[BakerAunt]

I have a starter that gets refrigerated. I wake it up by letting it sit out on the counter, where it begins to develop bubbles throughout, then I stir it and use it, then feed it. So, it's not unusual that yours is more active when warmer.

Most directions for starters say to feed the starter, and when it gets bubbly, stir and use. I've always assumed with those starters that they then need to be fed again. I've done some of the KAF recipes that use a bit of starter to get a sponge going, and those seem to work best when my starter has been fed and has had time to get active--bubbling and rising up. (See Jeffery's Rye bread recipe.)

You could start by making a sponge with a cup of the sourdough and some water and flour and letting it sit and get bubbly for about 8 hours before proceeding with the rest of the recipe.

In terms of amount of flour, it depends on how thick your starter is. Mine tends to be "thick liquidy" if that makes any sense. I've found that I need to add about 1/4 cup of flour per cup of starter to KAF recipes.

I usually put a bit of yeast into my sourdoughs, but I've been thinking of trying a straight sourdough and seeing what happens.

If you want, Aaron, I can post the long loaf sourdough recipe that I use. I put it in one of those pans that has the holes in it (has space for two but I usually make one). It comes from Sunset magazine, sometime in the 1980s. It includes a sponge--for sourer flavor--or not for milder.

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

[BakerAunt]

What surprised me on that January order was that the jar of maple sugar came from the south, not from Vermont.

[BakerAunt]

Congratulations on your pizza making, Italian Cook! We are all beaming with pride. Nebraska Kitchen is the best place to find supportive bakers to help perfect skills, whether it's pizza or the bagels I plan to try one of these days.

Thank you, Chocomouse for the lovely compliment.

A virtual pizza party sounds like fun!

[BakerAunt]

Have a safe trip back, Navlys.

For Tuesday night dinner I roasted eight chicken thighs. I had bought some silicone racks from Oxo and I put the chicken on those rather than a metal rack, although I still sprayed them with olive oil. The fat dripped off, and the clean-up of rack and pan was easy, especially since I lined the roasting pan with parchment. I also discovered, about two weeks ago that my oven, in addition to a "bake" setting has a "roast" setting. I used it, and the chicken skin crisped nicely. I also roasted cut-up potatoes tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with Penzey's Bavarian seasoning. I did those in my countertop oven. We also had microwaved fresh green beans.

[BakerAunt]

Wow! I may have to give focaccia a try!

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Len. I hope that they have flour again before my next Bakers Bucks expiration date in June.

I'm assuming that KAF is having to work with a greatly reduced staff. I noticed, however, before Covid-19 hit that KAF has warehouses in more than one geographical area; I was surprised in January that some of what I ordered did not come out of Vermont but from out west and down south, and a couple of those orders took longer than expected. So, the pandemic may have exacerbated an already existing problem.

[BakerAunt]

I went to the Bob's Red Mill site last Wednesday, saw some items were in stock (but limited to two each) and placed an order for 2 bags of whole wheat flour, 2 bags of wheat germ, and 2 bags of steel-cut oats. They seem to have a flat rate of $9.99. They are limiting order to two of each. I don't know if that includes cases, so I did not do any of those. According to the UPS tracker, the order will arrive tomorrow.

I've yet to hear from KAF on the order I placed on April 13, which I only placed because I had Bakers Bucks expiring, and I could not get an answer from KAF on whether that expiration date could be extended. The website showed all three items in stock. I'll give it another week to see if I hear about shipping, then I may need to call.

We did our Tuesday grocery run today. I saw a bag of unbleached Gold Medal flour--and they rarely carry unbleached. Even though it was $4.99, I bought it; with our Tuesday Senior 10% discount, that at least makes the price a bit better, but I could kick myself for only buying one bag at $2.99 when we last went to Kroger on March 13. I noticed that the local grocery seems to be running low on some items, so I went ahead and bought more canola and grapeseed oil.

Meat shortages are supposed to be coming due to the closure of meat packing plants where there were major outbreaks among workers. The one in Logansport is among them.

We had to re-schedule our dog's veterinary appointment, as the vets are taking turns coming to the clinic, and we wanted to get the vet we've been seeing; she is good with herding dogs, as she has some of her own. The vet practice has been sending staff members out to the car to get the animal, but that won't work with our girl, who won't even let my husband take her for a walk without me, and we've had her almost six years. And she is terrified of the vet clinic. Last time we went, she hid under our chairs in the exam room, and the vet was initially puzzled that there was no dog present, perhaps not realizing that 40 lbs. of cattle dog could do that. If the vet agrees, I'll wear a mask and go into a back room with her so that she can get her yearly exam and shots. Otherwise, we will have to postpone it.

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

[BakerAunt]

I missed it also.

[BakerAunt]

We had the leftover sourdough pan pizza.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I baked Squash, Whole Wheat, and Oat Quick Bread, using 2 cups of grated squash from last fall. It was almost a quick bread without the squash, as the dog was asking to be taken out, I tried to send her out with my husband, but she wanted me, and then I realized that I’d put the batter into the pan, and the squash was still in its container on the counter in front of me. I divided it up among the four wells of the four loaf Bundt pan, putting it on top of the batter, then used my spatula to mix it in the best I could. They look like they baked ok. I used an 8-cup pan that has four fancy loaves. It’s one of the older very dark ones, so I set the oven to 325F and baked it on the third rack up of the oven. They were done at 43 minutes.

[BakerAunt]

I answered correctly. I'm thinking that we discussed these differences once, or else Mike wrote about them once.

[BakerAunt]

Note: The Barley Whole Wheat bread (uses cottage cheese) is a delicious soft sandwich bread. I remember why I like this recipe so much.

I decided to experiment with my pizza dough recipe on Sunday by using the Zo to do the kneading. I doubled the dark rye flour and reduced the AP flour. I cut the salt to 1/2 tsp. and the yeast to 1/4 tsp. Once the dough came together, I drizzled in the tablespoon of olive oil. As it kneaded, I decided it needed more moisture and added 1 tsp. of water. The dough rose for two hours. It was easy to fit into the sheet pan. An hour later, I topped it with cooked ground turkey, a variety of halved, cherry tomatoes, sliced large mushrooms, pre-grated low-fat mozzarella, and some coarsely grated Parmesan. I baked for 17 minutes at 450F. I really like the crust which is lighter than when I make it using the mixer. From now on I will use the bread machine’s dough cycle for my thick-crust sourdough pizza.

[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook--few lumber places want to deal with a single tree. It also depends on the quality of the tree. When my husband had to do a lumber sale a few years go on the other property, thanks to the Emerald Ash Bore killing the ash trees, we had hoped to find a company from which we could purchase some of the wood for use in our house, but with the demand to take out dying ash trees, that wasn't possible. We were able to get ash flooring for our kitchen from a local company, but it would have been nice to have it from our own place.

About five years earlier, a guy we know was able to get lumber milled from a tree in his yard and use it in the house he was building. Different time and different situation.

[BakerAunt]

I answered correctly.

[BakerAunt]

I often add a bit of the potato water into the mashed potatoes, but milk, and a bit of butter is the way I like it.

I have used potato water as the liquid when baking bread.

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