NYBakers/Norm's Book - Recipe Tests

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dmsnyder on 29 May 2010 at 14:15

Those of us who have volunteered to test recipes for Norm's book have received our first recipes. We have been asked to not share the recipes, naturally, but Stan has told me it's okay to post photos. It's a bit of a tease, I know, but, from another perspective, it's publicity for a much-anticipated project of two esteemed TFL members.

For those other recipe testers willing to share their own results, I propose using this topic to collect photos of your breads/pastries/cookies in one place.

My first recipe was for "Bakery Pan Challah." It is sinfully delicious fresh baked and as toast this morning, with butter and cherry-plum jam. I'm betting it will make fabulous French toast tomorrow morning, as well. 

Here are some photos:

Loaf

Slices

Crumb

David

Here's the plain coffee ring (I shaped it differently from what the recipe suggested)

Plain coffee ring

and mohn kichelach (poppyseed cookies):

Mohn Kichelach

If anyone gets the schnecken, they take a bit more work but are definitely worth it!

- Jackie

Group C here.... individual challah twists, are supposed to be shaped as a figure 8

 

I am having a bit of trouble - it says that the ends of the dough have to be facing up during the final rise - but then you just slide the bread into the oven, without inverting it back

 

isn't it suposed to be inverted, so that the smooth side stays up???????

 

 

 

I'll be happy if mine work out nearly as well! Still struggling to catch up after the delays and email confusion...hopefully will manage to do these before the weekend.

Anyway, always good to have some pics like yours as an example, although you've got the bar raised pretty high!

Cheers
Ross

I'm not sure I understood those directions either, but your twists look awesome to me! Are they dinner roll or sandwich size? Hard to tell..

Betty

I got called to Scrabble while these were in the making.  We had them with real English Lemon Curd!  I'm showing them because I sprinkled them with a special sugar (hagelzucker) which helps identify them as a sweet tasting bread.  (Snow = Alps!)  They were a hit!  

and comparison photos below with the dough rope "twisted" and "straight"

Makes for two different "looks"

Mini in Austria

I say 'my take' because I couldn't for the life of me decipher the shaping instructions (and I'm a pro copy-editor of 20 years standing!). Anyway, recalling Mini's reference to Hamelman I consulted 'Bread' on braiding and went with his figure 8s. As can be seen from the pics, the rise took out a lot of the 8s, but no matter - they looked sorta cute, if flawed (you know what they say about mothers and their babies...well, suspect it's the same with dough dads!).

This was my first time making Danish and I think that these turned out pretty well despite the many mistakes that I made.  I will make this again!

This one is for Me!

Dwayne

you are enjoying the danish but it looks like ether

you are not closing them tight enough or under proofing them which will cause them to open during baking

i will be making some this today and tomorow so i wiss take pics of the whole procdure from mixing to baked and will post them so please dont reply so i can edit this later

Ok, a cake recipe so easy even a bread baker can make it.  Baked the Apple Cake this afternoon and once it was cooled I gave some to two different neighbors who have agreed to be NYBaker Cookbook EATERS for the remainder of the testing period - boy it is nice to have friends like that :-).  Here are a couple of photos

 

 

 

 

Looking forward to seeing what Stan and Norm have in store for this week.

Ben

Your take of the cake looks great. What size pan did you use? I thought it called for a 9" tube or 13x9. That looks more like a 9x9? I ended up using a bundt pan, so I lost the effect of the apples on the top.  I bet this would be good used as the cake part of a strawberry shortcake since it is not overly sweet. Boy, I love adding the calories!

Luckily, most of this went home with my daughter, son-in-law and grand-daughter.

 

Betty

Betty,

It is an optical illusion - I used a 9X13 as instructed.  I would have had too much batter and apples for anything smaller.  I apologize for the photo quality - these photos are the result of a blind man who loves to bake using a Logitech PC camera intended for Skype use because his lovely wife went to visit her Mom and took our real camera.  All this does not change the calories in this desert one bit.

