A few weeks ago (hence, the overdue post title) I tried my hand again at making biscottis. Last time I made them, they were dense instead of crunchy. These ended up chewy in the middle. The recipe said it was suppose to be chewy in the middle after the first bake, which I thought would crunchen-up by the second bake... but nope, they stayed chewy and tasted more like a cookie than a biscotti. Grade: C+.
Apple and Honey Challah
The sweet potato pie is like a pumpkin pie, except with yams - yup, not really sweet potatoes. I learned these two are often confused with each other, but they are not even in the same family. The big orange ones, which the recipe called for via the bloggers pics, are actually yams. The pie was really good, but took a lot of time. Had to steam the yams, melt butter, whisk eggs, whisk egg whites, precook crust... just too much work and dishes/utensils to wash, for a pie. Grade: A. It was yummy.
The bread was my first attempt to make bread. I've been wanting to try it, especially with the mixer. But I think I went over my head this time. This thing took WAY too long. First, it was my first time working with yeast and it was a FAIL. I must have heated the water too much or you're not suppose to pour the water into the yeast, I have no idea, but my first attempt ended in a flat, non-foamy, stinky, murky water. So after waiting 10 minutes ("maybe it takes a while to foam?...), I gave up and had to use another package of yeast. It worked, but maybe I might have done something else wrong, 'cause my dough did not rise as much as it said it should. The whole recipe was a disaster - 1 hour rise time, fold apples, then rise another 30 minutes, then criss-cross into a beautiful bread loaf... Yeah, plenty of steps to mess up. The dough didn't rise as much in the first hour, but I trekked ahead. The apples should have been smaller, but they were not quite sticking to the dough (which was weirdly stretchy). No clue what the second rise was suppose to do, but splitting the dough into 4 pieces and rolling it into 4 tubes: A MESS. I ended up skipping part of the third rise 'cause I was running late and by that point, I figure it won't make a big difference.
It looked pretty... but nowhere near what it was suppose to look, or probably taste like. It was doughy, with a bit of a yeast smell (is it bad if bread smells yeasty?), not fluffy and light like the pictures. Oh well. The apples were a nice touch. Grade: D. Maybe I should try a simple bread next time, and eventually graduate to this when I know what I'm doing...
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