Baltimore Photoshoot
Adam and I are fortunate enough to be sponsored by Custom Performance Engineering and while we were down in the area for the weekend visiting the shop for a dyno day, we went out with Paula into the Fells Point neighborhood of Baltimore for a little photoshoot. Fun times. Photos were taken on the ride down, a Fells Point parking deck, and dyno day.
BBA Challenge – Cinnamon Buns
YUMMY!
mise en place! Egg not pictured. I took this waiting for husband to get home from the grocery store with eggs!
butter, sugar, buttermilk powder & salt creamed together
kneading with the help of my kitchenaid mixer
ladies and gentleman - i give you the window pane!
the dough is a balmy 80.4 degrees
sticky bun glaze - butter, sugar, brown sugar, salt & corn syrup
glaze & toasted pecans
cinnamon and sugar spread over the dough
all rolled up and ready to be cut into rolls
rolls ready to be parked in the refrigerator over night
my husband was kind enough to take them out at 5:20am. At 9am they were warmed up, proofed & ready for the oven.
halfway through the 25 minutes in the oven
out of the oven and ready to be flipped
drooooooooool
looks delicious at any angle
my masterpiece! (and my breakfast)
crumb shot! check out that swirl.
BBA Challenge – Ciabatta
I have a love-hate relationship with this bread. The first time I made it, I used Peter Reinhart’s Poolish starter. The bread had a very tight crumb. Good flavor but definitely bared no resemblance to ciabatta. Refusing to accept defeat, I made the bread again, this time using the Biga starter, max hydration and the optional olive oil. I also elected to sprinkle freshly grated asiago onto the dough during the two stretch and fold manuevers. The dough was super sticky and nothing like any of the doughs I had worked with so far in this challenge, so I figured I must have finally gotten it right. I was extra careful with the dough, trying as hard as I could not to let any of the gasses escape. I was extremely confident that this time I had it right.
When I checked on the loaves half way through baking, they were massive! They ballooned in the oven. My confidence in this bread had started to wane. The bottoms were done, but the top wasn’t nearly as browned as I would have liked – but I pulled the loaves because I hate burned bread bottoms. After an hour on the cooking rack, I cut into the first loaf. It wasn’t what I expected. The crumb was too tight, but the slice was very light and had a nice flavor. I was mad. I started cursing the ciabatta. I went onto twitter and complained about my failure.
Then came dinner. My husband and I decided to have sandwiches. I started slicing the ciabatta and low and behold – by the second slice in I had holes! I immediately tweeted by appologies to the ciabatta and then enjoyed a salami sandwich. Up next is either cinnamon rolls or sticky buns. I haven’t decided which. Maybe I’ll split the dough in half and make both.
