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[Mike Nolan]

I would think seriously about getting a large capacity standalone induction burner, even if that means you have to go buy a new pot that works on the induction principle. (I have a 24 quart stock pot that I've used for canning a couple of times.) They heat much faster and they won't heat up the room as much, which is a big deal for canning.

And for canning you probably only need one heating element.

By large capacity, I mean both wattage and pan size. There are some 3500 watt induction burners that run on 220 and will handle a 13" diameter pot, not one that maxes out at 1800 watts and only handles a 10 1/2" pan.

[Mike Nolan]

Some (electric) ovens have so many settings I don't know what to call them, and I'm not sure what all those settings do, either. And to make matters more confusing, it isn't often clear what an electric oven does during the preheat cycle. Some will use both the top and bottom elements, which usually means those recipes that have you start in a cold oven and anticipate a relatively slow buildup of heat don't perform as they were designed to work.

Some 'convection' ovens have little more than a small fan to move air around, a commercial convection oven often has multiple fans and possibly even channels to draw air so that it circulates rom multiple directions. That's important because an oven that just blows hot air from the top down can cause strange things to happen to the top of what you're baking (like blowing ingredients off a pizza.)

These days there are some home ovens with steam injection options. I've wondered how often they need to be cleaned, using tap water in them will result in mineral buildup.

[BakerAunt]

We've been fortunate to have a milder June with most upper temperatures in the low 70s. That is welcomed after the 90F days in May. Rain comes in periodically, and the spinach we thought was lost (some kind of bug likes it in hot weather) has started to come back nicely. My bell pepper plant has two little peppers on it.

I would be remiss not to mention my lime tree which wintered over in the bedroom of the garage apartment, with the temperature set at 47 and a sunny window. It is now outside, and there are lots of limes forming on it. I don't know how many will be viable.

[BakerAunt]

Monday’s dinner was Salmon and Couscous. I added 1/8 tsp. of celery seed as well (Mike mentioned doing that, so I thought that I would try it), and I like the flavor, so I will do that in the future.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I pulled out some frozen pumpkin on Monday and baked Toffee-Pumpkin Snack Cake, a recipe that appeared in Better Homes and Gardens Fall Baking (2017), p. 28. The recipe makes a 13x9” cake, but I halved it and baked it in an 8x8 inch pan. It uses some buckwheat, spelt, and chia seeds, as well as AP flour, and I added 2 Tbs. powdered milk.

I also made a double recipe of dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese crackers. I will bake them in a few days, after the dough sits in the refrigerator.

[BakerAunt]

I'm spending Sunday afternoon baking my version of the Dark Grains Bread from the second edition of Bernard Clayton's Bread book. It's the third time I've baked it, and I plan to post my revision of his recipe here, at some point, but I think that I want to try it wit a bit less yeast.

I'm also baking Bob's Delicious Chocolate Chip Muesli Cookies (recipe from Bob's Red Mill). I use dark chocolate chips and reduce them from 1 cup to 1/2 cup.

• This topic was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.

[RiversideLen]

Hot dogs (Vienna Beef), burgers on the grill with all the fixings.

[BakerAunt]

Saturday night dinner was supposed to be stir-fry with rice, but I got caught up in my project of researching the history of our house, and my husband did not want to wait for rice to cook, so I used half of my last package of spinach linguini. I sautéed orange bell pepper, sliced celery, and some kind of long garlic strands from today’s farmers’ market (did not impart a lot of garlic flavor) in grapeseed oil. Then I added mushrooms, then snow peas (also from today’s farmers’ market) and broccoli. I cut up the rest of the roast I made earlier this week and added it and its drippings. After the noodles were cooked and I stirred them in, I added sliced green onion (also from the farmers’ market).

[BakerAunt]

This Friday evening, I've made the dough for Rye Crisps, a cracker recipe that I adapted from KAF's The Baking Sheet 13.1 (Holiday 2001), pp. 18-19--that would be before KAF went to the color, glossy format. I've posted my version on this site. The dough will rest overnight in the refrigerator, then I will bake the crackers tomorrow. While my husband adores the sourdough cheese crackers, I feel the need for some variety.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I found this recipe for Lemon Walnut Biscotti in an article from Bon Appetit (April 2005), p. 119. The original used walnuts, but I had pecans available, and they work equally well. I have re-written the instructions for clarity and to streamline the process. Standing the biscotti on their edges for the second bake reduces the cooking time by not requiring that they be flipped over halfway through; I reduced the baking time accordingly.

Lemon Nut Biscotti

3 Cups AP flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda

10 Tbs. unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 1/3 Cups sugar
1 1/2 Tbs. finely grated lemon peel (I use zest of two lemons.)
2 large eggs
3 Tbs. freshly squeezed lemon juice

3 Cups chopped walnuts or pecans

Glaze:
1 large egg, beaten to blend
demerara or raw sugar (Sugar in the Raw)

In medium bowl, whisk together first four ingredients.

