What are you baking the week of October 7, 2018?

[BakerAunt]

A rainy, cool Wednesday afternoon was the perfect time to try a new recipe, Ginger Pumpkin Braid, that I pulled out of the KAF catalog last year. (Yes, I also bought the mat that shows how to do a six-strand braid.) I began by proofing the Gold yeast in the warmed 15 oz. pumpkin puree that I had defrosted, along with some of the sugar. I then mixed in the eggs, then nearly ½ cup of diced candied ginger. I had decided to add whole grain flour, and I like to add flour in two stages, with the whole grains first. I substituted 2 cups white whole wheat flour (Bob’s Red Mill Ivory flour) and added the rest of the sugar; I then added ¼ cup flax meal and 1/3 cup special dried milk (getting in the calcium!). I mixed those in, then let the dough sit for 15 minutes. I replaced the 4 Tbs. of butter with 4 Tbs. of canola oil, which I mixed in. Then I mixed in the remaining bread flour (from BRM) with the salt (reduced to 1 ¼ tsp. from 1 ½ tsp.) and spices. (I used 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ginger, and ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg, which is my pumpkin spice blend.) At that point, I switched to the dough hook. I had read the comments on the KAF site, which noted that a lot of people needed to add flour. I expected to do so, since I use homemade pumpkin puree. In the end, I needed an additional cup of bread flour. I kneaded for 5 minutes at speed 3 on my Cuisinart stand mixer. I let it rise in a greased dough bucket. It took about 50 minutes.

I decided to try the six-strand braid and make a large loaf. I have the KAF mat that includes directions for a six-strand braid. It took me four tries, but I did get it braided. It was a very thick loaf. I let it rise 45 minutes, then brushed it with the egg-water glaze and baked. It took about 33 minutes. My husband and I had a couple of slices this evening. It’s a lovely, barely sweet bread. I might use more crystalized ginger next time. (I omitted the optional raisins.) I might also use three instead of two cups of white whole wheat flour, since I’m likely to need to add a cup of flour anyway.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt;
The Pumpkin braid sounds wonderful! KAF has a very pretty picture on its website
I found some other recipes for steamed breads on the Internet. A couple use maple syrup.

What is Steamed Bread?

Mike, Chocomouse;
The combination of cornmeal and beans in the same meal would make a complete protein combination. It does seem incomplete without any vegetables. I stirred fried some greens to add balance when I finished it up.

[Mike Nolan]

I knew there was some combination that made it protein-complete, thanks.

I made Vienna-style bread today.

[RiversideLen]

Yesterday I made a pumpkin pie. I made an oil crust that I found on YouTube. It's a cup and 2/3 of AP, 1/3 cup each of oil and milk and a tablespoon of sugar. It's the best oil crust I've made and was just the right size for my deep dish pie plate. I didn't realize I was almost out of cinnamon, I used up the last of it that I had from KAF. I season my pumpkin pie with cinnamon and vanilla only. It came out great.

[BakerAunt]

I’ve been yearning for chocolate, so on Thursday afternoon, I baked Espresso Brownie Bites, a recipe that came with the Nordic Ware Bundt Brownie Baking Pan. I decided to try it with half oil and half buttermilk, and I reduced the espresso powder to 1 tsp. I used Double Dutch Cocoa. I used THE grease to coat the pan cavities. These came out very well; indeed, we like them better than the ones made only with oil, and I saved 3.625 g of saturated fat overall by making the substitution. Each of the twelve has about .833g saturated fat.

Thursday evening, I made up the dough for a double recipe of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, using the substitution of 1/3 cup oil for ½ cup butter. As an experiment, I added 2 Tbs. special dried milk to the dry ingredients before mixing them in. I’ll bake the crackers later this week.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: clarity

[BakerAunt]

My sourdough starter was punchy after being fed yesterday, so on Friday, I decided to use it. I chose “Rustic Sourdough,” from Sift (Spring 2016), p. 65. I’m sure it’s on the website, and I am also pretty sure that I’ve baked versions of this recipe before. It calls for 5 cups KAF AP flour in addition to the starter. I mixed together 2 cups Irish Wholemeal flour, ½ cup dark rye flour, and 2 Tbs. flax meal. I added that to the yeast, sugar, sourdough mixture, mixed, then let rest 15 minutes. I added 2 ½ cups KAF AP with 1 ¾ tsp. salt (reduced from 2 ½ tsp.). The dough was not quite right, so I added ¼ cup whole wheat flour. I kneaded on 3 (Cuisinart Stand Mixer) for 4 minutes, then for an additional minute. I put it into a dough bucket to rise.

The first rise was an hour. I de-gassed the dough, preshaped it, waited 5 minutes, then shaped into one loaf, which I put into my hearth pan (not sure if KAF still sells these, but others do). I let it rise 50 minutes, slashed it, sprayed it with water, and put it into a 400F oven. After 5 minutes, I sprayed it again, and I did that again after another 5 minutes. I then baked for 28 minutes, until it reached 201F.

I'll add a note to this post tomorrow about taste and texture.

Promised Note: The Irish Wholemeal flour gives this bread a great flavor. The hearth pan was just the right size for a nice sandwich loaf.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 6 months ago by BakerAunt.

[skeptic7]

Thursday I made cinnamon swirl bread. I started with the whole wheat buttermilk bread from Laurel's Kitchen, but only made one loaf or a half batch. I patted it flat into a rectangle and then sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar and rolled it up. this fit in a normal loaf pan. I was going to try baking it in a slow cooker but didn't have time so I covered it with a plastic bag and put it in the refrigerator. Thursday night, I took the bread out of the refrigerator and then baked it in the slow cooker. It turned out great. The taste and texture was fine even if this only had one rise instead of two.
This is probably the last time I am going to try bread in the slow cooker for the season. Its gotten cool enough around here that I should be able to bake in the oven like normal.

Saturday I made New England style cornbread using maple syrup as the sweetner. It was great.

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