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It’s been a while since I baked “Grandma A’s Ranch Hand Bread,” which was a favorite on the former Baking Circle and is posted at Nebraska Kitchen. We are almost out of bread, and it’s a cloudy day that is struggling to rain, so a Sunday afternoon in the kitchen is welcomed, as would be three loaves of bread. I’ve played a bit with the mixing directions in that I prefer to start with the bread flour and whole wheat flour. I also add ½ cup flax meal and this time substituted in ½ cup dark rye flour for part of the wheat and AP flour, as well as ½ cup special dry milk. I replace the sugar with honey and 3 cups of the water with buttermilk. I use 4 Tbs. canola oil instead of butter, which I mix in after the first rest period. I’ve reduced the salt to 1 Tbs. I kneaded by machine for 4 minutes. [Note: this is a lot of dough, so know your mixer’s capabilities. There is also a scaled down recipe at Nebraska Kitchen that makes a single loaf and can be done in a bread machine, posted originally at the baking circle, by Zen, who now goes by the name Pyewacket.]
Added Note: The first rise was 1 hour, and the second was 40 minutes. I baked for 40 minutes, the minimum time, but they got a bit dark on top, so next time I’ll check them at 35 minutes.
For Saturday night’s dinner, I made ratatouille. I got behind and explained to my husband that my sous chef had not come into work, nor did the dishwasher. 😊 It was a late dinner. We had the ratatouille over some mixed, mostly brown rice, with some of the turkey breast that my husband roasted earlier this week.
Skeptic--my stepson is happily branching out after having eaten half of a blueberry pie. 🙂
On Friday evening, I started an experiment. I have a recipe for Maple Breakfast Buns that came out of Breads, Breads, and More Breads, a Pillsbury booklet from the 1980s. It has been a longtime favorite. Although it is titled “buns,” these are a roll with a brown sugar maple filling. Last time I made them, I worked in some white whole wheat flour (1 cup), added ¼ cup special dry milk, added 2 Tbs. flax meal, and used the special Gold yeast. The results were good, but I want to get the rolls a bit lighter in texture and increase their keeping quality. I substituted in ¾ cup buttermilk for that much water and pre-soaked the ½ cup of oats in it. I also added a egg, which meant that I ended up needing about 3 Tbs. more flour; I put in 2 Tbs., and it was slightly sticky but ok to pat out and shape. After the dough rises, I will make the filling and shape it, then refrigerate overnight and bake it in the morning.
The regular filling is 1/2 cup brown sugar plus 1/2 tsp. maple extract. I wondered about using maple sugar, which would not have been readily available when the recipe was published, but after looking at some internet recipes, I'll stick with the regular filling.
After I bake them tomorrow, however, I may try the maple syrup glaze that KAF has for one of its doughnut recipes.
