Search Results for '("C'

[RiversideLen]

I got a new meat grinder for my KitchenAid mixers (the metal one, not the plastic). Yesterday I had a couple of strip steaks in the freezer that I decided to grind. The grinder worked beautifully. I made a smaller burger for yesterday's lunch (about 3 ounces) and it was very good. It does taste different from regular ground beef. I took the remaining meat (20 ounces) and used it to stuff 4 green pepper halves, which I had one for dinner yesterday with some pasta and broccoli. I made a small batch of pizza dough this afternoon and one of those stuffed peppers is going to find its way sliced onto a small cast iron skillet pizza.

If I had prepared those steaks as steaks, I would have had 2 meals from them. By grinding them I got one lunch and will have 4 dinners.

[chocomouse]

Tomorrow King Arthur Flour is having their once a year Friends and Family sale! 20% off most everything (not appliances and a few other things, like my Sir Lancelot or Sir Galahad wholesale flours, etc) I have a very short list. Fromaggi Italiano which I have never tried, the Lemon Crumbles (I think that's the name) that I do like. I'll probably get some Harvest Grains or 6 Grain flour, maybe some other mixed grains. Their whole grain flour now seems to be around $16.95- $18.95 for 3 pounds. This is my only chance all year to shop their sale, but I really don't need much of anything, my pantry is pretty well stocked.

[Mike Nolan]

Aaron, in one of the BBGA classes I took online, I learned the trick of taking parchment paper or a towel and wrapping it around the top of the mixer to keep the flour from spilling out during the first part of the mixing, before the flour is hydrated.

That won't help with a recipe that produces more dough than the mixer can handle, though. My 50 year old 4.5 quart KA struggles with one of the Challah recipes I use and with the Clonmel Kitchens Double Crusty Bread recipe, both wind up climbing the hook. It's making funny noises again, and my wife was looking at an Anksarsrum over the weekend. (I'd probably see if I could get the KA repaired or buy an inexpensive KA just to have it for egg whites and the pasta attachment.)

[RiversideLen]

I'll have to give that vermouth idea a try sometime.

I made the base for my gravy a few days ahead of time, a pretty thick paste in which I used the turkey broth that I froze. When I was roasting the turkey breast, I had it sitting on a stalk of celery, carrot and a half of an onion. Then I added enough no sodium boxed chicken broth to just cover the pan, added a little to it a couple of times to keep the pan from drying out (so there really wasn't anything to deglaze). When the breast was done I had nice browned pan drippings that I used to thin out the very thick gravy I had previously made. This two step process really made the gravy making easy and kept me on schedule (on Thanksgiving I ended up being an hour and half behind schedule).

I agree with you about Alton Brown and the myriad of TV chefs. I always thought Emerald was the worse offender in oversalting, throwing in a handful of salt with just about every ingredient he would add to a dish.

[Mike Nolan]

I find it deglazing the pan with a little dry vermouth improves the gravy.

For Thanksgiving I rested our 12 pound turkey for about a half hour in a dome made from two large Vollrath stainless steel mixing bowls, an idea I first saw on an Alton Brown show. That gave me another half cup or so of juices to add to the gravy. (AB when he doesn't go off the deep end has a lot of good ideas, along with a few strange ones, and like a lot of 'trained' chefs, he oversalts his food. I used his recipe for popovers once, then went back to the King Arthur one.)

I have a theory about why so many chefs oversalt their food. Like many kitchen workers, they are heavy smokers and heavy drinkers, and it takes that much salt to register on their palates.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made ciabatta rolls again. The kids like them but I don't think Kate has even tried them. I doubled the yeast to see if it made a difference but it is still a tiny amount - the standard recipe called for .3% and I doubled it to .6. This is becoming my go-to. I like my sourdough but Violet and Kate won't even try it. I am still playing with roll shape to find what is best.

The kids and I made molasses cookies. I mixed them and they both came in and offered to help so I had them shape them and put them on the sheet pans and into the oven. I tried very hard not to freak out at the shapes. I never realized how fussy I've become. But I didn't say anything to the kids, just thanks for helping.

Kate told the kids they were topping the cookies with too much sugar to which they replied "this is what Dad does." They listened to their mom (which they should!) and then I added a bunch more sugar before they went into the oven.

[navlys]

I purchased Ka Baker's special dry milk powder and Dough improver last year. (wanted to use up gift card) . I never opened either bag and I now notice they both have 6/27 expiration dates. My lemon powder has always expired. Do you think I should still use these?