Ben

Is this baker european? I'm seeing LOTS of things I see at Ethnic bakeries and from when we go to my husband's country, Croatia (influenced by Hungary, Austria as well as Turkey)

I am so glad to see this thread - I was wondering how all the rest of the test bakers are doing. I don't have time to read all the comments now as I'm headed out of town shortly but will definitely come back when I'm home on Sunday and go through them one by one.

I'm not sure which group I'm in - I think it's group C but Poppy Horns were my week 5 recipe. I've also competed the challah twists which I will post when I'm back from my trip. The poppy horn dough was wonderul to work with. I had the powedered malt on hand for making bagels and so added it to the recipe. The flavor and texture are wonderful and we will defininely be making these again!

Not sure why that photo posted twice but I will leave well enough alone =)...

I've been on a quest to find a recipe for Poppy Horns for a long time. You did a beautiful job with yours, how I wish I had the recipe...NOW :0)...but I know I have to wait till the book comes out.

Great job Trish!

weavershouse

Thanks! was really pleased with how these turned out - it was the first time I had made anything like this. I will be making these again.

 

These cookies put my pathetic piping skills and equipment (Ziploc bag with the tip cut off) through their paces. Wildly uneven cookie sizes and really poor piping skills do not do these cookies justice. They are delicious, though -- don't let their kindergarten looks fool you. 

However, the flavor of the cookie is not assertive enough to overcome poor jam, so I'd definitely use a really outstanding jam or filling for these. 

Oh, and skip the Nutella as filling. Overly sweet without enough flavor. I used homemade apricot and wow, they're great, delicate and light. 

 

 

Is it too late to sign on with the NYBakers/Norm's Book Recipe - Tests ?

I'm off from teaching during the summer and would love to take part. I've been baking for years at home. I use to work part time at a local pastry shop decorating specialty cakes.

Thanx Gene

Hi David

Great shots/ Glaze and crumb. Looks right out of a Jewish bakery I frequent in Brooklyn. Can you forward any information about signing on to be a tester?\

Gene

The Corn Rye was the best Jewish rye bread I've ever tasted. I've never had any from NYC, though.

I'm afraid the deadline for sign-ups was prior to the first post in this thread. 

David

Just to let everyone know that I will not be posting photos of my Apple Cake. It is wonderful to see all the fabulous photos posted on here but we all know that sometimes even experienced bakers make mistakes.

My oven has a small switch that turns the top element on. It is for use with the broiler setting on the oven. If this switch is set to "ON" when baking ONLY the top element works. I never use this setting so I didn't notice that it had been switched to ON (probably when I was cleaning up).

The end result was my Apple Cake was burnt on top, and gummy on bottom. We carved off the char and tasted it and it was delish but the ducks got the rest.

P.S. I didn't notice the broiler switch until I had almost burnt my chocolate roll. Lets hope I caught it before it was too late.

will post pics tomorrow. Haven't tasted ours yet. Loved the butter cream, the cake smelled awesome. Found the final chocolate glaze needed to be thinner. See what you think, but by my trial I would try 2 tsp oil. See what you think after 1.

Betty

get some biter or semi sweet dark chocolat and melt it slowly in a bain marie or dry heat warmer.  when th is melted add some very hot 180 Degree F WATER

YES I SAID WATER!!!!

the choc will cease up turning it into a lumpy paste that looks like something you ate and lost

the trick is to not stop keep adding hot water (slowly in small amounts you can add more but you can never take it out) untill the choco becomes smooth again and pourable like thick whiping cream doubble cream if you are on the other side of the water.

pour this over the chocolet roll checker board cake or seven layer or layer cake what have you.

when it is covered and stops driping place the whole thing in the fridg and wait the chocolet will set up not hard but to a fudge like consistency

play with it you can add sugar if you want it sweeter or even a little sweet butter for taste.

this is not for cookies because it will not get hard again but for a cake or pastry this fudge like coating is perfect

this is certainly different than the instructions that came with the Chocolate Roll recipe we tested. Which one is going to be in the book?

