Focaccia charcuterie!

𝗦𝗮𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝘄𝗲'𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮 𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗵. Rosh Hashanah starts at sundown this Friday, September 11. That's why the loaf is round instead of the usual braid. The circle stands for the year coming back around, and the apples and honey are the wish for a sweet one. You don't have to keep the holiday to bake the bread. It's a beautiful table loaf either way, and day-old challah makes the best French toast you'll ever eat. 𝗧𝘄𝗼 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝗶𝗻. 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗲. 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗟𝗘 𝗖𝗥𝗢𝗪𝗡, 𝗬𝗘𝗔𝗦𝗧𝗘𝗗. Four hours start to finish. Four strands braided, then wound into a coil with diced Granny Smith and golden raisins folded through, honey brushed on hot out of the oven. If you want bread on the table for Friday night, this is the one that makes that possible. https://recipepantry.app/recipes/round-honey-apple-challah 𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗥𝗢𝗨𝗡𝗗 𝗖𝗛𝗔𝗟𝗟𝗔𝗛, 𝗦𝗢𝗨𝗥𝗗𝗢𝗨𝗚𝗛. Two days, mostly hands off. Levain built the night before, overnight cold retard, three strands rolled in black and white sesame and coiled into a crown. Deeper flavor, longer schedule. https://recipepantry.app/recipes/sourdough-round-challah 𝗦𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲: the sourdough version doesn't have apple in it. It's a honey-sweetened round with sesame and it's very good as written. If you want apples in your sourdough loaf, dice 120g of firm tart apple, toss it with a teaspoon of lemon juice, and laminate it in at the first stretch and fold. Everything else stays the same. 𝗧𝗛𝗥𝗘𝗘 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗡𝗚𝗦 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗗𝗘𝗖𝗜𝗗𝗘 𝗛𝗢𝗪 𝗧𝗛𝗜𝗦 𝗕𝗔𝗞𝗘 𝗚𝗢𝗘𝗦. Fold the fruit in late. Apple goes in after the dough has already built strength, on a letter fold, not in the mix. Add it early and the moisture cuts your gluten and you end up with a slack dough that won't hold a braid. Use a firm tart apple, Granny Smith or Honeycrisp. Soft varieties cook down into applesauce pockets. Braid loose. A tight braid chokes the oven spring and splits at the seams. Sherman taught me that on enriched dough and it took me years to actually believe him. Roll a strand, let it rest, come back to it. The dough gives you the length. You don't take it.

I tried a new recipe in my search for the best picnic buns. I think this one is going to be a hit. It’s soft but sturdy. It actually uses baked potatoes that have been baked & riced. It was fun to make and rose surprisingly high in the oven. I did an overnight retard even though the recipe did not call for it, I needed time. And a cold proof again yesterday because I needed more time but all in all they turned out well. The only issue was some uneven browning. Do you know why that would be? @Henry Hunter

Ready for our meeting! Guess who is in charge of this months refreshments?

Doors open at 5:30. Thread's live, come in whenever you get here. There's no schedule on this one. Bake when you want to bake. Some of you are up before the sun and some of you won't get to it until this afternoon, and both are fine. Things usually pick up around eight once people have had their coffee, but the thread runs all day and I'll be in it. This is a short bake. About ninety minutes start to finish, which makes it a good one to do while the coffee's still hot. Three things decide how it goes. Weigh your banana. Riper means wetter and sweeter, and a big banana and a small one are not the same ingredient. The dough is going to feel softer and stickier than you expect. That's the banana and it's correct. Do not add flour to make it easier to handle. The chill firms it up. Take the internal temperature. Two hundred to two oh five, ninety three to ninety six Celsius, in the thickest part, away from a blueberry. Banana browns the top early, so a gorgeous golden scone can be sitting on a wet center. Color lies on this one. The places people usually go wrong, in order. Butter worked until it disappeared instead of stopping at pea sized with a few flat sheets. Dry ingredients whisked for five seconds instead of thirty, which leaves bitter spots people end up blaming on the recipe. Dough stacked three times instead of once. And the fifteen minute chill skipped, which is the one that turns rise into spread. A few of you are already going off script and I'm glad. Deborah's doing pumpkin, toasted pecan, and a maple glaze. Melissa's working with freeze dried fruit. If you're swapping something, say what you swapped when you post so the rest of us learn from it. Post your dough. Post your butter after you cut it in. Post the ones that came out great and post the ones that didn't, because the ones that didn't are usually the more useful post in the thread. Recipe is in the Pantry: https://recipepantry.app/recipes/restaurant-style-banana-blueberry-scones