Nice looking banana bread!
I made challah to give away this week and I just made batches of molasses cookies and chocolate chip cookies. I pitched adding dessert to a local brewery and I have a meeting with their COO this afternoon. I decided to bring some samples.
The challah rose this time. Hooray! As I was making it some caterers came into the kitchen with me. I always make extra so I gave them a couple of rolls (it is mean to bake bread around people and not offer them some!). They asked me if I was available on weekdays and took my contact info. We'll see where it goes.
I bought the St. Germain couche on Amazon. I'm going to use it next time I make ciabatta. It should be this weekend. Henry is home and he eats a lot of bread!
If nothing else, scalding milk will reduce some of the water in milk. This will concentrate other things, like the sugars. I boil my cider for challah. It's pasteurized but boiling makes the flavor stronger.
On Monday I roasted a few pork loin chops. Yesterday I used one of them to make quesadilla tacos (a quesadilla folded over then stuffed with sliced pork and chopped lettuce), a baked potato and green beans.
Not sure yet what I'll have tonight.
I tried a new recipe for my lunch soups on Friday: "Hearty Lentil-Tomato Soup," from The Family Immunity Cookbook," by Toby Amidor. It was featured in one of the email health newsletters I receive. I replaced the tomato puree with crushed tomatoes (close enough). It also uses red lentils, garlic, onion, shredded carrots, and chopped celery. I replaced the 3 cups vegetable broth with my chicken broth, and used 2 tsp. of Penzey's Now Curry in place of 1 tsp. ground cumin, ½ tsp. ground turmeric, 12 tsp. ground ginger, and 1/8 tsp. hot pepper flakes. I deleted the salt, since there is salt in the canned tomatoes, and used freshly ground black pepper. It is a tasty and satisfying soup which goes well with the bread I made two days ago. I will freeze a serving but keep the rest for lunch over the next three days.
I saw a recipe for "Honey Buckwheat Sandwich Bread," by Mario the Sourdough Guy, and the flavor combination appealed to me, even though his recipes are rather meticulous (or fussy, depending on one's attitude). I also had to buy two 9-inch Pullman pans. The recipe does not require the lids, but the high sides are necessary to support the bread. Fortunately, King Arthur had a free shipping deal in January and a 20% off deal earlier this month, so I now own two pans. I decided that Wednesday was the day to try the recipe.
The levain is mixed the night before. It only called for 10 g of sourdough starter. As my starter is not as thick as most, I doubled the amount to 20 g. Due to the coolness of the house, it was not ready 12 hours later. I added several more hours for it to get some bubbles. I was not sure that it would work, so I decided to add 1 ½ tsp. yeast, which I proofed in the honey and the water. It was a good decision, as the rising times were still as long as in the recipe--and those are long. I do not have the means to grind fresh white whole wheat, so I used the King Arthur white whole wheat (now called Golden Wheat).
I did not have cracked buckwheat. My attempt to crack it in a small processor yielded buckwheat flour. I had done some Google research about substituting cooked whole buckwheat groats for cracked buckwheat with boiling water poured over it. Google is not knowledgeable on that topic. However, I found one blog where the writer recommended cooking the buckwheat in milk to soften it. So, instead of using the water amount in the recipe, I followed the cooking instructions on the Bob's Red Mill package but used 7 oz. milk and 7 oz. water. I brought it to a boil, then simmered it for almost 15 minutes before cooling it.
The recipe called for two stretch and folds, one after 30 minutes and another 30 minutes later, but it said a third could be added if needed, and I did a third. The final rise in the pans was an hour and 45 minutes. (I did a poke test.) To create steam, when I preheated the oven, I put a cast iron skillet in the bottom (removed bottom baking rack). When I put the loaves in to bake, I threw a tray of ice cubes into the skillet. As directed, I removed it after 20 minutes and turned down the oven. The bread baked for another 35 minutes and was 208 F when I took it out of the oven. I should have checked it a few minutes earlier, as 200 F is the specified internal temperature. The two loaves look great, and I look forward to a slice or two at lunch tomorrow.
Wishing Diane a speedy and full recovery.
Yesterday I made pizza, which means I also had pizza for breakfast (have enough left for tomorrow's breakfast too).
Tonight I had some rotisserie chicken I took from the freezer, had it with some pasta and green beans and carrots.
I made sourdough pan pizza for dinner on Monday with the usual topping of sauce, Canadian bacon, mozzarella, mushrooms, red bell pepper, green onion tops (from my husband's pot), Parmesan, and Greek olives on my half.
I also baked Barley Pumpkin Bread, for the second time, from Mother Grains (pages 43-45). As I did last time, I cut the salt in half and reduced both the oil and the sugar by a third. I also leave out the candied kumquat (where would I even find kumquats?) and the golden raisins, as I have never been a fan of raisins in pumpkin bread. I also eliminate the optional barley malt syrup topping. The grease works well for an easy pan release ten minutes after removal from the oven. I used an older 8 x 4-inch non-stick loaf pan because I thought the loaf would bake better in it than in my standard bread pans. I will let it rest overnight before we begin slicing it for dessert tomorrow.
I started the pizza dough while our contractor and his son were installing our new banister for the stairway. One of the two aluminum holders on the previous banister snapped before Thanksgiving as my husband was coming downstairs. Thankfully, he was not depending on it for support. I have never liked how that first banister was done, as it ended before the final two steps, due to some construction oddities. We took the opportunity to move the banister to the other side and to install an end post. It also now has three iron holders. It is slimmer, as well, so we can easily get our hands around it. We have a great contractor. Not every contractor can figure out a way to correct a previous contractor's mistake.
