Search Results for ‘(“C’
-
Search Results
-
I was looking at the Popovers recipe in the KAF Baker's Companion, and the sodium level it reports for the recipe has to be way off. It says 11 milligrams per popover, but it uses 1/2 teaspoon of salt and that's about 1100 milligrams of sodium, and that doesn't count the sodium in the flour, eggs and milk. My Fitness Pal says it is about 145 milligrams of sodium per popover (12 per batch).
I think KAF has an errata page, but I don't recall the link. If you find out, I'll check to see if the sodium level for that recipe has been corrected.
I suspect I can cut the salt at least in half and it won't affect the recipe much. (I once tried Alton Brown's popover recipe, it uses a lot more salt and we thought they were inedible because of the salt level.)
Sunday morning, I tried a new recipe, Hazelnut Waffles with Pear Compote, from King Arthur Flour's Whole Grain Baking, pp. 19-20. I have the first edition of the cookbook, and I discovered that something was missing--how much liquid and what kind (milk, buttermilk?) I googled the recipe online and found a single adaptation that used 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk. I used a combination of buttermilk and 1% milk (did not have enough of either). I cut the vanilla from 1 tsp. to 1/4 tsp., as I think KAF tends to overdo vanilla. I am using up some salted butter, so I deleted the salt. The recipe made 3 double and one single Belgium waffles. They are very good and filling. I did not make the pear compote; I had mine with maple syrup, and my husband had his with honey.
I have emailed the folks at King Arthur to find out what the liquid ingredient and amount should be. I've also asked them if there is a place that lists errata for the cookbooks. When I get that information, I'll add an addendum to this post.Addendum: I heard back from the bakers at King Arthur Flour. It should be 1 and 1/2 cups buttermilk.
Town Meeting Chicken (or Turkey) Pie
King Arthur Flour used to send out emails with new recipes, and that is the origin of this one from perhaps ten to twelve years ago. It has not been posted on their recipe site. The original recipe used two rotisserie chickens, but I like it as a way to use up leftover turkey. I have modified the recipe over the years to use less butter in the filling. I deleted the salt in the filling and added the sherry as well as the flax meal. I changed the topping by substituting in 25% whole wheat pastry flour (and I may try increasing that amount) and using buttermilk rather than regular milk. On occasion, I've used frozen mixed vegetables rather than peas and carrots.
The full recipe bakes nicely in a 13x9 inch lasagna pan (3 inches deep). A half recipe bakes nicely in a 4-inch deep square 9-inch ceramic dish. I managed to bake a 3/4 recipe in a 13x9 inch Le Creuset baker with only slight overflow.
Filling:
3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
6 Tbs. unsalted butter
3 1/2 cups chicken or turkey broth
2 1/2 cups milk (I use 1%)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1-2 Tbs. sherry (can be omitted, but it really works nicely for flavor)
3 Tbs. ground flax meal (optional)
5 1/2 to 6 Cups cut-up chicken or turkey
12-16 oz. bag frozen peas and carrots, slightly thawedBiscuit Topping:
3 cups unbleached flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
4 tsp. Bakewell Cream (note: this is NOT the same as baking powder)
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (that is 4 oz. or one stick, or 8 Tbs.)
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (or regular milk, if desired)Preheat oven to 450F. Spray DEEP 13x9 inch pan with cooking spray (I use Pam). Set aside.
I usually stir together the dry ingredients for the topping, then set aside while I make the filling.
For the filling, melt butter in a 6-quart heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the combined AP and whole wheat flour, and stir until combined and smoothed. Gradually add the broth, whisking constantly. Cook and stir the sauce over medium heat until it comes to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for five minutes. Slowly stir or whisk in milk. Add pepper, thyme, and sherry. Stir in flax meal. Stir in chicken and vegetables. Bring to a simmer.
Pour mixture into prepared pan, and put into the oven while you are preparing the biscuits.
For the biscuits: Combine dry ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl with a relatively flat bottom. (The flat bottom makes it easier to cut in the butter and to combine the dough.) As noted above, I usually do so before I make the filling.Cut 1/2 cup unsalted butter into 32 pieces. (I cut it into the 8 Tbs., and then each into 4 pieces.) Add the butter, a little at a time, and toss with the flour. You want to get all the pieces of butter coated with flour. Once all the butter is added, use a pastry cutter to cut in the butter to make small crumbly pieces. Add the buttermilk or regular milk all at once. Toss with fork until it begins to come together, then switch to a hand-held scraper and use it to bring the dough together. I fold it over itself in the bowl until it coheres.
On a piece of parchment paper, pat into a rectangle 3/4 of an inch thick. It's ok if the corners are rounded. Use a bench knife to cut into 12 pieces.
Carefully--there will be steam when you open the oven door--remove the pan with the filling from the oven. Carefully lay the biscuits evenly on top. Return pan to the oven and bake 15 minutes until filling is bubbly and biscuits are golden brown. (The original recipe says 15-18, but I find 15 sufficient.) Again, carefully--there will be steam when you open the oven door--remove the pan from the oven and let sit for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Note: when I make a half recipe in the deep 9-inch square dish, I pat the dough into a square and cut 9-biscuits for the topping.
The biscuit pie reheats beautifully in a microwave.
A couple of thoughts:
1. I have a used bread machine which I bought at an estate sale for $20. I only use it for the initial mixing and the kneading when I'm doing a recipe of up to 4 1/2 cups flour (5 is pushing it). I don't even allow it to rise in the bread machine, which I think is too small and gets too warm. For my larger recipes, I use a 7-quart Cuisinart mixer. Cuisinart got out of the mixer business a year later. I can do three loaves of bread in it.
2. You mention proofing your bread at 80F. I think that is too warm. I've not used a proofing box, but when it is exceptionally cool, I move the dough to a location that will be around 70F (in my case, close to the wood stove in the front room). Some people use the top of the refrigerator. For an initial rise, I cover the greased bowl with one of those food-safe "shower caps" that KAF sells or with some flat German plastic lids. I've also used saran. For the second rise, I like to put the shaped dough in its pan into a plastic snapped box. That keeps the bread from drying out on top.
3. Be careful not to add too much flour to your dough. That was a problem that I always had when I kneaded by hand. Too much flour will make the bread more dense.
I definitely approach cooking with an engineering perspective. I make notes on nearly every recipe I try, often writing right in the book! When I'm trying to design a new recipe, I take more extensive notes in a lab book. (You'll find I often recommend people make notes on their recipes noting what worked and what didn't.)
A number of years back my wife gave me a recipe her mother had written for honey wheat bread. I had to adapt it quite a bit (it called for lard, among other things), but for several years it was our daily bread, and I made it at least once a week. These days we don't eat as much bread as we used to, and our younger son has moved to California, but I still make it about once a month. You can find it here: Honey Wheat Bread
I also mill my own whole wheat flour using a Nutrimill impact mill my older son gave me for Christmas about 6 years ago.
If your mixer is that old, it might be from the days when Hobart owned Kitchaid. (Look on the band around the mixer and see if it says 'Hobart' on it.) Mine is the one we got as a wedding present in 1972 and it's still working great. If so, it's a real work horse of a machine, most people think the quality of KA mixers went down after the company was sold in the early 90's, though it appears to have gone back up in the last few years. If mine died, I'd be in a quandary, because I also have the pasta maker attachment. I'd probably buy the bottom-of-the line KA mixer for things like pasta and whipping egg whites but I'd look very hard into a something like an Ankarsrum or Bosch mixer for breadmaking, or maybe even a 12 quart table-top commercial mixer, though that'd be overkill.
