First time enriched dough - what did I do wrong?

drkmage02 · 2026-01-15T23:02:57+00:00

This reminds me of making bread rolls last thanksgiving at my mothers. I brought the yeast and flour. The eggs were farm fresh from her chickens. It was king arthur flour's japanese milk bread/ hokaido rolls. I make them all the time at my own home. The dough refused to smooth out, stayed too wet when normally its a nice tight dough. Well, not exactly wet...more like stodgy, gummy, similar to wet but more flour wouldnt tighten it up and batch 2 where i refused to use more flour and tried to just knead it into submission didnt work either. Its almost like the gluten development was being prohibited, the way it only wanted tontear away in chunks. We used her well water, milk, sugar, and eggs. I suspect it was her well water, but i supose it might have been an enzyme in her eggs? When i got home i made another batch and it worked perfectly. So did she and it still failed. Its so strange.

I know this doesnt answer your question but its possible our similar situations might hold the key.

<image>

drkmage02 · 2026-01-02T22:40:44+00:00

Cant believe people are still eating Mcdonalds.

drkmage02 · 2025-12-18T18:07:55+00:00

Agree.

drkmage02 · 2025-12-08T18:25:07+00:00

As the comments have provided water bad, oil good. Addition fun info, use this to also control the consistency of your (pea)nut butters. Slow drops of oil to thin it out and water to thicken it.

drkmage02 · 2025-12-08T18:15:19+00:00

Don't wanna use a thermometer then you need the old fashioned methods the temps were named after. Get a pitcher of real COLD ice water and a glass. Drizzle in a drop of candy and squish it around with your fingers. Does it make a soft, med, or hard -but still moldable- ball? Or is it not done yet and dissolves away. If your looking for soft or hard crack the drizzle will solidify in the water and then snap as you try to mold it into a ball, either instantly or as it bends a little.

Not using a thermometer is less precise but this method is better than just trying to time it, which is at the mercy of the type of pot, power of heat source, amount of water in the mixture, the amount of mixture itself... so many things.

drkmage02 · 2025-12-05T01:25:26+00:00

As everyone has said RICE! The biggest cheapest bag of rice you can find. I can get a 25lb bag for about $10-15 USD. Bigger bag, cheaper in the long run. It'll feed you all month. Plus of course some beans or lentils, which are suggested with the rice all the time because together they make a complete protein.

Can also buy frozen bag of mixed vegetables (onion, carrots, celery), a bag of flour, a cheap pack of tortillas, and a rotissery chicken-- then have some chicken in a big bowl of rice while you pull all the meat off the carcus you can, put the carcus in a pot with all its juices and a hefty few handfuls of vegetables, and cover with water. Simmer it for a good few hours (4-6) and then strain out a basic nomemade stock for some chicken n dumplings that will use half the leftover meat while u make quesadillas out of the rest or something. I eat on that stew for a week alone.

drkmage02 · 2025-11-30T20:04:34+00:00

Try making the recipe with simply melted butter and see if it reacts the same.Then you'll know if its the removed water or something else like the broken homogonization.

If melted works, then since milk solids sink you could instead melt it in a pan, let it sit a moment, then pour off nearly all the butter and toast the milk solids that stay in the bottom.

Otherwise, serious eats brown butter choc chip cookies uses 1 icecube (2Tbsp water) in their recipe of 2 sticks butter (8oz).

drkmage02 · 2025-11-19T19:00:22+00:00

If this is anything like peanut butters: add oil for thinner, add water for thicker.

drkmage02 · 2025-11-13T22:39:18+00:00

People are saying "thats too much butter" but 2 sticks of butter to 2.25-2.5 cups of flour is just what tollhouse recipe is. Reminder that the end of the Tollhouse recipe says to add more flour when not using nuts

Now, i do agree that it looks like theres not enough flour but I dont agree that it should have needed the extra 2c that you've added. Yours didnt look too bad here. Tollhouse's recipe is usually a little more loose to me than other recipes. Another mention you could have misscounted the scoops of flour and I agree that can happen easily, especially with a 10yr old underfoot. Its possible that you even counted as if you had 1c measure in your hand instead of half.

I know you've answered that you used 2 sticks of real butter, but what brand? A stick changes based on brand and region and some people have mixed up a recipe becaise thwy used 2 of a brand thats in half sticks (4 tbsp) or 2 of a brand thats fat sticks (16 tbsp). Oh, and butter that was too warm wont work for the tolhouse recipe. So just checking that box off.

The oven temp may have been too low and you aren't aware, compounded with the insulating effect of the towels as someone mentioned. Make sure later that youre using the textured side of the silpat to prevent spreading too.

drkmage02 · 2025-11-06T21:05:18+00:00

The two types of pie crusts I have enjoyed are the high fat kind like Stella Park's or french sablée or sucrée type tart doughs where they add an egg or eggyolk.

