[BakerAunt]

I worked out the correct answer.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--I rarely clean my jar, unless it has been sitting a long time. I use one of those glass jars with the wire clasp and a silicone or rubber gasket. That gives me more room to add flour and to mix. For mixing, I have one of those spring whisks, which goes up and down. I also refrigerate my starter sooner rather than later, which slows down the action.

All of that said, if the starter smells and looks funky, throw it out.

I look forward to hearing about your rye experiments with starter!

BTW--KAF has a chocolate sourdough cake recipe that I've made and we enjoyed. I think, however, that it uses butter. I may need to look at it and see if oil can be substituted.

It's hot here, so I am hoping for a cooler weekend so that I can bake again.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I answered correctly.

[BakerAunt]

The annual Lake Fest, which occurs in July, has been canceled here. The town is still talking about a possible Fall Fest, which I see as a bad idea.

Total number of cases in our county:
May 27--80 cases
June 2--147 cases
June 3--178 cases

We are starting to see the results of moving into Phase III (with no data to explain WHY) before Memorial Day, and they are already discussing Phase IV.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I made the dough for yet another batch of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them in four to five days.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I tried a new recipe to go with the boneless pork that my husband pan cooked for dinner. I made Quinoa Summer Salad from the Penzey’s website:

https://www.penzeys.com/shop/recipes/quinoa-summer-salad/

I reduced the olive oil to 1/3 cup. I did not have any parsley. I did not use the optional cayenne. I did add 4 oz. of feta to the salad once it had cooled. We like the recipe with these changes I will have to buy more of Penzey’s Country French Dressing Mix. I had just enough to make this recipe.

[BakerAunt]

Obviously, we have all seen the price of that commodity. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

I've used buttermilk past the expiration date without issue. How long is too long may depend on the brand of buttermilk. I always shake it before using.

[BakerAunt]

I guessed correctly as well.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, I revisited the baked fish and chips recipe that I tried the first week of May that uses pollock and russet potatoes. Again, I made a half recipe. Based on my first effort, I made some additional changes. This time I replaced the Old Bay seasoning on the potatoes with garlic powder, onion powder, and a bit of salt. For the fish, I used half a tsp. Penzey’s Greek seasoning in the buttermilk marinade. I used an additional tsp in the Panko. I did not add it to the partial egg I used (saving the rest for another recipe). I used AP rather than white whole wheat flour. The results were much more flavorful than the first time I made the recipe. I think it would also be good with Lemon Pepper as an alternative to the Greek Seasoning.

[BakerAunt]

I'm very pleased with the Dark Grains Bread I baked yesterday. The texture is good--firm but soft. It will be great on open-face sandwiches. I am not always a fan of molasses in bread, but I like how it worked with my combinations. Using that cup of high-gluten flour gave the bread the structure it needs.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it.

[BakerAunt]

I highly recommend that Pear and Cherry pie filling recipe. We cut into it for dessert this evening, and it is delicious. I'm glad that I reduced the sugar in the filling to 1/2 cup and used just half the streusel. It is the perfect degree of sweetness.

[BakerAunt]

I have that baking book (or think I do!), Skeptic. I'll have to check out that bread.

Temperatures reached the 90s this Tuesday, but we were out of bread, so I started the dough around noon. I made another attempt at Bernard Clayton’s Dark Grains Bread, from his revised New Complete Book of Breads (223-225). I have made it before, but each time, I had a bit of sag in the middle of the loaf. I followed my usual changes, although I reduced the yeast to 3 ¾ tsp, but I replaced the 1 ½ cups of bread flour with 1 cup high gluten flour (have it and need to use it) and ½ cup plus 3 Tbs. bread flour. It took about nine minutes of kneading on speed 3 of my Cuisinart 7-qt. stand mixer to get a windowpane. The first rise took 58 minutes. I shaped, then let rest 5 minutes, then did final shaping. The second rise took 50 minutes. I baked it for 47 minutes and it was at 203F and maybe a little dark. There is still some slight dimpling, but the loaves look good. We will slice into one for lunch tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I was able to buy a package of six Roma tomatoes that had been marked for quick sale. I cut out the bad place from one, then made them into sauce for the next time we have pizza. I start by putting olive oil and 2 cloves minced garlic in a sauté pan, heating until the garlic becomes fragrant (about 30 seconds or so), then adding the chopped tomatoes and cooking them down to make a thick sauce. I add about ½ tsp. sugar.

I also needed to use up the potato water left from when I made potato salad last week, so I sautéed some chopped carrots and celery, then added the water and 2 tsp. rehydrated Penzey’s dried onion, along with 1 cup brown lentils and ¼ cup red lentils. After 20 minutes, I added ¼ cup farro, then cooked for another 30 minutes before adding torn kale from two stalks. I ate some for lunch. We will either use it for a meal later this week (if the weather cools down!) or else I will freeze it for an “emergency” meal

[Author]

Posts