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Tuesday, June 29, 2021

Tweaks to My Car Baking: Making Flatbread and Better Cookies


So, on Monday I tweaked both the cookies and the bread and was pretty happy with the results. I wanted to share in case any one else is crazy enough to try this.


For the cookies, I added extra flour to make the dough slightly stiffer than I would for oven baked cookies. My car made it up to 180 degrees F at the highest, which means that the cookie dough was melting and spreading before the crust could form. By adding just a bit more flour, the dough held it's shape better. 


The other tweak to the cookies is I greased the parchment paper before adding the dough. This made removing the cookies easier after they were baked. There's something about baking at a lower temperature that made the cookies stick to the parchment more than usual. Anyway, those were my tweaks for the cookies.


For the bread, on Monday I made flat bread using a French bread dough. I rolled the dough out into circles, using a rolling pin and placed on a greased baking sheet. I didn't allow the dough to rise because I was running late and needed to get it into the oven car. 


Despite this, the bread came out pretty good, not doughy like the last loaf. So, what I learned is that it's possible to bake a yeast bread in a hot car if you make it flatbread.

Are there any realistic practical applications to what I learned these last few days? I think the most valuable aspect of this was stretching the way I thought about something that was ordinary, baking cookies and bread. I may not ever "need" to bake with my car in the future. However, I now know that there may be other ways I can bake in an emergency.


5 comments:

  1. Strayer at Cat Eyes said she baked a pie in her microwave because her oven wasn't working and it turned out great- if you want to experiment some more.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Live and Learn,
      My husband wanted me to try baking a pie in the car. I laughed at the time because I was so incredibly hot for days, I couldn't fathom the work making pie dough, rolling it out, cutting up fruit or pitting cherries. I wasn't about to add extra work on top of the heat I was feeling. But, on an ordinary summer day, trying to bake a pie in the microwave sounds like a great idea.

      Thanks for mentioning Strayer's experience. I'm glad that this worked for Strayer as an option for a non-working traditional oven. I really didn't make use of my microwave enough during our heat wave. Like your namesake -- live and learn.

      Delete
  2. Anything you can do to avoid heating up the kitchen in hot weather is a win! I think this could also be valuable if you are trying to keep younger children entertained when the weather is really hot out--what kid wouldn't love this?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi Kris,
      I agree. And this entertained my older children as well. We were all inclined to go out to the driveway and check on the progress of the cookies or bread. At dinner each night, we were brainstorming what else could be done in a hot car. One of our ideas that I wish we'd tried was chocolate covered pretzels. The chocolate would have melted easily in the car, then that could have been tossed with pretzels and scooped onto a tray in the kitchen to cool and harden. Anyways, ideas for the next heat wave.

      Delete
  3. My grandmother used to dry her garden herbs in the car.

    ReplyDelete

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