My deli rye needs to rest after it comes out of the oven for about 12 hours, at least, for the flavor to fully develop. It has about 1/4 cup of rye (don't have the recipe in front of me) but most of the flour is either bread or first clear.
Like BA I do not know why. Mike advised I do that and I suspect once he is recovering and back online he will explain it to us. I'll ask over at the BBGA too.
Good luck with the eye surgery tomorrow, Mike. You'll be back to baking better than ever, with more accurate measurements (ha!) now.
I baked Bishofsbrot (Bishop’s Bread) on Wednesday evening. It is a kind of fruit cake with golden and regular raisins, walnuts, dark chocolate chips, and maraschino cherries. (The recipe is here at Nebraska Kitchen.) I always substitute in some barley flour, and I now use oil and buttermilk in place of the melted butter. I added 2 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill milk powder this time. I used up some bittersweet chocolate chips and added enough Ghirardelli dark chocolate ones to make one cup.
Today I made No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oat Bars (but putting this in the "What are you baking this week?" forum!). Quick and easy to make. I'd never made these no-bake cookies as a bar, and it was so much nicer - no pressure to scoop out dozens of little cookies before the dough hardened. Unfortunately, the peanut butter flavor was lost. I have another recipe that calls for the peanut butter and chocolate and oat mixture to be layered, so I'll try that one when these are gone.
Fettuccini alfredo tonight using bow tie pasta (they're so cute) instead of fettuccine. Garlic bread, too.
Speedy recovery, Mike.
My friend's 70th birthday is tomorrow. I was planning on making a 6" maple pecan cake with cream cheese frosting. Yesterday, she got a free cake from stop&shop--pecan praline (they're the size of a giant cupcake). So, now I scrapped that idea and was going to make blondies. But since I have 2 bananas ready to go, I'll make her banana walnut bread. 🤷♀️
Enjoy, Aaron (and family)!
With snow and sleet outside on Tuesday morning, I decided to bake my Trail Cookies recipe. I reduced the brown sugar from ¾ to 2/3 cup. I kept my molasses and ginger substitution. One reason that I chose this recipe to bake today is because it uses regular whole wheat flour. I am out of the white whole wheat I use for my other cookies, but I have ordered more from King Arthur, and applying a $10 coupon helped lower the price. I adapted this recipe from the Bob's Red Mill Oregon Trail Cookies. I replaced the flax seeds with a tablespoon of flax meal and added 2 Tbs. sunflower seeds. These are hearty cookies, and my husband does not scarf them as fast as some of the others I bake, and the recipe produced 27.
The afternoon schedule includes baking my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers (aka Bakeraunt's Crackers) from dough I made up last week.
I made brownies from a box mix with many changes. I had a container of buttermilk I needed to use up so instead of water, I used it. I also subbed half of the oil called for with buttermilk. Then I added a half cup of old fashioned oats and an equal amount of buttermilk (I used up the buttermilk!). Finally, I added in some dried fruit mix I had from KAF. It baked nicely. They are not very fudgey, more cake like, (because of the oats) but I like them like this.
I also made my sandwich buns, half with dried onion topping and half with sesame seeds.
I baked the KAf Sandwich Rye Bread today and it really turned out well.I was skeptical because my rye had been in freezer a long time and caraway seeds were old.I went by recipe except didn't add dill seeds(I didn't have any) and I used spicy brown mustard with the dill pickle juice.I mixed as said then waited 30 minutes to absorb then knead it well.I placed in a 9x5 pan.It had a good rise and was so tender but cut so easy.I had a piece with butter to try,then had a ham sandwich on some.
The snow gauge in the back yard currently reads between 9 and 10 inches, only about an inch of that was left over from Saturday. The forecast is for heavy snow (an inch an hour) for possibly another 5 hours, then tapering off until after midnight. We could have 14-16 inches by the time it finishes.
I've been doing some of what I did in the bakery. I only worked for about a month and decided to try some of the things I was doing there.
I've also added a boule-shaped rise before I do the final shape and that seems to help.
There is a technique I started doing with my bench knife (scraper) where I push the dough towards my opposite hand then give it a quarter turn, then push... I'm not good or fast but I'll get better with practice.
For pan loaves I flatten the boule, then fold the two sides into the center, then roll it away from me while pulling towards me to tighten the loaf.
The thing that works for me is to create surface tension.
BA - can you point me to the apricot-oatmeal bars?
BA, the apricot oatmeal bars sound good. I have to find the recipe. It might be something I can make my kids instead of the store bought bars.
I made snickerdoodles with Violet for one of her friend's birthdays. This friend's family are bakers and have left us treats a few times so it will be nice to return the favor. They are from Duff's book. We made two batches because the first did not come out right. Duff says to chill the dough before using but that led to 1) the cinnamon sugar not sticking and 2) the cookies not spreading but staying in balls. I also think our measurements were off in the first batch as my scale appears to be wonky when it's next to the stand mixer mixing. Any way the second batch came out very nice. I am not sure how they tasted because one of the boys ate TWO (not one) so there were no extra cookies to test. My son has lost his kitchen privileges!
I made more sourdough bread and rolls. My shaping is coming nicely but my rolls were higher and I wanted them wider. But they are more consistent.
This morning I made BA's crackers. I used some fancy sea salt with lemon my wife gave but I don't taste any difference. I also mixed in some garlic, oregano, and cayenne pepper.
They tweak the 'basket' every year or two, I believe, but it never seems to capture the inflation I see occurring at the grocery store. Maybe I just don't buy the same things as the people they sample? (Then again, it may be that the people who respond to the survey don't provide accurate data on their purchasing habits, which would be the same problem pollsters are having with predicting election results.)
The Wall Street Journal says commodity prices for wheat, corn and soybeans are at 6 year highs, due largely to dry weather affecting yields. Exports to China are also up, lowering US stockpiles, which are also at multi-year lows. Prices at the retail level are starting to be affected, too. (But inflation is already a lot higher than the government claims it is, I bought a jar of pickles the other day at $4.99, it was $3.59 a year ago.)
Acres in production for these crops could go up in 2021 as a result.
I almost always make pot roast in the oven, the only one I've done on the stovetop in years is the 'onion gravy' one, and you have to be careful not to scorch the onions on that one. (I've done it in the oven, but the onions don't dissolve as much, so you don't really wind up with onion gravy.)
The meat, onions and some beef stock go in first, cover and cook at 375 for about an hour, turning the meat once. Then I add the potatoes and aromatics (carrots, celery and usually some herbs, including a bay leaf) go in for about 90 minutes. Sometimes I also add a little more onion then, because the ones that have already been in will nearly dissolve. Then I add the mushrooms and let it cook for another 30 minutes.
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This reply was modified 5 years, 3 months ago by
Mike Nolan.
