometer for my oven (apart from the built in dial), though I suspect I should probably invest in one as soon as possible. I don't use steam, though I'm also thinking I should probably try this next time.

Mainly I was suspicious that it really is EVERYTHING I make that has the same thick crust issue, which either points the finger at the common factor of the oven, or me! What do you think?

Thank you so much in advance...

This weekend has been a smorgasbord of baked goods.  Friday afternoon i mixed together a poolish with the intentions of making poolish baguettes the following day.  I let the poolish sit out until it was nice and bubbling then retired it to the refrigerator for the next day.  I removed the poolish from the refrigerator and brought it to room temp while I prepared the main dough. 

I was working off of Peter Reinhart's poolish baguette recipe from BBA.  I sifted the wheat flour to remove the bran, i'm not sure if my sieve was fine enough to remove all the bran but it removed a large proportion of it.  I'm going to be a bit lazy in my blogging tonight and just post a few pictures, which will not include crumb shots because the crumb turned out piss poor.

I had to find something to do with the left over bran i sifted from the wheat flour.  I decided to make bran muffins, which I have never made before but thought i would try.  The recipe was a crap shoot a little bit of this and a little bit of that.  I used a small portion of wheat flour to AP added some sugar some molasses, yeast, and buttermilk and an egg.  I topped the muffins with oats and baked them in a 350 degree oven until a toothpick came out clean.  I can't say I've ever had a bran muffin so I have nothing to compare them to, they seem to taste fine.  

I caught an episode of Diners Drive in's and Dives earlier this week, Guy Fieri happened upon a restaurant that featured cranberry and wild rice french toast.  The two ingredients seem like such an odd combination to me and I had to try it.  I pieced together a recipe and made a large sandwich loaf with a smaller free form loaf to go with it.  Needless to say, I can't wait for breakfast in the morning, I just wish I had some fresh maple syrup to go with it.  

As if this wasn't enough for one day, I decided to make sandwich loaves for the upcoming week.  The loaves are basic white loaves from The Bread Bible.  I don't eat a lot of white bread but this will have to do this week until I can make some whole grain loaves.  

Nope, not done yet.  The poolish baguette recipe calls for 7 ounces of poolish, which leaves a substantial amount for another application.  I am tossing around the idea of making a poolish pizza crust tomorrow, although I am still uncertain about a recipe at this point.  I have also decided to start the bread baker's apprentice challenge tomorrow.  I have already made quite a few of the recipes in the book but I will chalk that up to practice.  At any rate, I have the soaker for Anadama bread sitting on the counter top now, another post to follow.

Happy Baking,

-Matthew 

White Sandwich loaf before pre-shape

White sandwich loaves final proof

Finished sandwich loaves

Crumb Shot

C

Mixture of the day's bake

Crumb shot of cranberry wild rice bread

I just found a recipe that I have been using for a couple weeks for blueberry muffins.  They have turned out AMAZING every time.  I haven't tried too many recipes, but I think I have found one I am sticking with already.

I have made them with and without the crumb top and they are great either way.  I recommend doubling the recipe as the small number (half dozen) they make don't last long enough.

Anyway, here is the Recipe if anybody is interested.
Ingredients

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 3/4 cup white sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/3 cup vegetable oil
* 1 egg
* 1/3 cup milk
* 1 cup fresh blueberries
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 1/4 cup butter, cubed
* 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Grease muffin cups or line with muffin liners.
2. Combine 1 1/2 cups flour, 3/4 cup sugar, salt and baking powder. Place vegetable oil into a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with flour mixture. Fold in blueberries. Fill muffin cups right to the top, and sprinkle with crumb topping mixture.
3. To Make Crumb Topping: Mix together 1/2 cup sugar, 1/3 cup flour, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon. Mix with fork, and sprinkle over muffins before baking.
4. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until done.

PS It is from allrecipes.com so I am sure many people have already seen it, but I thought I would share for those that are looking for a good recipe.  I just use brown sugar for the topping instead of white because it is much better.  Also the vanilla isn't needed, but it is up to you to add it or not.

I baked some sourdough chocolate donuts and heart shaped muffins this weekend.  At last the fresh cherries are flowing so I chopped up a pound of fresh Bing Cherries to fold into the batter (and some chocolate chips too).  

The wild culture (sourdough starter) that I used in these donuts and "love loaves" was captured in Mexico City last year and is one of my favorite cultures for baking (especially for pairing with chocolate).  The sourdough keeps them moist and tender.  They are disappearing fast!

