A Whole Lot of Baking Going On

 

A bad back and babysitting left Betty rather neglected in the past few weeks. I haven't baked in ages. She didn't seem to mind. 

I was feeling a lot better yesterday so I put her to work. My freezer was empty and since we have another week of kid sitting ahead of us I needed to fill it back up. It's nice to just grab something and go in the mornings. 

I was up early so I had English muffins and bagels proofing by noon.

My new 3 inch English muffin rings worked pretty well. They would have worked better if I had taken the time to weigh out the dough and make them even. Next time. 

My bagel game has improved. No more spots. Using the big oven made the difference. My English muffin game however still needs work. I can't get the right about of browning from the frying step. They are either burnt or too pale. 

While all that was going on I baked two loaves of honey wheat bread in the little oven. I'm using King Arthur's Levain bread recipe and I like that they have you grow the starter you need overnight. That way I can go through all the steps including the cold proofing in one day. 

I also baked two big sheet pans of crackers. I would have had a jar full to show off if I had stopped myself from eating them as soon as they came out of the oven. I started at 6 am and was finished by 9:15 pm. Now I've got a full freezer to get me through the week.