Mike and Chocomouse--We are also having mashed potatoes and gravy with our dressing/stuffing (we never put it in the turkey). Usually, for two of us, I'd skip the mashed potatoes (but not the gravy!), but since we have company, and mashed potatoes were mentioned, I'll make both, as I would do when the kids were able to join us.
I adore the DGB casserole, but I skipped it last year and will do so this year, since I want to spend my saturated fat allowance on other items, such as pumpkin pie. I'd also have to eat it all myself, as my husband does not care for it or the onions on top.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by
BakerAunt.
Mike, whenever you are going to serve stuffing AND mashed potatoes, with gravy of course, I'll be right over! We have stuffing only for Thanksgiving (and a week of leftovers) and we have mashed potatoes today and maybe 2-3 other times during the year. I keep reminding myself that is good, it's best for my health, don't add them to my regular menus!
More than once I've been tempted to make a batch of stuffing and some gravy using turkey stock, and maybe even mashed potatoes, and pig out!
I also love DGBC (dreaded green bean casserole), in fact I might make some for Black Friday.
After baking that pumpkin wheat-rye bread (see details in separate thread), I baked my pumpkin pie on Wednesday evening. I was going to try using a half recipe of the oil crust to make decorative leaves around the side of the pie after adding the filling to the parbaked crust, but they started to fall apart. Apparently the dough is too delicate for that use. I set the cut-out designs aside, later sprinkled them with cinnamon sugar and baked for 12 minutes. I’ll use them as cookies on the side. I used little cutters with a spring that impress the design, and they the pie crust dough holds the design well.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.
Today I made candied carrots (sliced carrots baked in maple syrup and butter) and stuffing for the turkey. BakerAunt, did you ever find the Pepperidge Farm in the blue bag that you were searching for? That's the only stuffing I will use. I had to search at my store for it, found it on the bottom shelf, surrounded by many many other brands of boxed, top-of-the-stove type mixes, but I knew they had it because I checked their on-line inventory before I shopped.
For dinner, my husband cooked himself a burger on the grill and got one of Ellen's buns from the freezer. I had a green salad. Joan, we think alike!
I made six 6-inch loaves from a batch of Challah dough (Reinhart's recipe in BBA):
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On Wednesday, I baked Spiced Pumpkin Bread/Kurbisgewurzbrot (Germany). [Umlauts should be over the two “u”s], a recipe from Stanley Greenberg’s blog at The Rye Baker (posted Nov. 1, 2016). I used my own pumpkin puree, as he recommends after having tried canned and his own. I was able to grind the caraway and anise seed in a Kuhn Rikon ceramic grater that I have but had not yet used. [Note: although the instructions state that grinding coarse salt will take away the odor afterwards, it still has the faint odor. I’ll leave it open and hope it fades.] My only change was to use active rather than instant yeast and to proof it w/ just a pinch of sugar before starting. I also held back about ½ cup of the wheat flour mixed with the salt to add after mixing all the other ingredients, and I put the oil in last. It is a sticky dough, and I resisted the urge to add more flour. My Cuisinart 7-qt. stand mixer does better with a larger amount of dough. I had to keep stopping during the kneading and move the dough around. It’s about 66F in our house, and a little colder in the kitchen, so I put the covered dough bowl on top of a wine rack that I have on its shortest side (8 compartments or 4x2) that holds my collection of rolling pins at the end of the counter. That puts it under a warm air vent with a temperature of 70-71F.
The first rise takes 60-75 min. at 70F, according to the recipe. I decided after 60 minutes to move the dough to the dining room table, and I gave it about 40 minutes longer. To shape it, I used white rye flour on my Silpat mat. The shaping was surprisingly easy. Given the issues with temperature, I put the shaped dough on a parchment covered baking sheet and set it on top of the range, covered with a long plastic cover I had. I then preheated the oven, so that a bit of that warmth would help the second rise, which is supposed to be 15-20 minutes. However, the oven is too well insulated, so after 20 minutes, I put it back on the dining room table for another 15 minutes.
I didn’t see “cracks” or broken bubbles, which the recipe states show that the bread has risen, but I did see the changes in the flour coating, and it had risen. The recipe does not specify slashing, but I made some slashes anyway—some of the best slashing I’ve ever done!—and put it into the oven on the rack right below center, which is where I bake my breads. The recipe states to bake about one hour, but I checked at 55 min., and it registered at 202F, so I took it out. The smell is enticing. Also, while there was a blowout along one side end, the loaf, my husband pronounced, looks as an artisan loaf should look. I’ve never achieved that before with a freeform loaf, and this one is all wholegrain, except for the white rye I used to dust the work surface. I will include it on the Thanksgiving table tomorrow, along with the rolls.
Shaping has some effect on the chewy-ness of the cookie. If cookies spread they are flatter and tend to bake through faster. If they stay as blobs it takes a bit longer for the middle to cook through so you can cook for the same amount of time as flattened cookies but still end up with a soft (or even uncooked) center. Much of this relates back to Mike's point about hard and soft fats. And you can chill or even freeze things before putting them in the oven and this will also affect the cooking time and the doneness. When I made cookies in the bakery we would drop them with a scoop, then flatten them, then chill them. So we had a medium thick cookie with thick edge that did not spread as much.
