Ross's Maryland Bakery

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 17:45

Rudy , That is close and a good breakdown. But a bit more complex than need be. Eggs come in well defined packages and are difficult to divide so I just use one egg and one cup of milk and add water to make two cups total this will equal 67% of the weight of the flour. The flour will then be 24 ounces or 682 grams. Salt is a matter of taste just as with meat but 1.5% is good for my taste. Sugar is also variable and can be none to 4%. Sugar helps the loaf to brown in the baking and changes the taste to more dinner roll than sub roll. Shorten makes the bread more tender and softens the crust. In a pizza crust you don't want much fat because it will shorten the gluten strands and allow the dough to tear more easily.

The batch of bread that was the subject yesterday started with four cracked eggs that came in a carton that I didn't check when I bought it, it came time to use them I shook the jar vigorously and added milk and water to make 41 ounces and mixed that liquid wit 4 pounds of flour. I don't try to split ounces because if the dough feels too dry I add a little water and too wet I add a little flour.

IdaKraut · Post by **IdaKraut** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 18:08

Ross,
Appreciate your reply. I think what I posted will work out well. The dough ball is looking really good. My mom used to be a pastry chef in Germany and just "eyeballed" everything and it always turned out great. I am more analytical and need to have precise measurements (guess my background ingrained that). Anyway, using weighed out measurements has worked well with both sausage and pizza dough for me.

Thanks for your recipe. Will report back soon.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 18:19

Rudy, Working as closely a possible to the exact recipe ensures that if the recipe is good the result will be good. Once the recipe has been proven then we can know how flexible it is and if the results belong to us or some other variable. It this recipe it won't make much difference if the ratio of milk and water wobbles around so long as the total liquid is quite close. I think that 3 eggs or 6 eggs wouldn't change thing significantly. You could certainly notice the difference but it would all be very good. With 6 eggs and 4% sugar I think that it would be very good dough for breakfast pastries.

IdaKraut · Post by **IdaKraut** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 22:48

Ross,

I think you have a winner recipe here. I made the dough early this morning and let it rise at room temp covered with poly film. Used your method for the wiener buns and used my 4-1/4" diam hamburger press to form the burger buns. Made a total of 22 buns (11 of each). Baked at 375° F for 22 minutes. Turned out great. Thanks again for the recipe.

3.3 lb dough ball, lightly oiled, ready to cover and rise for 6 hours:

Finished buns:

Here's one with a pork wiener and condiments (bun was excellent tasting):

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Sun Jul 07, 2013 23:32

Perfect!!!

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 01:51

Rudy your product looks professional, I am in awe! I love the idea of the press, I was talking to my wife saying there must be a good way to just form all this stuff like concrete. I'm having sheet-metal thought as I type for some reason. I'm getting a lot closer to the size and appearance needed, and the increase in sugar seemed to lighten the product up just a tad, great flavor

The next batch I might even add a little more fat, tho rolling the dough ball in bacon grease worked to perfection, and I enjoyed the three strips of bacon during the early morning procedure. I have a few odds and ends that my wife is taking care of right now, she's way happy with this batch and has volunteered to do the trimming.

Coincidentally, I made my first ever pizza last night using a internet bread machine recipe I found for the dough. It came out perfect in taste and size, I'll just be sticking with that. I topped the dough with a Alfredo garlic sauce and then some shredded mozzarella, salami, browned wild hog Italian sausage, chopped Canadian bacon, black olives, and some sautéed shrooms, bell pepper, and onions, ended by covering the entire pizza with another dose of cheese. It was a effort but the three of us gobbled down the whole thing in record time, old daddy's ready for another

Thanks again for all your help Ross, I'm now headed down the right road and can hardly wait till my next opportunity to take my new rolling pin to something. RAY

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 02:01

Bread making is more addictive than sausage making. And Ray, your work is very good. Experience will carry you along from here. Calzones are great too.

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 04:38

Rudy, what size lump of dough did you use for the burger buns and how flat did you press them? I haven't been able to get that shape yet.

Chuckwagon · Post by **Chuckwagon** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 05:29

Rudy, those are some of the most professional buns I've ever seen. The texture looks terrific too. And Ray ol' pard, I'd like to fall face-first into that pizza!

Nice goin' guys!

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

crustyo44 · Post by **crustyo44** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 05:39

Ross, Ray and Rudy,
My congratulations to all three of you. The end results look fantastic. I am bloody jealous!!!!!!!!!
"Ross's bakery" will be on my required reading list for some time to come.
Cheers,
Jan.

ursula · Post by **ursula** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 06:50

Great work all round, guys. Mouthwatering!
Ursula

sawhorseray · Post by **sawhorseray** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 06:52

ssorllih wrote:Rudy, what size lump of dough did you use for the burger buns and how flat did you press them? I haven't been able to get that shape yet.

I just happen to have one of these things sitting up on a garage shelf.

http://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product. ... %3DProduct

Perfect burger every time, I imagine the bun will be about the same now that I know where I'm going. I can see pizza, burgers, rolls, and buns. I can see weighing 300 pounds and insulin in my future, sincere apologies to anyone who might be diabetic. I'm getting back , RIGHT NOW, to what I've been doing for years, which is sausage and fresh veggies. Found out today the rats are trying to attack my tomatoes again, the poison war is on. It's always something, and it's always great to be able to declare war on something that needs to be killed. RAY

Of course that doesn't mean that pizza is off the immediate menu!

IdaKraut · Post by **IdaKraut** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 15:38

Thanks all for the compliments. I got into making my own dough some years ago when I retired in Idaho and couldn't get a decent pizza (I'm originally from NJ where they make great pizza). Through lots of trial and error I finally came up with pretty decent dough and techniques to make an acceptable "Jersey-style" pizza. I use a KitchenAid Pro 600 stand mixer with the spiral dough hook to mix and knead the dough. Ever since I sustained tendon damage to one of my arms, I am unable to hand knead very well. Anyway, here's what I used to make the burger buns:

It the Norpro 507 Hamburger Press, like shown here: Norpro press

I used about 2.3 ounces of dough for each bun. I simply formed each dough piece somewhat round and placed it on one sheet of Satin Pac poly sheet, followed by another sheet of film and then pressed down with the Norpro press. The Satin pac sheets don't stick to the dough. I then let them rise on a parchment paper lined baking sheet covered with poly film for about 1.5 hours until they had risen by about double their size.

Here's what the Satin Pac sheets look like, although I buy mine from a local Cash & Carry Foodservice supplier: Satin-Pac sheets

ssorllih · Post by **ssorllih** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 17:41

Rudy, That is a good reference to the satin-pacs. The cost of those is a small fraction of the cost of the burger sheets sold by the sausage supply shops. Those are large enough to use one and fold it.

IdaKraut · Post by **IdaKraut** » Mon Jul 08, 2013 17:55

Ross,

Those poly sheets are far better than the waxed paper you find at the sausage making suppliers. Once you use the poly ones, you'll never use anything else. I actually buy the Cash & Carry generic brand that they sell, called "Poly Pac" which are a fraction of the cost. A box contains 1000 sheets and they will last a really long time. I like that they don't stick to anything or absorb moisture.