On Monday, I had a yearning for biscotti. I have a cinnamon biscotti recipe from KAF. Its biggest problem is the 1 cup of cinnamon chips. These are not a problem because KAF no longer sells them; I had a lot of them tucked away in the refrigerator where they are taking up space. They are a problem because like all chips, they are loaded with saturated fat. I reduced the amount to 1/3 cup, which is still 14 g., but for about 34 biscotti, even accounting for oil and the eggs, it is ok as long as I confine myself to one or two per day. I also substituted in white whole wheat flour. The biscotti came out well. They are not quite as sweet, but that is fine.

Part of the low-saturated fat food plan is that biscuits do not fit into it. To go with soup for Monday’s dinner, I made a new recipe, “Buttermilk Scallion Flatbreads,” a recipe from Jennifer Beckman of Falls Church, Virginia, who won best recipe in whole wheat for a competition. It was printed in Sift (Fall 2017), p. 13, and is on the KAF website.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/buttermilk-scallion-flatbreads-recipe

I made just one change: I replaced the 3 Tbs. melted butter with slightly more than 2 Tbs. canola oil to accommodate my low-saturated fat requirement. My version meant that each flatbread had about .25 g sat fat as opposed to 5g in the original recipe. These are fantastic! My husband said, “You have to make these again!” They are easy and fast. They would also make good bread wraps.

I baked another apple pie, with crumb topping (Bernard Clayton's French Apple Pie) on Tuesday evening, using a combination of Winesap and Jonathan apples. I reduced the topping by 25%, and I used that oil-based pie crust recipe again. I like it with buttermilk rather than milk, and I substituted in ¼ cup of white whole wheat flour.

We were out of bread, so on Friday evening I baked a loaf of what I’ve named Buttermilk Barley-Whole Wheat Bread, using the bread machine to do the kneading. My starting point was the KAF Oatmeal Toasting bread, the same recipe I used last week, except that this time, in addition to making it half whole wheat and half bread flour, I used barley flakes in place of the oats. (I’ve discovered that I have a LOT of barley flakes). I used buttermilk again but increased it to 1 cup because the dough was dry. I also needed to add another tablespoon of water. I cut the salt to 1 tsp. and used about 1 ½ Tbs. canola oil. I needed to add 7 minutes to the baking time to get it to 200F. It’s a heavier bread but it rose nicely and baked well. My husband really liked it for his sandwich, and I enjoyed a slice with soup for lunch on Saturday. We clearly like barley! I think this recipe is a good base for a variety of grains.

We went hiking at a reservoir on Wednesday, then stopped off at Countryside Orchards and bought more apples: traditional Winesaps (the little ones!) and another, larger variety of Winesaps. We also bought Melrose and Ever Crisp for eating, and a jug of fresh cider for drinking. As I’m still using up the apples we picked in November, on Saturday morning, I again baked my Barley-Buttermilk Apple Cinnamon bread that began its life at Bob’s Red Mill as a gluten-free one. I again used AP and barley flour in the same proportion as the second time and buttermilk and boiled apple cider. I reduced the sugar in the bread further (originally ¾ cup; I’d used 2/3 but this time cut it to ½). I also added 2 tsp. chia seeds. This bread became a favorite of my husband’s the first time I baked it, so I’m curious to see if the changes work for him. When I stop fussing with it, I’ll post it at Nebraska Kitchen.