[BakerAunt]

I made a batch of yogurt on Thursday.

For dinner, I made a soba noodle-vegetable-shrimp stir-fry with carrots, celery, mushrooms, and broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

Ah, is this the blog, kimbob?

https://www.dessertfortwo.com/

[BakerAunt]

I have leftover potato water from Sunday’s mashed potatoes, so the Soup du Jour for luncheon, beginning on Thursday makes use of it. As usual, I sautéed chopped onion, celery, and carrots. I added some minced garlic before adding the potato water, a 14.5 oz. diced tomatoes with juice, about ½ cup black beans that I found in one of the freezers, and 1/3 cup of farro. I added ½ tsp. sugar and ¼ tsp. of Penzey’s Pico and Salsa seasoning. I brought it to a boil, then simmered for 30 minutes. It needed something, so I added ½ tsp. Worcestershire sauce, then dissolved ½ tsp. Penzey’s beef base in ¼ cup of hot water and added it.

[BakerAunt]

The starter recipe I used avoided the "throw away" or discard by refrigerating the starter, then directing to let it come to room temperature (bubble), stir, take out what is needed, then feed. The issue with these directions is that unless the starter is being fed frequently, it won't have enough oomph without some yeast. I find it better, if I want to bake bread with it (even with a bit of yeast), to time the bread making so that it is the day after I've done my sourdough crackers and fed the starter.

The recipes that came with the starter specified an overnight sponge that mixed some of the starter with flour and water.

So, until I started reading up on sourdough, I'd never heard of "discard."

[BakerAunt]

I answered correctly. What I miss in waffles is all that luscious butter, although I have worked out a wholegrain recipe that we like that uses canola oil.

[BakerAunt]

I don't know if we met, Kimbob. I joined when there was a new Baking Circle. Welcome, and please post often!

Aaron, I looked up what I did when I baked the 100% Whole Wheat Bread:

What are You Baking the Week of April 14, 2019?

I didn't have the side problem, but there was a slight sinking in the center. What I see from my post is that I reduced the amount of salt. I also added the oil later. Cass told me once that the yeast needs to get going before adding the oil, so I put it in through the feed tube as the processor was running.

I'm glad to hear that your starter is bubbling along.

[BakerAunt]

I seem to recall that we did some discussion here (cannot recall what thread) about how many older recipes call for more yeast than is necessary with modern yeast. Thus, I can usually cut back a bit on the yeast in Bernard Clayton's recipes in his bread book. It can get tricky.

I'm very glad that I bought that 2 lb. package last December.

[BakerAunt]

I don't know how long it will last, but Bob's Red Mill actually had whole wheat flour available. I bought two bags of it, two bags of steel-cut oats, and 2 bags of wheat germ. They are doing a flat rate of $9.99, it seems, but it will take about two weeks to arrive. That, along with what I have on hand should hold me for a couple of months for baking, breakfast, and making granola, then I'll see where the world is at.

[BakerAunt]

Have you ordered from Honeyville before, Mike? If their flour is good, that would be worth it.

I tried googling "bulk flour Indiana," but google likes to bring up some places that are actually salvage places. The one nearest to me, Harvest Moon, had ok but not spectacular prices when I went there with a friend a few years back. I think that they were more interested in selling baked goods. Still, it might be worth a trip over to check out whole wheat flour.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks for asking, Aaron.

I have looked at two sites:

Home

https://www.bakersauthority.com/

The shipping is the expensive part, although it would actually be cheaper to buy a 50 lb. bag and pay shipping from these places than pay the Walmart price for a 50 lb. bag with free shipping. I don't know anything about these two sites or how backed up they are on shipping. I'm going to keep looking for a closer location to north-central Indiana.

A 50 lb. bag of whole wheat flour would be a storage challenge, but I could probably stuff the refrigerator with individual bags.

I wish that KAF and BRM could let us know when they might have flour back in stock to ship.

I put an order (not for flour) into KAF last Monday, so as not to lose my Bakers Bucks which was expiring, and I have yet to receive a notice that it has shipped. All items were supposedly in stock. I would have waited on the order, but KAF never managed to answer my question as to whether they would consider extending the expiration dates on Bakers Bucks, so I went ahead and ordered.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I knew this answer.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--I don't know if you are still looking for coconut flour recipes, but I just saw this one for cookies in an article: https://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/coconut-flour-butter-cookies

[BakerAunt]

I had a bag of cranberries in one of the two fruit and vegetable drawers in the refrigerator that should have been used long ago. I pulled it out and after sorting had about a cup of useable fruit. I have a favorite recipe for Cranberry Scones that came with my Nordic Ware scone pan. (It’s the same recipe that appears in Biscuits and Scones, by Elizabeth Alston, pp. 32-33). I recalled Skeptic making a faux scone with oil, and I decided to try adapting this recipe by substituting 1/3 cup oil for ½ cup butter. I usually make it with 1/3 whole wheat pastry flour, but this time I used 50% whole wheat pastry flour. I whisked the oil and buttermilk together for a minute until frothy, which is what I do for my pie crust, before adding the egg. I coated the scone pan with The Grease, baked for 25 minutes, then cooled in the pan for 15 minutes. That is how I came to have tea and a scone on Tuesday afternoon. Although it will never have the texture and taste of a butter scone, it is delicious in its own right, with a firmer texture than a muffin but still crumbly.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I also missed it. The answer surprised me.

[BakerAunt]

Clearly I lucked out with my unconventional starter over 25 years ago. Mine used 1 cup of skim or low-fat milk (cannot recall which I used), 3 Tbs. plain yogurt, and 1 cup of flour. I may not even have been using King Arthur flour at that time. I looked at the directions, and initially the warm milk (100F) was mixed with 3 Tbs. yogurt (no idea what kind; it might have been my homemade yogurt). After 18-24 hours in a warm place and a curd formed, the flour was mixed in. It was covered tightly (I use a glass jar with a rubber or silicone gasket and a wire closure) and left it in a warm place for 2-5 days until it was full of bubbles. From then on, I used it regularly and fed it, and it lives in my refrigerator. Once or twice it was neglected longer than it should have been, but I was able to bring it back. It moved to Texas with me, in its own little cooler, and it moved to Indiana in the same small cooler. My husband thought it was weird to have it in the refrigerator, until I started making the sourdough crackers and pizza crust. He's become a sourdough convert.

I've given starter from it to three people over the years, but I don't think any of them kept it going.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.

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