[BakerAunt]

I am craving sugar cookies. Instead of giving in and baking my lovely butter ones (I'm saving my butter splurge for the Pfeffernusse), I googled oil sugar cookies and looked at the top three. I liked one but decided to look further. It turned out the one that I liked was taken directly from the Betty Crocker website. I read the comments and thought about the two oil-based cookies that I do bake--Big Lake Judy's molasses cookies and King Arthur's spiced rye cookies. I also considered the oil-based maple cookie that I am developing. Some commentators found the cookies too oily, bland, or tasting of baking powder.

I set to work. I used half white whole wheat flour, so that I can claim some nutritional value. I added 2 Tbs. of milk powder, since it seems to help with taste and texture in cakes, and again, it upped the nutritional profile. I cut the oil from 2/3 to 1/3 cup. The recipe stated vegetable oil; I used avocado. I also cut the baking powder from 2 tsp. to 1 tsp. I added ¼ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg to the wet ingredients. I made sure to beat the oil and sugar together well, then added the eggs, the vanilla, and the nutmeg. I mixed the baking powder with the dry ingredients and added half to mix before adding the other half. I used a #30 scoop and got 17 cookies, which I put on two parchment lined baking sheets. First, however, I dropped each cookie in red and green sugar. I pressed them down a bit. I lowered the baking temperature from 400F to 375F. I baked the first tray for 12 minutes, which got them a bit browner on the bottoms than I like, so I did the second for 11 minutes. The result is a very nice, slightly cakey cookie to go with tea!

[Mike Nolan]

I wound up cooking mine for about 18 hours total, but it was pretty thick after 12. (I kept adjusting the spice mix, and each time I added spices I cooked it some more.) In the end it was probably a little too thick.

[RiversideLen]

My open container of SAF Gold is just about done so I went rummaging through my chest freezer and came up with a pound that has an expiration date of June 2022. I figure it should be good so I opened it and used a 1/4 teaspoon to make a pizza yesterday (just one pizza, 160 grams of flour). As I expected, the yeast is fine (SAF Gold is a trooper!).

I changed up my dough recipe a little, I normally use equal amounts of AP, Whole Wheat, Semolina and sometimes Rye. Yesterday I used 50% Semolina, 25% each of Rye and Whole Wheat. It came out great although I noticed a little more of the whole wheat flavor than normal. I formed the crust by hand, very easy, and toppings were sliced chicken meatballs and mushrooms. I sliced fresh mushrooms and roasted them until the liquid they gave up was all gone. The result was golden brown with a very nice flavor.

[Mike Nolan]

This is what The Fresh Loaf had to say about replicating the mixture:

The blend itself is mostly steel cut oats, some bulgur and a small amount of flax seeds, golden or brown. You can use 3:2:1 proportions if you wish: 3 Tbsp oats, 2 Tbsp bulgur and 1 Tbsp flaxseed (whole) in the mix.

[Mike Nolan]

It looks like the Pompanoosuc porridge mix had just 3 ingredients:
Wheat Bulgur
Steel Cut Oats (Irish style oats)
Flaxseed

[navlys]

Every year I make the German stolen that my German neighbor Gerta introduced me to 43 years ago. I actually watched her make it but I could never duplicate hers! I used to search far and wide for the farmers cheese she used, I purchased the Dr Oetker essences and I hunted down lard at the local supermarket. My husband insists I make it anyway and now it is a tradition. Every year it comes out differently. This year I replaced the farmers cheese with cottage cheese. I also substituted extra butter for the lard. I couldn't find the Dr Oetker baking powder so I used my regular baking powder. ( I also discovered that the German baking powder in the packet wasn't the same as our baking powder)! I didn't have the essences either so I substituted extracts. Well this year I did not overbake the loaves but they spread out like never before. The non crunchy part tastes good. Oh well there's always next year.

[BakerAunt]

We finished up the spaghetti sauce casserole (faux lasagna). We are now waiting patiently for the dessert to cool enough to eat. (I'll post more about it on the baking thread.)

[RiversideLen]

I made a boneless pork chop, had it with some pasta and red cabbage. I cooked the cabbage in a little chicken broth and then lightly thickened the broth with corn starch and used that as a sauce for the pasta. A head of cabbage really gives a lot of servings, but tonight was the last of it (except for a little leftover for tomorrows lunch).