My new experiments

I am getting re-organized. My new postings are at http://breadbakingexperiment02.blogspot.com

Cranberry almond coffee cake

This is another Thanksgiving gift, made for our neighbor who have been looking after us throughout our difficult days. It's my first time trying out coffee cake. It's modified from a KAF recipe.

Recipe Cranberry almond coffee cake (1 medium 8x4 pan)

Ingredients:

cake

- 5 TB Smart balance stick

- 3/4 cup granulated sugar

- 1 egg

- 1/2 cup sour cream

- 1/2 tp almond extract

- 1/2 tp baking powder

- 1/2 tp baking soda

- 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

- 1/3 cup evaporated skim milk

- 1/4 tp salt

- 1/3 cup whole cranberries

- 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted

glaze

- 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

- 2 TB milk

- 1/2 tp almond extract

Procedure:

1. Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

2. Cream together butter or shortening with sugar using a fork. Then beat in the egg, sour cream and almond extract. Use electric mixer to beat until smooth. 

3. Pour batter into a 8x4 pan greased, lined with waxed paper, and greased again.

4. Press gently cranberries into the batter.

5. Sprinkle toasted almonds evenly on the batter.

6. Bake at 350F for 55 minutes or until thermometer comes out clean.

7. Turn cake out, allow to cool.

8. To prepare glaze, mix sugar, milk and almond extract. Dribble onto the bottom side of the warm cake. 

Results:

1:44pm, ingredients:

1:52pm, wet ingredients and dry ingredients:

1:54pm, creaming butter with sugar:

1:58pm, egg added to creamed butter:

2:00pm, sour cream added:

2:03pm, beating wet ingredients:

2:15pm, wet ingredients beaten:

2:16pm, dry ingredients added to wet ingredients:

2:18pm, batter in pan:

2:20pm, cranberries pressed into batter:

2:21pm, topping of almond:

2:22pm, batter height in pan:

2:22pm, to bake at 350F:

2:30pm, loaf baked 10 minutes:

3:09pm, loaf baked 50 minutes:

3:10pm, cake's internal temperature reaching 190F:

3:10pm, thermometer coming out clean:

3:10pm, cake's height:

3:17pm, cake's side:

3:17pm, cakes's bottom:

3:20pm, dribbing glaze on cake:

3:24pm, done with glaze:

3:30pm, toppings added on glaze; glazed side:

3:32pm, broken corner of cake:

Observations:

1. It's probably better to bake a cake in a low and wide-based pan. This allows the cake to rise better, not against its own weight.

2. Do not prepare the glaze too early. Else it may dry up.
3. I get to taste a small sample of this cake out of its broken corner. The cake's crumb is somewhat lightly than bread. It's is very sweet alright.

My 127th experiment: Eggless cranberry orange nut bread for Thanksgiving

I bake this loaf as a Thanksgiving gift, specially for someone who enjoys sourness of good berries. I've scaled it to a 8x4 pan. This is another KAF recipe that is good.

Recipe: Cranberry orange nut bread (1 medium loaf)

Ingredients:
- 1+3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tp baking powder
- 1/4+1/8 tp baking soda
- 1/2 tp salt
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 3 TB vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup cranberries
- 1/4 cup chopped walnuts
- 2 tps orange peels

1. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and orange peel
2. Mix together in a separate bowl sugar, orange juice, sour cream.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Roughly mix, ignore lumps.
4. Add chopped cranberries and walnuts to mixture.
5. Add 3 TB oil to mixture. Mix lightly. Spoon mixture into a 8x4 loaf pan greased lightly with crisco, then lined with wax paper, and greased lightly again with crisco. Fill pan up to 2/3 full.

Results:
4:09pm, ingredients:

4:30pm, wet ingredients:

4:31pm, final batter:

4:31pm, batter height in bowl:

4:32pm, cranberries added:

4:32pm, nuts added:

4:34pm, batter in pan:

4:35pm, batter height in pan:

4:35pm, to bake at 350F:

5:24pm, loaf baked 50 minutes:

5:28pm, loaf's internal temperature reaching 190F:

5:28pm, clean thermometer:

5:29pm, loaf's corner:

5:29pm, loaf's height:

5:59pm, comparing this loaf with the lemon loaf (right top corner) and the pumpkin bread (top middle):

Observations:
1. I do not understand why the pumpkin loaf has a mound-shaped top while this cranberry loaf has a flat top. Maybe the composition of the two are just too different to make a fair comparison.

My 126th experiment: Lemon bread

This is a Thanksgiving gift for a great friend who is sweet. The recipe is from KAF, I just scale it according to my common sense.

Recipe: Lemon bread (1 medium loaf)

Ingredients:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 tp lemon extract
- 3 TB lemon juice
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1 egg
- 1 tp salt
- 1 tp baking powder
- 1/2 tp baking soda
- 2 tp poppy seeds
- 1+1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Procedure:
1. Sieve together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt.
2. Mix together sugar, oil, lemon juice, egg and sour cream. Beat until well mixed.
3. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients all at once. Stir to incorporate. Add poppy seeds and mix well.
4. Bake at 350F for about 50 to 60 minutes until internal temperature reaches 190F.

Results:
2:40pm, ingredients:

3:03pm, wet ingredients and dry ingredients:

3:04pm, final batter:

3:04pm, batter height:

3:07pm, batter's thickness:

3:07pm, batter's height in pan:

3:09pm, additional water (about 2 TB) added and mixed in pan:

3:09pm, final batter height:

3:09pm, to bake at 350F:

3:53pm, loaf baked 42 minutes:

3:59pm, loaf's internal temperature 190F; soft crumb not strong enough to hold the thermometer:

3:59pm, thermometer coming out clean:

4:00pm, loaf's height:

4:00pm, loaf's top:

4:01pm, loaf's corner in pan:

4:00pm, loaf's crack:

4:04pm, loaf turned out:

4:04pm, loaf's side with wax paper:

5:23pm, loaf's side with wax paper removed:

5:23pm, comparing this loaf with pumpkin chocolate bread made on the same day:

Observations:
1. Unlike my pumpkin bread, this loaf rises uniformly and gives a flat top. I still do not know when a batter yields a flat-top loaf and when a mound-top loaf.
2. Use of wax paper allows the loaf to detach itself from the pan as is shrinks.
3. This is a sweet loaf alright. As a daily bread, I'd say probably 1/4 cup of sugar will be enough.