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Tuesday's dinner was salmon and couscous with Penzey's Greek Seasoning. We also had a microwaved mix of frozen broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower.
Aaron--I found this video useful, including tips on how not to get burned while dropping in the loaf:
While I haven't tried working with a heated baker, I did find their shaping instructions helpful. We shall see if I ever get the nerve to try the hot, pre-heated baker or Dutch oven.
I made hummus on Monday to eat with the Gourmet Soda Crackers I baked last week. I used chickpeas that I had frozen, and I neglected to drain them, so the hummus is more like a dip than its usual chunky consistency. However, it is still good.
I also made yogurt.
Dinner tonight will be leftovers.
Dinner on Sunday was roasted chicken thighs. To go with it, for my husband, I roasted some potato chunks tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with Penzey's Mural of Flavor and re-heated some leftover peas and carrots. For me and my stepson, I tried a new recipe, from Smitten Kitchen, for Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta. (My husband is not an asparagus fan.) I made a couple of changes by deleting the lemon. I used 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon in place of 2 tsp. fresh, and I added 1/2 tsp. of dried shallots. I used a 4 oz. package of goat cheese that I had, rather than the 5 oz. the recipe specified. I think it needs a little more of something; perhaps I should have included the lemon zest and/or a bit of lemon juice, but that is not my idea of a hot pasta dish. It went well with the chicken, and I could see adding cooked chunks of chicken to make it a main dish.
I once read an article about how professional bakers bake at home. One just put a metal bowl over the loaf.
I'm not sure why one would turn the Dutch oven upside down with the lid rather than leaving it right side up with the lid on.
I'm not sure what was in the Ancient Grains flour that King Arthur marketed some years back, but none of us liked the resulting loaf of bread, which tasted somewhat bitter. I ended up subbing small amounts of that flour into other breads in order to use it up and not waste money.
I suggest being skeptical about coconut oil. While it is trendy in some "health" writings, it has a lot of saturated fat. The last I heard, the American Heart Association was not recommending it.
I have been using avocado oil in some of my cakes. It is neutral and has the same amount of saturated fat as olive oil, plus it also has healthy fats. I also use it, with a tad of butter when making crumb toppings. It works well for sauteing vegetables and meat, and it has a higher smoke point than olive oil.
For a time, I used grapeseed oil, but I could never find information on its health benefits, so I switched to avocado oil.
I will be making dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Sunday afternoon, since it will need to rest in the refrigerator until the end of the week, when I will bake them. I predict that my husband will have worked his way through the current batch BEFORE that time.
Feed those hungry mouths, Aaron! It is work, but it is a delight.
Most King Arthur recipes have what I consider too much salt. Do you think that they own stock in a salt corporation? Or maybe that is what baking schools teach then? Someone once responded to a poster by stating that the salt is "necessary for the structure of the bread," but I have not found that to be true. I usually reduce the salt in their recipes by a third, and I cut it by half in the Rustic Sourdough I baked earlier this week.
I have three loaves of my Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread in the oven. With our weather being cooler, it is good to get ahead on the bread baking.
We had leftover turkey, lentils, vegetable, barley soup, served with the rest of the Rustic Sourdough and the loaf of Limpa bread I took out of the freezer.
We also had strawberries--the first of the season were at the farmers' market this morning and I bought two quarts.
Joan--I am sending you hugs, and I will keep you and your family in my prayers.
Navlys--They are very good. While they do not have the melty taste of a peanut butter cookie made with butter, they are an excellent substitute when butter in the diet needs to be reduced or eliminated.
Thanks for the info on nutritional information panels, Mike. While the grams are more useful than the old percentages (and the milk I buy STILL uses percentages), it gives me at least a general idea. For people who need precision because of health impacts, it would be problematic.
I also baked the Gourmet Soda Crackers from the dough I made yesterday. They are now cooling and crisping in the turned-off oven until tomorrow. These crackers bake better on my 1 and 2/3-sized sheet pan. The dough rested in the refrigerator for 17 hours (18 hours is the maximum), and I think that made it easier to roll.
I had planned to bake Lemon Ricotta Cookies on Friday, but after I had weighed out half AP and half white whole wheat flour, I pulled out the opened container of ricotta and saw flourishing green mold. The container went into the trash, and I went to Google to see if I could find a different recipe. My husband has not been eating much peanut butter lately, so I searched to see if I could find a cookie that would use natural peanut butter and no butter. After some frustration, I found a recipe for Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies at a blog, The Simple Veganista:
I did not need them to be vegan, so I replaced the almond milk with 1% milk. I used granulated sugar, instead of coconut or "pure cane sugar." The recipe said that it was fine to reduce the sugar from 1 cup to 3/4 cup, so I did, as I find most peanut butter cookies achingly sweet. I used some of the combined AP and White Whole Wheat flour that I had already mixed. I weighed the peanut butter, calculating the weight of a cup based on what the jar said was the weight in grams of 2 Tbs.
The dough came together easily with my hand mixer. I used a #40 Zeroll scoop to apportion the dough into 24 balls, but I needed to shape them into balls with my hands to smooth the surface, before flattening them with the crisscross pattern. My husband had one after they cooled and was pleased. I will have one for dinner tonight.
On Thursday evening, I baked the Spiced Rye Cookies from the King Arthur site. No changes were needed, as these are an oil-based cookie, although I use a #40 Zeroll scoop and drop the balls directly into the sparkling sugar to coat them before putting them on the pan. I will let the flavors meld before I start eating them tomorrow. The spices do not work well for my husbandâs digestion, so I will bake a different cookie tomorrow for him.
I also mixed the dough for the King Arthur Gourmet Soda Crackers, but I modify this recipe by deleting 2 Tbs. water and increasing the oil (I use avocado oil) to 3 Tbs. I also wait to add the oil until I have the other ingredients mixed. The dough rests up to 18 hours in the refrigerator before baking. After the bake, they remain in the turned-off oven until completely cooled (usually overnight, but at least 8 hours). That means I have to think ahead as to whether I will need the oven again before they cool.
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