What are You Baking the Week of February 2, 2020?

[RiversideLen]

Thanks, Skeptic. I don't make roast beef too often but that does sound good. I use my buns for pretty much any bread application, burgers, eggs, peanut butter etc. The recipe makes a soft but sturdy bread. The only thing I don't use it for is grilled cheese.

[BakerAunt]

I had hoped to try a new crispbread recipe on Wednesday but discovered in the morning that the lemon in the refrigerator had gone bad. I made a special trip and bought more. Then I had to run a last minute errand, then it was time to start roasting the chicken for dinner. In short, the day got away from me. However, I did bake my Whole Wheat sourdough cheese crackers in the evening. Tomorrow I’ll tackle the new recipe.

[skeptic7]

Len;
I can't find your bun recipe on this site. Could you provide a link please? Thanks. I have roast beef on the brain, I roasted an eye of round for Xmas, and am still taking slices out of the freezer for sandwiches.

[BakerAunt]

I'd like to see Len's bread in the favorite recipes section.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm pretty sure this is his buns recipe, it was derived from the Old Milwaukee recipe in Ginsberg's book: Rye Bread/Buns

[RiversideLen]

My Old Milwaukee recipe is a slight variation of a recipe I found on the old Recipezaar which is now food dot com.

My rye/semolina/wheat bun recipe is a variation of a recipe I found somewhere else, but I don't remember the name. Anyway, here it is, Rye/Semolina/Wheat buns

[BakerAunt]

It's never too early in February to invoke Valentine’s Day. On Thursday morning I baked my Wholegrain Fresh Apple Cake, but instead of a 13x9-inch pan, I used a large, red heart-shaped pan that I bought from King Arthur a long time ago. It holds the same batter as a 13x9 pan, although the cake is thicker. I’ve used it for coffee cakes in the past. The recipe baked well, although I had to add an additional five minutes, since the cake is thicker. I accidentally used 2/3 cup barley flour instead of ½ cup, but I don’t think that will make a difference.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I also tried a new recipe, “Lemon Crispbread with Kamut Flour and Olive Oil, from Jan Hedh’s Swedish Breads and Pastry (pp. 140-141). Instead of cracker-like breads, what I got resembles the thickness of pan pizza. If I were to bake this recipe again, I would divide the dough into three pieces before rolling it out in order to get it as thin as possible. I rolled each half as large as my cookie sheet, which is as large as my oven would take. Perhaps Hedh was using much larger baking pans (a half sheet would be too small) and a larger oven. I did cut the salt from 20g to 12g, but I don’t think that is the issue. I won’t taste them until tomorrow, at which time I’ll know if I think the recipe is worth another try. I

[Italiancook]

I made a fool's purchase in the name of baking. My husband threw away my copy of Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery that was a gift -- Really! It has a tried and true Vienna Bread recipe that I like to make for guests. I never used the cookbook for anything else, so if it wasn't for that recipe, I would chalk it up to de-cluttering. I didn't want to spend over $50.00 for a new copy -- after all, it is only one recipe. But I plunked down $20.00 for a used one. Again, for one recipe. Thus, a fool's purchase in the name of baking!

BakerAunt, after reading your post about Valentine's Day, all I can think of is chocolate cake. I think there's a Texas Chocolate Cake in my weekend future. The temptation would have subsided if I had chocolate chips to munch on, but I'm all out of those.

[Mike Nolan]

Not a book I'm familiar with, but I see Amazon has used copies for under $10 with shipping. May not be the same edition as the one you had, though. At over 1300 pages, it's a big book!

I've bought too many books in the last six months, I need to break myself of that habit, there are several I haven't even opened yet.

[Italiancook]

I wanted to look up roll recipes in the Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery. I had a baking flop this week and wanted a better recipe. I made Whole Foods Market's Buttermilk Rolls (from Internet). The recipe pictured them as cloverleaf rolls so I made them that way. I had tried cloverleaf rolls once before, and the 3 balls of dough in each muffin cup had fused into one large roll. So I still wanted to replicate the excellent cloverleaf rolls of my beloved stepmother.

The Whole Foods recipe didn't do that. The dough was dry in the mixer. I probably would have thought of adding water, but a workman needed to ask me a question. By the time I got back to the dough, I was in a hurry and used it dry. The rolls did develop the cloverleaf shape, and they weren't doorstops, but they almost were doorstops. Saturated with hot soup, they're good.

The cooking encyclopedia is over 1300 pages, because it has, I believe, every food and everything related to cooking that was known in 1971. With at least one recipe for almost everything, and several recipes for most, with variations. The reason I didn't use the cookbook a lot is that it's so thick it's hard to prop open to read a recipe while cooking it. As I recall, I had to use cans of veggies to hold each side open.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday morning, I made another batch of Maple Granola, using the recipe on the KAF site, which is a revision of the one in their wholegrain baking book. I halve the amount of salt and coconut flakes, delete the vanilla, and add 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds. It makes a big batch, which is good, as my husband uses it as a snacking food. I like a bit on top of my jar of yogurt in the morning, and sometimes I eat it with milk.

[Italiancook]

I made my beloved stepmother's Texas Chocolaate Cake with her chocolate frosting. I made this shortly after I inherited the recipe. It didn't taste like hers, so I never made it again. I realized today that the difference in taste probably is because her recipe calls for "oleo," which I assume is margarine. I use butter.

Mike, I may have asked this before. If so, I'll write down the answer this time, instead of leaving it in my brain. Is the icing to be put on the second the cake comes out of the oven? Or, 5 minutes later?

The cake baked for only 18 minutes. I couldn't get the icing done in that time. It was about 5 minutes after removing the cake that I put on the icing. Also, is this supposed to be a liquidy frosting? Her recipe says to add extra milk if the frosting isn't spreadable. Mine was thick, but spreadable, so I didn't add extra milk.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by Italiancook.

[Mike Nolan]

This post has the link to the recipe I use plus my modifications to it.

Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake

I start making the frosting while the cake is baking, but I wait a few minutes before pouring it on. The surface of the cake is usually between 140F and 150F when I pour the icing on. The icing is also warm, probably in the 120 degree range.

Pouring a warm heavy icing on a hot cake compresses the cake a bit, which makes it fudgier.

The frosting should be thick but still more or less pourable while warm, though you will need to scrape the pan. If you taste it and it tastes like old fashioned home-made fudge, you've done it right! It'll harden up in the pan as it cools.

[BakerAunt]

I also realized on Friday that we were running out of bread. I decided to repeat the bread that I last baked but use KAF Harvest Grains instead of old fashioned oats. The Harvest Grains do not absorb as much of the buttermilk that I pour over them as the old-fashioned oats do. I added 2 Tbs. oat bran to the mixture. I later needed to add 2 Tbs. more of bread flour during the kneading process. The dough took almost two hours on the first rise, probably because the house was cold. Once my husband started a fire in the wood stove, after the first hour, it did fine. The second rise took an hour. The bread had excellent oven spring. I baked it for 43 minutes, spritzing it once I put it in the oven, and covering it for the last 10 minutes to prevent overbrowning. I look forward to slicing it for lunch tomorrow.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

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