I baked a new recipe on Sunday: "Everything Bagel Pumpernickel Bread." It appears on the pumpernickel rye bread bag, but I went to the website, since it tends to have more information, and I could also check the reviews. I became interested in the recipe after King Arthur, in my latest order, sent me three bags of pumpernickel flour rather than the one bag that I ordered. So, it was time to widen my pumpernickel use beyond the sandwich rye, the rye-barley crispbread, and the Cornmeal Pumpernickel Waffles. I have a small container of the Everything Bagel mix, which although technically expired (2020), smelled fine. It was a free sample. My husband is not a fan of seeds, etc. on the outside of bread, but the recipe calls for using 2 Tbs. in the bread. It's an interesting recipe that is mixed by hand and has a 45-minute rest, then kneaded for 3 minutes before another 45-minute rest, then shaped, with a rise of just 30 minutes before baking. I cut the salt by a third (from 1 ½ to 1 tsp.) as a couple of reviewers found the bread too salty. I did not have the optional deli-rye flavor, which I think is not worth buying, so I added ½ tsp. caraway, ¼ tsp. dill seed, and ¼ tsp. mustard seed. The bread uses 2 cups of King Arthur AP and 1 cup pumpernickel flour. The savory aroma has us excited about slicing it tomorrow. I didn't do a seed coating but just brushed the loaf with water before the last rise.
One instruction in the recipe surprised me: the dough is NOT covered for any of the three rises. Usually, dough will dry out, but it did not.
Our newest refrigerator (in the basement) has a mode switch to go between refrigerator and freezer mode, very handy for defrosting a freezer, you just move everything over for 2 days.
On Wednesday, I baked Apple, Barley, and Olive Oil Bundt cakes. I used a 6-cup Nordic Ware Heart Bundt pan and a 3-cup Kaiser Bundt pan. I will freeze the small one for future desserts. I have loved this recipe ever since I first tried it five years ago. I was unsure about the olive oil, but Cass told me that olive oil goes well with apples, and he was, as always, correct. I put the heart-shaped cake on a heart shaped platter, because why not celebrate Valentine's Day throughout all of February?
I also baked orange Sesame Whole Wheat Muffins to take advantage of the zest of some Cara Cara oranges. (I will eat the oranges.) Some of the muffins are for breakfast over the next few days, and some are destined for the freezer.
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Yesterday I made a crispy chicken and broccoli salad, a recipe I got from Southern Living, but it turns out is no longer on their website. The base is broccoli, red onion, halved grapes, toasted sliced almonds and grated cheddar tossed in a cider vinegar vinaigrette - I didn't have honey so I used maple syrup. I let it sit in the fridge most of the day (recipe says 2 hours or overnight). I cheated and bought a bag of Perdue breaded tenders on sale and each night I bake two of them in the toaster oven to chop over the salad. The two nights I've had it, I've really enjoyed it. I have enough for a couple more days.
I soaked 2 cups of black beans overnight, then used them to make Black Bean and Pumpkin soup on Monday. I froze three servings and left two servings for lunches. As my husband has a problem with black beans, onions, and assertive spices (cumin in this case), the soup is for me. I cut the cumin from 1 Tbs. to 1 tsp., which is plenty for me.
For dinner tonight, I will have some of the spaghetti squash casserole. My husband thinks he has recovered enough to have sone of the black-eyed peas with brown rice and ham.
Some of the stone-ground whole wheat flours are labeled as 'coarse ground'. I have a Nutrimill so I can adjust the degree of grind from coarse from fine. (A Mockmill does an even better job of that, or so I'm told.)
On Sunday, I tackled the remaining limes in the refrigerator and juiced them. I froze 1/3 cup. Little of the zest was useable. I decided to take the King Arthur recipe for Lemon Crinkle Cookies and see if I could use the rest of the lime juice. I substituted white whole wheat for the AP flour and added 1 Tbs. milk powder. I replaced the 2 Tbs. of melted butter with an additional tablespoon of avocado oil (my oil choice) and increased the lime juice from 3 to 4 Tbs. It is a soft dough and would likely be so even without my substitutions. The cookies baked for 11 minutes. I might increase the time by 30 seconds if I bake this recipe again. They would be better with the zest, but they are good enough to accompany a mug of tea.
On Saturday, I took the dough out of the refrigerator at around 11:30 a.m., as the recipe says to remove it about three hours before planning to bake. My dough was actually pushing at the lid of the 4-quart container. I may use a 6-quart one next time. From what I can tell, the dough is shaped cold after removing it. I found it easy to shape the cold dough, although I used a different shaping method from Reinhart. (The description and pictures on how to shape loaves for pans did not seem to align.) I flatten the dough to a rectangle, then fold in the long sides, then the short ends, before rolling it from the long side.
The dough needs 2-3 hours to rise. I checked it after two hours, but it was ready at 2 hours and 35 minutes. The house temperature is about 67 F. The loaves required 40 minutes to bake. I followed the directions to rotate the pans after 20 minutes, which is not something I usually do. Both my husband and I noticed the wonderful aroma, which differed from the usual wonderful aroma of baking bread.
Are you doing a full batch (two loaves) or just one loaf?
