What Did You Bake the Week of October 30, 2016?

[BakerAunt]

The weather has turned cooler, so it is perfect for baking. On Friday, I baked Pear-Cardamom Crisp (a recipe from many years ago in Los Angeles Times food section). On Saturday, I tried a new recipe, Brown Sugar Glazed Cardamom Cake (although I do not plan to use any glaze), from Rebecca Miller Ffrench's, Sweet Home: over 100 Heritage Desserts and Ideas for Preserving Family Recipes. It's the fourth recipe that I've baked from this book, and every one so far has been a winner. She notes that this recipe comes from a friend's grandmother in Finland. I baked it in my Nordic Ware Autumn Wreath pan. I also baked a double recipe of Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, from an issue of Martha Stewart Living. The cake and cookies are for the after-service time at church, but there will be enough leftovers for our family Sunday dinner.

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[Italiancook]

Cardamom tastes great in cooler weather, Baker Aunt. I thought about putting it in my pancakes, but decided against it. Now that you've reminded me how good it is, I'll add a little cardamom to the remainder of the pancake batter. As for baking, I was too busy flopping cooked food to bake.

[luvpyrpom]

I've slowed way down in my baking these past months - just too much to try to eat. This past week I made Italiancook's Cranberry Banana bread - 2 loaves in the freezer. One I'll be taking out soon as I think I found the cranberry relish I had made a couple of years ago. We'll see how it turns out with the new relish recipe. I also wanted to try a new recipe I saw on Pinterest - Maple Caramel Bacon Crack - it was way too sweet for my personal taste, I think next time I'll cut back either on the brown sugar or just eliminate the maple syrup. I've been meaning to get back into bread baking but just haven't had the mojo hit me to get back into the bread baking.

[BakerAunt]

That cardamom cake was wonderful and a big hit at church. I was lucky to have some slices left over. I need to Xerox the recipe for two people who asked for it. The cookies went over well, too. Although my husband does not care for cardamom, he loved the baking odors that wafted his way. I think that the cinnamon in the cake tones down the cardamom, making it an accent rather than the main flavor, so he will be enjoying it as well. I will definitely bake this cake again. It really does not need any glaze, which I think would make it too sweet, so I'm glad that I did not use it.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[cwcdesign]

No baking this week, but next week I need to find a whole grain bread with NO white flour in it since I can start adding whole grains back into my diet (slowly, In the house, I have WWW, Irish Whole Meal, Oatmeal and Bob's 5-grain. I guess I have to start with the 100% whole wheat sandwich bread, but I can't use orange juice - if I use WWW instead, will that change the bitterness? I'd love to add more grains - any suggestions on bread recipes.

Baker Aunt, I'm so glad you posted on PJ's blog about the do ahead pie crust - I was going to post the same thing until I saw yours. Pie crumbs, indeed!

[BakerAunt]

Cwcdesign--Mrs. Cindy also posted, in a reply to my comment on the pie crumbs. KAF may try to erase every trace of the Baking Circle, but still we rise--just as our bread continues to do!

You should be fine with the white whole wheat flour in the bread. I've been sneaking it into some other recipes. No one knows unless I tell them that 25% of the flour in the pumpkin snickerdoodles I baked this weekend is white whole wheat.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[cwcdesign]

I didn't know if it was Mrs Cindy or Cindy Leigh 🙂

[Mike Nolan]

Could you use honey instead of orange juice?

Peter Reinhart's whole grains book has a lot of 100% whole flour recipes, and I've had pretty good success with the ones I've tried.

[BakerAunt]

Cwcdesign, it was our intrepid Mrs. Cindy. I emailed her about it, and she sent me a chuckle back!

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've found white whole wheat to be less bitter than red whole wheat. I still needed some kind of sweet in it.

Is there some whole grain that is also sweet that you could use?

[Mike Nolan]

Barley tastes sweeter than wheat, and so does corn. There may be other whole grains that are also sweeter than wheat.

Peter Reinhart says that creating a mash of whole wheat and letting it sit for 8-24 hours not only softens the bran, it reduces the bitterness. A warm mash may release more sugars than one that isn't warmed, it's been a while since I read that chapter.

[cwcdesign]

Mike, I went to the KAF site to compare their 100% Whole Wheat Bread to the one in the Whole Grains Cookbook. They've updated the one on the website to use WWW and honey and the one in the cookbook uses regular whole wheat, orange juice and a little sugar. I'm going to start with the WWW version.

[BakerAunt]

Barley flour is sweet, but it is low in gluten, so if using it, do not substitute in too much. I've not tried it in yeast bread, but I do recommend the barley scones and the large soft barley cookies in the KAF Wholegrain Cookbook. Even those call for some unbleached flour.

[skeptic7]

The best books I have found for whole wheat bread is "Laurel's Kitchen Bread book" and the Peter Reinhart book.
What is a lot easier than a loaf of whole wheat bread is quick breads. I bake my low and flat like cornbread and don't have to worry about whether it was kneaded sufficiently or would rise high enough. WWW and WW flour both work fine in these recipes. You can use buttermilk to mellow the flavor, or add honey or sugar if you are not avoiding sugars.

I like the Reinhart method of a soaker and a sponge which seems to avoid a problem of the dough fermenting too much and softening the gluten.

Another trick is to make English Muffins or Focaccio since they are more flexible in terms of height. I use more or less the same recipe for pizza dough and Focaccio would you like them?

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