And then there is carry-over baking time so remember that things keep baking as they are cooling - cookies less than something thick like a loaf of bread. I realized I was over-baking my scones recently because of the carry over baking and my brownies need to come out of the oven a little before they are completely set or they will be overbaked.
It's interesting that people still freak out about raw eggs and NO ONE (at least in my small patch of New England) worries at all about raw flour despite warnings in the newspaper and on flour bags.
The questions to ask when making cookies and the texture isn't what you expected:
1. What's the sugar to fat to flour ratio in those cookies? (A classic sugar cookie is 1-2-3.)
2. What kind of sugar is it using (white vs brown)?
3. Is the fat liquid or hard? (If you cream butter and sugar, it's still considered hard, Shortening is also hard, but if you melt the fat or use oil, it's liquid.)
I wouldn't worry about getting eggs fully cooked, by the time the cookies are edible, even soft ones, the eggs are way past the point where they're safe.
I made grissini (thin crisp breadsticks) today, I may make a second batch with parmesan cheese in them. This evening I'm going to make a cranberry walnut bread, probably as mini-muffins.
For Sunday dinner, I cooked One-Pot Tarragon Chicken, Mushrooms & Rice, a recipe by John Whaite that appeared in an email newsletter from The Splendid Table. I’ve made it a couple of times before (and gave the link at that time), but since, I am using brown rather than basmati rice, I’ve had issues with the rice cooking thoroughly before the chicken is done. This time, I used a mixture of half brown rice and half wild rice mix (1 cup of each) and made sure that I had 4 cups combined chicken broth and white wine, I used my 5-qt. Calphalon sauté pan so that there would be enough room for 8 chicken thighs. However, instead of putting the thighs in after bringing the liquid to a boil and adding the rice, mushrooms, and seasonings, I covered the pan and put it in the oven for 20 minutes. I then removed it, took off the cover, added just a bit more broth, and arranged the chicken thighs on top and drizzled with olive oil. I returned the uncovered pan to the oven for 50 minutes. It came out very well with the liquid absorbed and the rice perfectly cooked.
I did not have fresh tarragon, so I used 2 tsp. in place of 2 Tbs. I also did not have a banana shallot or any shallot. My husband has asked that I not use onion for a while, as it seems to be upsetting his digestive system, but he does ok with dried onion, so I added 1 tsp. dried onion.
I actually found the thread on mincemeat muffins and Kid Pizza (Cass)'s comments. As it turns out, I had it saved to this site:
Too Much Baking Powder in Mincemeat Muffins? Thread
I have two baking project this Sunday morning. I used the bread machine to knead dough for a single loaf of a Five-Grain Buttermilk-Wheat-Rye Bread, which I hope will get us through Thanksgiving, when there will be rolls. I don’t want to bake two, since freezer space is a bit limited at the moment. I tried adding 2 Tbs. oat bran just to see what happens, along with the usual 2 tbs. flax meal.
While the bread was rising, I baked a new recipe, “Apple-Maple Snack Cake,” from Better Homes & Gardens Fall Baking (p. 29). I made a few changes in that I replaced ¼ cup melted butter with 3 Tbs. canola oil, and I cut the vanilla from 2 tsp to 1 tsp. I used two Jonathan (they say Braeburn or other cooking apples) and did not peel them. I probably had about 2 cups rather than 1 ½ cups diced apple. I added 1 Tbs. milk powder and 2 tsp. flax meal to increase nutrition. We will have it for dessert tonight.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.
I'm sorry the deli rye rolls didn't work out for you, BakerAunt. We love that recipe, one of our favorites! I'm using the recipe that was printed in one of their catalogues, and my notes say I first made it in September, 2017. I never use buttermilk in rye bread, but I always try to use half water and half pickle juice (if I have any on hand) for any rye recipe - although the first time using a recipe I try to behave and follow it exactly! My copy of this recipe does NOT say to use dried onion OR deli rye flavor - it calls for both. There is no mention of onion powder. I used to use vital wheat gluten in all rye recipes, but no longer do that, it's not needed with the stronger KAF AP flour. A warning -- I was in KAF about a month ago, and they have changed some of their rye flavor/sour additives, eliminating one, and everything is in new packaging now, which I find misleading (it's just the way my brain works -- change the packaging and I am sure you have changed the ingredients!). I think they stopped carrying the sour. Anyway, I'm glad you have some other rye recipes to fall back on!
I made up the blitz puff pastry from the KAF recipe, making a sort of rugelach cookie. They turned out perfectly, exactly as I hoped they would. (Well, except that I had to rush near the end, got careless, so some were not well shaped and some didn't "seal" at the overlap of the corners). It made a nice flakey pastry, plenty of layers, but fewer than from a true laminated dough with many more turns and chillings. I used cherry pastry filling from a can (Solo brand), and the cookies taste very good. I would use this recipe again.
