February 25, 2012 - 1:25pm
ITJB Week 12: Sweet Egg Dough (for buns), 2/25/12 - 3/3/12 (or thereabouts)
I think buns have got to be one of the most wonderful things you can do with a bit of dough, and I like them all ways -- sweet, savory, steamed, fried, baked, grilled -- love 'em. They're like the ultimate and original fast food, portable and delicious.
This week's challenge is to take the Sweet Egg Dough recipe in the book, and do with it what you will. I'd anticipated doing a cinnamon-style roll, but then got a call from a friend that a luscious 4-layer Southern Lemon Cake was in our near future, so may take this dough and see if a savory application works (filled with onion jam or chutney may be the way I go -- we'll see).
As always, looking forward to seeing other people's experiences.
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Galloped through the book from cover to cover ;-) and decided to make Norm's double-knots as suggested by Stan in an earlier post. These were wonderful - making note of the errata data from the nybakers.com website and locating where to find the instructions. This was a fun bake!!! We have had pretty good success with our knots. Just want to say if you are worried about the weather changing the outcome.. We couldn't have more different weather than Washington state... where gmabaking is: (rather wintery, to say the least)
and the Spring-like weather here in TX, where my younger sister gmabaking 2, and myself gmagmabaking2 are:
Having researched our baking while deciding what way to go with this dough, we discovered that you had to skip around a bit in the book from 109 to 111-112... then after step 5 page 112... skip to page 40 for pictures of the double-knot process and page 41 for the baking instructions... quite a scavenger hunt but as you can see well worth the effort!
These are gmabaking2's ready for the 2nd proof
Egg-washed and sprinkled with a variety of seeds.
Hot and steaming out of the oven... don't those look great! Since we all made the knots and we all sprinkled on the seeds, mine look pretty much the same as Helen's as you will see in my final shot. Below are mine, right out of the oven.
and now in the basket all ready for dinner! Did I mention what a fun bake this was? Yeah... and those rolls are very, very good.
My phone doesn't take the best pictures.. but you get the idea.
And to finish up this post... my sister, our fearless lead baker, and role model, gmabaking... ta da!!! Drum roll please,
Can't you just smell 'em.... Looking forward to next week's baking... We again had a great time baking together across the country... and in this case throughout the book!
Here's mine. I snapped a few shots before they go on the table for dinner.
You really achieved great coloring. The double egg wash was new to me but I can see a depth there that I haven't before. Great fun, especially when everything turns out so well!
Great looking rolls... I made some plain and some with seeds on them... I think I like the naked ones best. ;-)
So are the pictures above from all three of you? gmagmabaking2, gmabaking2, gmabaking? What's it all about? Your rolls all look great. I had some difficulties getting the stripes (is that what Norm called it?) to roll out enough. I ended up squeezing them to get more length. (I didn't pull because according to the book that makes things worse). And then found it easier to knot in the air instead of on the counter. I'm new to this and haven't made a lot of rolls period, let alone doubleknots. But yum! And also, yes the double eggwash makes them pretty. I almost put seeds on, but then changed my mind. Maybe next time. I followed the recipe as written in ounces and didn't notice any issues. Were there corrections?
I , Diane, (gmagmabaking2) post our baking results. We 3 sisters bake together on each challenge... this all began a couple of years ago when Barb, (gmabaking) was testing recipes for the creation of "Inside the Jewish Bakery" and asked me to taste some of the recipes that she made, and give input as she filled out her survey forms to send to the authors Stan and Norm... subsequently the book became reality and The Fresh Loaf came up with the "challenge" of baking the recipes to test them after the fact.. and to work out errata etc.. before a new edition would be printed... hence the weekly baking.... Barb enlisted myself, and our younger sister Helen, (gmabaking2) to make this a fun, long-distance, yet sisterly get together each week... although many actual miles separate us. We actually text and talk on the phone several times a week getting ready for these bakes and keeping up with family news. So, yes, these photos are from all of us and we bake at the same time together... each week. It has really been fun and a blessing to keep us all connected... it sets aside some time for us to connect, apart from our usual motherly, grandmotherly, wifely and other responsibilities. We are loving it.
My sisters are excellent cooks - also far away - but we have never tried baking together. What a wonderful idea. -Varda
There were corrections, but they were pretty minor on the ounce version, for example 21 oz of flour instead of the 20 shown in the book.
Brad
Lovely rolls from all of you!
A question about the double knot....I have tried numerous times to make a double knot with my doughs but the final pass through always sticks when I try to slip it through the center hole....I have tried stretching, rolling as skinny as possible and, alas, forcing...all without success. :-/
Is there a secret that I haven't been informed of? I am all eyes :-)
Thanks,
Janet
Janet, I don't know exactly, but having just made these, the dough wasn't sticky at all. It was nice and smooth and stretchy and so it wasn't hard to sort of push a space to get through the hole. Perhaps you are using a different stickier dough than the ITJB sweet dough? -Varda
I was surprised how easy it was to shape the knots... form a cursive lower case "e" and then slip one end over and the other under and push them through the center... worked really well, as Varda said the dough was not that sticky. As long as you checked the errata and put the whole amount into the recipe.
Hi Janet, thank you from all of us.
Before shaping, I found a youtube video of a woman making single knots, that helped me figure out the basics. Then I remembered some things that I learned here, from either a pretzel or bagel posting. As you degas the dough, just cut it into the number of pieces needed rather than pinching off in chunks or rolling into balls, (then weigh if you do that, today my scale wouldn't work and it was a challenge to get them sort of the same) then let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes to relax the gluten. With no flour on the countertop, gently take the strip/e of dough and roll it out like kids do with modeling clay. In the youtube video, the woman tapered both ends. It helped me to have that first loop fairly large, in fact at first there were empty spaces after knotting.
Hope this helps,
Barbra
Thanks ALL for the directions. I think my problem was using a dough that was sticky. Next time I make a less sticky dough I will try out the suggestions you have all given me.
Thanks again for the suggestions. :-)
Take Care,
Janet
To All Who Responded Above,
I made a batch of walnut raisin rolls today and your instructions helped me do nice double knots. The key for me was getting the initial 'cursive e' and then all else fell into place :-) Rolls were a bit lumpy due to the add ins but they DID knot :-)
Take Care,
Janet
love it when things work out!!!
Indeed I do :-)
Thanks again!
Janet
I've made three batches of cinnamon rolls with the sweet egg dough. They go too fast for pictures! I just roll the dough out into a rectangle, paint with melted butter, sprinkle on cinnamon and sugar, and then add raisins and pecans. Then I roll it up and slice the roll at 1-inch intervals. I let these proof and bake. When they come out, I glaze them while still hot with confectioners' sugar dissolved in milk and vanilla extract.
The last time I made them it was a double batch and I was low on pecans, so I did a combo of pecans, walnuts and almonds and a dried fruit combo of raisins, cherries, and blueberries. I made the double batch to share with the neighborhood folks currently fighting the homeowner's association for the rest of us. My neighbor called to complain that thieves must have broken into his house and stolen the cinnamon rolls because they disappeared so fast!
This is a great dough, Stan & Norm!!