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It is great to see you posting again, Italian Cook!
I made a throw-together soup for lunch on Friday to use some of the broth I had to defrost to get freezer space. I sauteed onion in olive oil, then added the mushrooms, then garlic, then a can of petite diced tomatoes, along with thinly sliced carrot, then the 3 cups of turkey broth and a teaspoon of Penzey's Tuscan Sunset. I also used a half cup of shaped pasta and added pepper at the end. I have enough for additional lunches.
Oh, Joan! Yes, that kind of heat-resistant glass really shatters when it breaks. Good luck getting it all cleaned up.
Aldi's had frozen Butterball turkeys for 49 cents per pound today. Although our freezers are pretty full--and we have a turkey thawing in the refrigerator that we bought for $1.07 per pound at the local grocery--we bought it, and I made room for it in the Annex's freezer section. As I had to remove some frozen broth to do so, there will be soup made this weekend.
Aldi's had eggs for $3.69 per dozen. I was relieved that the price was not higher.
For dinner on Thursday, I made black-eyed peas with brown rice, ham, kale, and yellow bell pepper. While I did not make the quantities that Mike makes for chili, or that Joan makes for Brunswick stew, we have enough leftovers to rotate with other meals into next week.
IMO, Aaron, it has to be what is the right pickle juice for the baker--the flavors you like in your rye bread. We buy jars of these German dill pickles, usually from Best Buy or, more expensively, Tuesday Morning. I like no other pickle in my potato salad or tartar sauce. The juice retains that flavor, due to the spices (dill, mustard seed, onion, and maybe something else). I strain the juice, so the whole spices do not go into the bread.
I cut the salt to 1 tsp. this time, since I know that the juice is salty. I increased the yeast a previous time to 2 1/2 tsp., in order to use more wholegrains, and that seems to be what is needed. I also use Bob's Red Mill Bread flour, which I find gives better results with a more wholegrain loaf.
Wednesday dinner was ham sandwiches on that great rye bread I baked yesterday, along with more of the coleslaw.
My rye bread is excellent. Increasing the spices and pickle juice made the flavor perfect. The extra oil (in this case I used olive oil) and water also gave the bread a soft interior texture. It goes very well in ham sandwiches.
I baked my oil-based cranberry scones on Wednesday evening, so that I have some quick breakfasts for the freezer. I usually use half Irish Whole Meal flour, but this time I made it 2/3 of the flour. I also deleted the salt, given the amount of baking powder and baking soda.
I'll report tomorrow on the results.Chocomouse--I do parbake my quiche crusts, but that is in part because my crusts are oil based, and they work better with parbaking. You could parbake it but keep the parbaking time short. Cooks Illustrated had recommended times, depending on how long the pie would need to bake, and that would likely work for a quiche as well.
A bit more about butter--does it need its own thread? 🙂
About six years ago, I baked some Nordic Ware pan gingerbread houses for a church Christmas market. The recipe called for melted butter rather than creamed butter. I was surprised at how well the details stood out, compared to when I had baked such cakes with creamed butter. A non-baker thought that I had created the detail after baking!
Now that I am baking with oil, I do not get that level of detail, although with some recipes, it does seem to come out clearer.
On Tuesday, I used the King Arthur "Sandwich Rye Bread" recipe as my starting point to bake a pumpernickel loaf that was half whole grain. I did that by using 2 ½ cups Bob's Red Mill bread flour, 2 cups KABC pumpernickel, and ½ cup BRM whole wheat flour. I cut the salt to 1 tsp. and used 1 cup of dill pickle juice from our favorite German pickle brand in place of that much water. I also increased the yeast to 2 ½ tsp. and used 4 Tbs. olive oil. I baked it in a hearth pan and shaped it in a kind of football shape, so it is smaller at the ends than in the center. It needed 40 minutes to bake. We will slice it tomorrow, first for lunches, and then to use for ham sandwiches at dinner. When I add up the weights of the flours, it is not half wholegrain, but if we like the result, I will probably push it toward that goal by using a full cup of whole wheat flour next time and reducing the bread flour to 2 cups.
Wow! That is a front cover of the cooking magazine worthy chicken, Len!
I roasted sweet potatoes to go with leftover chicken thighs and leftover coleslaw for dinner on Tuesday.
Well, wouldn't melted butter--which is what browned butter would be--change the texture? Or did Aaron chill the browned butter before making the shortbread dough?
I had to give up shortbread, alas, but back when I was baking it, I found that the colder cookies held their shape and the pressed designs better. I usually formed them into small balls, then stamped them with a ceramic cookie stamp.
I own several large ceramic shortbread molds. I baked in one of them once or twice, but I found it more convenient to make more smaller cookies. I need to figure out what else I could use them to bake.
I made yogurt on Monday.
For dinner, we had leftover chicken thighs, leftover roasted potato chunks, and microwaved frozen green beans that came from our garden.
Joan, I agree with you that the amount of water partly depends on the whole wheat flour, which usually requires more liquid. I think it also depends partly on the sourdough starter. Everyone's starter is different. Also, I have noted that mine is sometimes thicker and sometimes less thick. That's what makes baking, with sourdough, fun.
I have been meaning to follow up on this post. When I used my food processor today to make coleslaw, I remembered to do it. Looking at my original post, I did put forth the theory that the glue dissolved. However, I thought it might help others to repeat the advice not to let the work bowl sit it water.
I think that nothing "broke" on the work bowl; instead, the glue that holds the piece into place failed. I had set the work bowl in water, and whether it was age or something else, the glue failed, and the piece fell out. I still have that work bowl and the piece, so if I can figure out how to glue it so that it is in the correct position, I would have two work bowls. I would have to figure out what glue to use and how to situate it correctly.
So, if you have an older Cuisinart food processor with work bowl, I suggest that you do not allow it to sit in water. I am not going to allow my replacement one to sit in water either.
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