Well, to make 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes from instant potato flakes, you'd use 3/4 cup liquid and 3/4 cup potato flakes. Potato flour may be a bit more dense than potato flakes because it is ground up more, so there's less air in it when you dry measure it. (I wish more people gave instructions by weight.)
In Bernard Clayton's revised and expanded New Complete Book of Breads, he has a Multi-Grain Beead that I want to try. I think that it should make 3 8x4 loaves. I have two questions, and if no one is around to answer, then I'll push ahead later this afternoon and experiment.
Here's the ingredient list:
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup barley flour
1 cup millet
1 Tbs. brown sugar (I'll probably use honey)
2 tsp. salt
2 cups water
1/3 cup cooking oil
3 packages dry yeast
1 1/2 cups fresh or instant mashed potatoes
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 cup rye flour
2 cups bread flour
Two questions:
1. I want to substitute potato flour for freshly mashed potatoes. King Arthur's blog, surprisingly, only tells how to substitute fresh mashed potatoes for potato flour when you run out. It says to use 3/4 cup potatoes and REDUCE liquid by 50%. So, if I am going the other way (and why isn't THAT in their information?), I'd use 1/2 cup potato flour and increase the liquid, perhaps by 1 cup?
Note: I'll probably try to use at least 2 cups buttermilk (soak the oats, barley flour and millet at start). I'd use the water to proof the yeast.
2. Three packages of yeast would be 6 3/4 tsp. That seems like a lot, and when this cookbook was published, yeast was not as strong as now. For the other Clayton whole grain recipe I make, I subtract 1/4 tsp. for each package of yeast. Six tsp. still seems like a lot. (I'm envisioning the I Love Lucy episode where she dumps in a lot of yeast, and when she opens the oven a long loaf of bread pushes its way out--not the way it would work, of course, but still funny.) So, would I need 6 tsp. yeast, or would 5 tsp. suffice?
Thanks for any suggestions, and I'll report back on the experiment.
BakerAunt, one of the things I do is to reduce oil in box cake mixes by subbing 1/2 of it with plain Greek yogurt. It works pretty good.
Yesterday I made a box vanilla cake (Arrowhead Mills). I added a generous teaspoon of cake spice from The Spice House and as stated above, subbed 1/2 of the oil with Greek yogurt. I used walnut oil.
A little while back I was looking at peach pie recipes on youtube and was jealous of the nice stoneware pie plates some people used so I went on Amazon to look at them (and bought one). While there I ran across a video posted by Emile Henry about an apple pie that has a cinnamon bun top crust. It isn't a yeasted top crust like you would expect from cinnamon buns, but rather it is a standard pie crust that you turn into cinnamon buns, then roll it out to the size you need and put that on top of the pie. I will try to post the link here,
Cinnamon Bun Apple Pie
I want to make it soon!
Wednesday afternoon, I baked Toffee-Pumpkin Snack Cake, a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens Fall Baking (2017), p. 28. I discovered it last year, and I think this is the fourth time I've baked it. The recipe is more than half wholegrain and seeds (spelt, buckwheat, chia seed). It’s not bad in the saturated fat department, as it uses pumpkin puree (from my freezer) and canola oil. The difficult ingredient is the toffee pieces, which have 2.5 g saturated fat per Tbs. My half recipe of the cake calls for ½ cup. I’d rather spend my precious saturated fat allowance elsewhere, so I cut the amount in half. I also decided to try reducing the canola oil from ½ cup to 1/3 cup. I make my own pumpkin puree, so it tends to be moister and less dense than the canned pumpkin. I put some Autumn sprinkles on top. If cut into 8 pieces, each piece has 2.5 g of saturated fat. The cake was fine in taste and texture without that additional oil, so I will use that modification in the future. It does seem a little too sweet, so I might cut the sugar by 2 Tbs. next time.
What about a weekly question, posted every Wednesday (just for example). Something like What is one tool/utensil, baking pan, etc. you can't live without? Tell us about a utensil that sits in your kitchen drawer but never gets used? Or What is one ingredient that is always in your refrigerator? Or what is one ingredient you never, never would use? We could "sign up" to choose a week to post a question. Of course, I'm not intending that someone couldn't ask a "serious" question (like, for a certain kind of recipe) at any time. Mike should not have to do all the background work to enliven this forum. He does enough behind the scenes work to keep it going. Thanks Mike.
Mike, I like your idea of a quiz of the day (anything to stimulate my brain). Would it be possible to do a recipe of the day? I know absolutely nothing about how these things work, but something like that sometimes sparks my interest. I love different recipes and cooking techniques. Thanks for all you do to keep the forum going.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by
BevM.
