What are You Baking the Week of March 3, 2019?

[BakerAunt]

For Sunday’s breakfast, I tried a new recipe, “Cornmeal-Rye Waffles,” from KAF’s Wholegrain Baking Book (p. 21). I made a half recipe, and I replaced the melted butter with 4 Tbs. oil, which next time, I’ll try with 3 Tbs. oil. My husband and I liked these waffles, especially with dark maple syrup from Vermont Country Store. The half recipe made 8 squares after I cut apart the doubles that my Belgian waffle maker produces. I baked up the last 2 Tbs. of batter for the dog, who did not feel my husband shared enough of his two with her.

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[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, did you find a chart online that tells you how much oil to substitute for butter? Or, do you guesstimate? If you found a chart, would you please tell us where it is on the Internet, if it's not too much bother. Thanks for thinking about this.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: Here is the chart I use:

Ask Judy – Canola oil and Baking

I do a bit of "guesstimating" with smaller amounts.

On Sunday afternoon, I baked another new recipe from the King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook. It’s the Basic Quick Bread, and I baked the Spicy Applesauce Bread version (pp. 90-91). I used the smaller amounts of oil and brown sugar. I substituted 1 tsp. boiled cider for the vanilla, and I added 1/3 cup of quick oats. I did not add the nuts or raisins. I baked the batter in three mini-loaf pans (coated with THE grease), and it took 35 minutes. These have nice rise, especially given that they are half whole wheat. We will sample them on Monday, since quick breads are usually best if allowed to sit for a day.

Note: Note: The spice combination is excellent. However, the breads were slightly dry. Next time, I’ll omit the oats I added or else decrease the flour slightly.

It was a good day to bake, since it has been snowing all day. Tomorrow should also be a good baking day.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt, for providing the oil website that you use.

For breakfast this morning, I made Food Network's Blueberry-Nectarine Muffins:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchen/blueberry-nectarine-muffins-4621424

BakerAunt, the fat is oil, not butter. I used Light Olive Oil.

The total time on the recipe is 2 hours, which almost kept me from making them. But it didn't take that long, and I'm glad I made them. Recipe calls for course sugar on top. I had the sugar on the counter and still managed to forget it. Because I don't like really sweet muffins, I didn't miss the sugar. I used vanilla instead of almond extract, because I don't like the flavor of almonds, which means I omitted the almonds on top.

[Italiancook]

I made Double Chocolate Brownies this morning to giveaway to someone who had to make a difficult major life decision recently.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--Chocolate always helps in difficult times!

On Monday, I baked a new recipe, Millet-Sunflower Bread, from King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking (pp. 202-203). I made a few changes. I replaced the orange juice with an equal amount of water, I deleted the 1 tsp. dark sesame oil, and I replaced the 2 Tbs. of vital wheat gluten with an equivalent amount of first clear flour. (I recall Cass telling us that first clear flour is the same thing as vital wheat gluten, so I thought, why not?) I reduced the salt by ¼ tsp., and I used active yeast. I was nervous about this recipe, as it only calls for 1 tsp. of yeast, but since it has longer rising times, I decided to forge ahead.

I proofed the yeast in the water with the honey. I then mixed in the millet I cooked yesterday. I weighed it to be certain I used the correct amount. I mixed together all rest of the ingredients, but I held back the salt and the olive oil. I did that to give the yeast more time to get going during the 45-minute rest after the initial mixing. At the end of the 45-minute rest period, I sprinkled in the salt and added the olive oil, then mixed it together with the paddle before switching to the kneading hook. I initially had to keep stopping the mixer to get the dough pushed together, but once it did, I kneaded for 4 minutes until I was satisfied with the texture.

Both the first and second rising times corresponded to what the recipe states. The bread baked into a beautiful loaf. I baked it to 200F, rather than th3e 190F. We cut into it for lunch on Tuesday, and it is a wonderful bread. The millet gives it a sweeter tasted than the 1 Tbs. of honey would have, yet the flavor is not overpowering. It is a perfect bread for any sandwich, and I will bake it again. This recipe makes it worth my while to keep a small bag of whole millet on hand

[BakerAunt]

I tried a new recipe on Tuesday afternoon, “Quinoa-Pumpkin Seed Granola,” from that Better Homes and Gardens special issue reprint of Cut the Sugar (p. 69). I made one change in that I replaced ¼ cup flax seeds with ¼ cup sunflower seeds, since humans cannot get the benefit of whole flax seeds. The finished granola has a good flavor. I was surprised that the recipe specifies refrigerating it, but maybe the quinoa needs that even after being baked.
I baked the granola directly on the baking sheet, and there was some sticking. If I make it again, I would spray the pan to prevent sticking. (At least the pan washed clean easily with a brief soak.)

[Italiancook]

I baked my husband his favorite chocolate cake -- my grandmother's recipe. I use my grandmother's cake pan, although I've been thinking for a while I should buy a testing kit to see if it has lead. It's in oven now. I'll ice it with a fluffy vanilla icing.

[Mike Nolan]

Unless it's a glazed ceramic pan, I'm not sure what there is to test.

[Italiancook]

The pan is some type of silver color metal, like dull aluminum. I thought lead could be in any of the older baking dishes and pans. I didn't know it's only possible in ceramic. I have my grandmother's 2 large roasting pans. They're also some type of silver-colored metal. I always thought lead could be in metal. Am I wrong? Lead can be in older paint, so can't lead be in anything?

Regardless, the cake is delicious, and I ate it without worry.

[Mike Nolan]

I've never seen anything about needing to test metal pans made in the 20th century for lead. Anything glazed, like ceramic, yes. I've seen one site that said to test glass pans, but their source didn't seem reliable.

Older non-stick pans can have stuff flake off, but that's a separate issue. I've been avoiding non-stick pans for years anyway, because they don't stay non-stick for very long. The non-scratchable ones (eg, with the green ceramic coating) are said to be safe, but we don't have any of those.

[skeptic7]

Lead Free solder didn't come into use until fairly late like 1960's. I had two manual bread buckets of 1930's vintage that I had to stop using. You can get kits to test for lead in the paint section of a hardware store.
I handed my bread buckets over to the thrift store and they sold them as antiques.

Copper is lined with tin to prevent the food from being in contact with the copper. Pewter might have appreciable lead content. I think modern pewter is lead free but antiques might be dangerous. I don't think anyone uses brass or bronze for cooking

[skeptic7]

I have been doing some baking for the last month but didn't have time to write a message.

I also have been doing experiments on bao -- steamed Chinese buns. Does this count as baking? Its a yeast bread but steamed not baked.

[Mike Nolan]

I'd classify steaming as a form of baking, there are a number of steamed breads, Boston Brown bread probably being the most well known.

[BakerAunt]

I baked a new recipe this evening, Applesauce Cake with Cream Cheese & Honey Frosting, which I printed from Tasting Table last fall, as a cake that I could make that is low in saturated fat:

https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/recipes/applesauce-cake-recipe-cream-cheese-frosting

I made two changes: 1 substituted 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour for 1 cup of AP flour, and I used ½ tsp. fine sea salt. I used only 2 tsp. cinnamon and 2 tsp. ginger. I also baked it in an 8x8-inch square pan after working out that this square pan has almost the same area as a round 9-inch pan. We will cut into it tomorrow. Although the frosting looks delightful, I will leave it off. (An ounce of cream cheese has 6g saturated fat, so the frosting would have had 36 g plus whatever is in the sour cream. The cake by itself has about 10g.) We have some low-fat vanilla frozen yogurt, and I plan to serve pieces with it.

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