Jessica's Bake Off Challenge

I am finally getting around to posting a little bit about my annual Pi Day party (March 14, 2019). Pi Day is my favorite secular holiday- and it might even beat out a few religious holidays. It is also Vincent's and my anniversary. And yes, we did have wedding pie instead of wedding cake. Be prepared to see more Pi Day party posts in future years. I made a lot of food. In previous years, I have served only pie, but I did set this party around suppertime. Therefore, I served some savory food as well... Including some savory pies. Since I keep kosher, and cannot serve dairy and meat products simultaneously, this was a fully meatless shindig (albeit with some fish). I served appetizers of mushroom and tomato basil bruschetta, inarizushi, sushi, three types of deviled eggs, and Greek salad. I also made a pasta primavera as a non-pie main dish and a side of asparagus. And then there were the pies (not all of which are seen above). Unfortunately, I was super busy and did not ac...

Sorry for the long delay, everyone. I've been busy, and have not been focusing much on baking lately. To make up for it, I am posting three times over three days. I hope you enjoy! A couple of weeks ago, I bought some bread flour and remade the bagels from series 3, episode 2. I still need to tweak the goat cheese, sage, and browned butter bagels- the amount of goat cheese I tried in the last batch was not good for the bagels' structure- but the mint chocolate bagels turned out beautifully. Besides substituting bread flour in lieu of all purpose flour, I made a few further adjustments. I added chocolate chips into the bagels to add more chocolate flavor and a little more sweetness. I also made sure to add the  fillings after the first prove, rather than before. Furthermore, I kneaded the dough for longer, and was more focused on getting it to the proper elasticity. The bagels certainly kept their shape and structure better with the changes. The only drawback is that the...

Today, I had the opportunity to bake Harry Potter's favorite dessert! For those of you that have not read Harry Potter or who have (gasp!) forgotten some of the minute details from the book series, I baked treacle tart. Specifically, I baked Mary Berry's treacle tart recipe, used as the technical challenge of Series 3, Episode 3 of The Great British Bake Off . Despite having lived in England for a total of about 1 1/2 years, I have never before eaten treacle tart. It is certainly a well-known and classic tart, but is not as commonly found as Victoria sponge cakes, lemon drizzle cakes, or Bakewell tarts. Therefore, I have no frame of reference for how a treacle tart is supposed to taste. I assume my tart tastes right, because it does taste good. I am very glad that Vincent, my husband, suggested this treacle tart as my bake for this week, as it gave me an excuse to go shopping on Amazon! The recipe calls for a 7" deep fluted tin with a removable bottom. This is not a s...

The Showstopper Challenge from Series 3, Episode 2 (Bread Week) seemed like a good challenge to try next. This particular challenge entailed baking 12 sweet and 12 savoury (British spelling) bagels. I am no stranger to baking bread, and I have certainly eaten my fair share of bagels after synagogue services and at social functions, but I had never before attempted to make bagels. Therefore, I decided to try making some plain bagels to test technique before playing with flavors. I am glad I did so, as the resultant quality of bagels correlated to the order in which I made them. What I made are still far from perfect; I would really like to revisit this challenge and tweak my technique in the future. One of the cooking processes that makes a bagel a bagel is the boiling process... This gives the almost rubbery crust. I found that 45-60 seconds on each side works well. The boiling is a rather perilous step; I accidentally broke my first bagel trying to take it out with tongs (I the...

Welcome back. I'm glad all four or so of you (so far) have made it to the second post. Last night, I tackled the hidden design cake showstopper challenge from series 3, episode 1. I know it hardly sounds like a big challenge, but I'm not that great at decorating. I really had to think about how to do this. There were a few ways to try this- use a thick batter to keep sections separate (risky), make separate cakes and cut and assemble once all are baked, or put cut cooked cake pieces within cake batter before baking again. I went with the third option. I know it sounds strange. I knew there would be a danger that the pre-cooked cake pieces hidden in the center could overcook when re-baked. Knowing this, I chose to modify a sponge cake which is extremely difficult to overcook. I actually tried baking this for the first time on Tuesday evening, but it didn't turn out quite as I had hoped. It wasn't bad- Vincent's coworkers ate all of it- but I knew I could improve...