[BakerAunt]

To go with microwaved fresh broccoli and leftover chicken for Monday dinner, I roasted some cubed potatoes that I had tossed in olive oil and Penzey's Mural of Flavor seasoning. Roasting at 400F for 45 minutes was just right.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, CWCdesign. I will check it out.

[BakerAunt]

For Sunday dinner, I made black-eyed peas with brown rice, yellow bell pepper, ham, rehydrated dried onion, some kale, parsley, and black pepper. The bread I baked yesterday, thinly sliced with a bit of butter (ok, Land of Lakes Light Butter Canola spread) goes with it very well.

We have enough for several more meals, so I can alternate it with the roast chicken.

[BakerAunt]

The bread has great flavor, and the texture allows for thin slices if desired. I will definitely bake it again.

The recipe starts with a yeasted soaker that includes flax seeds, whole wheat flakes, rye flakes, 2g yeast and 120 g water. Leader says that the "combination of wheat flakes, rye flakes, and flax seeds give the bread great flavor, especially because they've been allowed to ferment with the yeast" (p.143). I had added the flax meal to that, which made for a gummy soaker, although I do not think it affected the rise.

I used the malted wheat flakes that King Arthur sells.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. I will commit that number to memory.

I'm wondering if I could replace the flax seeds with sunflower seeds in the soaker. That changes the character of the bread the title but would still include some kind of seed. The sunflower seeds are larger. Any thoughts on that route?

[BakerAunt]

I baked a new recipe on Saturday: Leimsamenbrot or Flax Meal bread. See the separate thread for the details.

[BakerAunt]

I made chicken broth on Saturday. Dinner was leftovers.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. The recipe did not include cup measurements, and I have not yet gotten to the place where I can visualize grams. It did not help that the recipe said to put the dough in a 4 qt. dough bucket to rise, which implies that it needs lots of space. However, my dough started out at 1 qt. and rose to the 2 qt. line. The recipe said to let it double, and it did. Each baked loaf weighs 1 pound 1.1 oz. If I had put the dough in just one 8x4 pan, I think it would have been fine. Clearly, the book has an error. The recipe makes a single loaf.

I'm going to try it again, as soon as we eat these little loaves. I will leave the flax meal out of the soaker, since it gummed it up, and add it with the flour. I will also use the bread machine, as my mixer does better with large amounts of dough. Of course, that is assuming that we like the taste of the bread when I cut it tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

Added note: The dough weighed 1.070 kg. I've divided it into two parts. I am leaning toward using two 4x8 inch pans.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--When I make cinnamon bread, I sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar mixture, then spritz with water before rolling it up. I learned that technique from a Bernard Clayton recipe in his excellent bread baking book. It helps keep the bread from separating along the swirls.

I baked my Lime-Pecan Biscotti on Friday. I developed this butter-free recipe that uses oil and a bit of buttermilk along with the eggs, and I make it with 2/3 white whole wheat. I used limes from my lime tree and pecans my younger stepson and his fiancee sent us at Christmas from Alabama where they visited some of her family.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--I've seen recipes for tomato tarts that use cherry tomatoes. It's one reason I asked my husband to include a cherry tomato plant in a pot in the upcoming garden. CWCdesign has a great idea as well. I like to toss mushrooms, asparagus, and cherry tomatoes in olive oil and roast them. Leftovers make good filling for omelets.

I roasted a chicken for dinner on Friday. I used the defatted drippings (I’m always surprised at how much of it is fat) with deglazing in the pan to make a small amount of gravy that I combined with sauteed mushrooms and spinach noodles. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

I agree with Mike that the U.S. is not going to see the flour scarcity that we saw during the pandemic. It is more complicated in the rest of the world. Ukraine sells its corn and wheat to Africa and the Middle East, so the people of those countries will be most directly affected by shortages and food insecurity. China is allowing Russia to sell its wheat to their country rather than restricting it.

If we learned anything from the pandemic it is that, in our world economy, shortages or crop failures create a ripple effect. War does as well.

[BakerAunt]

I made yogurt on Thursday.

For dinner, I roasted sweet potato chunks to go with leftover pork from last night. We also had microwaved frozen peas.

[BakerAunt]

I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Thursday. I will bake them next week after the dough rests in the refrigerator.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, my husband skillet-cooked boneless pork ribs, which we had with leftover red potatoes from a few days ago and microwaved fresh broccoli.

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