Search Results for '("C'

[Mike Nolan]

Lettuce wraps always seem to be missing something over a bun or slices of bread. I think it's the texture as much as the flavor. Flour tortillas are a little better than lettuce wraps, but I suspect that mushroom mixture would be really good on rye bread. I'll have to work that into the menu plan at some point.

Tonight's souffle came out nearly perfect, I should have taken a picture of it. We packaged the leftover souffle up for lunches for Diane. (Contrary to popular belief, you can microwave a souffle and it will fluff up nearly back to its original state.)

[Mike Nolan]

I'm baking another apple pie today.

I have been experimenting with using a little milk and honey (heated in the microwave for about 20 seconds) on the top of the pie instead of egg wash, I think it improves the color and the sugar crystals stick just as well.

[Mike Nolan]

My mother just kept the oil in her deep fat fryer in between usages, but she'd use it fairly frequently, at least once a week in the winter. If the oil got too gross, she'd put it in a can, freeze it, and toss it in the trash. We do pretty much the same thing with the oils from cooking meats.

We don't even pan fry chicken, too messy and not as good as restaurants that specialize in fried chicken. The last few times we got chicken from Popeyes, though, the legs and thighs were tiny, less meat on a drumstick than on a wing it seemed! We tried Lee's Chicken recently (the oldest restaurant in Lincoln) but it had kind of an odd taste the next day so we probably won't be getting their chicken very often.

Restaurants can use services that will recycle fry oil--it can be turned into biofuel--but I don't think those services will accept home cooking oils, probably because they're often not just fry oil.

I've wondered what the people who deep fry turkeys do with all that oil afterwards. I've had deep fat fried turkey once, I'll stick to doing it in the oven or on the rotisserie.

[BakerAunt]

Cornmeal-Pumpernickel Rye Waffles

Marliss Desens adapted this recipe from "Cornmeal-Rye Waffles" in The King Arthur Whole Grain Baking Book (p. 21). Bob's Red Mill medium grind cornmeal gives a slight, pleasant chewiness. I use King Arthur's pumpernickel (only place I can find it.)

2 cups medium grind wholegrain cornmeal
1 cup pumpernickel flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder

3 cups buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
2 eggs

In large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients (first group).

In small bowl (I use a 4-cup measuring cup), whisk together buttermilk and oil, then theggs. Add to dry ingredients and fold in gently. (I use a cake whisk, then switch to a spatula.) Let the batter rest for 10 minutes to allow the cornmeal to soften. Pre-heat the waffle iron.

From here, it is a matter of "know thy waffle iron." I use a Belgium waffle iron that makes two waffles at a time. I use about ¼ to1/3 cup batter per waffle (approximate because I use a ladle that works well). Bake until the waffle stops steaming. For my waffle iron and this recipe 4 minutes, 30 seconds is ideal. Serve warm with maple syrup.

Yield: About 14 individual Belgium waffle squares.

Leftovers can be frozen when cooled. I cut into individual squares, wrap with saran, then put in a bag in the freezer. I re-heat at 375F in a countertop convection oven for five minutes. A good toaster, which I do not have, would also work.

What I changed: I replaced 6 Tbs. of butter with the oil. I tried ¼ cup of oil, but 1/3 seems to work better. I tried avocado oil, but it made the waffles too fragile. I added the milk powder for more calcium, but I also think it improves texture. I reduced the salt from 2 tsp. to 1 tsp. (What the heck were they thinking?!)

[RiversideLen]

I made a Butterball turkey breast roast (it's a rolled roast), rice and cauliflower.

[BakerAunt]

I celebrated the return to standard time on Sunday morning by making Cornmeal-Pumpernickel Waffles for breakfast. The moment I put the first one on the waffle iron, the dog arrives to stand guard. She loves bits of waffles.

In the afternoon, I baked Lemon Ricotta Cookies. I adapt the recipe from the Olive Tomato blog by using half white whole wheat flour and using just 5 oz. of ricotta (left over from another recipe). Today, I dipped the balls of dough in autumn colored sugar, and they look festively seasonal. I have also shortened the baking time from 15 to 14 minutes, and I turn the baking sheets halfway through the time.

[Mike Nolan]

I use a digital caliper that I found at a bead shop (Shipwreck Beads in the Seattle area, biggest assortment of beads in the world!), it measures in 0.1 mm increments. Measuring something soft like cracker dough is a bit more challenging, but if you do it carefully I think it's accurate.

