Search Results for '("C'

[Mike Nolan]

100 grams is an improvement over 30 grams for something like flour. That still means anywhere from 7 to 13 grams of protein in 100 grams of flour, but at least the roundoff error is smaller.

The Washington Post has a strawberry souffle recipe that I'm planning to make for dessert tonight.

And I haven't decided when, but I'm going to make a kouign amann (pronounced like 'queen amann', more or less) soon, maybe for Father's Day.

[BakerAunt]

Navlys--They are very good. While they do not have the melty taste of a peanut butter cookie made with butter, they are an excellent substitute when butter in the diet needs to be reduced or eliminated.

Thanks for the info on nutritional information panels, Mike. While the grams are more useful than the old percentages (and the milk I buy STILL uses percentages), it gives me at least a general idea. For people who need precision because of health impacts, it would be problematic.

[BakerAunt]

I also baked the Gourmet Soda Crackers from the dough I made yesterday. They are now cooling and crisping in the turned-off oven until tomorrow. These crackers bake better on my 1 and 2/3-sized sheet pan. The dough rested in the refrigerator for 17 hours (18 hours is the maximum), and I think that made it easier to roll.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday evening, I baked the Spiced Rye Cookies from the King Arthur site. No changes were needed, as these are an oil-based cookie, although I use a #40 Zeroll scoop and drop the balls directly into the sparkling sugar to coat them before putting them on the pan. I will let the flavors meld before I start eating them tomorrow. The spices do not work well for my husband’s digestion, so I will bake a different cookie tomorrow for him.

I also mixed the dough for the King Arthur Gourmet Soda Crackers, but I modify this recipe by deleting 2 Tbs. water and increasing the oil (I use avocado oil) to 3 Tbs. I also wait to add the oil until I have the other ingredients mixed. The dough rests up to 18 hours in the refrigerator before baking. After the bake, they remain in the turned-off oven until completely cooled (usually overnight, but at least 8 hours). That means I have to think ahead as to whether I will need the oven again before they cool.

[BakerAunt]

Yes, I hit a lot of ads while searching. It was useful to look at some sites that discussed how to season the cloche bottom or the difference between pre-heating and cold start. One site showed shaping techniques, which I found helpful.

There used to be a recommendation of soaking the unglazed cloche before using, but there seems to be a movement away from doing so, now that so many are glazed, and so do not soak up water.

Most of the recipes do not use wholegrain flours.

There is some debate between preheating the cloche bottom and doing the cold start. With the latter, it is important to oil the unglazed bottom or to grease the glazed one, then sprinkle with farina to prevent sticking. Supposedly, there is more oven spring if the cloche is pre-heated.

Most recipes specify putting the cloche on the bottom oven rack. Since my cloche set-ups, whether I use the base that came with it or the bowl, which makes it somewhat higher, fits on the second rack up, I used that position, and it worked well.

Timing is hard to figure out, and with the covered loaf, it is not possible to see how it is doing during the baking. My sourdough loaf used 5 1/2 cups flour (originally AP flour) and a cup of sourdough starter. 50 minutes at 425 seems to work for the larger loaf with a cold start. For the smaller cloche set-up, I baked 35 minutes at 400F, then another 10 minutes uncovered. I will take notes as I work with other recipes.

[BakerAunt]

It was 72F this Wednesday morning, but then a thunderstorm with rain came through and nicely cooled our area as well as watering our garden. We got an inch of rain. I made my turkey, lentil, vegetable soup for dinner, using chicken broth, water from cooked potatoes, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, mushrooms, garlic, ground turkey, Bob's Red Mill Vegi-Soup assortment (red and brown lentils, green and yellow split peas; barley letters), dehydrated onion, Penzey's Ozark Seasoning, and the last of some kale.

[BakerAunt]

I decided to try an experiment for a rustic sourdough bread I wanted to bake. I worked off of the King Arthur recipe that appeared in the Spring 2016 issue of Sift (p. 65), but I made an overnight levain using a cup of my thick, milk-based starter, 1 cup King Arthur AP and 1/2 cup water. The next day, I mixed it with a cup of water to which I had added 1 Tbs. honey and proofed 1 3/4 tsp. active yeast, then added a mixture of 3 cups whole wheat flour, 1/2 cup mostly pumpernickel flour, and 2 Tbs. special dry milk. After mixing, I allowed it to rest covered for 15 minutes, before adding 1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill Artisan bread flour, mixed with 1 1/2 tsp. salt. (The original recipe calls for 2 1/2 tsp.!) I mixed in 2 Tbs. olive oil, then kneaded. I had to add a bit more of the bread flour to bring the dough together. I let it rise for 45 minutes, which was more than enough time. After turning it out onto the mat, I pre-shaped into a boule, waited 5 minutes, then repeated the shaping, using a technique I saw online. In the past, I have tried to shape boules from the top, pulling the dough in; now I work from the bottom.

I baked the bread in a round Romertopf bread baking bowl that I bought from King Arthur some years ago but had never used. I did not know at the time that most Romeertopfs have lids. I have a small King Arthur bread baking bowl, and it can be a challenge getting the bread cooked through without the top getting over browned and having to be covered with foil. I found that the cloche cover, from the cloche set I bought from Skeptic, rests nicely on the rim of the bowl. So, I greased the glazed bowl, sprinkled with farina, and put the shaped dough inside to rise, covered with the cloche top. Given the speed of the first rise, and the warmth of the house, left over from yesterday's heat, I anticipated a quick second rise and checked it at 35 minutes, slashed the top, then put it into the cold oven and set the temperature for 425F.

