What are You Baking the Week of October 6, 2019?

[BakerAunt]

I'm not baking this Sunday, but I plan to make up for it during the rest of the week. What about you?

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[RiversideLen]

This evening I made sandwich buns topped with KAF's Everything Bagel topping, oh man, that smells good!

[BakerAunt]

I'm going to have to try my sample of that topping, Len.

I’ve been craving ginger. Eating three ginger cookies at my husband’s family reunion only whetted my desire for more. I have a recipe for Double Ginger Biscotti with Pistachios from a Bon Appetit RSVP column in 1997. It uses butter, but last time I made it and substituted 1/3 cup canola oil for the ½ cup butter, and they came out well. I decided to see if I could tweak the recipe further on Wednesday afternoon. I substituted in ¾ cup of white whole wheat flour and added 2 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill milk powder. I increased the crystalized ginger to ½ cup. I didn’t bother with lemon flavoring. I tried a new technique for the recipe in that I mixed all the dry ingredients together, along with the pistachios and ginger. I whisked together 1/3 cup oil, with buttermilk added to make ½ cup. I next whisked in an egg and ½ tsp. vanilla. I made a well in the dry ingredients, poured the wet ones into it, then used my dough whisk to combine, switching to a bowl scraper at the end. I divided the mixture in half, and with slightly damp hands formed it into two logs. I decided to refrigerate for an hour, just as I would do with a butter version. I spritzed with water and sprinkled with demerara sugar before the first bake. Note: Next time use the regular, heavy baking sheet instead of the half-sheet pan, as the biscotti got too dark on the bottom. Also, move the rack up one level for cookies.

[skeptic7]

I am in the middle of making the oatmeal-apricot bars for the first time. I had to go out and buy the quick oats as I normally only keep the regular type on hand.

[skeptic7]

the oatmeal apricot bars are very good. A little too sweet, next time I'll change 2/3 cup brown sugar to 1/2 cup brown sugar. Would it be too crunchy with regular oatmeal?

[RiversideLen]

Skeptic, when a baking recipe calls for fast cooking oats I just use the regular old fashioned. I don't care for the texture of the quick cooking oats so I don't keep it on hand. I think quick cooking v regular is just a personal preference.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--I, too, found the recipe a bit too sweet, so I reduce the brown sugar to 1/2 cup. I've not tried the recipe with regular oats. Sometimes the substitution works, as in the zucchini bread I made this evening. Other times, I've found that the resulting product is too chewy. You could lightly grind the oats in a food processor.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday evening, I baked my adaptation of Ken Haedrich’s Whole-Wheat and Oatmeal Zucchini Bread. The squash I’m using isn’t a Zucchini. I don’t know its name. It has a very long, curved neck, then a bulb at the bottom where the seeds are. I get them at the farmers’ market from an organic farmer who likes to do unusual produce in addition to the standards. I was looking through a Martha Stewart Living magazine earlier this week, and I think it’s the squash she uses to make it look like snakes are coming out of pumpkins. I’ve been using these since August in this recipe, and it works well since this squash is not as watery as regular zucchini. I’ve been reducing the oil by ¼ cup and replacing it with an equal amount of buttermilk which I also substitute for the regular milk in the recipe, and I add flax meal and milk powder. I don’t bother with the citrus zest. I find the bread a bit too sweet, so this time, I’ve reduced the granulated sugar by 25% but left the light brown sugar alone. I also forgot to add the vanilla, which I usually halve.

We had it for dessert on Friday, and the bread is very good without that ¼ cup granulated sugar. I will leave it out in the future. We didn’t miss the vanilla, so it could be optional.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I pulled out a recipe for “Nutty Oat Wheat Bread” that came from Simply from Scratch” (#20), a Pillsbury recipe booklet from over thirty years ago. It was one of my early forays into wholegrain baking, but I had not baked it in years. I made a few changes in that I reduced 2 packets of yeast to 3 ½ tsp. and reduced the salt from 1 Tbs. to 2 tsp. I replaced 1/3 cup margarine with 3 ½ Tbs. canola oil. I halved the honey from ½ to ¼ cup. As usual, I added 1/3 cup special dry milk and ¼ cup flax meal. I used a cup of sunflower seeds instead of nuts. I also replaced AP flour with bread flour, since the bread is heavy on whole grains. The recipe made two high-rising 9x5-inch loaves. I tried a different shaping method and had a blow-out one side of each loaf. I’ll go back to my other method, even though it occasionally gives me a hole in the interior. The loaves smell wonderful.

Note: The bread has a wonderful taste and light texture. I gave the second loaf to a friend and her family. My friend is recovering from a leg/knee injury.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Mike Nolan]

Sounds like a crookneck squash, yellow skin, sometimes smooth, sometimes bumpy.

I think vanilla is overused in bread recipes, IMHO there aren't many that really need it. Some authors think if you really want the vanilla flavor in a bread, this is one place where it's OK to use artificial vanilla.

[BakerAunt]

I agree with Mike. As this bread recipe uses cinnamon and nutmeg, as well as light brown sugar, those flavors are enough. There has been too much mindless inclusion of vanilla.

[chocomouse]

I just pulled two loaves of pumpernickel bread out of the oven - smells wonderful!

[BakerAunt]

This Saturday evening, I’m feeding my sourdough and making up dough for my lower saturated fat whole wheat sourdough cheese crackers. I'll bake them in the coming week.

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