The small sheeter doesn't take up as much space when it isn't being used, but I have a 24x48 stainless steel work table in the basement that I use for some baking projects, especially ones that need a lot of space. I'm planning to try rolling out strudel dough in the sheeter, then overlapping pieces when rolling up the strudel.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--I, too, have sheeter envy. I could put a sheeter in the Annex kitchen (apt. over our freestanding garage). The price, however, is high, and I would have to prove to my husband that it is worth it. Now that I have developed a second cracker recipe--for which I will post the recipe-in-progress later today--perhaps I can chip away at his financial resistance. 🙂

With the new cracker recipe, those that I can get thinner have a nice light texture. The ones that are thicker (toward the center) are still good and work nicely with heavier toppings. The new recipe--which is not a sourdough--uses lower gluten flours, an idea that I got from a King Arthur cracker recipe that was inconvenient, as it requires the crackers to cool overnight in the oven, so it requires a lot of planning ahead if I baked in the afternoon, so that the oven would not be needed in the evening. I used a combination of half Italian-style flour and a quarter whole wheat and a quarter barley this last time. I plan to substitute spelt for the whole wheat next time. I may at some point see if I can reduce the Italian-style flour, which is the more expensive ingredient.

[Mike Nolan]

I have made an apple galette using the scottish oatmeal shortbread recipe (par-baked) in the KAF Whole Grains book as the base. It makes for a very interesting crust. I used to do it 2-3 times a year in a half sheet pan, but that's way too much these days, I'd have to scale the crust recipe down a lot.

[BakerAunt]

I was not sure that I was going to cook on Thursday, since I got this year's Covid shot yesterday, which has sapped my energy today. However, I was able to pull myself together and make the planned soup with ground turkey, a variety of vegetables (carrots, celery, red and yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, a mixture of red and brown lentils and yellow and green split peas with some barley, my turkey/chicken broth from the freezer, and kale. I have discovered that the kale is tastier if I first sauté it in olive oil near the end of the soup's cooking time, then add it. We have plenty left over for at least two or three more meals.

[BakerAunt]

Follow-Up on Pumpkin Cake: When I went to trim the cake to assemble it the next day, I discovered that it had not cooked through in the center. I am kicking myself for not having used my trusty digital thermometer. To try and salvage the cake, as my husband wished, I set the oven at 350F and put the halves and the trimmed pieces in for about 25 minutes, which dried them out enough that most of the cake (thankful it is small) is edible. Next time, I will cook it longer and use the digital thermometer!

[Mike Nolan]

No cooking tonight, we were invited to the dinner held by the wine teacher at the end of the term, at the Lincoln Country Club. (The LCC has always been one of the best restaurants in town, its reputation remains intact.)

Dinner was four courses, each paired with a wine: seafood, salad, meat and dessert.

I thought the dessert was the star of the show.

The menu described it as "baked apple + strudel filling + bourbon caramel sauce".

It was like an individual size jalousie, braided puff pastry and a filling of apples and caramel bourbon sauce, Very good, and something I think I may have to try to experiment with making.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike,

When you make apple cider challah I'll be interested in your feedback. I started with straight cider and then switched to boiled cider. We notice a real difference with the boiled. It's a stronger and sweeter flavor. My kids love to drink it but it is too sweet for Kate and me.

There are rules about how much juice can be used instead of water in bread. Too much and it is cake and not bread. I reduce the cider by about a third and I can put more cider flavor in without exceeding the juice-to-water ratio.

I boil my own cider because I can use local stuff that I know and like and support CT farmers. It also lets me use different ciders. For example I can buy regual, mixed apple cider or all gala or all Honeycrisp. So far I have stuck with mixed. The Honeycrisp carries a price-premium that I am not sure is worth it.

I have not run the numbers to see if it actually saves me money. These days, with shipping, it actually might.

The other thing it lets me do is put other flavors into the cider if I want to. For example, I can toss in some cinnamon sticks and that changes the taste of the cider. I haven't tried it in challah yet but it is on my list.

If I just bought KAB boiled cider it would be limiting.

I need to make ciabatta and cookies this week. Henry made Osso de Morto cookies this week for a Halloween party. Pretty interesting. Mostly almond flour and powdered sugar. We were not able to taste any 🙁 because the recipe only made 16. I might have made a couple small ones but I try not to interfere unless asked. They needed to be refrigerated overnight which Hen didn't know before he started so they only had about 45 minutes. They were a little wonky but they looked good to me.

It was a very different recipe and something he hadn't seen or tried before so I was pretty proud of Hen for being adventurous.

[Mike Nolan]

Nothing planned yet, I want to do the apple cider Challah soon, though, and I'm out of sourdough cheese crackers. (They go really well with cheese dip.)

[Mike Nolan]

I've been looking for a silpat that fits my 2/3 sheet pans for years. Well, I finally found one made by Winco (SBS-21PP) that is 14 7/16 x 20 1/2 and fits the pan perfectly. (It's purple, which is restaurant code for 'allergy free', but that's OK by me.) I'm looking forward to seeing how it affects bread, it should keep the bottom from getting overbaked.

My fall back option, and I'll probably order it anyway, was a 16 inch x 5 foot roll of silicone material with 1 inch grid marks on it, available on Amazon for around $20. It comes in red or blue. This is pure silicone and can be cut to shape to fit the pans you have, unlike the silpats which have fiberglass in them and cannot be cut.