Monday Mix 12/12/22
lots of ones and twos today
Happy Mondays, everyone.
I’m working on finishing up a bunch of 2022 projects this week so that I can take the last few weeks of ‘23 off and then hit the ground running with the book in January. (Some of these assignments have been hanging around since the summer, which means I get to do fun things like fire up the backyard grill with snow on the ground and temps below freezing, yay.)
One of those projects is making sure all of the Bread Baker’s Pocket Companion booklets get shipped out in time for stocking stuffing. If you placed an order before yesterday, it is on its way to you now and should arrive by next weekend (at least if you are in the US). If you still want one, please place your order by this Friday, 12/16. I’ll continue to send straggler orders out here and there through the end of the year, but not consistently.
Speaking of which: There are several orders that were either unshippable or were returned to me because of a wonky mailing address. If you ordered one awhile ago and did not receive it—especially if your name is John-Paul Martin, Wayne Pneuman, or Michael Evans, Jr.—please contact me ASAP so I can get them sent out to you. (Sorry to name names here, but I have tried contacting you directly numerous times without response already.)
On Friday, I finally got around to making Rachel Mennies’ Houseguest Challah recipe, and I can confirm it is as wonderful as depicted and described. One thing I tested out was the mid-bake second egg wash, which gives the bread an amazing mirror gloss, as you should be able to see in the image above. Definitely going to use that move all the time now.
On Wednesday, I’ll be sharing a gugelhopf recipe from Irina Georgescu’s Tava, one of the books I included on my 2022 gift guide. And I’ll have an extra copy to give away to one lucky Wordloaf paid subscriber, so power up now if you aren’t already one:
See you all then.
—Andrew
Re: the mid-bake egg wash (cool!), I tried today a saffron bun recipe from Swedish baker Daniel Lindeberg's book Bullar, and he has you brush the buns with egg wash immediately AFTER removing the buns from the oven. I'd never heard of this, but it did make a beautiful shine, and seemed to cook fully as long as you really are brushing immediately upon removal. He says it seals in the moisture better.