I started Friday's cooking by making the batch of yogurt I make every six days. For dinner, I made the Crispy Oven Fish and Chips with Tartar sauce, which we had with microwaved fresh broccoli. If we had known that it was going to stay this warm (got into the upper 80s), I would have chosen a different dinner for tonight. However, we ate later than usual and opened windows to let the heat out.
We've had our oriole feeder out for about a week and have probably seen two different types of orioles. Today I saw a hummingbird at it, so while we're setting it up for tomorrow (it was totally out of grape jelly by sunset) we also set up a couple of hummingbird feeders. We put some oranges in the oriole feeder the other day and replaced them today, several had been fairly well pecked at.
Navlys, I absolutely LOVE the lemon juice powder!! I've rarely seen it called for in recipes, even on the KABC site, so I just guess at how much to use. My general rule is about 2 tablespoons in a 2 cups of flour recipe. I write whatever I use on my recipe, and a suggestion after taste-testing for how much to use next time. I use it most often in cookies (e.g. lemon coconut) and in blueberry anything (e.g. muffins, quick bread). You can use it in anything that calls for lemon oil or fresh lemon juice or zest. I find it is a stronger flavor. It is definitely lemony, tart but sweet! I'd love to hear how you use it!
We had salads with tuna fish and some potato (sweet for her, baked for me.)
The Wall Street Journal has a story running today about how Brazilian farmers are looking to tropical strains of wheat as wheat prices soar. These are also high yield and high protein (15%) strains.
We went hiking in one of the state parks this morning and got home just as the rain was starting. I decided that it was a good afternoon for two baking projects.
I was able to order a case of Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal through Walmart.com, and it arrived on Thursday. I promptly put it to use and made my recipe for Scottish Oatcakes.
I also used two of my Cara Cara oranges to bake Triple-Orange Pecan Biscotti, a recipe by Susan Betz, from Fine Cooking (Issue 21) that I found on the internet a year or two ago. I made two changes to the recipe: I used white whole wheat flour and I used an additional tablespoon of orange juice in place of a tablespoon of orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier. I also made it as two logs rather than dividing it into six. These are cooling, but I ate an end piece, and they are excellent.
I baked the first tray of punitions today, they came out a range of shades from very light to fairly brown, which is what the recipe said would likely happen if you don't rotate the pan during the bake. I'm OK with that. The darker ones have a more complex flavor to them due to the Maillard reaction and probably some caramelization.
They're fairly classic butter cookies, tasty but a bit dull, though you could eat a big plate of them quickly if you weren't paying attention. (They're about 2 inches in diameter and weigh around 7 grams each.)
They'd be better with a dollop of jam (as the recipe suggests, I'll have to see if I have any Cardinal Preserves in the freezer) or dipped in hot chocolate, maybe even tea. Or maybe a little frosting, I've still got a little of the cream cheese frosting from the Hot Cross Buns left, we've been using it up on graham crackers.
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I think you're right Mike, because when my bread is properly proofed the slash opens up more when I make it and then even more when I bake it. The crazy thing is I proofed these for about 24 hours (eight to ten in the refrigerator). More bread next week. But this will still work for sandwiches.
I've been thinking about making the punitions (sugar cookies) from the Poilane cookbook.
Looks scrumptious, Len.
On Saturday, I baked a loaf of Pumpernickel Rye Bread, adapted from the King Arthur Sandwich Rye Bread. I tried double-panning it (using the hearth pan) to keep the bottom from overbrowning, but the double pan kept the bottom too light, so I removed one pan and baked another 8 minutes to get the correct internal temperature. I hope USA will make the hearth pan again. The ones I have are by some other manufacturer and are dark in color and thinner.
In general, Joel's recipe is like this: For 1 pound of potatoes you add some milk (some variations of the recipe say to add a cup of whole milk, but most limit it to a few tablespoons) and slowly work in 1/2 pound of butter. What you get is a suspension, like a mayonnaise or hollandaise.
Our soil here is heavy clay, I've been known to add gypsum to lighten it, I suspect the powder from the Lomi will lighten it as well, although there's so little of it from each batch that it might not be easy to see what impact it has.
I suspect once the gardens get cranking up we'll have more stuff to put in it, although if I continue to process tomatoes like I have the last several years there's not a lot of detritus, because the peels and the seeds that the pulp extractor separates out I've been throwing in bags and freezing for when I make beef stock. The next time I make stock I'll throw the remains of the aromatics (except the bones) in the Lomi. The latest load has a bunch of weeds (henbit) that my wife was pulling on a stroll around the yard.
Their FAQ doesn't cover everything, when their chat desk opens later today I'm going to ask about artichoke leaves and the hulls from my wife's bird feeders.
A late dinner tonight was chicken salad sandwiches, with green celery tops, cilantro, rosemary, onion, and garlic, on Walter Sands white bread (with 1 cup of whole wheat subbed for 1 cup of AP).
I think BRM has been struggling for a while trying to figure out what they are going to be.
And, as they are trying to go national, I think the bread/baking trends are receding. While that's happening more and more people are looking to buy from smaller, local mills if they can. Granted, I just said I bought from a big miller out west but that's because I wanted to lay in some flour before the prices went up too much. My boss at the bakery has an extra building and is thinking of setting up a mill for himself.
BRM was a bargain because of their shipping but they won't be anymore. And I would sign up for the KAB club if it offered free shipping but I'm not going to pay for a club AND have a minimum order. But it seems to be working for them. They have stuff I really like and I have enough to last while I find reasonable substitutes. How is Penzey's cinnamon?
I don't remember if I wrote about this but back in Dec/Jan UPS was offering $27 to start in an entry level job that required no skills and only a high school diploma. Full benefits started on day 1 of the job. And they were having trouble finding people. Fedex started doing the same. At the same time a gallon of gas increase $1.21 on average from Feb 2021 to Feb 2022. There is no way they could NOT raise shipping prices to keep up.
Oh, and the politicians in my town think these are garbage jobs (yes they said that to me).
For lunch on Wednesday, and into next week, I made Spanish Chickpea, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew (recipe adapted from the Penzy's site). Temperatures went below freezing last night, and today is in the mid-40s, so the stew hit the spot. It was also good for using up more of my frozen tomato sauce.