In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, and lemon peel until blended. One at a time, beat in each egg, beating just to blend. Beat in lemon juice, then flour mixture. Stir in nuts.

Divide dough into three pieces. (I weigh it.) Place each piece on a separate piece of saran wrap, and use the saran to help form dough into 8-inch logs. Press logs slightly to flatten to 2 1/2 inch wide logs. Wrap each log separately in saran, and chill until firm--at least three hours or up to three days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325F. Line heavy duty, large rimmed baking sheet (I use a half-sheet pan) with parchment paper. Unwrap logs and transfer to baking sheet, spacing evenly, as they will spread. Brush top of logs with beaten egg. Sprinkle generously with demerara (raw) sugar. Bake until golden brown and just firm to the touch, about 50 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely.

Set oven to 300F. Using a serrated knife, carefully cut logs into 1/3 inch slices. (These are very tender.) You can cut them straight (makes more for bake sales) or on the diagonal. Stand half of the slices on their edges on the same large rimmed, parchment-lined baking sheet. (This way, you do not have to turn them over.) Bake until the upper edges are golden, about 20 minutes. Briefly cool, remove to rack, and then bake the other half. Cool completely before storing in air-tight container.

[chocomouse]

Baker Aunt, my garden is not so big, not any more, as I have been down sizing it. Thirty-two years ago when we moved here, I made it 50 x 100 feet. This summer, we are down to about 35 x 50. And I'm thinking about plans for doing it all in planters on the deck - in a few years. No deer, big or small (in Vermont, they are all "small", white-tail deer, 110-125 pounds is probably pretty average) have gotten through the fence. I start about 2 feet up off the ground, and the last row is about 5 feet up. They will jump a 12 foot fence easily, if they feel they have enough landing space. We also have 50 feet each of asparagus, blueberries, and blackberries, plus 150 feet of raspberries, and 3 apple trees. I don't envy you trying to cut back to one freezer/refrigerator!! I couldn't do that!

I also process my tomatoes by putting them in boiling water briefly, and then into cold water, and then slipping the skins off. I don't use a food mill, etc, I just squish them with my hands, add celery, onions, peppers and simmer til they have boiled down to sauce consistency.

[BakerAunt]

Thursday morning I baked a new recipe, Scottish Buttermilk Scones, from Beatrice Ojakangas' Breakfast with Beatrice (pp. 199-200). They are lower in fat than regular scones or biscuits (2 Tbs. butter to 2 cups flour), and they use baking soda and cream of tartar as the leavening--something which might interest Italian Cook, as she needs to avoid baking powder. Dividing the dough into twelve pieces was a bit messy because I was weighing it, and the dough is sticky. Next time, I will try a 2 Tbs. Zeroll scoop.

I split the baked biscuits with a fork, which prevents crumbling and keeps the texture. They were very good with butter and fresh strawberry jam--but of course almost anything would be wonderful with fresh strawberry jam made from such wonderful strawberries.

My one change was to use nearly 1 cup of whole wheat pastry flour in place of 1 cup of the regular flour. Barley flour might be nice as well.

This cookbook is new in that it is just published in 2018. It seems to be a compilation of recipes from her other cookbooks, and I think that the publisher may be doing that as a series with other cookbooks.

I was going to try the cream scones, but I used up the rest of the heavy cream yesterday in my soup.

[BakerAunt]

When I used fresh tomatoes to make a tomato sauce, I put them in boiling water (maybe a minute or two), then into ice water so that the skins would come off easily. Now that you mention it, I think that they did hold together.

[Mike Nolan]

I did get my 10 tomato plants in tonight. 2 Amish Paste, 4 Celebrity, 4 Better Boy.

That should provide more than enough eating tomatoes, possibly even enough to process, though my wife will probably be able to get some big tubs of tomatoes from the test gardens at UNL in late summer like she did last year.

I'm going to try a different way of processing them. Last year I put them through the food mill cold, and they separated when I cooked them. Next year I'm going to try putting them in boiling water for a couple of minutes before putting them through the food mill, that's supposed to keep them from separating so much. (There's some enzyme involved here, heating disables it.)

[BakerAunt]

We only have room for a small garden. I envy your large one, Chocomouse! Does the fishing line also work for the young deer?

My husband has some land in the Indiana classified forest program, and the deer are often destructive of his trees--and also of some rare plant life (like eating endangered orchids). In our yard, they also have chewed on non-garden plants that we are trying to keep. It seems to help with those if we scatter coffee grounds around those plants. The deer do not seem to like the smell.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.