BakerAunt
Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
I did hear about Tuesday Morning, Mike. The nearest one here is in South Bend, and we don't go to South Bend that often. I had been thinking we would get there in October, after my husband's family reunion, but it looks like the reunion will not be held this year due to Covid-19. Usually Big Lots would have better prices on the foods. Tuesday Morning seems to me to have moved direction in the past few years. A lot of my nice baking and cooking ware came from there, but I recall thinking a couple of years ago that if I were shopping for the same items now, I wouldn't find them there.
Note on zucchini we had for dinner. I found a roasted zucchini recipe on line. I cut the zucchini into slices and put it on a half-sheet pan lined with parchment. I brushed each slice with olive oil, then sprinkled with a bit of garlic, salt, and pepper. I grated a little Parmesan cheese over each slice. I roasted at 475 for 5 minutes, then put under the broiler for 2 minutes. These are delicious.
Thanks, Len, it pays to haunt their site!
Aaron: If only we could chain our kitchen implements to the kitchen (as Medieval churches used to do with Bibles), they would actually be there when needed and not in the possession of Ida Know and Not Me (characters who show up occasionally in the Family Circus comic strip).
I have been a member of the Baker's Rewards for as long as the program has existed. It was a much better deal when I could get 25 lb. bags of flour, but they stopped shipping the large bags.
Some ingredients I buy exclusively from KAF: the special dry milk, medium rye flour, Bakewell Cream baking powder, pumpernickel flour, maple sugar, and Vermont Cheese powder. I can no longer get white whole wheat flour locally, and Bob's Red Mill no longer carries that product, so when I need it, I have to use mail order.
Other ingredients, like their dried mixed fruits or candied ginger are occasional purchases.
I usually buy their 100 sheets of parchment paper, which is not available locally.
I agree with Mike that KAF used to have a wider array of gadgets, many of which found their way into my kitchen. I still use them. Lately, they have had less, although that mini spatula/spoonula set I picked up has been wonderful, especially the spoonula for drizzling glaze.
I can usually get KAF AP locally (when there isn't a pandemic!) Usually, I buy my bulk yeast from KAF. I'm rarely near a store where I could buy it.
I've bought various bread baking dishes and pans over the years and so don't need the standards.
One thing that I like about the Bakers Rewards is that you don't have to wait for a shipping special. However, you do have to buy $25 worth to qualify for BR free-shipping, and if you use a BR $10 off coupon, the total before the coupon is applied must be $35. You do earn extra Bakers Bucks if you are a Rewards member.
For me, since I live in a rural area not close to an array of stores, it makes sense to have the membership--even though I'm not happy that KAF has not extended expiration dates on Baker's Bucks when they don't have much of what I want in stock.
Bob's Red Mill had the best shipping deals (free over $59--excluding 25 lb. bags), and pre-Pandemic, I would do a couple of large orders per year. That is why I switched to their bread flour, whole wheat flour, and other specialty flours. They also have grains and beans. I do not know if the shipping special will come back after all of this.
So, Kimbob, think about your particular case and needs when making your decision.
On Thursday, I made All American Potato Salad. The recipe comes from Cook’s Country, although I have tweaked it slightly. For us, it must include Hengstenberg Crunchy Gherkins, a German pickle. I buy jars at Tuesday Morning or Big Lots, usually in September and October during Oktoberfest promotions. I am down to my last jar and do not know when I will have a chance to re-stock. We will have it with roasted chicken thighs (on silicone racks so that the fat runs off). I plan to sauté zucchini in olive oil with a bit of Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset as the green vegetable.
Good catch, Aaron!
While there is some overlap between bakers and barbecuers, I'm thinking that the bread baking craze is in no danger of slowing down, IF people were baking good bread. It may be that they will realize that they need really good buns to set off what they barbecue.
I missed it.
Aaron--I tried olive oil in the crackers and also did not care for the flavor, even when I was doing an Italian Seasoning in place of the cheese powder. I switched to canola oil and add 2 Tbs. BRM milk powder to each recipe, which with the cheese powder gives a more cheesy flavor.
I also didn't like the crackers brushed with olive oil or canola oil. I switched to grapeseed oil, and that allows the cheese flavor to come through.
Of course, each starter has its own character, and mine is milk based. Experimentation will help you work out the sourness issue.
I have a ruler that is marked English on one side and metric on the other. It's 16 inches long and lives in the drawer with my scale and scrapers. Of course, there are no children to grab it here, and my husband does not venture into the baking drawer. It makes it easy to use the pizza wheel to do 3x3 cm crackers.
So, the next question is how much fat is still in the bacon after it has been cooked, and the fat blotted with a paper towel.
Given the run on yeast, as well as flour, people were planning to try baking bread. A lot of places had empty shelves in the bread aisle, perhaps because of all the children home from school who needed sandwiches, or perhaps it was the hoarding compulsion driven by fear.
Some attempted sourdough, either successfully, or else their effort became permanent "discard."
Baking and cooking take time, and a lot of people do not feel that they can fit those activities into their lives, so they grab take out, go to restaurants, etc. With the stay-at-home orders, people suddenly found time to cook and bake. Whether they will stick with it, remains to be seen. Some may figure out how to include it in the future, especially if they like what they are cooking and baking and decide that their efforts are superior to what they were buying. It's also possible that people are going to be short on money and will need to prepare more food at home.
Aaron--There is very little sour taste in my Cinnamon Raisin Sourdough Bread. It tastes sweet, and has stayed relatively soft. (I did replace the butter with 3 Tbs. olive oil.) Of course, I did mess with the recipe (as you can see from the details I posted). Mine was mostly whole wheat with just the AP that was in my starter, and then 1 cup plus 1 Tbs. bread flour. As I noted, the hydration was a bit too high. Next time, I'd stick to 1 cup of bread flour and use at least an extra 1/4 cup of the whole wheat. (I used Bob's Red Mill WW. and BRM Artisan Bread flour--which is their regular bread flour.)
I don't think that the pastry flour would work all that well. If you can get your hands on some Gold Medal AP that would be better than pastry flour, although not as good as KAF AP.
I replaced with bread flour because I was replacing 2/3 of the flour with whole wheat flour.
I missed it. Now I have BLTs on my mind. If the garden gives us tomatoes this year, I may try to sneak in a couple of BLTs.
How did the banana bread come out, Joan?
My husband is going to wait another week or so before moving our tomato plants outside. We also have red bull peppers that are taking a long time to germinate.
Our radishes are starting to come up, as are the green beans, snow peas, and carrots.
We didn't get many red bell peppers off of last year's plant. It had a late start, and other plants blocked its sunshine. It still had a couple little green peppers developing last year before the freeze, so my husband dug it up and put it in a pot on the sun porch--which you may recall allows in light but not heat. It sat there looking droopy all winter, being watered as needed by my husband. He transplanted it back outside last week. We weren't expecting much but not only are new leaves developing but the small peppers, which we had thought would fall off, are now growing.
I'm glad that you were able to find some KAF AP, Cwcdesign. I have Bakers Bucks to use by June 13, and I'm hoping KAF will have the baking powder back in stock by then.
-
AuthorPosts
