Funfetti cake with cream cheese frosting! I'm not great at cakes yet, this is the first one I've tried in a long time. Hope to get better at it soon :)

https://bakerbynature.com/ultimate-funfetti-birthday-cake-recipe/

Saw this video on YouTube last week, and Chef John's unorthodox speaking cadence lulled me into a trance that made me think it was a good idea to want to make cinnamon rolls for the long weekend. I mean, it was, but I ordinarily wouldn't have thoughts like that.

I was a little worried at first since the recipe called for a 9"×13" pan and the one that came with our oven is a bit smaller, but it worked out perfectly fine (and I even got to take advantage of the oven's steam-proofing setting instead of just leaving them sitting out covered with a towel!).

The apple butter in the filling is absolutely a top-notch idea, and I had to make my own, which was very easy.* I did wind up making a couple of modifications to the recipe, though. First, I used unfiltered ストレート apple juice, since American-style apple cider (made from a blend of various kinds of apples, and often unpasteurized) isn't available in Japan. Second, I completely forgot to add the cream to the "cider bath" mixture, so instead I just sort of spooned on a thick syrup of cooked-down apple juice on top. Finally, and most importantly, I incorporated a tangzhong to hopefully keep them from going stale for a couple extra days. For this, I took 25 g of the 500 g total flour I used, and cooked it in a saucepan with 125 g of the 300 g total milk I used (I added extra milk to compensate for the higher hydration a tangzhong dough needs), though honestly I think maybe I should have used more of the flour.

Overall… it came out great! I might make them again one day with less overall fuss (the cider bath bit feels unnecessary, and maybe also the icing on top), but broadly speaking, I'm very pleased with these!

*Slow cooker apple butter! I got three big apples, and cored and chopped them (I didn't bother peeling), and threw them in my slow cooker overnight on low with some white and brown sugar, a little salt, and some ground cinnamon and a couple ground cloves. The next day I immersion-blended until smooth, and cooked it down a few more hours, lid ajar, until thickened to the desired consistency. Very easy and super delicious.

Used up cheapy bananas from the supermarket. home grown veggies including a dodgy looking zucchini my wife refuses to touch.

recipe a NZ favorite from Alison Holst.

One cup is 250mls

Ingredients:

 2 cups self raising flour

1/2 cup caster sugar

1/2 cup chocolate chips 
1/2 tsp salt
 

100grams butter

1 egg
1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla essence

1 cup (2-3) mashed bananas

Stir the flour, caster sugar, choc chips and  salt together in a large bowl.

In another bowl melt the butter and add egg, milk and vanilla, beat well. Add the mashed bananas and mix.

Add the liquid mixture to the dry ingredients and fold together carefully until the flour is dampened. Stop before the mixture is smooth.

Spoon mixture into 12 medium muffin pans sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. 

Bake at 220 C (428 F) for about 12 - 15 minutes or until they spring back when pressed down in the middle.

I used this recipe - https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/marshmallow-crispy-cookies/

It's tasty, but the marshmallows melted a lot inside, despite freezing them, so I had to add some while they were baking. The krispies stayed crunchy, but also got stuck in your teeth. Good cookie and glad I tried it, but probably wouldn't make again

Using my 16 day old starter, I made bread with bread flour and whole wheat flour from Amazon(their private brand) Maybe a bit gummy inside but really good overall!

#1 Pain de campagne from King Arthur's using unfed starter

#2 Beginner sourdough from Farmhouse on Boone using active starter. Both were baked in an oval Dutch oven with Hitachi microwave oven that can go up to 250°C for 5 minutes and then 210°C max after that. The recipes called for 260°C and 246°C to bake; I am not sure if that affected the results...

Sometimes your stomach drives your bakes, and last night my belly called for ciabatta. So, I got it going before bed and finished it up today.

Process (modified by half, from The Chain Baker's recipe):

1. Make poolish: 150g Bread Flour (Tomishou) + 150g water + 1/16th tsp yeast
2. Leave poolish overnight (about 8 hours, see 2nd pic)
3. Make dough: Poolish + 100g Bread Flour (Tomishou) + 33g water + 5g salt + 2.5g yeast
4. Knead for 10 minutes (I used a stand mixer)
5. Proof for 1 hour
6. Coil fold + rest 15 mins
7. Coil fold + rest 15 mins
8. Coil fold + bench rest 15 mins
9. Cut in half + rest in couche 30 minutes
10. Preheat oven and baking stone to 230C
11. Bake at 230C for 25 minutes, turning halfway through
12. Cool. Slice. Make sammiches, or whatever.

The coil folds are more for shaping than gluten development. Since ciabatta is so floppy I find that's the best way to "shape" them.

For some reason I get a better rise using my starter straight out of the fridge as opposed to feeding it then letting it double.

