[BakerAunt]

BRM's website keeps crashing whenever I go there. It was not great to begin with, and I suspect that traffic dealt it the final blow. I looked at the KAF website, but they still show as being out of most flours.

My sister mentioned seeing a 25lb. bag of BRM at Smart and Final in California. She doesn't bake, so passed by what I would have grabbed--even BEFORE the current challenge was upon us. We are planning to sit tight in our small town for a while, and the one grocery store never had much by way of specialty flours.

I found that I have some bags of KAF high gluten flour in the back of my pantry, so I need to figure out the best way to use it. I've found a KAF recipe that calls for it (naturally), so that will likely be the next loaf of bread.

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

[BakerAunt]

Rice is one of the staples everyone is grabbing off the shelves.

Saturday night’s dinner was pea soup, made with the last of the green split peas and some ham pieces from the freezer. I add chopped carrot and celery, and since my husband was eating it, 2 Tbs. dried onion rather than fresh. I season with ½ tsp. thyme and ¼ tsp. marjoram. We ate it with the Limpa rye bread. We should get another two meals from it.

[BakerAunt]

I was able to narrow it down to the correct answer.

[BakerAunt]

Len, the order that I placed on March 15 shipped on March 19, so be of good hope.

I opened my last ten pounds of Bob's Red Mill's bread flour today. The BRM site has either crashed or been taken down amid the current insanity. I was hoping that they would at least send out an email to let us know what is going on, as KAF finally did, but so far, nothing. Patience is the order of the day.

For now, I have a good variety of flours, although I'm a little low on whole wheat.

[BakerAunt]

Len--I agree with Skeptic that the small amount of almond flour should not require additional water in the recipe.

Skeptic--Your meat pie sounds divine. Was it a 2-crust pie?

I look forward to Mike's report on the rolls, since my frustration with that recipe is that it is hard not to burn the bottom of those rolls.

[BakerAunt]

I began Friday by making pancakes, using some of the free sample of pancake mix I had received from Bob’s Red Mill (1 cup), increasing the water to ¾ cup, and adding ¾ cup quick oats. It made six pancakes. I had four, and my husband had two after eating his oatmeal.

Friday was also a day to experiment with my Swedish Limpa Bread recipe. I had considered trying the one in The Rye Baker, but I did not have coriander seed. I also had bought two organic oranges for their peels, and the recipe I’ve made for years requires orange peel and the Ginsberg recipe does not. Decision made.

I’ve looked for the original recipe (from McCall’s Cooking School) as I have made changes over the years, and I wanted to go back to basics. However, I could not find it. I did have notes, so I was able to re-think the recipe. I wanted more dark rye, so I increased it to 3 1/2 cups (still short of the 5 cups I noted in the first recipe). I replaced a cup of bread flour with a cup of first clear flour, and I used either 2 or 3 cups more bread flour. (I was keeping notes, but the husband came in and distracted me.) I reduced the molasses to 3 Tbs. from 4, and the salt from 1 tbs. to 2 tsp. I used half special gold yeast and half active dry yeast, for a total of 4 tsp. (The original recipe was 4 1/2 tsp.) I replaced 1 1/2 cups of water with buttermilk, and 4 Tbs. butter with 3 Tbs. canola oil. I've never been satisfied with the spice (2 tsp. anise seed), as I wanted to replicate a bread I recall from a bakery/restaurant called Griswald's in southern California that I recall from my high school days. I looked at Ginsberg's recipe and decided to toast 1 tsp. fennel and 1/2 tsp. anise in a skillet but not grind them as he did.

I baked them in the hearth pans I got from KAF a long time ago, but the dough was such that I probably could have just done them on a cookie sheet; I think that they would have held their shape, and the bottoms were a bit too dark, which happens with these pans. (If they ever offer them again as USA pans, I'd buy them.)

I slashed each loaf twice--and it was some of my best slashing. The loaves baked beautifully, except for the slightly overdone, but not burned bottoms. I look forward to slicing one tomorrow and checking out the taste and texture.

[BakerAunt]

Jimmy Kimmel is posting "minilogues, which he does from his home, with opening pictures done by his daughter, and his wife holding the camera. On a recent one, he showed off a focaccia that he had baked, using a Bon Appetit recipe. He said that he enjoys baking. Who knew? He will have time to practice his skills.

Note: I've looked at that Bon Appetit recipe before, and I'd go with another one, but I've been baking longer than he. At least he is baking. We should send him a link to Nebraska Kitchen.

[BakerAunt]

I got it because my husband has talked about it in another context.

[BakerAunt]

I'll be over with the cream cheese....

Thanks for posting the pictures, Mike. I am working up my courage to try making bagels.

[BakerAunt]

I made another batch of yogurt today.

[BakerAunt]

We heard yesterday that there are three cases of Covid-19 in Lubbock, TX where we used to live. The Patient 0 appears to have been a university student, evacuated from overseas (there is a study abroad campus in Spain), who was told to self-isolate for fourteen days after returning and proceeded to go to the family home AND a restaurant that is always packed with people.

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

[BakerAunt]

Our dog made it clear within a couple of days of our bringing her home that she prefers me and is devastated if I'm not there. Part of this behavior may be that she spent time with the breeder and her mother, and so prefers females, but we suspect that she may have had a failed placement that involved a male. Even after 5 1/2 years, she will not allow my husband to take her for a walk unless I accompany them. To encourage her to form a bond with him, on advice of a trainer, he puts out her kibble, and for a time, the trainer had him hand feeding her. He also developed the habit of feeding her some of his food at lunch and dinner and when he snacks. Occasionally, she will have some of his morning oatmeal. She is particularly fond of bread, as well as chicken, salmon, and turkey, (Beef makes her sick, so we avoid it.) As you might expect, she is putting on a few pounds more than she should, so my husband is trying to cut back on what he gives her. The weather has not been conducive to walks, and she doesn't want to leave the yard, even with me, since two weeks ago she heard the sound of someone target shooting (sound really carries in rural areas) while we were on a walk, and her fear of loud noises kicked in again. She is very sensitive to fireworks, construction noise, gun shots--and there is a lot of those three around here.

She has been good these last few years at not stealing food, although that may be in part because I don't give her the chance. Our mini-schnauzer, of beloved memory, was an ace food thief.

P.S. The dog food arrived on Thursday morning.

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

[BakerAunt]

I got it wrong because I misread the question. I shouldn't answer quiz questions before I've finished my coffee.

[BakerAunt]

I had an email from KAF today that shipping on my order would be delayed. In addition to their shortages on certain items, FedEx, their shipper, is at its limit for shipping capacity, so items cannot ship right away.

Curiously, the post office seems to be doing rather well. Two books from Barnes and Noble that I ordered on Sunday arrived today. I just hope that Amazon gets the dog food here in a timely manner. We are running low. The dog says that it's ok, she'll just have what we're having. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

I had planned to buy cabbage at the store yesterday, but the shelves were bare.

For dinner on Wednesday, I again made “Pork Roast with Barley, Butternut Squash, and Swiss Chard, from Cook’s Illustrated. This time I ignored the recipe's oven temperature of 250F and set the oven at 325F. When I checked at 40 minutes, it was done, and perhaps might have been done five minutes earlier, but as it is a braise, the meat is fine cooked to a temperature of about 154F. As always, I substituted Kale for the Swiss Chard, since kale releases its calcium, whereas Swiss Chard binds it. It was a comforting meal on this cold, rainy day in an uncertain time. I won’t be making this recipe again until next fall, as I used my last butternut squash from the fall farmers market. They kept well out in the apt., where we have the heat set to 48F. We have leftovers for at least the next two days.

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