About the yeast. I usually make it rise on its own, before adding it to the dough, just to be sure (plus it speeds up the raising of dough).
Put yeast in a little bowl, add a bit of warm water (3-4 tablespoons for 25 g of yeast), mix it so yeast dissolves in the water. (You can use milk instead of water, too, but yeast won't dissolve so well and it will rise a bit slower.) Add a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of flour. Put your bowl in a warm place (or in a bigger bowl filled with warm water), wait till it rises; usually it takes ~10 minutes. If it doesn't rise in 15-20 minutes, yeast is dead. It works both for dry and non-dry yeast.
Oh, and "bigger bowl filled with warm water" method works for the dough, too. If you want to speed up rising, fill a sink with the warm water and put your bowl of dough there, it will save HOURS of waiting.
The tips I would offer after working with yeast breads the last few years would be to definitely proof your yeast first (as mentioned above). If your residence is a little on the cool side, as ours usually is, turn your oven on its lowest setting, then turn off and let the dough rise in the warmed oven. Alternatively, put it in the oven with a bowl of boiling water to add some warmth.
Also, you might try Amazon for golden syrup. I've ordered some hard to find ingredients off of there.
These look a lot more like what I think of as hot cross buns. The finished ones by you that is. I'm rubbish at enriched doughs, so no useful advice. I talk yeast pretty good, but the only kind of yeast doughs I manage well are the flour/water/salt/yeast kind. Give the yeast more to eat so things go fast and I get very confused and so does the yeast
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Thanks for the Trader Joe's tip! We have one of those near-ish by, and we're getting a car next month, so the odds of my actually going there will increase exponentially!
If you were in LA, I could tell you exactly where to go, because Surfa's is just awesome. I miss them so much. Can't swear they'd have golden syrup, but they'll have more of the right flours. And they'd sell you proper baking chocolate. There's probably other options in LA, coz it's huge. I just never bothered to look coz between Surfa's and TJ's I could fix most problems without needing to catch a bus.
If you're sticking to King Arthur flour, check their website for the protein contents. I am pretty sure their all purpose runs high protein, and their bread flour is really high. And I seem to recall that enriched dough is fussy about protein content even more than regular bread dough.
I salute you for trying! And your results look delish!
I find it very frustrating to watch the Great British Baking Show and then finding out I'm not able to readily purchase the necessary ingredients. I suppose I should just watch for the entertainment factor!
Thanks! They were pretty tasty, if not perfect-looking.
Re ingredients - it's so weird! Many things we were prepared to find different when we moved over here, but the types of sugar and flour available were not on the list!
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Put yeast in a little bowl, add a bit of warm water (3-4 tablespoons for 25 g of yeast), mix it so yeast dissolves in the water. (You can use milk instead of water, too, but yeast won't dissolve so well and it will rise a bit slower.) Add a teaspoon of sugar and a teaspoon of flour. Put your bowl in a warm place (or in a bigger bowl filled with warm water), wait till it rises; usually it takes ~10 minutes. If it doesn't rise in 15-20 minutes, yeast is dead.
It works both for dry and non-dry yeast.
Oh, and "bigger bowl filled with warm water" method works for the dough, too. If you want to speed up rising, fill a sink with the warm water and put your bowl of dough there, it will save HOURS of waiting.
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Also, you might try Amazon for golden syrup. I've ordered some hard to find ingredients off of there.
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Yeah, I saw that you can buy it online, but it's so expensive it doesn't seem worth it idk
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If you were in LA, I could tell you exactly where to go, because Surfa's is just awesome. I miss them so much. Can't swear they'd have golden syrup, but they'll have more of the right flours. And they'd sell you proper baking chocolate. There's probably other options in LA, coz it's huge. I just never bothered to look coz between Surfa's and TJ's I could fix most problems without needing to catch a bus.
If you're sticking to King Arthur flour, check their website for the protein contents. I am pretty sure their all purpose runs high protein, and their bread flour is really high. And I seem to recall that enriched dough is fussy about protein content even more than regular bread dough.
Reply
I find it very frustrating to watch the Great British Baking Show and then finding out I'm not able to readily purchase the necessary ingredients. I suppose I should just watch for the entertainment factor!
Reply
Re ingredients - it's so weird! Many things we were prepared to find different when we moved over here, but the types of sugar and flour available were not on the list!
Reply
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