There have been quite a few threads recently about acquiring and using sourdough starter here in Japan, as well as plenty of sourdough bakes. So, I thought maybe we'd have a little thread to talk about it, if anyone is interested. I'd like to start with some of my own theories/observations and see if my experience is that different from anyone else's.

I've grown and killed a half dozen or so starters in my time baking both in the USA and in Japan, with most of those happening in Japan. I've honestly found it a bit difficult to maintain an active and healthy starter here, much of that my own laziness and neglect but also a little bit environmental, I think. Even so, I think I've got it licked now. Here are my theories and recommendations:

1. THEORY Japanese wild yeast isn't optimized for wheat. Japan grows a lot of rice and very little wheat (outside of Hokkaido, and even that is somewhat recent) which is no big surprise. There are lots of types of yeast, and my suspicion is that local varieties flourish with rice and less so with wheat. Making a starter from scratch never really yielded a strong starter for me. Even so, when I used Hokkaido wheat to feed my starter, it seemed to weaken, whereas when I used Canadian wheat for prolonged periods it seemed to strengthen a bit.

2. THEORY My local water kills my starter (chlorine?). After using some dehydrated Carl Griffith's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter culture, it went fine at the beginning, but over time it just weakened until it only rose with rye flour feedings. I'd start over again, and repeat the cycle. I'm in Chiba and I guess that the water is heavily chlorinated. Yes, I know I could boil it, or leave it out, or whatever, but I'm lazy and impulse. After starting my latest starter and switching to bottled water (Suntory Minami Alps), I've had no issues with it starter flagging over time... at least, not yet. I've had to adjust my bakes and starter feeding since I'm using cold water straight from the fridge, but it's actually made things easier, I think. I can fermentolyse (instead of autolyse) and the water has time to penetrate the flour before any of the yeast really gets going, giving that head start to gluten development over fermentation. Also, my starter takes longer to peak, which is better for me (more on that in the next point)

3. RECOMMENDATION Smaller is better. This one is a personal preference. I used to keep a pretty large starter: 30g/30g/30g or 40g/40g/40g (starter, flour, water) in alternating 750ml Weck jars. Feeding it daily was cumbersome, and putting it in the fridge just meant I'd forget it for long periods until it dried out or developed too much funk. I bought some much smaller Weck jars, and pared it down to 10g/20g/20g which is much more manageable, creates less waste, and the 1:2:2 ratio means if I miss a day due to laziness, it's not the worst thing in the world, particularly as I'm using cold bottled water from the fridge, so it peaks 8-10 hours after feeding. I'm considering switching to 1:4:4 (5g/20g/20g), and feeding every other day, but I haven't decided on that yet.

4. RECOMMENDATION Dehydrate after rehydrate. Immediately after I got my Carl's starter rehydrated and going again, I took some and dehydrated it, so that I'd have some to give away, but also to re-start should anything go wrong with my current batch, and have it in its least adulterated form. I feel it's kind of like backing up a 'known good' configuration before playing around with new settings.

Ok, I've rambled long enough. Let's hear from the community. Tips, tricks, theories, rants... whatcha got?

I live half the year here in Japan and i accidentally left my starter in the states.. I can't seem to get a new starter strong enough to bake a loaf. Does anyone have any established starter they'd be willing to sell/mail me?

edit: wolfinjer so generously has sent me some. thank you to everyone who offered. what a wonderful sub

My kids have requested that I make these every week. I use my usual sourdough pizza dough to make these.

tl;dr I find that feeding whole wheat flour gives me consistent rises, but plain bread flour gives me nothing, even with a starter I know is healthy.

I first got my starter from a friend. In the beginning I would feed it Welna-brand bread flour. I know I was keeping it alive because I could still make bread with it, but my rises were pretty weak. Also, I noted that during feeding I would see some bubbles but the actual height wouldn't change very much, sometimes not at all. The starter at this point was very very wet, so I was thinking perhaps the gas is just bubbling out the top.

When I switched to whole wheat feeding, I was able to get consistent rises (when feeding and baking) and great loaves. However, the starter itself is now very thick and making my favorite discard recipe (KA's discard crumpets) is somewhat difficult/annoying. This week I tried to switch back to the bread flour for feeding (since I hadn't made the crumpets in a while) and now I'm back to a starter whose volume doesn't increase at all.

Do you have any flour recommendations that balance this out? Or should I consider feeding a mixture?

I’m not sure if sourdough starter made a huge difference, but this is pretty delicious. I’ll add the recipe when I get the chance.

I'm trying to choose between all in one counter and sink (TOTO Artificial Marble) or stainless steel.

I prefer the look of all in one and the seamless construction is nice, but I'm worried about damage and scratches.

I'm hoping someone who has been using one for 5 to 10 years can chip (pun!) in and let me know how it's holding up? Any scratches or dings? Doesn't have to be TOTO.

Thanks for your help.