What are You Baking the Week of December 30, 2018?

[BakerAunt]

We are about to bake our way into 2019!

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[BakerAunt]

I baked on New Year’s Eve. I again used as my base recipe, the KAF recipe for Oatmeal Toasting Bread. I use half bread flour and half whole wheat flour, along with 1 Tbs. flax meal. I use 1 cup buttermilk, in which I soak my grains of choice. Previously, I’ve used KAF’s Harvest Grains, but I’ve also used rolled oats, and last time I used rolled barley. This time I used Bob’s Red Mill rolled Five Grain Flakes. I cut the salt to 1 tsp. I find that the bread bakes a nice high loaf in an 8x4 loaf pan. I bake it to about 200F, which takes 47 minutes rather than 40 minutes, although that may be the oven I currently am using.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making a batch of honey wheat bread today. (I might make another one tomorrow, I've got a lot of milk to use up, and the bread freezes well.)

[BakerAunt]

I baked a blueberry pie on New Year's day, that turned out rather soupy. Details are on the dessert thread.

[BakerAunt]

I baked a new recipe on Wednesday, Graham Crackers, from Recipes from the Old Mill: Baking with Whole Grains, by Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind (Good Books: 1995), p. 73. I’ve been looking for a graham cracker recipe. I had tried Peter Reinhart’s and did not like the consistency or the flavor, as I’m not a molasses fan. This recipe also uses oil rather than butter, but it uses brown sugar for the sweetening. I substituted graham flour for whole wheat flour, since I have it. I suspect in 1995, it was harder for the average baker to purchase. I added the optional cinnamon. The dough was very crumbly. (I wish that recipe writers would indicate what its consistency should be.) It came together a bit after refrigeration, but it was still crumbly. I ended up squishy each third of the dough together, flattening it, then spritzing with water until I could get it rolled out 1/8-inch thick. I rolled them out on parchment paper, with saran wrap on top, then cut them into 5x5 cm. squares (metric rules in such matters) and poked each a few times with a fork. I pulled them apart from each other. I baked for 15 minutes. They have very good flavor and while firmer than what we would buy in the store, they are nice to munch. It made about 60 crackers, with only 4 g saturated fat for the entire recipe, and that is from canola oil.
I’m wondering, if I bake them again, whether it would be best to add more water to the dough or to reduce the flour, as it was a bit of a pain rolling them out. However, I don’t want to change the consistency or the texture. It used 3 1/2 cups flour, 1/4 cup canola oil, and 3/4 cups water. It also called for 1/3 cup instant nonfat dry milk, and I used Bob's Red Mill brand for that, as I did for the graham flour. (For inclusiveness, it also used 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/2 tsp. cinnamon.)

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I baked my version of Ellen's buns using some additional whole wheat flour. They are good, but I will go back to my original adaptation. We used them for sandwiches with some of the leftover maple pork tenderloin.

I also baked my Eggnog cake, using low-fat eggnog, which I miraculously found in Kroger. The original recipe uses 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup butter; I substituted 2/3 cup oil for both. I also substituted in 1 cup of barley flour. I made it in the "Party" cake pan, which can be neatly sliced into 20 pieces, which comes to 1 g of fat per slice. I'll add a note tomorrow about whether this experiment is successful.

Note: The low-saturated fat eggnog cake is delicious and compares well to the original recipe. I think that I posted it here, so I'll add a note to the recipe.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.

[chocomouse]

This past week I have made bread using a new (at least to me) Whole Grain Flour Blend from KAF: white whole wheat, barley, pumpernickel, sorghum, oat, millet, amaranth, teff, and quinoa flours. It made wonderful bread. I also used the Super 10 Blend for more bread: spelt, millet, barley, teff, buckwheat, amaranth, sorghum rye, quinoa, chia seeds. Again, excellent bread. And, a loaf with my oldest favorite, Harvest Grains Blend:whole oat berries, millet, rye, wheat flours, and flax, poppy, sesame, and sunflower seeds. Another superb bread. I cannot find the Super 10 or Whole Grain blend on their website. I also do not see the Ancient Grains, another great blend I have used, on the website. I suspect they have renamed some of the flours, just as they have renamed other products, or possibly made a few minor changes to the ingredients. I used to mix up my own blends, using a variety of flours and seeds, But I've now decided to finish off my assorted jars of ingredients in the pantry and just buy whatever they are selling at the moment.

[KIDPIZZA]

MARLISS:
Good Morning my friend. I have read your post on your GRAHAM CRACKER baking episode.

You didn't ask for my thoughts but I just cannot not help myself... I am like an old retired firehouse dog that is ready to jump on the fire truck when it hears bells clanging & whistles blowing.

Marliss your recipe has failed you because it omitted at least 1, egg... most likely 1, egg plus a yolk.
This is why your dough was crumbly as you described. The oil can be increased an extra 1,oz or 2. You can consider adding honey about 2, oz

Marliss, 1/4 inch thick is to thick consider 1/8th or add 1/2 more to 3/32nds/inch (.09375) as a thickness.

Consider using ground cloves rather than cinnamon.

MARLISS let me give you good a reason why you should not pay any attention to the above...I have never baked graham crackers before. I use them in my cheesecakes base along with NILLA crackrs.

Good luck in your next baking episode....enjoy the day my friend.

~KIDPIZZA/CASS

[BakerAunt]

Hello, again, Cass. I always like to read and consider your comments.

I've done other crackers that do not use eggs, but I'll keep your suggestion in mind, just in case increasing the water a bit does not do the trick.

Believe it or not, the 1/8th-inch thickness actually produces a nice sized graham cracker thickness. Previously, I did Peter Reinhart's recipe, and his 1/4-inch were too thick.

Honey would certainly add some moisture, but I'm not sure that I want the honey flavor, since we really like the brown sugar taste.

I will be baking these again because my husband adores them, and I also like them. I'll post updates on what I do with the recipe.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse, I tried the Ancient Grains a long time ago, and we did not care for it. I ended up using just a little of it at a time until I used it up. Other than the Harvest Grains, I tend to avoid blends simply because I'm disappointed when the blend is changed or discontinued.

[skeptic7]

I did buttermilk whole wheat bread on Thursday. This is the recipe that I have been playing with for awhile. This works perfectly with a cinnamon swirl in it, but not so well with fruit and a cinnamon swirl. I wanted to try this again carefully without any problems like letting it sit too long before baking it, or letting the sponge part ferment too long which had happened in the last two batches. This time everything was mixed perfectly and rose perfectly and baked in a timely fashion. It was very tasty but much denser than I had hoped for. I'm going give up on buttermilk whole wheat raisin bread -- next time I'm going to see if leaving out some liquid and adding an egg will fix this.
On Friday, I did apple challah from the KAF recipe but changing it to leave out the honey and use all whole wheat flour. The dough was stiffer than it was normally but made a perfectly good bread. I mixed it in a stand mixer and only did a little hand mixing. This saved a lot of time. I've looked at my recipe and I first made it nearly 20 years ago. I like it for New Years as that appeals to my sense of humour. Apples and honey are traditional for the Jewish New Year, but I make it for the secular New Year. I bring it to a party where the hostess is avoiding sugar.
I baked this a couple of months ago in a slow cooker.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by skeptic7.

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