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I'm spending Sunday afternoon baking my version of the Dark Grains Bread from the second edition of Bernard Clayton's Bread book. It's the third time I've baked it, and I plan to post my revision of his recipe here, at some point, but I think that I want to try it wit a bit less yeast.
I'm also baking Bob's Delicious Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookies (recipe from Bob's Red Mill). I use dark chocolate chips and reduce them from 1 cup to 1/2 cup.
I awoke early on Wednesday morning, and there was nothing for breakfast, so I baked a new recipe, "Hazelnut and Dried-Pear Scones," that appeared in Bon Appetit (August (2001), p. 120. The feature story was on Eugene, Oregon, and the recipe came from The Campbell House, which serves them in its dining room. Note: As my husband and I were preparing to move a year ago, I was frantically going through my collection of Bon Appetit issues, which dates back to the 1990s through about 2005, and pulling out recipes that I thought I might try some day. This recipe was one of them.
Both Wonky and I are charter members of the Make It Better Recipe Guild, so of course I altered this recipe a bit. I substituted in 1 cup of barley flour for one of the 3 cups of flour, used buttermilk instead of regular milk, cut the salt from 3/4 to 1/2 tsp. and deleted a tsp. of vanilla extract (I want to taste the butter!) and a tsp. of grated orange peel. They have a light texture, although an individual scone feels heavy for its size. I like that combination of hazelnuts and dried pears.
I never did get through all those issues of Bon Appetit. My husband relented and agreed I could bring those still unmined issues with me.
When I went to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning, one of the Amish stands had small baskets (pint) of strawberries for $3.50. These are the small strawberries, which taste so much better than the large ones sold commercially. We will likely eat them plain—they are that delicious--but with what?
I decided that a Sour-Cream Pound Cake is in order, but I did not want to bake the KAF recipe which always seems a bit dry to me. One of the cookbooks, which I made sure last summer I could quickly unpack once we got here, is Susan G. Purdy’s The Perfect Cake, which is my go-to baking book for any cake. I was not disappointed: there on pages 118-119 is “Sour-Cream Pound Cake,” which can be baked in an 8 1/2x 4 1/2 -inch loaf pan (or 9x5) or in a 6 ½ cup tube pan. I pulled out the Vintage Star Bundt pan I bought from KAF with the help of some Bakers Bucks and mixed up a batch of THE Grease to coat the pan.
I’ve probably not tried this recipe before because it requires separating the three eggs. I was tempted to forgo that step, but I decided to follow the recipe exactly, as Susan Purdy has never steered me wrong. I had a bit of trouble when I beat the egg whites. I had decided to use the whisk attachment for my hand mixer, but when the egg and sugar mixture looked like it was not firming up, I washed the regular beaters and used them instead. It took a while, but I got to what I think was “stiff but not dry” whites. The cake bakes at 325F, which is a hard temperature to set with my c. 1970s oven, which likes to be about 25-50F degrees hotter than the set temperature. KAF also had a note that their staff has found this Vintage Star Bundt pan tends to bake faster than usual, so I checked the cake ten minutes early, and it was done.
We had it for dessert tonight, with strawberries on the side. The cake has a light, melt in the mouth texture and a slightly crunchy bottom (which was the top in the Bundt pan). It was worth separating the eggs, and I will definitely bake this cake again. It can also be doubled and baked in a 12-cup Bundt pan.
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