The roll is awesome, by the way!!

Betty

Here is my version of the babka and a pic of some little sultana buns made with the babka dough and ground up cake crumbs from another test cake (I listened to  that lesson Stan!)  that I froze for a couple of weeks wrapped in clingfilm, took out on Friday night, forgot about in the fridge tilll Sunday night.

The crumb of the little buns is really tender and I really like the idea of freezing portions of sweet enriched dough to use later. I had never tried that before and it worked brilliantly so many thanks :)

I’ve fallen by the wayside on the testing, being on cookie rotation and having no one who eats cookies here,  but I hope I can join in again when my group does breads if I’m allowed.. In the meantime thanks for allowing me to  participate so far.  Zeb

Made it this past weekend, very easy and very tasty, only problem is that it took longer to bake than 30-35 minutes as the recipe states, but apart from that, no problems

The loaf would not win beauty contests, though.... but that's a baker's handicap

 

aside from the errant cornmeal wandering up the side, that's an absolutely beautiful loaf. your glaze is magnificent! Stan

You will laugh now.... from the instructions, I thought it was SUPPOSED to be like that - because it said to soak the bottom part of the loaf in warm water and then ROLL it on the cornmeal...  I made sure to roll REAL good  :-)

 

Lesson learned...

Didn't get the nice shine you did with your glazing, Sally (think I overdid the glaze, despite the recipe caution on this).  I also had to increase the baking time...and my proofs ended up being far longer than the recipe recommended. But that is due to the lowish ambient temperatures here at the moment, I suspect.

This was a good tasting bread, I found. Had some last night with a mushroom risotto, and although I imagine that's not a usual context for this bread, it went well.

Cheers
Ross

 

 

is to apply it as soon as the loaf comes out of the oven; otherwise, if the crust cools too much (and a little is too much), you'll get the cloudy, dull finish you ended up with. take the loaves out one at a time, glazing each immediately. i think you'll see an improvement. Stan

I haven't baked mine yet.  Too hot here still.   If we get a thunder storm tonight, I'll bake it.  I've never applied a glaze before.  This ought to be interesting.  I think the secret would be to use a large brush to apply the glaze and thin (as in watery & add water) if needed.  Will see what I can find...

Mini

... well I got the thunderstorm and then some... flooding.  Gotta watch out what I ask for...

The loaves are in the oven and the glaze was so thick I couldn't spread it if I wanted to, let alone brush it on.  I took about 1/3 of the goop and added about 3x the amount of water until I could nicely coat the back of my hand with the brush.  Looks like I'll be wall papering in the next few days or making paper creations.  Suggestion: use less starch.

...but nope, that wasn't it in my case. I did as the recipe instructed and applied the glaze AS SOON as I took the bread from the oven. I only made one loaf, so there was no waiting time at all.

I can only think that I put too much glaze on, although I was aware of the cautioning against that in the recipe, also. Have never glazed bread before, so was probably heavy-handed and lacking a deft touch, despite my efforts to coat the crust lightly.

I suspect Mini's large brush idea is a good one. Mine was a pretty small pastry brush.

Fantastic Job! Great proportion of dough to filling. The labor of love finds me doubling the recipe often, so I freeze extra babka's. I wrap in plastic - wrapped in paper towel then placed in second plastic bag. Paper keeps any warm air out (opening & closing door )& subsequent frezzer frost and burn. Especially with the large amount of moisture in the filling. Defrosts superbly.

I'm thinking of using your photo as wallpaper on my PC. Thanx Gene

Toast

margieluvschaz on 26 Jul 2010 at 23:02

It is so hard to look at the bakes weekly & not be able to try them.... Please hurry with the book!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Margie

Thats my favourite recipe from the testing that I did!

I'm looking forward to buying the book in spring 2011.