BakerAunt
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We awoke Sunday morning to four inches of snow--the first significant snowfall of the season for us. I looked at the snow and thought: apple pie. My recipe is based on Bernard Clayton's French Apple Pie, but I used 10 Winesaps and slightly pre-cooked the filling, which I put into a par-baked oil-buttermilk crust. I replace 1/3 cup butter in the streusel topping with 1 Tbs. melted butter and 2 1/2 Tbs. avocado oil. I par-baked the crust at 400F convection for 12 minutes, then baked the pie at 375 convection for 25 minutes before placing a rim shield, to keep the outer crust from darkening too much, and reducing the temperature to 350F convection for the remaining 25 minutes. I was able to slice it for dinner, even though it came out of the oven at 4:30, by putting the cooling rack on the enclosed porch after an hour. The pie is excellent. For the crust, I had intended to use half canola and half avocado oil, but I inadvertently grabbed the olive oil instead of the latter. The crust had an almost buttery taste to it, so I will use olive oil in place of half the canola oil in the future.
Tonight, we also sliced the Spiced Pumpkin bread that I baked yesterday to go with leftover pea soup. Once again, I am impressed by the puree from the fairy tale pumpkin. It gave the bread more of an orange hue and a subtle sweetness; the crumb is perfect. My husband remarked that we might have to get some fairy tale pumpkin seed....
January 23, 2022 at 8:51 am in reply to: Bald Eagles starting to gather along Mississippi River #32942We have seen an unusually large number of eagles this January, including some who were fighting over what we think was a fish. A very large eagle was particularly aggressive. The eagles like the lake, which is mostly frozen (and yes, the ice fishermen are out in spots), but there is still some open water that has attracted various kinds of ducks, as well as coots, geese, and swans. It is not a pretty sight when an eagle gets a bird.
Every county in Indiana is in the red--showing the most severe spread of Covid, but you would not know it by the number of people who choose not to wear masks in stores.
We end the week as we began it with a Saturday night dinner of Oven Crispy Fish and Chips with Dill Tartar Sauce and the rest of the coleslaw.
On Saturday, I baked the Spiced Pumpkin Bread from Stanley Ginsbergâs Rye Baker blog. The recipe is one of my bread favorites. My only ingredient change is to use active rather than instant yeast. For mixing, I use the bread machine, as the dough amount is too small for my large stand mixer, and I let the dough rise in a dough bucket. He recommends fresh pumpkin, as do I. Usually I use a pie pumpkin, but this time, I used puree from the fairy tale pumpkin I roasted a few weeks ago. That French variety might be closer to what is used in Germany, and its texture is denser. I added 1 Tbs. of whole wheat flour to the dough as it was kneading. While the dough was sticky, I was able to work with it after the first rise, and it held its shape nicely for the short, 20-minute rise. It baked into a beautiful loaf with a good rise. I look forward to slicing it tomorrow.
I'm glad that you enjoy the recipe and my changes to it, Chocomouse. 🙂
I baked my adaptation of the Authentic Italian Lemon and Ricotta Cookies posted on the Olive Tomato website. I use low-fat ricotta, which works well. I have been using half white whole wheat flour, but today, I used all white whole wheat flour. The cookies are excellent.
I baked Rye and Barley Crispbread on Thursday, which I topped with pumpkin, sunflower, and sesame seed. I use my 2/3 sheet pans for this recipe. I decided to try baking at 347F convection rather than using the regular oven mode. The crackers browned more evenly and were done in 20 minutes, as opposed to 30 minutes.
I made pea soup with ham for dinner on Thursday, a good recipe for cold weather with a bit of snow on the ground. We have enough for a few more meals.
You can freeze bananas for later baking projects, Italian Cook.
We were out of bread, so on Wednesday, I baked Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread, which is my adaptation of a Peter Reinhart recipe. I have been tweaking my increased wholegrain adaptation, this time by adding a bit more water, and that may have helped give a better rise. I bake it as three 8x4 loaves, as it otherwise makes two very large 9x5 loaves.
For lunch on Wednesday, I made Spanish Chickpea, Spinach, and Bulgur Stew, a recipe that I adapted from "Spanish Chickpeas and Spinach Stew" on the Penzey's website. I used tomato sauce made from our tomatoes from the freezer, and I also had chickpeas that I had frozen, so the initial prep work was done long ago. I add chopped carrots and red bell pepper; I think that they counteract the acidity of the tomatoes. I reduce the cumin and the cayenne to what I can tolerate but leave the paprika alone. I also use fresh garlic. I used 12 oz. frozen spinach rather than fresh. I cook 1/2 cup bulgur in a cup of water and stir it in at the end rather than serving the stew over grains. I have enough for lunches for the rest of the week and into next week.
I also made yogurt on Wednesday.
I made freekeh cooked in turkey broth to go with chicken cutlets that I briefly soaked in buttermilk then coated with 1/3 cup panko mixed with 1/2 tsp. poultry seasoning, and some shakes of onion powder, sweet curry, and freshly ground black pepper. I roasted it in the countertop convection oven at 400F for 20 minutes, and it was perfect. We also had leftover coleslaw.
I baked Apple, Barley, and Olive Oil Bundt Cake on Monday in a Nordic Ware Quartet pan (makes 4 small Bundt cakes). I adapted the recipe from one that came to my email from Zester, which has since ceased to exist. The barley flour was one of my innovations. For the apples, I use grated, unpeeled Winesaps. I plan to leave two of the cakes out for desserts this week and to freeze the other two.
I like to make pizza about once a month. On Monday, I made my sourdough pan pizza with the usual toppings of tomato sauce, Canadian Bacon, mozzarella, mushrooms, red bell pepper, green onion, and, on my half, black olives. I made the tomato sauce by cooking down a can of Muir Organic fire roasted tomatoes, after first sauteing some olive oil in the pan. We accompanied the pizza with coleslaw.
For Sunday dinner, I made coleslaw--a double recipe as that was the size of the head of cabbage. This time, I think that I nailed the dressing, using a half teaspoon salt per recipe and 2 tsp. Penzey's roasted onion powder per recipe. Our main dish was the Oven Crispy Fish and Chips with Dill Tartar Sauce.
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