I checked at 40 minutes, and the temperature was 165, although the top had browned nicely, so I re-covered and let it go another ten minutes, at which time it reached 200F. It came out of the bowl beautifully. It ended up a bit lopsided, no doubt a shaping error, but at the highest, it is three inches tall. I will cut it tonight to go with soup at dinner, at which time, it would have at least five and a half hours to cool.

I might replace all the AP flour next time with the Bob's Red Mill Artisan bread flour.

Note: The bread has great flavor and texture.

[navlys]

We had leftover tortellini salad with tomatoes, spinach, mozzarella and blueberries. (Had to use them up).

[navlys]

I received a pampered chef trifle bowl a few years ago and I finally got to use it. My neighbor requested a strawberry trifle and I found the perfect recipe on Amanda's blog. I made the angel food cake (a mix) and used some of the frozen strawberries I had as well as fresh and substituted mascarpone cheese for the cream cheese and used real whipped cream instead of Cool Whip. It was a success. I'm glad I didn't donate the trifle bowl.

[cwcdesign]

I baked! I only have a couple of pieces of Will’s sourdough left so it was time.

I made my adaptation of KAF’s Harvest Grains Bread. I use 100 grams each of AP and sprouted wheat flour and the rest was WWW. The recipe calls for 4 teaspoons yeast, but since I had the gold SAF I thought I would try 3 teaspoons (2 loaves). Whole grain bread improver is optional but I didn’t have any- well, that’s not completely accurate - I may have had a jar in the freezer, but I couldn’t read the writing so I tossed it.

Anyway, I probably could have proofed it longer - I’m always afraid of overproofing - it wasn’t quite at the inch over the lip of the pans when I put them in the oven - they didn’t rise more in the oven, but they also didn’t sink - they’re a little dense but still good.

EDIT: I probably could have used the whole amount of water as well - it's amazing what you can forget when you haven't done something in a while - it makes great toast.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I baked a "sprinkles cake, using the recipe for "Patriotic Sprinkle Cake," from Bake from Scratch Magazine. I follow the basic recipe but reduce the sugar slightly (from 1 2/3 cups to 1 1/2 cups) and use half the salt, since they use kosher salt, and I use a regular sea salt. The recipe calls for red and blue sprinkles, but I do not have red ones, so I used multi-colored, larger rainbow nonpareils. Some of these do stick to the pan, but the Grease allowed me to get a clean removal. I like the look of the nonpareils on the outside of the cake!

The original recipe includes scooping out the bottom of the cake, filling it with raspberry sorbet, replacing the cake that was removed, and putting it into the freezer. I have no such grand designs. Instead, I will let it rest until tomorrow, then glaze it and sprinkle some smaller nonpareils on the glaze.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm getting started on making my mother's oil-and-vinegar potato salad, something my mother always made for Memorial Day (the first picnic at our grandfather's cabin outside of town), the 4th of July and Labor Day (towards the end of the picnic season).

[BakerAunt]

We're saving our burgers for Memorial Day.

For dinner on Saturday, I made our favorite sourdough pan pizza with the usual homemade tomato sauce (using canned tomatoes, since I've exhausted my supply of frozen ones), Canadian bacon, red bell pepper, mushrooms, green olives, mozzarella, Parmesan, and on my half, the addition of black olives.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't think the dial ones are very useful, I find them hard to read through the oven glass. Sometimes I can't tell if it says 325 or 350 and that's a big difference. If you have to open the door and bend down to read them, you're letting out the heat.

The CDN grill surface thermometer looks like it might have some potential, though. It looks like the range might be easier to read with more precision.

I find opening the door as little as possible and using an infrared thermometer on the side walls, back walls and other surfaces (like a pan or baking stone) gives me a good idea what the temperature is like in several places.

In engineering classes, we used to talk about the distinction between accuracy and precision. And with ovens the question of exactly where the temperature is being monitored is a separate issue, there will be areas that are noticeably hotter than others. The use of a convection fan is another factor.

A chef friend once told me about the bread test he runs whenever he starts working in a new kitchen, he toasts bread in the oven at several different temperatures and rack positions and that way he knows where the hot spots are.

Most ovens controls measure the temperature in one place, usually along the side wall. You can't always see where the sensor is located though.

Some possibilities for alternatives to dial thermometers: Search for Taylor 5921n or Comark OT600K. The Comark one say it uses mercury, if so I'm surprised it is still available for sale.

I have a Maverick digital oven thermometer with a probe that is designed to hang from one of the oven racks. It gives an 'average' reading rather than instant readings, which is kind of weird. The cables on digital probes tend to wear out especially if subjected to heat over 400 degrees.

I've used it along with my CDN candy thermometer a couple of times, setting the probes side by side to see how they compare. Both gave similar readings, but the average temperature reading tended to lag the instant reading one by several minutes, which is logical, due to the hysteresis effect.

My son gave me a 'meater plus' thermometer with a cordless probe which you stick inside your meat. It gives you an internal temperature as well as an oven temperature on your phone. (The fact that most of the electronics is below the surface of the meat seems to protect it.) They say not to use it with bread, though, that probably doesn't insulate the electronics enough.

The GrillEye looks interesting, it appears to have an operating range up to 300 degrees C (572F). It comes with two probes but it says you can use up to 6 at a time.

[BakerAunt]

I cannot recall the brand, but I had a great one that used a blue liquid to show the temperature. I found it more accurate than those metal stand ones that I assume use some interior mechanism. Unfortunately, it got knocked onto the floor of the oven and broke some years back when my then oven was pre-heating. (It had fallen on the stove element.). I had bought it at Tuesday Morning, so I do not know where one might be found.