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I never liked buying from Amazon, so I rarely do.
I've resisted the allure of the air fryer so far, Joan, so I will be watching your experimentation with interest. That dinner looks good.
For dinner on Sunday, I made my healthier version of my mom's hamburger stroganoff, which we had over a mixture of brown and wild rice. It is, for me, the essence of comfort food. We had it with microwaved frozen peas.
I have been thinking longingly of "Orange-Barley Pound Cake," a recipe that Cass helped me with that originally was in Martha Stewart Living (April 2016). I had noted that in the picture with the recipe, the center was sunken. Cass explained that it happened because the sugar outweighed the flour and told me by how much I should reduce it. He also recommended grinding the sugar in the food processor to make it extra fine. I baked it several times. However, as it uses 12 Tbs. butter and 4 oz. of cream cheese, so I have not made it in a long time.
As it was a dreary Sunday afternoon, I decided to experiment, especially as I had one last orange from Florida that I wanted to use for baking, to see if I could bake a healthier version of this loaf cake. I also looked at an old thread where CWCdesign wanted to replace 10 Tbs. of butter in a pound cake, and Cass explained how to do it.
I used 9 oz. of avocado oil and a scant 3 oz. of orange juice (with water to make 3 oz.). I replaced the 4 oz. of cream cheese with 4 oz. of nonfat Chobani Greek yogurt. I inadvertently put in 1 1/3 cups AP flour instead of 1 ¼ cups. I added 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder. I increased the baking soda from 1/8 to ¼ tsp. to account for the acidity of the yogurt and the orange juice. In addition to the vanilla, in the past, I have added ¼ tsp. orange oil, but I do not have any, so I used ¼ tsp. Penzey's orange extract. I mixed the grated orange peel with the superfine sugar and let it rest before I proceeded, as that helps distribute the orange flavor.
I used the Grease on a 4 1/2 x 10-inch Kaiser loaf pan, the size that I used in the past for baking the cake. After 30 minutes, I turned the pan around in the oven. I checked the loaf after it had baked for an hour. It required another ten minutes. I let it rest in the pan on a rack for ten minutes, then turned it out onto a rack to cool. We will slice it for teatime tomorrow.
This loaf of Climate Blend sandwich bread has a good texture and crumb. The taste is excellent, as it was the first time I baked it. My husband also says it is much better than the first loaf. If I were to bake it again, I would follow the changes that I made this time.
At the moment, King Arthur does not have the Climate Blend flour (unavailable). I'm not convinced that it is worth paying $5.95 for a 2 lb. bag of flour, which will make just two loaves, but if they have the flour again, I might buy another bag for experimenting.
With the new tariffs (more accurately, consumer taxes) going into effect, we can expect higher prices on a lot of food. Someone at the farmers market today told me that a lot of the seed comes from Mexico, not just fruits and vegetables.
One of the secrets I've learned from you Len is that oil as an ingredient helps keep bread fresher longer. I made the connection with how well your Rye, Semolina, and Whole Wheat buns hold up. I've actually increased the oil a bit in some breads I bake and noticed the same result. Of course, I'm also using buttermilk, but the additional oil helps.
On Saturday, I baked Oatmeal Date Muffins for breakfast. It is a recipe that I adapted from The Los Angeles Times food section which printed it probably over 35 years ago.
In the afternoon, I decided to try the Climate Blend Sandwich Bread again and see if I could improve over my last attempt. I'm giving a detailed description, since I know Chocomouse has some of the climate blend flour to use.
I was going to use just 3 ¼ cups of the Climate Blend flour, which at 426 g would still be over the weight that King Arthur has for 3 ½ cups (402 g). However, I had roughly 3 Tbs. left, so I went ahead and used it for a total of 446 g. (Last time, I used 456 g.) I increased the water from ¼ cup (2 oz.) to 3 oz. (I know, I use grams for dry ingredients and volume measurements for liquids.) As I did last time, I replaced a cup of water with buttermilk. However, this time, I proofed the yeast in the water with about 1 Tbs of the honey, then added it with the cup of buttermilk and the remaining honey to the flour. I mixed it with a dough whisk, kneading a bit at the end, then let it rest for 15 minutes. In the original recipe, the liquid is added to the flour, then instant yeast is added after the hydration with the rest of the ingredients.
At the end of the rest time, I put the soft dough, in chunks, into the bread machine. jI sprinkled the salt (cut from 1 ¼ to 1 tsp.) over it, then started the dough cycle. I drizzled 2 Tbs. of avocado oil into the dough as it mixed. I checked the dough during the kneading cycle, and it had a softer, slightly stickier texture than the first loaf that I made, which is positive. After the kneading cycle finished, I transferred it to a 2-qt. dough bucket to rise, which it did within an hour. The second rise took slightly under an hour. Both rises were much better than when I baked the bread a couple of weeks ago. The bread needed just 35 minutes to bake. It smells wonderful, but it does have a couple air bubbles on the top, as well as one very large bubble.
I will add a note tomorrow on this thread, after we slice the bread at lunch, to report on taste and texture.
What a wonderful week you had, Joan! Having family visit is so wonderful.
We finished up the pork loin and most of the barley, butternut squash, and spinach. There is a little left over that I will eat for lunch tomorrow.
CWCdesign--I hate anticipating a special meal, then having to eat the disappointment.
We had most of the leftover soup for dinner tonight. There is enough for me to have for lunch tomorrow.
That loaf is beautiful, Len!
Nice looking stir-fry, Len!
We had some of the leftover pork loin with butternut squash, barley, and spinach for dinner tonight. It was great on Tuesday, but it seems to be even better this time.
I made yogurt again today.
We had more soup on Wednesday, along with the rest of the cornbread muffins.
Your sub buns look great to me, Patty!
I made Maple Granola on Wednesday. It's a staple in our house, so I usually make a batch once a month.
I've been sticking to Vitacost for flour. I wait until they have a 20% off sale, then order enough items for the free shipping. My sources of vanilla are Ross, Marshall's, as well as TJ Max and the Home Store (when I can get to the two latter, which does not happen often). I like the Nieman-Massey vanilla.
Our local grocery store had a dozen eggs for $4.99. I try to catch the specials. With the spread of bird flu, I do not expect the price of eggs to go down any time soon. Indeed, the price will likely increase.
Thanks to you all for the birthday wishes!
For my birthday dinner on Tuesday, I made Pork Loin Roast with Barley, Butternut Squash, and Spinach. Normally, I use fresh organic kale, but it is only available at the Kroger in the larger town where we do the big grocery run every three weeks ago. There was a vendor at the farmers market who had a greenhouse, and she was a great source in the winter, but she stopped coming. I used frozen spinach, and it worked okay, but both Scott and I prefer it with kale. The pork loin roast came from a local vendor at our farmers market.
Thank you, Joan! Yes, I enjoyed my cake!
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