To follow up on Will's post re our next CB, I thought I'll put up a few ideas and gauge interest. I've thought about some potential bakes and came up with the following categories and items (with links to an example previous post):
- A simple bake: Floyd's IDY pita, David's SD wholewheat pita
- A simple but less common bake: Anne-Marie's Simit
- A simple but uncommon technique (steam or half-steam): Benny's Baozi, Mantou or Shengjianbao
- A formula: Include at least 1 ancient grain (spelt, emmer, einkorn etc) and 1 inclusion (seed, nut, fruit, cheese etc): e.g. Dabrownman's spelt-barley-figs-seeds-aromatics-nuts; Karin's einkorn hazelnut; Minioven's Seed romance
- An ingredient: Include (sweet) potatoes of any kind, e.g. Ian's purple corn-purple sweet potato bread
- A fun bake: Include tea, e.g. Shiao-Ping's black tea sourdough, txfarmer's matcha croissants
- A fun shape: Include braids, e.g. Paul's Blueberry cream cheese braids, Ski's pulla
The last four categories could easily include pastries and cakes; the last three GF bakes too.
Would be happy to know how you feel about any of these ideas and whether you're potentially interested to join in?
-Lin
As I already mentioned I am all in, regardless of the formula selection. That being said, 🥐Croissants are so decent, delicious, and challenging! Maybe to intimidating, and challenging? IDK.
I am a little disappointed at the lack of enthusiasm being displayed by the members at large. I am speaking of all the members, both the core members, and the newer post COVID members. To the "lock down members" we were all here for you with your beginner questions, asked over, and over again. With nearly a look at the search function. You found no judgement here only acceptance! Now I have an ask. I want to see every single member submit a minimum of three ideas for a CB. I of course am exempt, because I called you all out! (Just kidding.) Let us make this an amazing CB! Let us show gratitude for all the hard work put in to migrate & modernize our humble home. Please make your submissions by 03/03/2025, 2400 hrs. GMT. Additionally, it would be nice if two or three members would volunteer to help Lin, administrate the CB. Prior experience is helpful but not totally necessary. (Dan are you lurking?) Thanks in advance for your newly found enthusiasm and support.
Kind regards,
Will F.
AKA
The Roadside Pie King
Love the idea of croissants for a CB - its a straight forward process that needs lots of precision. It would be great to see and learn the tips and tricks of the members here for laminating dough and the patience needed. Croissants get my vote!
We're definitely due for another Community Bake,
I like your suggestions for pitas and pulla. It's been a long time since I last made bagels, so that's another possiblity. King cake would be a natural for this time of year. For an outside-the-box idea, Iranian barbari bread.
Paul
The Infinity bake was so wildly successful because, I think, it provided a template instead of a prescription. A specific topic, like baquette, can popular because so many of us struggle with them and would like to get help,, and also to see how unexpected variations work out. Most specific types of bread, say "pita", seem too limited to fit the bill.
But how about "leavened flatbreads from around the world, with no more than 50% white flour"? I think we could fit barbari bread into that template, along with a wide range of other bakes including pitas. And speaking just for myself, I can make a pita but I can't make a good one reliably. I would love to learn from other TFLers.
This template will probably encourage folks to seek out obscure types of flatbreads that are widely known, and that's just what I'd like to see from a community bake.
TomP
Flat Breads.
Thanks for your support Tom!
Being Of Maltese heritage with Roots in North Africa, Pita is intriguing to me. I would love to see the traditional and non traditional fillings that are employed.
I too an well overdue for a bagel boil/ bake.
For reasons mentioned above Barbari bread is also interesting.
I can just imagine the creative King cakes the hive would come up with!
I'd like to see us increase community knowledge by doing a giant experiment.
The idea is to pick a thing you always do because you read it somewhere, leave it out and report on what happens. Or add something that others do and see if you can detect the change. I'm inspired by the comparison videos on YouTube by ChainBaker.
There are likely many more possibilities.
Gary
I am always up for an exercise or experiment! Thanks for supporting the team!
hmmm: I'm already salivating over the possibiilities: buckwheat beignets, sweet potato sopaipillas, rye frybread, rhubarb roti, potato puri, spelt sangak & millet/sorghum bhakri.
If we opted for the braided bread idea, I'd scale a Swiss zopf, which I tried & failed at a bunch of times when I just started baking but hadn't yet embarked on my rye sourdough ergot mania.
