Tuesday night’s dinner was roasted chicken thighs and roasted Russet potato wedges that were drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Penzey’s Sunny Paris and garlic powder and a bit of salt. We also had microwaved broccoli. I made enough chicken and potatoes for a second meal, but we will have leftover pea soup tomorrow.
On Tuesday, I baked Pumpkin Toffee Snacking Cake. It uses spelt, buckwheat flour, chia seed, some AP flour, and of course pumpkin, which I had in the freezer. I cut back on the toffee pieces, since 1 Tbs. is 2.5g saturated fat (!) to just 2 Tbs. in the batter. I put chocolate sprinkles on top. I forgot to add the nutmeg, but the other spices are fine without it.
I also made another batch of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Cracker dough, which I will bake in four or five days.
I saw fresh yeast at our local grocery store today! It probably ended up there as a casualty of the shutdowns in the restaurant industry. It was a block about the size of a one-pound box of butter and selling for $2.99. I was tempted, but I did not see an expiration date, and I know fresh yeast does not last as long as the freeze-dried yeast, so I did not buy it.
Skeptic--Bob's Red Mill has occasionally had whole wheat flour available--limit of two 5 lb. bag. You have to hit it right on their website. Shipping is $9.99 flat rate for me (UPS), and the two orders I've done have arrived within a week. Usually, I can find a few other items to add (if they are in stock), so I don't cringe too much at the shipping. I'm happy with their whole wheat flour.
I missed it.
Chocomouse--I never really had a sense of HOW I should be using it. In some cases I may have used too much, and it made the breads heavy. I'm not sure that I noticed much difference when I did use it. I do know that potato water is good for bread. I also know that Joan has used mashed potato in her bread with good results.
On Monday, I made another batch of yogurt (i.e.—six ¾ cup jars).
For dinner, I made split pea soup with carrots, celery, and ham. It also has 2 Tbs. dried onion, ½ tsp. thyme, and ¼ tsp. marjoram.
Skeptic--I'll take tasty over beautiful any day!
I use potato flour in the KAF recipes that call for it. For a while, I was adding it to various recipes.
Some people in our area flushed disposable masks and gloves. That created issues at the local sewage treatment plant. I don't know how anyone thought that could be acceptable.
Aaron--King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking Book often used 1/4 cup orange juice to "tame" the whole wheat flavor. I've never done that, as whole wheat taste does not bother either my husband or me.
Excess buttermilk is not an issue around here, either, Skpetic. I often replace most of the water in my breads with buttermilk to increase nutrition, and S. Wirth told us that it also improves the keeping qualities.
I don't think that the recipe requires a Pullman pan. I plan to make it my next bread, and I'll use a regular loaf pan.
Yesterday I was able to buy a small bottle of 70% alcohol (the last one) at CVS. I was also able to buy a bottle of hand sanitizer.
The hand sanitizer I've been using is old, but it was all that I had until now.
According to this article in The Atlantic (they allow a few free reads per month), the flour shortage is continuing:
https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2020/05/why-theres-no-flour-during-coronavirus/611527/
I'm not sure that I buy their argument that more baking was going on in the 1980s and that women moving into careers led to less baking at home. My husband actually baked bread in graduate school, but it went by the by once he started his career.
If the article is correct, however, the flour shortage will not be ending any time soon.
I missed it.
