"Baking With Julia" by Julia Child (2004)

[SethG]

I don't think they could be overcooked...

I meant mine, not yours.

And I'm talking about after cooling-- they might have been prone to run right out of the oven, I can't remember.

I'm jealous-- they were such great brownies! They'll taste good no matter what you do.

[yorkshirepud]

Well these were still runny after 40 mins, thought the base was still very hot, mmmm ... perhaps I shouldn't of put them back in the oven. Oh well, too late now. If this fails, I'll just dump ice-cream on top and give everyone a spoon. Take about communal eating!

I wonder if yours were overcooked. Doesn't it say they won't even really set if frozen? I'll have to check.

Okay, time to check my brownies out. Wish me luck!

[Dahomechef]

There's a class on North Indian breads over in eGCI and the naan recipes look very promising: North Indian Breads

Rhea_S, thanks for the link to an amazingly detailed thread/demonstration. I'll try that naan. Have you done it?

yorkshirepud, I had exactly the same experience with the brownies. Baked 'em as indicated, found they were still fudgy, baked 'em some more, took 'em out and let 'em cool, and they did not set up at all except the "border." Put 'em back in for a while, but no matter how long they baked, remained "runny." I wouldn't be too quick to blame your old oven. I'm baking in a mid-range "pro style" gas oven that's probably less than 3 years old and got the same result. In the end, I ignored the middle of the pan and ate the 2 or 3 inch border, which was damn good! I guess I'm more a cakey-brownie type rather than a fudgy-brownie type.

By the way, congratulations on having a completely new kitchen to step into!

[jgarner53]

Well, drat! DH did not get me BWJ for my bday after all. He did get me a signed copy of Baking Illustrated (Chris Kimball was recently doing a signing at a local bookstore). So it's off to amazon to spend some of my birthday money and start baking with all of you! I also got a new hand mixer to replace the one I burned out last Christmas trying to mix up the dough for the cinnamon rolls for Christmas morning.

[yorkshirepud]

Dahomechef, I managed to save the brownies. They were a HUGE hit and OMG, fantastic. I put them back in the oven for approx. 25 to 30 mins and they set up fine. Super fudgey and moist (in a good way). They were devoured by all. The second night we had them with ice-cream -- can they get any better? I will post pictures soon.

I plan on trying them again with my new oven. I'm cooking with electric right now, but the new kitchen will have gas. Regardless, if it's just a matter of baking them longer, they are worth it.

The kitchen isn't quite ready yet. Waiting for the granite, then after that, it's just a matter of having the tile backsplash done and then I'm ready to PLAY!!!

jgarner53, is the book on its way? Hope you had a wonderful birthday. Where do you plan to start with BWJ?

[yorkshirepud]

Hi Everyone,

So here are some pictures from my adventures with BWJ.

First things first, THE brownies. Please excuse the patched up left corner (top). I couldn't resist taking a nibble , but thankfully, due to the overflow of goo, I was able to sweep some across and do a patch job. Once rebaked, you couldn't tell (okay, maybe a little!).

Finally, here are the breads I tested. The one on the bottom is the White Bread and the top one is the WW Bread. I took it upon myself to freeform them into batards. Delicious. The WW bread is just fabulous toasted. It really enhances the sweetness and nuttiness of this bread.

Not sure what I'm going to do next. I'm playing catch up but luckily many of those already tried where on my list of firsts anyway.

Did anyone try the Danish this weekend? I'm hoping to get around to it next weekend.

Edited May 2, 2004 by yorkshirepud (log)

[JanKK]

Hi all :)

Baked up 1/2 a batch of the Danish dough tonight into individual pastries with almond filling. Took this picture before they were most promptly devoured ;)

Made the second half of the dough into a Danish Braid with apricot filling. Trying something a little different -- put the assembled braid in the fridge and plan to bake it in the morning to bring to work. Not sure if this will work, but I *think* so. And I am REALLY bad at getting up in the morning, so the more I can do the night before, the better. If it turns out well, will post that picture as well. :)

And Yorhskire ---your brownies and breads are beautiful!!!

Edited May 3, 2004 by JanKK (log)

[Ling]

Whoa...I'm way behind. Sorry I haven't been keeping up...I've been in bed with the nastiest throat infection. I've been sick for almost 2 weeks now!

I'll catch up soon. Everything looks great. Danishes...yum! I've been wanting to try that recipe in the BWJ book!

[yorkshirepud]

Nice job on the Danish JanKK. They look delicious. How was the dough to work with? Did you get up in time to make the braid?

Hi Ling, hope you're feeling better.

[JanKK]

Yep --I did indeed get up in time to bake it --and leaving it assembled in the fridge over night didn't seem to hurt it one bit :) The dough is wonderul to work with --it looks like a gloppy mess to start out with and turns into something beautiful with rolling.

[alacarte]

Jan, your danish braid is beautiful. Nice job with the "food styling" too -- love the doily.

