What are you baking the week of February 4th, 2018

[Italiancook]

S_Wirth, now that you've mentioned baking with baby food carrots, I'm reminded that Kelsey Nixon (Cooking Channel) has a recipe for Carrot Cookies that use baby food carrots.

Thanks for the link to the recipes. Carrot cake is my favorite, but I've never made one. I find grating all those carrots daunting. I always balk at grating but do it occasionally. I'm definitely going to check the baby aisle of the grocery store and get on-board with this cake recipe -- the 9x13 one. I don't own 2 springform pans.

[Mike Nolan]

I baked the first tray of graham crackers today. I think I may have overbaked them by about a minute, the bottoms are a bit dark, but they're interesting, though quite different from graham crackers from the store. I'll probably roll the next tray out a little bit more.

I think they'll make interesting graham cracker crumbs for a pie crust.

[Joan Simpson]

BakerAunt glad your back and hope ya'll had some good weather in Florida,rest and relaxation,at least you didn't have snow to deal with.My sister has been with me for awhile and have enjoyed her so much.Baked two more loaves of the seven grain bread and have been pleased with it.I have never baked a loaf of bread that has risen as fast in both rises.I made it with my old Sunbeam mixmaster and the bread hooks did the kneading.First rise it was coming out of the top of bowl in less than 20 min. did the window pane test and it was ready so I dumped it and formed loaves and they were over the top of 9x5 pans in 30 min.After they were baked they were about 1 & 1/2 inches over top of pan.I sent two loaves home with her today and the rest of the pound cake.

[wonky]

I had previously said I wasn't going to bake this week, then I said I would probably be back in the kitchen on Wednesday...well, I didn't make it to Wednesday...as I spent a couple of hours baking today. I had printed a recipe I found on Just A Pinch, and decided to try it today. It is called "The Best Sweet Yeast Dough I Have Ever Found"...by Kathie Carr. I am so glad I decided to try it. It lives up to the name. This is a enriched dough, quite sweet, (which could be adjusted according to taste) and is very flavorful, tender, and just wonderful. Of course, I can never leave well enough alone, as I added 3 cups of pomegranate infused cranberries (I doubled the recipe) We had them as dinner rolls, and they were AWESOME. Would be even more special, if you wanted to use them as a sweet roll, if frosted lightly with a cream cheese icing. Can't say enough about them. Will use this recipe over and over.

A had mentioned that I was making pizza dough for my Son's super bowl party. I had never made pizza dough, as my husband is not a real big pizza fan. I used King Arthur's recipe for "The best pizza you will ever make". The dough came together beautifully (used the gram version). I would highly recommend it. I put olive oil, and cornmeal on the cookie sheet, turned the dough out onto the pan, and used my fingers to spread the dough out. It was so easy to work with. My son said there were 5 other home made pizza's at the party, and his was voted best. He did say he pre-baked the crust for 10 minutes at 350, before adding the sauce and toppings. Will definitely make this dough again, and my DH will just have to like it, or make himself a sandwich.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--Where did you find the graham cracker recipe?

Italian Cook: I use the grating attachment with my food processor for grating carrots--it is very fast.

Joan--We only had one rainy afternoon in Florida. We went to the botanical gardens, hiked some state and county parks, and walked the beaches.

Wonky--I would have bet that you would be back in the kitchen before Wednesday!

Right now I have a loaf of Grape Nuts Bread on its first rise. I got a late start due to dealing with the still unresolved computer issues, but I am so desperate for a loaf of homemade bread that it is worth it to me to stay up late baking it.

[wonky]

BakerAunt...you know me well don't you. BTW...are you using the recipe from the BC (for the grape nuts bread) that was posted by the lady with the dachshunds? I feel so bad that I don't remember her name. She posted often, both about her dog's and baking.