I have recently discovered a good mix of gluten free flours that are freshly ground and nutritious. My daughter likes to stay away from gluten so I've been developing the recipes for her but the whole family has been eating them. :)

I freshly grind all my whole grain and was disappointed in the lack of nutrients found in the gluten free recipes I was coming across, so I tried a combination of pseudograins, ground them myself and found I really liked it. So here it is...

1 1/2 c. brown rice

1/4 c. amaranth

1/4 c. millet

1/4 c. flaxseed

Freshly grind all these (makes about 3 1/2 c. flour) and mix with:

1 tsp. salt (I use sea salt)

4 tsp. baking powder 

Set aside.

Lightly beat 4 eggs and add:

4 tbs. oil (safflower or mildly flavored)

6 tbs. honey (I use raw)

2 c. milk (I use almond milk to be dairy free)

For Quick Bread:

Mix all until fairly smooth and pour into 2 loaf pans.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 40 minutes or until done. (I use a glass pan)

You want to slightly under bake this rather than over bake because it gets too dry.

Wait about 10 minutes before getting out of pan.

For Muffins:

Add raisins/currants and chopped walnuts for added flavor and crunch.

Mix all until fairly smooth and place heaping tbs. of batter in mini muffin tin.

Bake at 400 degrees for about 5 minutes. I let these rest about 5 minutes in the pan so they come out easier. These get a nice rise and are loved by the pickiest of children. :)

Getting home an hour earlier than expected + The best blueberries I've had in years in the fridge = 

The recipe is from "The Best Recipe" by the "Cooks Illustrated" folks. These are "Lemon-Blueberry Muffins." I made 3/4 of a recipe. (That's the real "math.")

And for the rest of the "crumb shot" obsessed:

It was hard to decide what to have for dessert - fresh out of the oven muffin or a slice of ....

My wife's Plum Cake (inspired by the recent postings about this).

I went with the muffin. There's always bedtime snack.

David

I went on a baking frenzy today, thanks to George Greenstein's Secrets of a Jewish Baker.  I followed one of his "Morning Baking" programs at the end of the book and made muffins, milk bread, whole wheat bread, and Italian bread.

Posted on www.evilshenanaigans.com  4/8/2009

I am a bacon devotee.  I'm not sure if you have noticed, but I love the stuff!  That's why when I was challenged to create a sweet and savoury bacon muffin I jumped at the challenge!

But, this is a tale of sadness, regret, but eventual triumph! 

Two months ago, on a cold January evening, I was contemplating new ways to use bacon in my baking when my husband asked, "Can you make a bacon cupcake?"  A cupcake?  No, not that, never that.  However, a muffin I could do!  So, off to research.  I formulated a recipe with a brown sugar crumble and gave it a whirl.

They tasted great, but looked about as pretty as homemade soap.  Not a shining moment for me, but I moved on.  Next I tried no crumble and more maple.  They were far too sweet and had the texture of sticky cornbread.  BLEH!   Long story short (too late, right?), after a few more failures I struck the right balance of salty and sweet in a tender, bulging muffins!  It is this that I present to you, the perfect brunch bread. .. Maple and Bacon Muffins!   

Maple and Bacon Muffins   Yield 1 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
4 slices bacon, cooked crisp and crumbled
1 cup milk
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup real maple syrup

Heat the oven to 400 F and line a 12 cup muffin pan with paper liners, or grease and flour the pan well.

Mix the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt well.  Mix in the crumbled bacon.

In a separate bowl mix the milk, eggs, oil, and maple syrup.

Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and pour the wet ingredients into it.  Fold gently until the dry ingredients are wet.  It will be lumpy.

Scoop into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes.

Serve warm.

Does anyone let their muffin recipe soak for 1-4 hours if using freshly ground flour?  I have done so and they seem to have a really nice texture.  Like in bread, perhaps, the flour needs time to soak up moisture. Would this make a difference or am I just wasting time?

Thanks

Baking at High Altitude and Sharing Mountain Recipes are 2 scrumptious cookbooks offering experienced high altitude adjustments and recipes that have been requested for decades.

The Muffin Lady chose to write these books as an offering of flavor and ease to all who live and visit regions located at higher elevations. Through the years she has collected and developed palatable treasures and through much trial, efforts, tossings and tastings has found her niche.