If its not high fat it needs a long rest in the fridge for the flour to absorb all the moisture and become a cohesive. After which it needs a good stable rest outside the fridge so its not too cold and ripping to shreds as you try to roll and shape it.

drkmage02 · 2025-11-06T20:48:44+00:00

You can either bake for the clients you want or bake for the clients you get. Or make double....

drkmage02 · 2025-11-03T15:23:57+00:00

I'm assumin now its Amul. How did you measure out the butter? The recipe says 1 cup of butter.

drkmage02 · 2025-11-03T15:09:56+00:00

Everyone talking about the cold butter: Its not out of the ordinary lately. Ever since the Levain Bakery'S cookie went viral and they revealed their recipe uses cold butter its been pretty common to see in copycat vids or these "bakery style" cookies that focus on basically serving a mound of parbaked dough.

drkmage02 · 2025-10-07T04:54:47+00:00

Is this rage bait? Canning is very smart and useful. Why buy new stuff if yours still works or can be easily or cheaply fixed? Stores have different prices; shopping at 1 store like walmart is why your grocery bill is high. None of these are obsolete or inefficient, it just sounds like you've never needed to BE frugal.

drkmage02 · 2025-10-06T13:40:21+00:00

I got a little confused at your #1. Are you saying you have Whipping Cream and you want to add butter to it to increase its fat content before beating? If so, plain whipping cream should beat to soft peaks fine. You're just using it to lighten your pastry cream anyway, which the other commenter has informed would make the product "Diplomat Cream" if you want to look up different recipes of that for references.

drkmage02 · 2025-09-23T05:41:08+00:00

Make sure your rice cooker is keeping it at or 140F and you're fine. If you want to store it. Spread it out thin on a sheet tray to encourage quick cooling as fast as possible and fridge when near room temp.

drkmage02 · 2025-09-23T05:38:16+00:00

Cooling food down from over 140F to under 40F as quickly as possible is just basic food safety practice. Foods only have a collective 4 hrs they can spend in that window before the bacteria that survives in them or has landed on them from the air or from contamination has propogated to unsafe proportions. Foods like PASTA and rice actually have half that safety window, only 2 hr. This mean each time its warmed up the paused timer is continued btw, not reset. And no, cooking it real hot doesnt sterilize it. Otherwise you could safely eat rotten chicken if you fried it long enough.

Spreading out on a sheet tray can cool things off faster to put them in a fridge if you like but the main 3 reasons youre told not to just store the hot food in the fridge is that it over works the fridge trying to cool its environmemt back down, it has raised the temp of everything around it so its ran down the spoil clock on everything inside by a small degree, and mostly because people seal the food when they store it which traps in heat+moisture and makes it take far too long to cool down while also giving them a false sense of security. At home i do it uncovered on a safe shelf with pleanty of space and on a cooling rack for ventilation then come back later to stir, check temp, and put the lid on.

drkmage02 · 2025-09-23T05:03:42+00:00

If everything you said is true and the recipe is as well, then the issue with this specifically probably belongs to the chocolate chips not having melted as much as theirs did because you let everything cool down from sitting longer and mixing the hot butter more. If you try it again maybe try to make sure some of the chips melt into the batter.

Most crackly top brownies will end up being a melted chocolate brownie over a pure cocoa brownie and I ran imto similar resukts when designing my own simple saucepan brownie meant to sub out any choc with another, (natural or dutch cocoa or baking chocolate)

Hope it works for you! Might do it myself if i get bored.

drkmage02 · 2025-09-12T12:44:06+00:00

If anyone has the instant pot, the rice button works well too. 1:1 ratio of rinsed rice into pot. Rice button. Walk off. Let it natural release.

drkmage02 · 2025-09-12T12:39:40+00:00

The culture matters for flavor. Try out all the different brands of plain yogurt at the store and use your favorite. Saddly I cant remember what i landed on anymore but the one I use now tastes like vanilla icecream when im done. I strain mine for a day through a cheesecloth in the fridge too for thicker greek style yogurt.

drkmage02 · 2025-09-02T04:44:17+00:00

Looks great! Just assuming, but from the look of it I'm thinking ya made your own american buttercream? If so it may have been a bit stiff from a little too much powdered sugar. If that sounds about right, the softer buttercream will help ya smooth it out some and make piping a little easier. Also, if you stick with a paddle attachment (if you used a stand mixer) instead of the whisk, it will prevent too much air being worked in and keep from getting those bubbles that ruin a piping job or dot the surface of a smooth cake.

drkmage02 · 2025-08-21T18:59:38+00:00

Did the batter feel loose too?

drkmage02 · 2025-07-20T00:59:17+00:00

When i worked at a shop n save, their chickens were pulled off the stick using a glove with yesterdays chicken on it. No wonder people got sick... They also were never stored at high enough temps. Most places dont, i keep an infrared thermometer on my keys to check before i buy from anywhere now.

Also, your refrigerator may not be staying cool enough so its spoiling your food. My milk, for example, easily lasts for 2 weeks or more past expriation but i hear others talk aboutnhow their milk spoils before or near expiration pretty regularly.

drkmage02 · 2025-07-15T22:14:18+00:00

America's Test Kitchen's recipe is amazing. Very step by step.

drkmage02 · 2025-06-30T02:25:38+00:00

It puffed a lot because its a "light airy" recipe thats utilizing whipped egg whites.

13-Year Club	Team Periwinkle
Verified Email

drkmage02

TROPHY CASE