What are you Baking the Week of January 19, 2025?

[Mike Nolan]

I may have to bake something just to get the kitchen warmer again. 🙂

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[Joan Simpson]

I made 2 pans of cinnamon rolls and 1 of brownies for friends today.

[BakerAunt]

Cold weather here--in the teens all day and now in the single digits and heading down to negative numbers tonight.

I baked Lime Pecan Biscotti on Sunday, using some more of the limes that we harvested from my tree, as well as some zest I froze in the autumn. These cookies go very well with tea in the afternoon.

About a week and a half ago, Vitacost had a 20% off sale on everything, as well as an additional percentage off of some other items. I noted that they had the King Arthur Whole Wheat flour blend that is regeneratively grown, 2 pounds for $5.95, which is the King Arthur website price, but I got 20% off and free shipping due to the amount of my total order, so I decided to buy it. I experimented with it on Sunday, using the "Climate Blend Sandwich Bread" recipe on the King Arthur website. I knew that I would have to make some changes, as the recipe calls for mixing the flour with the water, allowing it to rest for 20 minutes, then adding the instant yeast and the rest of the ingredients. However, my mixer does a poor job on single loaves, and I did not have active yeast. I also wanted to substitute in a cup of buttermilk for that much water. So, I mixed the flour with a cup of the buttermilk plus a tablespoon of water, since buttermilk is thicker. After the rest, I added it to the yeast, proofed in the remaining ¼ cup of water and honey in the bread machine. I used avocado oil for the vegetable oil and reduced the salt from 1 ¼ tsp. to 1 tsp. I did not think the dough was the correct consistency, which the recipe warns about. I ended up adding 3 teaspoons of water at various intervals as the machine kneaded. The recipe specifies that the dough should be "tacky" not sticky. The first rise took 80 minutes. The second rise took an hour. The loaf did not have much oven spring. However, it has a pleasant aroma which differs from regular whole wheat flour. I will report on texture and crumb when we slice it tomorrow.

One issue that I have with King Arthur's recipes is that the flour weight never agrees with the volume measurement, and I am always careful to fluff the flour and spoon it in gently. In this case, 3 1/2 cups of the flour did not equal 402 g, as the recipe states but 456 g. I stuck to the volume measurement because in the past, when I follow King Arthur's weight measurements, the bread needs more flour. Has anyone else had this issue?

[Mike Nolan]

I tend to use 4.25 ounces per cup for most flour measurement, regardless of the recipe. Sometimes I have to add more flour, but not always, even when doing the same recipe.

[RiversideLen]

Flour measurements can drive a person batty. KAF says a cup weighs 4.25 oz, America's Test Kitchen says 5 ounces. If you're an experienced bread maker and making bread it doesn't matter, you can adjust by sight and feel. But if your making a quick bread, cake, cookies etc it's not so easy. The thing is, you don't know what weight was used in developing the recipe.

Today I made a batch of wheat/semolina/rye buns (measured by weight!). Since it's so cold outside, I thought the next couple of days would be good pizza days so I'm in the process of making a small batch of pizza dough. It's about 470 grams and I'm undecided whether to divide it into 2 or 3 pizzas. I have time to figure it out.

[BakerAunt]

When I convert my recipes to weights, I measure them in volume, then write down the weights. I've always suspected that King Arthur folks develop recipes with volume, then just use a standard conversion instead of weighing the volume.

[Mike Nolan]

I've been to the KA test kitchen, there were several scales in use.

But, when I develop a new recipe, before I post it I try to screw it up at least once to see how sensitive it is to mis-measurement.

[BakerAunt]

The bread has a unique flavor that I like. It is a dense bread, so it is easy to slice thinly. I probably have enough flour to try it again. I might hold back 1/4 cup of the flour next time. I think that this regenerative flour probably varies in how much water it requires. I'll know more when I do a second loaf.

[chocomouse]

Thanks for posting your thoughts, BakerAunt. I have not opened my bag of that flour yet, although I bought it a couple of months ago. But you have motivated me to use it.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--I had to start using mine, since it has a February expiration date. I'll be interested to hear about your experience with it. I did note on the nutrition panel that this flour is "not a significant source of calcium." That surprised me, since the Bob's Red Mill whole wheat flour has 11 g calcium per 1/4 cup, and the King Arthur white whole wheat flour has 10 g of calcium per 1/4 cup. As I want the extra calcium, I'm glad that I substituted in some buttermilk.

