Allow me to start our December Holiday Baking Bake Off .

I am partially cheating here. The Panettone was made last month. It’s from the Bread Bible. And it is so good!!! Time consuming, as all good breads are, but the result are so worth it.

I made Rose’s Pecan Pie from PPB last weekend. Since this is just for myself, I made 2/3 recipe in a 6 inch tart pan (I think it’s 6 inch). I’ve made this pie before but it was a while ago and I seem to forget how good it is. No modification to the recipe. And I was happy to use my stash of lyle’s golden syrup. YUM!

Jenn - 13 December 2011 12:06 PM

Allow me to start our December Holiday Baking Bake Off .

I am partially cheating here. The Panettone was made last month. It’s from the Bread Bible. And it is so good!!! Time consuming, as all good breads are, but the result are so worth it.

Ooohhh that looks so good.  I will be brave enough to try one day.

Jenn - 13 December 2011 12:09 PM

I made Rose’s Pecan Pie from PPB last weekend. Since this is just for myself, I made 2/3 recipe in a 6 inch tart pan (I think it’s 6 inch). I’ve made this pie before but it was a while ago and I seem to forget how good it is. No modification to the recipe. And I was happy to use my stash of lyle’s golden syrup. YUM!

This looks very professional and perfect!.

Oooo, so yummy!  Jenn, you do take great photos- the cropped close up of the pecan pie is wonderful, and the crumb shot of the panettone really conjurs up in my mind the flavor of this bread.  And I’m so impressed that you’ve got some holiday baking to show- mine is still on my to-do list!

I think it’s funny that you categorize breads as time-consuming- I think of them as much faster (less time actively making the bread) and eaiser than most sweet baking.  With all those rising periods, there’s plenty of time to do other stuff, and when you’re done, you’re done- there’s no moving on to frosting, syrup, decorations, etc.

They both look scrumptious.

Thanks CRenee! The panettone is really good. Though I said it’s time-consuming but it is not hard at all.

Julie, thanks for your kind words about the pecan pie photo. It was taken in a hurry yesterday morning before going to work. I took 6 pictures and this is the best one.

I usually don’t think of bread as time-consuming for the reasons that you mentioned.
I don’t mind if it has several steps that I have to do in multiple days as long as they don’t take too much time. But this panettone requires quite a bit of work (room temperature fermentation for several hours, several steps of mixing time and resting, and then it has to be refrigerated for several hours or up to 3 days). Not to mention the slow rise - it took almost 3 hours to rise on baking day. I am having difficulty planning it out during regular weekend as I only have Sunday to play in the kitchen .

But I am wondering if I could do all the steps for the dough one weekend. Then freeze it and thaw it the weekend after for final rising and baking? Would that work? Do I need to up the yeast amount?

Jenn - 14 December 2011 12:22 PM

But I am wondering if I could do all the steps for the dough one weekend. Then freeze it and thaw it the weekend after for final rising and baking? Would that work? Do I need to up the yeast amount?

Somewhere in the Bread Bible (probably in the first section on basics), it says that freezing will kill about 25% of the yeast.  So if you’re going to freeze, you may want to increase the yeast accordingly, or else allow for a very slow rise.  I would probably allow for a longer rise, as this bread is already very yeasty in flavor, brioche has a relatively high proportion of yeast.

You could also try (I haven’t done this but Roland Mesnier makes his brioche this way) mixing the dough by the straight method (skip the sponge) on Sat night early in the evening, let it rise only to 1.5x, then put it into the fridge to finish rising and begin chilling (make sure it’s covered tightly in the fridge, in case it rises out of the container).  Later in the evening give it two business letter turns, then put it into the fridge overnight. 

Shape and final proof next morning, but it will take a long time if you don’t do anything to raise the temp of the proofing environment.  The theory says that if it takes 2 hours at 80F, it will take double that amount of time at 65F.

Please report back on your results, especially if you try freezing- I’m curious to see what happens

More Christmas baking from me.

These are Chocolate Madeleines from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. It is very good. Denser than regular madeleines because of the chocolates but very tasty. It is very easy to make, like regular madeleines, except you add melted chocolate at the end.

How nice!   Love the picture of the silver tray and coffee, wish I had that in front of me now!

Very nice..  I am glad I saw this after leaving cake supply shop or I would have been buying another plan.  Now your photo is fab as usual and really makes me want to try.

Okay - Here is my second German Chocolate Cake From RHC.  Actually, I used Trisha Yearwoods Filling and Rose’s cake.  The first time I made GCC, the filling was really thick—“congealed” was the word someone used.  This frosting was the opposite so I made more custard to thicken it up.  The filling is delicious!!! I will not get to see a slice.  I made an 8” deep choc passion (minus lacquer) so I made extra ganache to cover this cake.  I took a photo of the GCC with my phone so as not to run out tomorrow morning and not have time.  You can see filling in the ganache…..I just decided to go with that (as if on purpose). 

Jenn—Your madelines look like little kitty paws—very cute, indeed.

Renee—How do you compare flavor of TY frosting with Rose’s?  I am always curious.  Baked has a GCC cake, too, so I’m always wanting to try two side-by-side.  In any event, it looks fab.  Don’t you hate it when you don’t get to try any????

Jenn, yeast bread, pie, madeleines…...you’ve been very busy and everything looks wonderful. I’m definitely experiencing madeleine pan envy because of your pretty cakes!

CRenee, your German Chocolate Cake looks delicious…I love the look of the topping drizzled on the side of the cake.

Jenn - 20 December 2011 04:06 PM

More Christmas baking from me.

These are Chocolate Madeleines from Rose’s Heavenly Cakes. It is very good. Denser than regular madeleines because of the chocolates but very tasty. It is very easy to make, like regular madeleines, except you add melted chocolate at the end.

Yum! They look like they have an incredible texture.  Those are the kind of cookies I love. Beautiful Jenn.

CRenee - 20 December 2011 09:45 PM

Okay - Here is my second German Chocolate Cake From RHC.  Actually, I used Trisha Yearwoods Filling and Rose’s cake.  The first time I made GCC, the filling was really thick—“congealed” was the word someone used.  This frosting was the opposite so I made more custard to thicken it up.  The filling is delicious!!! I will not get to see a slice.  I made an 8” deep choc passion (minus lacquer) so I made extra ganache to cover this cake.  I took a photo of the GCC with my phone so as not to run out tomorrow morning and not have time.  You can see filling in the ganache…..I just decided to go with that (as if on purpose). 

Wow! You are making me so hungry. Beautiful cake.