[Mike Nolan]

I found it at allrecipes.com, here it is: Graham Crackers

I used whole wheat flour that I had ground myself (on the coarse side), unsalted butter instead of margarine, and I cut the baking soda and baking powder both by about a third. It tastes different from commercial graham crackers, but I think they'd make an interesting graham cracker crust, which I'll probably try this weekend.

[BakerAunt]

Wonky--Well, it takes a baker to know a baker!

Dachshundlady's name is Marianne. I make a variation on that recipe, which I have posted under the title Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread. It is my husband's favorite. Lately, I have been increasing the whole wheat flour by 2 Tbs. and decreasing the regular flour. (I use a combination of bread flour and regular KAF flour.) I also decreased the yeast, the honey, and the salt, maybe since I posted the recipe.

[skeptic7]

Mike;
The graham crackers look impressive! How big did you cut the crackers? The recipe didn't give a size.

Dachshundlady had such very cute puppies.

Mardigras has sneaked up on me. I am torn between doing cinnamon rolls to celebrate or an apple slab pie.

[Mike Nolan]

I made crackers that were about 1 1/2 by 3 1/4. You need to roll them out really thin, even though I cut back on the leavening they nearly tripled in thickness. I just used a pastry edger to cut lines in them, then broke them up after they had cooled, but it might be better if they were spaced out a bit before baking so they don't touch each other. I think that affected how well they baked, the ones on the outside were more done than the ones in the center.

[wonky]

BakerAunt...thank you for reminding me of Marianne. Also, you like me are constantly changing/improving recipes according to personal taste. I usually make a recipe as written the first time, and go from there. Some of them barely resemble the original recipe. I will lay awake at night, and ponder how I am going to change something. A usually gather all the ingredients, and the baking equipment in the evening according to what I plan to make the following day, and then can't sleep, because I am so looking forward to the baking. Now that is a little compulsive isn't it? It really is a baking addiction. It is a good thing I have a lot of really great neighbors, who are always willing to take the baked goods off my hand.

Cute story...I had sent a loaf of fresh bread over to the next door neighbors last week. I do this a lot. This Mom and Dad have 4 little boys ranging in age from 2 to 10. A few days later as I was getting the mail, the 7 y/o came up to me and said "Chris...you haven't given us any bread in quite a while", I responded...Colter, I sent a loaf over 2 days ago...he replied "well I never got any...I am going to go and ask my mom who ate my share". :<)

[S_Wirth]

MaryAnn Cawley is Dachshundlady's name. When the BC shut down, she started a Facebook private group, Around Our Kitchen Table where several joined. You might like to check this out, Wonky, if you use Facebook. I don't do Facebook so this is all I know. I listed this at the bottom of the email list I sent out if anyone else is interested.

[wonky]

Swirth...I do recall you listing this, but I do not do Facebook either, nor any other form of social media. In fact I had recently read that people are leaving Facebook by the thousands, a good trend me thinks. My grand daughters told me that they rarely are on there anymore, and I am so glad.

The new sensation in my little corner of the world...and I think this is just lovely, is that the teenagers outnumber the "older folks" at swing dance lessons. At near by Wausau, last evening there were 16 teenage couples that showed up to learn. There is a video on the local news, and the kids were having an absolute blast. There was a live swing band, and the couples were enjoying every minute of it.

[BakerAunt]

When I make crackers, I use a pizza wheel to cut them all the way through before baking, but I do not separate them. The crackers I've made tend to pull away from each other as they bake, although some may still be joined a bit. When I take them out of the oven, I cut any that are still together, and I slide them off the parchment back onto the hot baking sheet. I push them apart from each other so that none are connected when they cool.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 10 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

Wonky, a few years back I was doing some rye bread testing, and I took a number of loaves over to my then-neighbor (since he had provided me with a 50 pound bag of high protein flour to see if it had similar characteristics to first clear flour.)

When I took one of the loaves over, I asked him how he liked the one I had sent over a few days earlier. He never got any, his teenage sons had devoured it before he got home that day.

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