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Yes, some breads are supporting cast to the filling rather than accentuating it. When we first got married, my husband didn't want to "waste" the bread I baked on sandwiches and initially continued to buy a 100% whole wheat one for his sandwiches, a bread that I thought rather bland. It took some convincing for him to realize that a great bread flavor can complement the flavor of the sandwich filling. It also helped that the price of the bread shot up. Within a year, my trusty stand mixer (bought mostly with wedding gift cards) and I had put him on the path to home baked.
Thanks for the reports on the Ginsberg recipes, Mike!
I wonder how long it would take us to travel to Georgia....
Welcome Janiebakes! I remember you from the Baking Circle. In particular, I recall some posts where you and others were baking your way through the King Arthur Cookie baking book, although I'm unsure how many recipes were baked before people got busy with other projects.
On Monday, I baked the KABC Gourmet Soda Crackers again. They are definitely better when I do not put too much water in the dough! 🙁
I used the same technique as last time in setting the oven at 400F convection. I turned it off with a minute to spare because they seemed golden enough. I will probably cut the time to 9 minutes next time, or 4 min. 30 seconds before turning the baking sheet around. As I did last time, I allowed them to cool in oven after I turned it off, and since my oven vents excess heat after being turned off, I did not have to worry about overbrowning, and I did not need to leave the oven door open. I did taste a warm one, and these are tastier than that first batch and brown more nicely. It may be worthwhile to keep the Italian-style flour on hand just for these crackers.
I mixed dough on Sunday night for the KABC Gourmet Soda Crackers. In making the recipe this time, I realized that last time I added 5 oz. of water rather than 3 oz. No wonder the dough was goopy! I'm embarrassed to have made that error. I've added a note to last week's thread admitting it.
The dough rests overnight in the refrigerator, so I will bake the crackers tomorrow.
I deleted the post, as I put it in the wrong week. Sigh.
Chocomouse--I usually soak the Grape Nuts in the buttermilk for about an hour before I start. I think that also helps figure out the hydration. I have made a few changes since I posted the recipe, mostly by increasing the whole wheat flour and the liquid by a bit. I also have been using a combination of special gold and regular yeast, but it would probably be fine with just the regular.
I will add a note to the end of the recipe I posted with how I currently bake it.
Our dinner is leftover lima beans with brown rice and ham--no complaints!
I found some overripened bananas at the grocery store this morning (marked down), so on Sunday I baked my version of Buckwheat Banana Cake. It works perfectly in a 6-cup Bundt Pan.
We were also out of bread, so I baked two loaves of my buttermilk enriched and more whole wheat Grape Nuts Bread, which is one of my husband's favorites.
I took a page out of Joan's cookbook for dinner tonight!
For Saturday night’s dinner (and dinners into the coming week), I cooked 2 ½ cups large lima beans (first soaked overnight and into next day) with pieces of chopped ham, 2 Tbs. reconstituted dried onion, and 1 tsp. dried thyme. I cooked brown rice separately, then added it in when both were finished. I remembered that I had about 2/3 cup of brown and mixed wild rice in the freezer, so I pulled that out and put it in as well, since the broth was a little thin, then added some freshly ground pepper. My husband is not keen on ham by itself, but he likes it when I combine it with beans.
On Saturday, I baked the cheese crackers from the dough that I made up last week.
Navlys--I'd be tempted to leave early no matter how good the weather!
For dinner on Thursday, I roasted sweet potato chunks tossed in olive oil, which we had with leftover turkey loaf.
On Thursday I also cooked a bag of chickpeas that I had soaked overnight. I froze some, set some aside for a recipe that I will make in a few days, and used the remainder to make hummus to go with the bagel chips that I baked yesterday and probably some carrots and celery sticks.
Italian Cook--After the honey vendor stopped coming, possibly due to health issues, we discovered that there is someone in our town who keeps bees and produces honey. Although he stopped coming to the farmers' market, I was able to email him and we have bought his honey. In addition, the Kroger in the larger town to our northeast carries honey from a regional producer. However, if these sources ever go away, I will keep Lehmann's in mind.
I often bought Breitsammer honey at T.J. Maxx and Ross when I lived close to their stores. It is German honey, and my husband particularly likes their creamier honey.
My other baking project on Wednesday was pita chips. I used the recipe on the KABC website, which is the same as one that I cut out of one of the KAF catalogues to try. The recipe for the pitas is not hard, although the directions are a little sparse (“mix and knead to form a smooth dough”). I mixed initially with the paddle, holding the oil back until the rest was incorporated, added it and mixed, then used the dough hook for 2 minutes. That worked. Rolling out the balls of dough to 6-inch circles was not difficult, as I used my little wooden rolling pin that came with the ravioli mold (and no, I have never made ravioli with it). I rolled a ball on a small square of parchment paper, with saran on top. To get them off the parchment, it helped to turn them over onto the Silpat mat, peel off the parchment, and then lift them and move them to the hot stone in the oven. I need to work a bit on the drop onto the stone. I did well with the one in the far back corner, but I had some issues dropping the one in the front left corner perfectly flat. Five of the eight have nice puffs, and the others are salvageable.
After the pitas cooled, I cut four of them in half. I used kitchen scissors after starting each with a knife and used the knife at the end if I needed to cut through any of the center. The top parts are thin, and the bottom parts are thick. I decided to bake the chips made from the top ones separately from those I would make with the thicker bottom parts. Each half gets cut into eight wedges. The recipe calls for them to be brushed first with olive oil and sprinkled with salt. However, I used the kitchen scissors to cut them into wedges, then brushed them with olive oil. I did not add any additional salt. (The recipe already has 1 ½ tsp.) I baked on the convection setting, third rack up, but left the temperature the same. I did the thick ones first, with 10 minutes on one side and about six on the other. The thin ones I did for about 5 minutes, then 3 minutes.
I was hoping to use these with humus for a visitor on Friday, but I am not sure they are impressive or good enough. I will try them out tomorrow. I reserved four of the pitas, in part because my husband is excited about trying them for sandwiches, but also because they did not come out as chips as well as I had hoped--and certainly not like the picture from the catalogue.
Wednesday night’s dinner was Turkey-Zucchini Meatloaf with Peach-Dijon Mustard Glaze. I also roasted potato wedges tossed in olive oil with Penzey’s Mural Seasoning. We rounded out the meal with microwaved frozen mixed vegetables.
I may be getting down to the last of the peach jam I made two years ago. Getting good peaches to make more may be an issue. I was able to buy them twice in different years from a vendor who had organic peaches as a sideline to her honey business. The peaches were "ugly" (her words) but delicious, and they made fantastic peach jam. However, the crop often depended on whether there was a freeze (as in 2018) or not. She stopped coming to the market after spring 2019. I miss her peaches and her honey.
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