Rob
PS -- I'm admiring Gary's idea - which I hadn't seen before posting mine.
My Windsor knot exercise. Glad to have you on board with us!
How about a less exotic chase of standard methods. For example baking with:
OR just share favorites…I know I have been inspired by many TFL bakers
For what it’s worth,
Phil
Some of these may have been done before. These are in no particular order.
I can volunteer to help moderate.
Challah
Milk Bread/Rolls (Benny is the expert on this one)
Porridge Breads
Bread with a Tangzhong
English Muffins
Beer Breads
Cheese Breads
Breads from a specific region of the world....Italian, Middle Eastern....etc.
Spouted Wheat Breads
I like the bagel suggestion as well.
Potato breads
Breads with a soaker
Pretzels/pretzel rolls
Pan Pizza
Thanks for jumping on board.
Your help is welcome. It looks like we are off to a slamming start! Smile 😊...
Since it was your idea to get this moving again, why don't you pick a topic and then the three of us can discuss the details.
I will narrow it down to three choices. Then we either put up for a vote in front of the whole community, or us three can pick. Smile...
Let me know what you decide
Really appreciate it. Let's see if we get more suggestions before Will makes the shortlist and we put our heads together!
I was thinking to wait until Monday to trim down the choices.
A semolina CB was done some years ago and it was well-attended/participated.
Semolina into the mix, regardless of the theme that makes the final cut! Glad to see you are interested!!
In my opinion, keep the formula open ended, giving some wiggle room for creativity :) turning the event more into idea showcase rather than competition
hopefully I won't embarass myself lol
That is exactly how the baked have worked in the past. Usually, a sample formula or two are included. However the parties are free to use any formula that meets the bake criteria. It is always good fun!
I don't post as often as I'd like but I do regularly check in to see what's going on. As I read through the thread on the proposed community bake what really caught my eye was doing flat bread. There's a whole world of flat breads and they are often overlooked. I regularly make a variety of different types and, as with most things, the ones you make yourself are so much better than what you can buy.
So that's my vote.
Janice
I can tell you now that flat bread for sure is going to make the cut on to the short list. I am hopeful we can keep the energy high. With so many suggestions, we can do two or three bakes a year. But first let's get this first one in. Smile...
What wonderful ideas and thanks for all the great example recipes too.
I'm a fan of the flatbread idea, as there are loads of fascinating flat breads out there and we'll all learn something new. I also like the thought of making breads with pumpkin/sweet potato in them!
-Jon
I would suggest to include doughnuts into consideration. It's fun, and I have ideas in mind regarding Boston creme doughnuts using Southest Asian Ingredients and also Chinese youtiao :)
Not sure if donuts will make the cut. That being said maybe one day you and I can experiment with the levianed deep fried treats!
Has my vote. I also want to make croissants, but that is way more challenging imho.
I realize it's looking like flatbreads are out in front, but I'm going to put in a suggestion for custard breads. The term custard bread is used primarily in Russian and Baltic rye breads, but the technique is also described in German as an Aromastück. I've made a couple of custard rye breads (Latgalian Rye, https://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/71652/ and the similar Palanga Rye) and the texture of the crumb is almost creamy.
What's a custard bread? A bread that incorporates a slurry of rye flour and active rye malt that has been heated for ≈3 h at 65 °C. The effect on the dough is similar to a tangzhong but it also contributes sugars and flavor to the dough. While it's most commonly used in rye breads, it can also be incorporated in white and wheat breads. Dietmar Kappl at the Homebaking blog has a good summary of the technique:
https://www.homebaking.at/aromastueck/
One challenge of this technique is finding a way to maintain 65 °C for 3 h. Those with B&T proofing boxes will be fine but others will need to devise another method.
A fairly easy way to maintain a constant temp is to use a sous vide immersion circulator and water. Set the covered container with the goods (in my case, yogurt) into water and set the temp & time. A yogurt container is great because it is high & marrow, so it sticks out of the water, but allows the water to rise high enoguh to cover the circulator.
Others have used electric heating pads with good success, but that wouldn't be as precise as the sous vide.
I envisioned buns stuffed with cream...alas...
Buns and rolls?
If it's flatbreads then I've got my eye on these:
Start getting you supplies together! It will be official on Monday.