Search Results for '("C'

[Mike Nolan]

I saw butter at $2.68 per pound today. The fancy butters (Pflugra, Kerrygold) seemed to be at their usual price.

[BakerAunt]

We went to the next town today to shop, for the first time, since March 13, at Aldi's and Kroger. We avoided Walmart. I was impressed with the precautions Aldi's is taking. All the workers in masks and gloves. Sanitized carts (with quarters) at the ready. Shelves were stocked and prices had not skyrocketed. They were low on frozen vegetables. I didn't check meat, other than the 2 packages of frozen ground turkey we were able to buy. Aldi's was limiting meat purchases to two of each. I didn't mind the one-way aisles, and all the shoppers wore masks. We went during the special "vulnerable" time--a little after 8:30 a.m. (Aldi's does it Tues. and Thurs.)

A lot more people were at Kroger. Most were wearing masks, and all the workers wore them. They have banned bring your own bags for now. The flour aisle was sparse, but I saw a bag of Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat flour and a bag of semolina, so I bought both. They had no King Arthur flour. They had "simple truth" organic whole wheat flour, but I don't know how that brand's flour is, and I don't need more whole wheat right now. There was bleached flour, and some Gold Medal Bread flour, some White Lily, and some brand I'd never seen. The paper aisle had much empty shelving.

I've noticed that butter seems to be less expensive--both at Aldi's and at Kroger, where they had Cabot butter on special.

[Mike Nolan]

Deb is a microbiologist, so identifying types of bacteria is her metier. Identifying speific varieties of yeast is probably harder just using a microscope, it might take a genetic sequencer. Jeff Hamelman had an interesting post in the BBGA forum the other day in which he was talking about the possibility of genetically modified yeasts. Just what we need, another GMO to keep track of!

As I understand it, dark rye is whole grain, medium rye has some bran and germ but not as much as the original rye berry did, and white rye is like AP flour, it is mainly endosperm. Then you get into how finely it is ground and that gets you additional variations. There are probably variations on the rye berry itself, too, like there are with wheat berries (white wheat, soft and hard wheats, durum wheat, etc.) One of the pumpernickel rye flours I got from NY Bakers is almost as coarse as rye chops, I'm not sure that some of the pieces aren't bigger than the pieces in my bag of rye chops.

[BakerAunt]

I made my mask using this pattern: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-t_Gz3lGwF8

I found this pattern easier than the one with pleats, but it does require two craft beads. (I had three craft beads in my stash.) Possibly, buttons could be used instead. I'd like to make a second one, so I might try that. The nose piece (made from a coffee bag fastener) is great. I needed a mask with adjustable ear holders, as others kept slipping off of my face.

I kept running back and forth between the video on the computer and the sewing machine, but the mask came together without an undue expenditure of time.

[Mike Nolan]

We're quite a ways from the edge of town, but we've got some foxes living in our back yard or a neighbor's yard, we see one of them regularly and we've heard a vixen call. (It sounds like a wounded cat.) We've seen coyotes and a few deer, too, plus the usual assortment of possums, raccoons and skunks. (I haven't actually seen a skunk, but I've sure smelled them!)

A few years ago there was a river otter on our back porch, looking totally lost, since the nearest creek is over a mile away. It was after some really heavy rains, my guess is he got flushed downstream by rushing waters and was trying to find a route home.

And then there was the elk that we think probably ran through our back yard because of where they found him. He had been spotted a couple of blocks away in the parking lot at a nearby middle school. He broke his leg jumping a fence that can be reached from our back yard and animal control had to put him down.

I see turkeys and some kind of grouse or pheasant near the middle school all the time. Ducks and geese stay in Lincoln year-round these days, a neighbor sees them in her lawn on her security camera, usually in the early morning.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I experimented with “Sourdough Whole Wheat Pan Bread,” a recipe from the first edition of Sunset Magazine’s Breads. I have not made this recipe in a long time, and back when I was baking it, I was still hand kneading, as I did not have my stand mixer. I wanted to tweak it, given some of what I now know about breads and sourdough. I also increased the whole wheat flour by a cup and added 1/2 cup of dark rye. I initially soaked the whole grains with the sourdough starter, and some milk and water for two hours, before I added 2 tsp. of yeast and the molasses, then let the yeast work for 15 minutes before adding 1 1/2 cup bread flour, 1/2 cup high gluten flour (using it up and conserving bread flour) and 2 tsp. salt. I added 2 Tbs. olive oil in place of the 3 Tbs. butter. I needed just 1/4 cup more bread flour. The rises were long, maybe because it was 68F in the house. The first rise took 80 minutes, and the second rise 90 minutes. The two loaves had nice oven spring. I look forward to slicing them for lunch tomorrow.

