BakerAunt
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How wonderful to have such a nice visit with your sister, Joan!
For Thursday's dinner, I roasted a chicken, which we had with the rest of the freekeh stir-fry and microwaved fresh broccoli.
Great picture of the hummingbird sentry, Mike. We had a hummingbird the other day picking the bugs out of a spider web! Take-Out Food!
On Thursday, I finally baked my Rye and Barley Crispbread, using the two new Vollrath baking sheets (see Extra Large Sheet Pan thread at Nebraska Kitchen) that I bought earlier this summer. I was able to roll the dough to 30x50 cm (a bit tight on the 50cm), and the brown baking parchment I bought from Rye Bakers was almost a perfect fit for the pan. (Of course, now that company no longer sells to individual bakers.) I discovered that my Knackebrod rolling pin docked the dough perfectly. With the new pans, I had to decrease baking time from 30 to 25 minutes, as these pans are not as thick as my regular baking sheets.
I finally got around to baking with my two new Vollrath pans for the first time. They worked very well for my Rye and Barley Crispbread. I did have to reduce baking time by 5 minutes, as they are not as heavy as my flat baking sheets. It was nice not to have the crackers hanging off the side of the pan. I hope to try the pans out soon with the Rosetta rolls and some other bread recipes.
I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Wednesday. I am trying to use a lighter hand with sprinkling salt on them.
Laura also posted as Bettina. Some of her recipes are posted here under that name.
We have happily bought wonderful potatoes from an organic vendor at our farmer's market, but I noticed he did not have them this year. I asked, and he said that they were hit by potato bugs, so no crop this year.
🙁I also have noted the shortage of canning lids. In some cases they are not to be had unless you buy them in packages of 12 WITH the jars. I am still working off the stock I bought three years ago. Even then, I had to buy some lids with the rings, even though I have plenty of rings.
Our local Ace hardware had 4 and 8 oz. jam jars. I did not see any quart jars. I was unable to find jars at Walmart when we went over a month ago, but I did find labels there and bought a pack.
I was able to get the special pectin that I need for my jam maker. I went ahead and bought two containers, although I only needed to open one. I checked the date, and it will last through next year's jam season.
That sounds like Laura Four Paws? I think that she also posted under another name.
Yes, we had lots of flour power in those days.
Dinner on Tuesday was a grain combo using the leftover pork and the deglazed liquid, freekeh, carrots, celery, red bell pepper, purple bell pepper, green onions, garlic, mushrooms, a small zucchini, a small yellow squash, and parsley. We have enough for another meal.
A month or so ago, I adapted Peter Reinhart’s Oat Bran Bread (from Brother Juniper’s Bread Book) by incorporating buttermilk, flax meal, replacing 4 cups of the bread flour with that much whole wheat, using a cup of high-gluten flour in place of 1 cup of bread flour, replacing brown sugar with honey, reducing the yeast, and reducing the salt. I also changed the mixing method. The recipe is now my own. My husband and I loved the taste, but the bread was not as soft as we would like, which led to lots of crumbs. I wanted to try fixing that, so this time I incorporated 4 Tbs. olive oil after adding all the flour and then kneading. The recipe had made two large 9x5-inch loaves. This time, I made it as three 8 ½ x 4 ½-inch loaves, a size we prefer for our sandwiches. I baked for 40 minutes at 350F. They look good but a tad smaller than I would like. The recipe could probably be scaled up slightly.
Good luck with re-processing those jars, Mike.
For Monday’s dinner, I breaded and roasted chicken breasts. We also had sweet corn and the last of the Michiana bean salad on mixed greens from the organic vendor at our farmer’s market.
Ah, yes, Chocomouse, ginger with peaches! My recipe used 1/2 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. nutmeg (I grate fresh). However, these muffins would be excellent with the addition of candied ginger in place of the nutmeg for a more assertive flavor.
I can also report that my tomato-zucchini tart warmed up well (350F for 10 min. in small oven) on a metal pie plate. Indeed, I think it is better today than when it was first baked.
Those loaves look good, Chocomouse. Are those your iron bread pans?
On Monday morning, I baked Oat & Peach Muffins, a recipe from Muffin Magic [Ryland, Peters, and Small, 2010], pp. 24-25. It was one of those little cookbooks with pretty pictures that ended up in the discount section. I found it a few years ago, back when I still lived near a bookstore where I could browse. It had a few recipes I thought made it worth my while, and when we were packing up the guest quarters for the now ongoing renovation, I found it and set it aside to try some recipes. I had some leftover frozen peaches, as I had had to buy some ringers to supplement the fresh ones when I made jam a couple of weeks ago, so this recipe was a good fit. I made a few changes in that I reduced the brown sugar from ½ cup plus 2 Tbs. to 1/3 cup, the largest amount I usually use in a muffin. I replaced 1/3 of the AP flour with white whole wheat and added 1 Tbs. milk powder and 1 Tbs. flax meal. I sprinkled a little of the Penzey’s cinnamon sugar on top before baking (it has a bit of vanilla in addition to the cinnamon sugar). I baked them as six jumbo muffins rather than a dozen and reduced the temperature from 425 to 400F. (Lower temperature works better with USA pans.) I baked the full 25 minutes. I had a warm muffin for breakfast. These are good, although I would not necessarily buy peaches in order to bake them; I suspect , however, that they would be at their best with fresh peaches, so one day I will give that a try. That means I will type up my version of the recipe to keep, as one of the charms(?!) of these little gift cookbooks is their incredibly small typeface.
Skeptik--most rye breads, even ones that are quick breads, need a resting time. Even when completely cool most rye breads are not ready to be sliced until the next day.
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