I did the danish pastry over the weekend -- it will have to remain in the freezer until I have time to bake it next weekend. Maybe I'll bring it to my folks for mothers day if the timing works out right.

This is my first experiment from the BWJ book -- I've mostly been following from the sidelines until now. I have to say that the instructions are very easy to follow so far, even for something as complex as pastry dough.

If I could change anything about the book, it would be to cross-index the recipes with the dough recipes. For example, next to the recipe for the pastry dough, it would be nice to have a small box with the page numbers for the full pastry recipes, rather than making me hunt for it.

[yorkshirepud]

That looks fab JanKK. Damn, I want a bite. You did a great job with the braid work. It looks awesome.

Edited May 3, 2004 by yorkshirepud (log)

[SethG]

Welcome JanKK. Your Danish looks fab. I hope others gave it a whack as well; I did not. But I'll owe it to you guys and do it later.

[brngckn]

Oh, I am drooling over the danishes! I did not get mine done. I was at a fitness event Thursday evening through Saturday night, and, well, I could barely move yesterday. It was worth it, though. I will try to catch up this coming weekend.

[yorkshirepud]

Hey everyone, I have a question.

I was just looking over what I was going to do next from BWJ and am considering the French Apple Tart. I was looking at the dough recipe and was wondering if you weigh your flour and if so, what weight do you use per cup? When making bread, I follow the weights in BBA (Bread Baker's Apprentice) using 4.5 oz per cup. Is the same true for baking? Usually, I use 4 oz when baking cakes etc, but I just wondered what rule you followed for cakes and pastry.

Cheers.

Adele

Edited May 3, 2004 by yorkshirepud (log)

[mdt]

I was looking at the dough recipe and was wondering if you weigh your flour and if so, what weight do you use per cup? When making bread, I follow the weights in BBA (Bread Baker's Apprentice) using 4.5 oz per cup. Is the same true for baking? Usually, I use 4 oz when baking cakes etc, but I just wondered what rule you followed for cakes and pastry.

Cheers.

Adele

I have been using 5 oz. of AP Flour per cup with all my baking from BWJ and have had no problems.

[SethG]

In the section on flour at the front of the book, I believe, Dorie says that if you scoop correctly you're supposed to get 5 oz. cups. So that's the figure I use when I weigh.

Edit: see page 13, paragraph 2. And so it is written.

Edited May 3, 2004 by SethG (log)

[yorkshirepud]

In the section on flour at the front of the book, I believe, Dorie says that if you scoop correctly you're supposed to get 5 oz. cups. So that's the figure I use when I weigh.

Really? I don't remember reading that. I'll have to reread. I hate how this is so inconsistent. Oh well ...

[alacarte]

I would love to try something in the genoise family next. Though I have to finish up the danish recipe first!

[arbuclo]

Oh my goodness JanKK, you've got me so excited to go make the danishes tonight! I've had the dough in the fridge for a couple of days. Because yours looks so beautiful I'm inspired to rush home tonight to bake them. (Though maybe I should follow your cue and bake them in them morning so I can take them to the office nice and fresh.)

[yorkshirepud]

Yeah Seth, I read it thanks. I don't know what norm to follow as I weigh, not scoop. Oh well, doing 4.5 oz hasn't affected anything yet.

JanKK, how was the dough after sitting in the fridge. Did it taste as fresh? It would be very convenient if you could get the same results. Did you let it come to room temp before baking?

Edited May 4, 2004 by yorkshirepud (log)

[JanKK]

Thanks everyone --you're making me blush! But who can turn down such lovely compliments??

Yorkshire....this dough seems to survive very nicely in the fridge. I left it in at all stages longer than I ever have before (original dough - 2 days, then after rolling another 2 days. And about 12 hours after assembling the braid) and it was every bit as tasty and looked the same.

I did not bring it to room temp --I took the braid out of the fridge and left it on the counter for the 10 minutes or so it took to preheat the oven and then baked it. Brought it to work --didn't hear any complaints ;)

I made the Apricot filling out of the BWJ book and it was fabulous. That little bit of almond extract adds a nice flavor, along with the lemon juice. (Although I problably put a little too much in the braid --kinda gushed out the sides when cut.) The Almond Filling is also excellent.

[arbuclo]

JanKK, excellent tips, esp since I only managed to do the rolling out and folding last night, not the final shaping. I think I'll shape them tonight and bake them in the morning so they'll be extra extra good when I take them to the office! :-)

[yorkshirepud]

Thanks JanKK. I plan on doing the Apricot filling myself so I'm glad to hear it's good. I can't resist anything almond so that's why I chose it. I'm probably not going to tackle it until next weekend as I'm away again this weekend. Can't wait.

Edited May 5, 2004 by yorkshirepud (log)

[yorkshirepud]

I just bought the apple for the French Apple Tart you all did a while back. Do you know approximately how many lbs of apples you used. I want to make sure I have enough, especially enough slices to cover the top nicely. I bought 8 medium sized ones.

I'm not baking it up until Friday afternoon -- can't wait!