[Mike Nolan]

Not all rye flour is 'whole grain' flour, just like not all wheat flour is 'whole grain', but I suspect aside from 'white rye' most rye flours would have more of the germ and bran than an AP wheat flour would have.

I ordered two different assortments of rye flours (8 packages in all) from NY Bakers, but when I ran out of the medium rye flour first (most of the Ginsberg recipes use it), I ordered 15 pounds of it from Bakers Authority, and I'm about a third of a way into the second bag.

I got the impression from a source I cannot recall that there are some aspects of rye flour that make feeding your wheat-based starter some rye flour every now and then a good thing. I don't recall if concluded it was enzymes or just a different and more robust type of starch.

The 1993 French law that controls what certain types of French bread can contain specifically mentions a starter that is based on either wheat or rye. See Article 4 in French Bread Law.

I can see my rye starter bubbling within a half hour of when I feed it, and it will double in about 6-8 hours. Using it as the inoculant for a wheat levain has been interesting, it takes about 12 hours for it to be active enough to make bread.

[BakerAunt]

I'm going to experiment today (Wednesday) with a Sourdough Whole Wheat bread recipe from the first edition of Sunset's Breads. I last made this bread a LONG time ago, back when I was hand kneading. I will play with the recipe a bit and report back.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I baked Pumpkin Toffee Snacking Cake. It uses spelt, buckwheat flour, chia seed, some AP flour, and of course pumpkin, which I had in the freezer. I cut back on the toffee pieces, since 1 Tbs. is 2.5g saturated fat (!) to just 2 Tbs. in the batter. I put chocolate sprinkles on top. I forgot to add the nutmeg, but the other spices are fine without it.

I also made another batch of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Cracker dough, which I will bake in four or five days.

[RiversideLen]

Inspired by the KAF blog about using less yeast, I made a starter for my Rye/Semolina/Wheat buns. I took 1 cup of the flour (a mix of rye and whole wheat), 3 grams of yeast and a cup of warm buttermilk and mixed it together and let it proof at room temp for about 30 minutes then I put it in the fridge. I did that yesterday. Today I pulled it out for about 30 minutes, it was still cold, and proceeded to make the bread adding 1 additional gram of yeast. The first rise was very nice, filling up my KAF proofing bucket. I have formed it into 8 buns, 4 topped with the KAF everything bagel topping. I am waiting for them to rise and then to bake. It all looks good and next time I think I will reduce the yeast by 1 gram, only using 3 grams.

[RiversideLen]

I was able to get a 4 ounce jar of Red Star ADY over the weekend from Whole Foods and saw that envelopes of yeast are available (in my area) from Amazon Fresh. I have an online friend in Canada (Toronto area) and she told me she can't find yeast anywhere. The 4 ounce jar cost $7.99 which is more than a pound of SAF from KA.

[Mike Nolan]

When I've made the Stella Parks food processor recipe, I bake it in an 8 inch pan, because it won't fill up a standard (9 inch) one pound loaf pan.

I really prefer free-form breads, but that recipe would probably produce a flatbread. (Maybe I'll try it as one some time.)

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--Bob's Red Mill has occasionally had whole wheat flour available--limit of two 5 lb. bag. You have to hit it right on their website. Shipping is $9.99 flat rate for me (UPS), and the two orders I've done have arrived within a week. Usually, I can find a few other items to add (if they are in stock), so I don't cringe too much at the shipping. I'm happy with their whole wheat flour.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I made another batch of yogurt (i.e.—six ¾ cup jars).

For dinner, I made split pea soup with carrots, celery, and ham. It also has 2 Tbs. dried onion, ½ tsp. thyme, and ¼ tsp. marjoram.

[Mike Nolan]

According to several experts, side blowouts are usually the result of under-proofing of the dough.

The last time I made the honey wheat bread, I had planned to have it ready for the oven by about 7:15, but we were making a short trip to pick up some plants that wound up running longer and it didn't get into the oven until well after 8:00. But it rose nicely and wasn't over-proofed, and the loaves were big and soft, with no blowouts even though I didn't score the top. (My wife says it is a little too soft, which makes it harder for her to slice thin.)