BakerAunt
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Sounds delicious, Joan!
I was glad to have a fast dinner planned for Wednesday. I boiled rigatoni (Italian, from Aldi’s) in the defatted drippings from our turkey, along with a little broth. I sauteed carrot strips and thick celery slices in olive oil. Once the liquid boiled for the pasta, I put a colander over it and the rest of a package of frozen broccoli into it, then covered with a lid, so that it could steam while the pasta cooked. I cut up some of our leftover turkey, then combined everything in a big pasta bowl. I grated Parmesan cheese over it and mixed it in. It’s simple, and we can probably make another two meals from it.
My cinnamon bread turned out well. I would slightly increase the liquid, perhaps by 1 Tbs. next time, but I'm pleased with how well the swirl turned out, and I like the flavor of the muesli.
I baked whole Grain Pumpkin Bread on Tuesday, using the recipe at Nebraska Kitchen that Lemon Poppy originally put on the Baking Circle. Ever since I needed to give up most butter, it has been my go-to recipe. I usually substitute in a cup of barley flour, but since Bob’s Red Mill may have discontinued it, I am rationing the barley flour, so I used whole wheat pastry flour instead. As always, I reduce the sugar to 1 ¾ cups, and I follow Lemon Poppy’s suggestion to use half buttermilk and oil. I also decided that it would be best in five rather than six 3x6-inch pans, and that worked well. The pumpkin I used was from three years ago; clearly it got lost in the freezer.
My other baking project on Tuesday was to satisfy my yearning for a cinnamon swirl bread with raisins that I can eat with breakfast, and on which my husband can snack. I have a recipe for Oatmeal-Cinnamon Raisin Bread that came from The Baking Sheet (Spring 1999), pp. 24-25. I proceeded to make a lot of changes. I used half whole wheat flour and half bread flour and added 1 Tbs. special dry milk and 1 Tbs. flax meal. I substituted in 1 cup of buttermilk. I cut the brown sugar to 3 Tbs. and used 2 ½ Tbs. olive oil in place of the butter. I used 1 ¾ tsp. yeast. Instead of oats, I used a generous ½ cup of Bob’s Red Mill Muesli, which I soaked in the buttermilk. The dough seemed slightly dry, so I added 1 tsp. water as it kneaded in the bread machine. I added 1/3 cup golden raisins. For the filling, I had some sugar and cinnamon (what I had forgotten to put into a recipe a few weeks ago), so I used it, then spritzed it before rolling up the dough into a loaf. I chose an 8x4 USA loaf pan. Both rises took 80 minutes. I moved the containers to the front room where it was warmer. The loaf was not done after 35 minutes of baking at 375F. It needed another ten minutes. I did tent with foil after the first 25 minutes, and the crust still got a bit darker than I wanted, It’s cooling now, and I will have a slice at breakfast.
This dough fit in the small 2-quart dough bucket, but Italian Cook is correct that some breads, like the wheat rye bread I baked on New Year's Eve, do better with a 4-qt.
Kimbob: What is this vacuum of which you speak? 🙂
I keep showing my husband pictures of Mike's garden--hint, hint.
For lunch on Monday, I made Curried Butternut Squash Soup. I first roasted the squash, then pureed it with some broth. (Memo to self: use deeper pot when using stick blender.) I added 1 tsp. of Penzey’s Now Curry. I have enough for two more lunches.
I made mashed potatoes on Monday for dinner to go with leftover turkey and some peas and carrots we microwaved.
The only issue for bread is to make sure you have the overhead clearance in the oven to keep it from hitting the elements at the top. My current convection oven would not work for a high-rising loaf. I did do a little baking in a toaster oven, but the one I have does not make a good seal when closed, and that affected how well an item baked.
On Sunday, I fed my sourdough and made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers.
Your buns look very nice, Len.
That cake sounds fantastic, Chocomouse. Happy Birthday to your husband.
Best wishes for a speedy recovery, CWCdesign.
Thanks for the additional information on the book, Aaron. I think my nieces might enjoy it.
We will be having delicious leftovers as well. (Hurrah for leftovers!)
I am making broth today using the meaty bones from our New Year's Day turkey and the frozen ones from our Thanksgiving turkey.
That baking book sounds very good, Aaron. I'm thinking it might be a nice gift for my ten-year old twin nieces, whose mother is an occasional baker.
That's great that you and Violet whipped up a fabulous New Year's Eve dessert on such short notice.
Italian Cook--I substitute 1/2 cup of oil for the butter. Be sure to mix all the wet ingredients at the start, along with the sugar. In a smaller bowl, combine the flour and other dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and gently stir. I start with a cake whisk which resembles a flat paddle but has crisscrossing metal rows to make large squares. I finish gently with a spatula before putting into the pan.
If you don't have a cake whisk (most people do not, and I have not seen any for sale in ages), be gentle with a spatula.We sliced the bread tonight, and taste and texture are excellent. I even though that I tasted flavor notes that I missed before. I will definitely use the bread machine to mix and knead this recipe in the future, and perhaps some of Ginsberg's other recipes.
The cherry pie is delicious, and the streusel complements without taking away from the cherry filling. I plan to type up the recipe so that I have it for future pies. The jarred Morello cherries are probably seasonal, but if Aldi's still has them, I'll be buying another three jars to tuck away for a future pie.
My husband roasted a turkey. I made the Pepperidge Farm Blue Bag dressing. Our meal also includes microwaved frozen vegetables, homemade applesauce, and cranberry-cardamom relish for me. We had slices of Pumpkin Rye bread (with Land o' Lakes canola-butter spread), and dessert is a cherry pie with streusel top.
There were sporadic fireworks around here, starting at around 10. The dog freaked out. She actually slept downstairs near the furnace closet; perhaps the hum helped her.
It is raining here, and below freezing. My husband brought in extra wood in case we lose power, and he has gone ahead and started the turkey. I'm trying to think of what I need to do in case we loose power. The rain is freezing on the front windows and the sidewalks are slick. We saw duck hunters launch this morning, which in these weather conditions is not a good idea. They may have trouble getting their boat out as the boat ramp would be frozen by now.
December 31, 2020 at 11:12 pm in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of December 27, 2020? #28060New Year’s Eve was spent baking in the kitchen. I baked the Spiced Pumpkin Rye Bread that Stanley Ginsberg has posted on his Rye Baker blog. I decided to let the bread machine do the mixing and kneading instead of struggling with the dough in the 7-quart stand mixer, and it made the process so much easier. The bread had a great rise. We will have some at dinner tomorrow, but I really baked it because we are having turkey for New Year’s Day, and it makes the best turkey sandwiches.
I also baked a cherry pie on New Year’s Eve. I used my oil crust in a deep-dish Emile Henry ceramic pie plate. I used the filling from Baking Illustrated cherry pie. I used a half recipe of the streusel recipe from Carole Walter’s pie baking book but used just 1 Tbs. of melted butter, replacing the rest with 1 ½ Tbs. grapeseed oil. I used her technique of a foil tent for the first 40 minutes. I baked the pie for 25 minutes at 400F, then reduced it to 375F for the next 25 minutes, taking the foil off after 15. I let it go an additional 5 minutes. It looks good, we shall see when we cut it for dessert on New Year’s Day.
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