My wife is a big fan of the Diabetes Solution Kit, which she used to lose quite a bit of weight, though it did not bring her type II diabetes under control (nor did she really expect it to.)
It emphasizes carbs over calories.
Their website is terrible, though. IMHO it's worse than their infomercials.
There are a number of sites that have reviewed this material, some are positive, others are negative. My wife showed the material to her GP, he was impressed by it.
I have not bought any "store breads" for many years (except I do keep Sandwich Thins in tee freezer, for when I run out of bread; I'm still trying to replicate the Thins, but nothing is right yet), and I am including any bakery type products. I did meet up with friends, twice in the last year, at the KAF Cafe. Once I had a scone, and the other time an elephant ear. I was so disappointed - they were not good at all: dry, hard, no flavor, stale even, although they are fresh every day.
As for cutting bread out of a low carb diet? Amazing! A reasonable serving size can be good for you - loaded with healthy whole grains and good fats. On the other hand, a real pet peeve of mine is discussions of diabetic diets that cut out all sugar, but ignore carbs. Digested sugars turn to carbs, so diabetics need to monitor breads, potatoes, corn, etc - it isn't just about the frosting on the cake! Thanks everyone for getting me excited -- rant over!
I think Italiancook is still reading but not posting, though I'm not sure why.
I need to work on building up our community with some new readers and posters. I'm thinking about launching a daily 'quiz of the day' feature, I just have to find or build a tool to manage it (so that people can do prior days quizzes) and start building up a number of quizzes so I'm sure I don't miss a day just because I'm distracted or offline.
Mike, we don't eat a lot of pickles either, and I finally tossed numerous jars I had in my basement too. But if I make just one quart at a time, and keep it front and center in the fridge, we do eat them. I've been on a kick (don't ask me why this year when I don't even have cukes in the garden!) trying out old recipes. Most of these pickles are different - somewhat mild, not really sweet, but not nearly as tart as dills, although I often include dill seed for flavor. Remember BigLakeJudy from the old, old Baking Circle? She had posted a great recipe that I do really like.
Best wishes to your wife for a speedy recovery, Mike.
Tonight I made Salmon and Couscous. Instead of dill, I used 1 tsp. of Penzey's Sunny Paris (was a freebie), and it makes for a nice change. We microwaved peas for the side dish.
Until recently I was never asked if I exercised when I had my annual physical. The connection between health and exercise was never taken seriously. I do exercise faithfully and the only medication I take is Prolia for what was osteoporosis (now osteopenia). Unfortunately for exercise to work it has to be a part of your life like brushing your teeth. The best part of exercise is the good feeling you get when you are done.
A few years back the doctors starting testing for vitamin "d" deficiency. I was deficient and started taking the "d" supplement. Now I test fine. Should have purchased stock in Vitamin D.
The connection between iodine and goiters has been well known since the early 20th century, iodized salt was first introduced in the 1920's and widely available for most of the 20th century, yet having grown up in NW Illinois I remember several farmers who had goiters during the 60's and 70's.
Many medical schools didn't start requiring nutrition courses until about 15 years ago. My former GP (he recently moved to another town closer to his grandchildren as sort of a lead-in to retirement, he's in his 50's) once told me that the nutrition information he learned in med school was worthless.
It's very difficult to get clear nutritional information even in 2018. The doctor's office was of no help. Their answer to calcium and Vitamin D issues was to hit me with over the counter supplements. At no time, did anyone ask about my diet and physical activity. I got good advice from my friend's daughter because she has her M.A. in Dietetics There is no known history in my family of hereditary high cholesterol, which makes the lipid panel results all the more puzzling. I'm also wondering if another medication I take may have contributed to those high readings. I'll ask the doctor after they repeat the lipid panel (and Vitamin D test), which I was told would be done after three months. In the meantime, I will follow my low-saturated fat diet, which in addition to removing butter's centrality (sob), includes skinning baked chicken, not having those bacon-tomato sandwiches I've been looking forward to eating with our home grown tomatoes (I did eat them with the rest of the bacon in the house), eating steel-cut oats almost every morning (it's a good thing that I like them a lot), and including more fish, having some meatless meals, and incorporating more beans and a greater variety of vegetables. I assume the new diet, and the increase in walking time, is why I have managed to lose 3 1/2 lbs.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by
BakerAunt.
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This reply was modified 7 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: added comma
Much of what was taught about nutrition in the 50's and 60's (like the food triangle, which recommended far too many servings of carb-laden grains) was wrong.
Sadly, there are still people who promote those out-of-date ideas.
