high-bar baking

Loaves are lovely because you can throw a whole loaf at someone. You don’t need to think through the complicated logistics of handing off a layer cake, but they feel more special than an assortment of cookies. In my opinion, at least. I should also say that perhaps you shouldn’t literally through a loaf at anyone, although maybe that’s advice only I need to hear. 

Loaf recipes, more than others, also seem to have been designed with this ideology in mind. Often loaf cakes or breads will make two loaves: one to keep, and one to give away. (This is the other reason that giving cakes is less than ideal; I’m selfish, and I want a slice). 

So who gets the second loaf? I mean, I’ll bring the first loaf to the office anyway, I’m not a monster. (More like, it’s not even a chocolate babka —  I can probably share). But I found out last week that a friend of mine, who we’d thought would have to leave, doesn’t have to leave anymore. He gets to stay! And while people always seem to be moving and changing, and while I know that no static array of friendships is going to last forever, I am still very happy that this one can stay (literally) in place for a little while longer. So he gets a babka to share with his friends (or hoard, I won’t judge!) in celebration. Here’s to getting lucky. 

I misjudged a couple of things in Claire’s Speculoos Babka recipe, so I’m actually going to write them down this time. I remember from the last time I did it that I wanted there to be more filling. I’m frankly obsessed with cookie butter, and I wanted there to be more. So I valiantly intended to increase the amount of filling by 1.5x. Unfortunately, I only thought through this resolution after I’d already gotten home from the grocery store. And opened the jar of cookie butter. You can imagine how that went down. So I used slightly more in the filling than was called for, but I didn’t increase things proportionally and neatly like I’d planned. 

Secondly, Claire I love you, but what is your deal with the amount of crumble on these loaves? It baked up sort of appropriately, but half of the crumble just fell down the sides anyway, so it’s not like it really did anyone a whole heap of good! I think that 2/3 of the amount would have been just as nice, and that’s my next plan. 

Then I don’t know how this keeps happening, but I always manage to overbake these. It’s never a disaster, but I can’t draw whatever Newtonian temperature curve I’m supposed to in my head, apparently. I checked the temp starting at 40 minutes (10 whole minutes before I was supposed to!), and it was way low. So I kept checking every 10, then 8, then 6 minutes. I watch the temp creep slowly closer to the desired 185, and then I pull the loaves out the last time and they’re both at 200! What gives! They were thankfully both still singing when I pulled them, so that’s at least a silver lining.  

How can bread possibly take so long to cool? I’m out here waiting for the heat death of the universe, it feels like. 

Post cooling: it is just… the lesser babka. The loaf is dry. It is just fine.