I woke up early on Tuesday. It was 0 F outside and we had had about an inch more of snow overnight. I decided to bake Pumpkin Streusel Muffins, a recipe I adapted from one of those little Pillsbury booklets of yore that they sold at the grocery store checkout. This one is called Breads, Breads, and More Breads. The muffins were a good way to use up the Fairy Tale pumpkin puree in the refrigerator, as well as another couple of ounces in the freezer from the bigger Fairy Tale pumpkin I did some weeks ago. I replaced the AP flour with white whole wheat flour and made a few other changes. Instead of baking them as 12 muffins, I used two heart cakelet pans that I bought from King Arthur some years back, with each pan making five hearts. I used the Grease, and it worked well.

[skeptic7]

I did mini scones with cranberry again. It was nice to have an excuse to heat up the oven on these cold mornings.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I baked Whole Wheat Julekake, from Ken Haedrich's Home for the Holidays: Festive Baking with Whole Grains (pp. 178-179). I first tried the recipe about two years ago and made the error of trying to cook it as one loaf in a bread bowl rather than as two loaves on a baking sheet. The result then was an undercooked center and a burnt outside. I wanted to follow the recipe more diligently than I did two years ago but trying to avoid problems.

My changes were replacing the water with buttermilk and replacing another cup of AP flour with whole wheat, using bread flour, reducing the salt to 1 ½ tsp. from 2 tsp. and adding 2 Tbs. special dry milk. I replaced 4 Tbs. butter with 4 Tbs. avocado oil. I used an orange that I brought back from Florida, using just half. The recipe calls for using a food processor to combine the half orange and ¼ cup sugar. I cut the orange into smaller pieces rather than quarters this time, which worked much better. The recipe specifies a ¼ oz. package of active dry yeast or 1 Tbs. That is confusing, as a packet of yeast contains 2 ¼ tsp. yeast. I used 2 ¼ tsp. but I used the special Gold since the sugar content is high. I had trouble with the rise. It was cool in the house until my husband got the fire going in the woodstove, but the dough took more than two hours to almost double. I hate to think what the result might have been with regular yeast. The second rise took about an hour and 45 minutes. The loaves needed the 55 minute-baking time, although I checked them 10 minutes early. I'm not happy that they are burnt on the bottom, and a little darker than I would like on the top. I will let them rest overnight and slice into one at breakfast.

In writing up my experience, I realize that I omitted ¼ cup of water by accident. For various reasons, it was hectic in the kitchen, and I missed that ingredient. That might account for the slow rise, although I ended up adding 2 Tbs. less flour. However, I think the temperature is too high for the sugar content of the bread, which has 1/3 cup honey, ¼ cup sugar, and the half orange with peel. I expect the bread will be edible, although I may have to cut off part of the bottom crust, but I am disappointed.

[Italiancook]

Yes, it's disappointing when bread doesn't work out as planned, BakerAunt. Any baked good whose finished product isn't what we wanted is a disappointment. The extra work that goes into bread makes it more frustrating.

I saw a recipe for Orange Pancakes on Allrecipes. I decided to use my go-to pancake recipe to make a double batch of Orange Pancakes. I used the zest of two navel oranges. I added it to the batter after I poured in the liquids. I reamed the oranges into a measuring cup. A scant 1/4 cup juice total. I added milk to equal the 2 cups needed for a double batch. I baked them on a half-sheet pan at 375 degrees for 22 minutes. The kitchen smelled pleasantly of oranges while baking. They taste like oranges, including the citrus "bite" at the end. Served with maple syrup.

I'm freezing these for future breakfasts. I hope being frozen doesn't diminish the orange flavor. I'm also hoping that re-heating them in the microwave will liven the orange.

I will make these again, but I have to say: Zesting and juicing oranges is a lot of work before breakfast!

[BakerAunt]

I had a couple of thin slices of the Julekake for breakfast this morning. The taste is very good, which means I may give the recipe one more try. in the future. I think that I will increase the Gold yeast to 1 Tbs. I might try a doubled baking sheet to see if that prevents the burning on the bottom. I'm also wondering about lowering the temperature to 360 F.

I'm glad your orange pancakes came out so well, Italian Cook. Future-You will be so happy that Today-You made and froze those pancakes!

I find it somewhat difficult to get good oranges where I live, so buying a few to bring back from Florida helped, although I can get the Cara Cara oranges at Kroger this time of year, and those are also good for baking.

[BakerAunt]

I baked an apple pie on Friday, which we will allow to cool and rest overnight before slicing into it tomorrow. This time, I used fewer apples and baked it longer, so I am hoping for better results than I had with the last apple pie.

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