Up the creek without a paddle

[soc_puppet]

One of my classes has an assignment where we need to imagine our own bakery and pick out fourteen menu items. This is a long-term assignment, and we will need the recipes for all of them for various parts of the project. The menu is due tomorrow.

I? Have barely picked out a tentative theme. I had a disorganized potential list of items to go on the menu, but they didn't really have much of a connection aside from "I rather like these things," and a theme is something I could really use for this assignment.

Unfortunately, I am now nearly out of time and am barely closer to figuring out what I want to do. I'm leaning towards a breadhouse that specializes in somewhat more savory stuff, things you can take for lunch or that would make a heartier breakfast than your average muffin. (Though I am totally including maple bacon muffins. Cupcakes? Wev. That one thing.) I just need to figure out, oh, way too many items to include on the menu now.

*sigh* Maybe if I put a bunch of bagels on the list...

Comments

[mommy]

There are bread recipe formulas that can be adjusted for basically any flavor combination you want, including maple bacon. These two* are the main ones that have been floating around the internet lately, and both are extremely versatile and are basically the same formula. Maybe one of them can help?

*The second one contains lots of capslock and profanity, but is a solid formula.

[soc_puppet]

Hmm; can't watch the first one at the moment, which makes transcribing and printing the directions difficult. ...OH WAIT, there's the ingredients list at the bottom! I can totally make that work.

I am thoroughly amused by the second one. Possibly even enough to overlook the lack of specificity and measurements. I will have to meditate on it.

[soc_puppet]

Okay, read and laughed heartily at the TV Bread recipe. I mean, the baker in me is also wanting to tear her hair out a little bit, because SPECIFICATIONS AND MEASUREMENTS, DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THOSE ARE, but it is way awesome. It is awesome to the point where I not only made several of my friends from class read the recipe, but I printed out an extra copy for Chef Smith, our instructor from last year, to have. He glanced over it and told me he'd have to try it that night :Db I call that a solid win.

[waywren]

Bagels are definitely cool. Um. Is zucchini bread savoury? I've never had it. Maybe things like filled breadrolls? I know that in Japan they'll do things like putting curry in bread, or maybe the kind of rolls where there's meat or other proteiny things baked inside?

[soc_puppet]

I picture it as basically banana bread but with zuch instead of banana, though I could be wrong.

I definitely wanna do filled breadrolls. I actually have a recipe for Chinese steamed buns I got from class and was planning to include that - maaaaaaybe with a sweet red bean paste option, because yum! I'll definitely have to check into other options.

[krait]

Oh, man, zucchini bread! ♥ Not really savoury, though.

Not quite a "filled roll", but when I hear bread + lunch I start thinking about those soft pretzel-bun things that make such great hot ham-n-cheese sandwiches; wish I could buy those where I live. D: Pretzels in general might be a good thing to include; they make a great snack or (scaled up) a great bread product that can be dipped into a variety of sauces (people like customising, right?) and they can have sweet variants, too.

[soc_puppet]

I love pretzel bread. And soft pretzels in general, though I don't actually like them with extra salt on top. I'll definitely add those to the list.

[dogmatix]

Savoury baked goods? How about English pies - that is, meat pies. You can buy meat pies at any supermarket and most petrol/gas station stores/cafes (and by café I mean a small store as well as an eatery), and there are even stores that specialize mostly in pies. They're usually sold hot, although they can also be cool(not frozen) but you heat them up before you eat them.

You also have a wide variety to choose from, the most popular ones are Pepper Steak, Steak and Kidney(yes real kidney, not kidney beans. It's really quite tasty), and Chicken and Mushroom. There's also a type with basically a heavy stew/mix of veggies and meat in it that I'm blanking on the name of. Recently there have been more adventurous pies, like the cheeseburger pie (it's weird but it.. kinda works? Patty + cheese + tomato sauce + slice of pickle), and spinach and feta pie.

Of course you can stick just about anything that'll fit inside the pie crust, so it's up to you. :)

And of course there's American fruit pies, so you can do a kind of... lunch and desert thing with mix-and-match savoury and sweet pies? XD

[soc_puppet]

That is a fantastic idea! One of the teachers was doing mini pie-pocket things (like, an eight inch square of pie crust, put the filling in it, fold it in half to make a rectangle and bake), and those would be great for little on-the-go lunch pockets. I'll have to look up some recipes :)

It's a thought! I was planning on including John Scalzi's Schadenfreude Pie for the longest time, but that may be a bit to sweet to qualify. Still, I am rather planning to include PB&J cookies, so maybe...