What are you Baking the Week of November 1, 2020?

[aaronatthedoublef]

CT cancelled Halloween! Our street usually has thousands of trick or treaters and there were random cars driving up and down the street looking for someone with candy. Most of our neighbors had signs up saying they were closed for Halloween because of Covid-19.

I made more of BA's crackers and they disappeared in under 24 hours even though we had a pantry cabinet full of store bought crackers. Not sure why I made them. I had the dough in the refrigerator and rather than putting it in the freezer I baked it.

I made Cake Bible white velvet cupcakes. I think I over baked most of them. I made some buttercream and my wife put buttercream with a raspberry on top. I have some left and may use them for book club tonight or bake something new.

[Mike Nolan]

One of my wife's friends moved to a new neighborhood in the past year, she said they had around 200 trick-or-treaters, they had prepared bags for about 125. Fortunately, they had more bags available and were able to make up more.

Our son in Pittsburgh said they had about 10, which is about average for them in their current house, in their previous house they had a lot more.

The weather was cooperative here this year, the high on Saturday was in the low 70's and there was no Husker football game because Wisconsin had to cancel out due to Covid19.

[chocomouse]

Today I made buns to put in the freezer and pull out to go with soup meals. I used a regular AP bread recipe, then rolled it out into rectangle. I brushed it with olive oil, sprinkled on my Greek seasoning and roasted garlic, and shredded Cabot sharp cheddar. Rolled it up, sliced, and baked in muffin tins. It needs a little something. I think next time I'll add some herbs/spices directly into the dough.

[Italiancook]

I made blueberry muffins for breakfast and the freezer. The berries were tart, so I put Swedish Pearl Sugar (KABC) on the tops before baking.

[Italiancook]

No edit button -- with the sugar, I didn't achieve the light browning I usually have on the muffins. They were done, but I gave them an extra minute. I think that's because of the coating of sugar.

[skeptic7]

I made pumpkin muffins with maple syrup. This was made for a Vegan friend and I didn't bother tasting any before I gave it to her. I used 1/4 cup maple syrup instead of 1/4 cup honey so its probably much less sweet. Vegans think of honey as an animal product and prefer to avoid it so I used maple syrup instead.
This friend has romantic notions of the health benefits of gluten-free baked goods, however she isn't allergic or intolerant so I don't bother getting gluten-free flour for her. If she really wants gluten free bread or cookies, she can bake them herself.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I've used Swedish Pearl Sugar, and it should not affect the browning. Did you use a thick coating of it? Usually it is sprinkled on sparingly.

I'm with you, Skeptic. Unless someone has a true need to avoid gluten, I'm not going to invest in the supplies.

[Mike Nolan]

I make a few things that are naturally gluten free, like Brazilian cheese rolls, and we have found we actually prefer the gluten-free cornbread to the regular one, but otherwise, yeah, gluten free recipes tend to be expensive, so unless someone really has to be gluten free, why spend the extra money?

The anecdotal links on GF helping with ADHD and related disorders are still being investigated.

[BakerAunt]

I made up dough on Friday for another batch of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I’ll bake them late next week. These are disappearing faster, although not as fast as they do at Aaron's house!

[skeptic7]

One thing I've done for sensible gluten free friends -- these most likely have a mild wheat intolerance, is make apple crisp with oatmeal and oat flour for the topping. This isn't truly gluten free but works for wheat allergies. I've also made cheesecake with cornmeal thickener and cornmeal pastry crusts; and Southern cornbread. Spoonbread would also be gluten free.
I basically don't like gluten-free flour with xanthem gum. If someone wants to go gluten free why all this effort to get fake flour baking? They should change their diet completely and eat rice and beans with corn tortillas, and Southern spoonbread, and baked apples stuffed with raisins. Or Southern Chinese food with nary a wheat kernel in site.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, Oh! I put the Swedish Pearl Sugar on thick. I didn't realize it was to be used sparingly. Thanks for the tip. Live and learn.

[BakerAunt]

Ideally, Italian Cook, King Arthur would have given directions on how to use pearl sugar for people unfamiliar with it. Here's a recipe that I found, with a picture, that gives the idea:

https://www.barbarabakes.com/swedish-orange-sweet-buns/

These look good, but while I could substitute for the butter in the rolls, I'm not sure that I could replace the butter for the filling. However, I often skip steps that have the sweet rolls spread with butter before putting in the sugar. I instead put the sugar in, then spritz with water to make it adhere. However, for this recipe, I suspect the butter flavor is needed.

Sigh. I miss having to avoid a lot of Swedish and German baking recipes. I'm saving my splurge for a decadent almond coffee cake at Christmas.

[Mike Nolan]

As I understand it, pearl sugar is a non-melting sugar, it isn't clear to me if that means it needs something to help it stick to the dough.

[BakerAunt]

When I made some Swedish "pretzel" cookies, I think that I used an egg wash to make the pearl sugar adhere, but it has been a long time since I've baked that recipe. I'll try to remember to look it up. I've also used it on some Swedish rolls, but I think in that case, I just sprinkled it on.

[BakerAunt]

Saturday was a baking day, even though temperatures are in the 70s this afternoon. I baked Pumpkin Biscotti—a recipe that is as popular in my house as my Whole Wheat Sourdough Crackers are in Aaron’s. Thank you, again, Skeptic! I sprinkled autumn colored sugar on top, and I made them with white whole wheat flour. I then baked Rye and Barley Crispbread. These large “crackers” started as a way for me to have crackers around when my husband chomped through the Cheese Crackers, but he just eats the same amount of those and throws in a crispbread. I had not baked the recipe for a while, as I was waiting to be able to buy a case of sunflower seeds from Bob’s Red Mill.

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