BakerAunt
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We had leftover pizza and coleslaw for dinner and some of the pumpkin apple cake for dessert.
Mike, I sent the picture from my gmail account.
This is the first time that I've tried to post a picture where it didn't work. Joan had some issues a while ago.I tried the mixer today on "Skillet Pumpkin and Apple Cake," a recipe by Becky Krystal that was featured in a Thanksgiving segment at The Washington Post. I know that they laid off some of the recipe section people (Daniela Garza, who wrote the "Eat Voraciously" column, for one). I hope Becky is still there. I do miss the occasional great recipe that I would get at the Post when I still subscribed. We had another half inch of snow last night, so a warm, wintery cake at dinner will hit the spot. I make just a few changes to the recipe by replacing 1 ¼ of the 2 ¼ cups AP flour with white whole wheat and use King Arthur for the AP. I also add 2 Tbs. milk powder. For the topping, I cut the butter from 4 Tbs. to 2 Tbs. and make up the rest with 2 Tbs. avocado oil. If we had a lot of people around to eat it, I might do all butter, but it is just the two of us. The cake is baked in a skillet, with the topping of butter, brown sugar, apple slices, and cranberries on the bottom, then flipped over after cooling for 10 minutes.
I tried to upload a picture, twice, but I got an "upload error" message,
I saw some questions about how the Ankarsrum works on cakes. Be aware that I do not bake butter cakes anymore, as both my husband and I need to limit saturated fats. However, I do bake oil cakes, and I tried the mixer today on "Skillet Pumpkin and Apple Cake," a recipe by Becky Krystal that was featured in a Thanksgiving segment at The Washington Post.
I used the dough roller and the dough knife, just as I do when I mix bread dough. I started by beating the two eggs with the sugar. I set the mixer at the fifth speed and mixed for three minutes. It did a nice job. I mixed in the oil at a lower speed (about 3), then stopped it, added the pumpkin, and mixed it in at 3. For the flour, I set the speed to 1, and with the mixer running, added it by large spoonfuls. I had the dough roller positioned on the side, a little bit away from the bowl for the other tasks. Once I added the flour, I needed to move the arm more toward the center, but the mixer quickly incorporated it.
With most of my oil cakes, I do not use a mixer when adding the flour. I instead use a cake whisk and do it by hand, since overmixing can make for a tough cake. However, given how quickly the Ank incorporated the dry ingredients at a low speed, I will try it again, as long as the final cake texture comes out well. I'll add a note after we sample slices for dessert tonight.
Interesting, Mike. With my other mixer, I would mix in the wholegrain flour, then let the dough rest for 15 minutes before adding any AP or bread flour, but with the Ankarsrum, I find that I do not need to do that.
I baked another loaf of the Wholegrain Sourdough Bread in a Cloche today. I used very little of the final addition of bread flour, perhaps 3 Tbs., which is less than the last time. Perhaps the Ankarsrum requires less flour because it kneads more efficiently? I kneaded on the second speed for 10 minutes until I could pull a windowpane.
On Saturday, I baked another loaf of Whole Grain Sourdough Bread in a Cloche. I replaced the flax meal this time with some buckwheat flour that I am trying to use up. I look forward to slicing it tomorrow.
For dinner, I roasted potato chunks tossed in olive oil to go with the leftover pecan crusted boneless pork chop from Thursday's dinner. We had more of the coleslaw as well.
It reminded me of a piece of soft bread.
I have been using the bread machine for pizza dough, as it was too little to mix well in my former mixer. I decided to try it in the Ankarsrum for my Sourdough Pan pizza crust today. I think that the bread machine may overdo the kneading, so I wanted gentler and not as long. After the dough came together, I mixed it for two minutes, still at the first speed before putting it aside to rise. The final crust was more bready than usual. I'm not sure if that is because I increased the water from 4 to 5 oz. or because of the current density of the sourdough starter. Next time, after mixing it, I will knead it on the second speed for a couple of minutes and see if there is a difference. The pizza was very good, which means there were no complaints from my husband who prefers that kind of crust. I like it to be chewier.
That's a great system, Italian Cook. We tend to be tight on freezer space, but I do have some containers for holding frozen cookie dough that I bought from King Arthur some years ago. I only make oil-based cookies these days, and I need to experiment on whether the dough can be frozen and then bake well.
I baked Sourdough Pan Pizza for dinner on Friday. Instead of the bread machine, I used the Ankarsrum to make the dough. As usual, I topped with tomato sauce (the last I had frozen from our garden), Canadian bacon, chopped up mozzarella, sliced mushrooms, chopped red bell pepper, green oinion, Greek olives on my half, and Parmesan.
We haven't watched the Super Bowl in years, so no special meal plans here.
I made yogurt on Friday. I also made coleslaw to start eating as a side at dinner. The cabbage came from the farmers market in the autumn. I wrapped it in saran and refrigerated it upon getting it home, and it kept extremely well. As it was 3 lbs., 12 oz., it made a lot of coleslaw, so we are set for a vegetable side dish for a while.
Congratulations, Joan, on your first great-grandchild! I'm glad that mother and child are doing well.
Today, I made the dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers for the third time using the Ankarsrum. I am getting better at judging where to adjust the arm. I do not seem to be able to incorporate the last little bit of the flour with the mixer, so I do that with a little bit of hand kneading. I might hold back 2 Tbs. of flour, but I am reluctant to do so because crackers are not supposed to be like bread, and I think all the flour is necessary. I mix on the first speed for a longer amount of time than with my former stand mixer, but the dough comes out well. The Ankarsrum is also a lot easier and faster to clean up than the mixing paddle that the Cuisinart used.
On Thursday, I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake the crackers next week.
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