[BakerAunt]

I looked up Aaron's question in Fika: The Art of the Swedish Coffee Break, by Anna Brones and Johanna Kindvall. It actually does not have a crispbread recipe. Here is what is said in the headnote to Knackekex (think of the two dots over the "a."

"Knackebrod [Crispbread--double dots over the a and the o] is right up there with meatballs and herring in terms of iconic Swedish food. The crispbread that is served with almost every meal is a staple in most Swedish households. Baking traditional Knackebrod is an involved process, and it's so readily available in Sweden that few people venture to make it themselves. This crecker version, however, is a simpler way to try your hand at making this culinary cornerstone. If your don't have caraway seeds on hand, rosemary, crushed fennel, or anise seeds are also excellent toppings. These crackers are delicious served with little chevre and Fig preserves or a typical Swedish smorgas with sliced cucumber" (p. 152)

The only differences I see, based on the three crispbread recipes I have tried, is that the cracker recipe does not include any fat, and it does not have a second rise. It also has a six hour or overnight rise before the dough is rolled out.

It's an interesting recipe that would work for my dietary parameters. I need to try it. I had given up on this book, as almost every recipe is heavy on butter. So, Aaron's question has given me a new recipe to try!

[BakerAunt]

The local town government has just issued a request that people coming into the area from other places please observe a fourteen day quarantine period. While I am glad the town did so, the request is starting about two weeks late. Our area has a lot of summer residents, and with people working from home and kids e-learning, some have decided to come here to ride out the pandemic. I understand doing so, but the number of people suddenly running around suggests that many were not thinking about if they might be carrying the virus. As a lot of people come in from Chicago and Indianapolis and suburbs thereof, both hot spots, that is worrying. So far, there are no known cases in town, but there are three in the county.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

While a nice soup sounds great while it is cold, Skeptic, I am thinking ahead to summer. My husband is not a fan of most beans, but I've been trying to increase them in my diet, so I will give this recipe a try at some point. I've made a black bean burger and posted about it. They were ok, but only after I topped them with a condiment and stopped kidding myself that they worked on bread like a hamburger would.

[BakerAunt]

Was it Charlie Brown who said "I trued when I should have falsed?"

[BakerAunt]

I missed it.

[BakerAunt]

Crispbread is great with cheese, with meats, with soups, or just as a snack. I have kept a batch around for about 2 weeks, but only if I have cheese crackers to divert my husband, who is a born snacker. It makes a great trip food also, not that any of us will be doing any traveling for a while.

I'll have to think about how I could substitute oil in the Ginsberg recipe for at least part of the butter. I have rye chops (from King Arthur) that I bought for a bread recipe, so it would be great if I could also use them in crispbread.

I try to stay below 11g of saturated fat per day, so there is not a lot of room, particularly since I want to get 75% of my calcium from dairy food. I loved Beatrice Ojakangas' crispbread, but it was close to 2g of saturated fat per piece, and they were only part wholegrain because I made them so.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I was looking forward to this report, Mike. I had my eye on that recipe, but by the time I could try it, the butter content concerned me. I have a barley-rye crispbread that I like which uses a lot less butter. It comes from that Swedish baking book I've mentioned. However, I had to do so much guessing with the recipe, that I think the recipe as I use and bake it could be considered my own. I use sesame seed and sunflower seed on top of them. Mine are much thinner.

I admire your use of the straight edge. That's a nifty way to get the clean lines.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I am making chicken broth this windy, Sunday afternoon, using the remains of the chicken we roasted earlier this week.

Sunday dinner will be my healthier take on my Mom's hamburger stroganoff, with nonfat Greek yogurt standing in for the sour cream. We'll have it over brown and mixed rice, which means 2 rice cooker measures of brown rice and one measure of four kinds of specialty rice.

[BakerAunt]

Add me to the admirers of Chocomouse's bagels.

I wonder what a virtual potluck might look like. Or perhaps we should start with a virtual coffee/tea party--the better to show off our baked goods.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--If we all lived closer to each other, there would be some stupendous potlucks!

I put the fennel seed on the pizza in order to give the ground turkey a "sausage" taste. My husband insists that our joint pizzas have meat, and since we gave up salami (sigh), ground turkey it is. I just happened to see the cherry tomatoes when we did a grocery run on Tuesday. They weren't the best (were not sweet, as I like), but they worked amazingly well left whole on top of the pizza, although I had to bake the pizza for nearly 20 rather than the usual 15 minutes, so that they would start to burst. I'm trying to convince my husband that we need at least one cherry tomato plant in our garden.

[BakerAunt]

I don't know if there are any new bread bakers looking at Nebraska Kitchen, but if so, please ask any questions that you may have. We love helping people become comfortable with bread baking. You don't need a bread machine or mixer: bread can be kneaded effectively by hand. All of us started out kneading by hand, and some still do. We also have people who use bread machines (usually just for kneading) and mixers. We would be delighted to share our experience and help you advance your skills.

While there is a lot of knowledge and skill here, we also admit our "oops" moments. You will find information here on how to save your dough when you forget the yeast, let the dough rise too long, realize you haven't added enough flour. And we bake more than bread here, so you can branch out. (See Mike's blog post on bagels!)

[BakerAunt]

I answered correctly. I've never eaten one, and as of now, I have no plans to do so.

[BakerAunt]

The Blood Orange Loaf cake--with the glaze recipe from the chocolate cake I made about two weeks ago--came out very well. I will make it again, with my changes, the next time blood oranges are in season.

I baked the Honey Spelt Sourdough on Friday. It didn’t get the rise that it has in the past. The house was cold, so maybe I should have let the second rise go longer than 1 hour and 45 minutes. The first rise was fine in an hour, but the bread machine warms the dough as it mixes, and there was no such warmth for the second rise. The house was warm and sunny this morning, but by 1 p.m., clouds had cooled the house considerably. I also subbed in ½ cup of high gluten flour for that much AP., but I don’t think that would have made much difference. We’ll see how it is when I cut into it tomorrow.

I also made sourdough crust pizza for dinner. It too had difficulty rising until my husband started a fire in the woodstove and I moved it to the front room. I used more dark rye in it this time, and less AP. It made a very nice crust. I topped it with olive oil, cooked ground turkey, fennel seed, Penzey’s Tuscan seasoning, garlic powder, and onion powder, whole cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, red bell pepper, mozzarella cheese, and Parmesan.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I made another batch of yogurt.

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