[BakerAunt]

I answered correctly based on experience.

[BakerAunt]

I had hoped to try a new crispbread recipe on Wednesday but discovered in the morning that the lemon in the refrigerator had gone bad. I made a special trip and bought more. Then I had to run a last minute errand, then it was time to start roasting the chicken for dinner. In short, the day got away from me. However, I did bake my Whole Wheat sourdough cheese crackers in the evening. Tomorrow I’ll tackle the new recipe.

[BakerAunt]

It began to snow in the mid-afternoon on Wednesday, and the snow will continue this evening. It was a perfect day to roast a chicken. I wanted to roast it with vegetables and looked online and found “Roast Chicken and Vegetables,” on the cooking blog “Spend with Pennies,” from Holly Nilsson:

https://www.spendwithpennies.com/roast-chicken-vegetables/

I followed the general instructions, but I used Penzey’s poultry seasoning and some sweet curry in place of the Italian Seasoning. I didn’t use her optional chicken rub but more of the poultry seasoning and sweet curry. The technique of starting the chicken at a high temperature for 12 minutes, then lowering it, works well. The yellow potatoes and small carrots cooked very well. I won’t make this recipe too often, as I try to avoid the fat from the chicken, but it is perfect comfort food for this snowy evening. I used my white Corning Ware oval casserole dish, which is deeper than what I normally use for roasting chicken, but as the chicken sits on the vegetables, it worked well, and created fewer splatters in the oven.

[BakerAunt]

I have another recipe from Jan Hedh's book to try: "Lemon Crispbread with Kamut Flour and Olive Oil (pp.146-147). When I saw 50g of yeast, I knew that did not seem right. I re-read the introduction on yeast, and he goes over the several kinds and says that fresh yeast is his favorite. He is a professional baker. I looked through the recipes in the book, and it seems to me that some of them, given the large amount of yeast (50g is about 4 Tbs.) appear to use fresh yeast, while others, like the Barley Crispbread I describe above, appear to use active dry yeast.

I wrote to the book publisher again and received a nice reply:

"Yes, 4 Tbs. would be a lot of active dry yeast, particularly for a crisp bread! I believe your hunch is correct, and that the recipe is assuming you’re using fresh yeast. On page 23, the author mentions he prefers fresh yeast because it yields better results, but that certainly should have been noted in each recipe where it applies. Apologies, again!

I hope the crispbread is delicious—it sounds it!"

If I keep baking from this book, I should be able to help them develop an errata sheet.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you S. Wirth. I did some additional googling and KAF says multiply weight by 0.4. I think that this site is using instant yeast.

The recipe for crispbread that I'm hoping to bake this evening says 50g yeast, so I know it has to be fresh yeast. The KAF calculation would make it 20g active dry yeast. The calculation on this site would make it about 16.6g.

[BakerAunt]

I guessed and missed.

[BakerAunt]

Wonderful Buns, Len, as always!

[BakerAunt]

I'm not a meringue fan, but that pie is stunning!

[BakerAunt]

I had to guess and got it wrong. I could probably eat these.

[BakerAunt]

I also do the double wrap when I freeze baked goods. I then pop them into a bag.

I recall Mrs. Cindy wrapping her biscuits and putting them into bags. She would leave the empty bags in the freezer, so they would be there when she needed them. One day, her puzzled husband came in, with a confused look on his face, holding her cache of empty bags from the freezer.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

My mother always told me not to freeze Parmesan because "it changes character" when frozen. I often froze her turkey tetrazzini casserole, but I waited until I defrosted it and was ready to put it into the oven before I put the grated Parmesan on top.

[BakerAunt]

I am grateful for Mike's tip that mozzarella can be frozen. I buy one that is made with part skim milk, and cut it into 4 oz. chunks, wrap each in saran, pop into a bag and freeze. That way I always have cheese for pizza (just have to remember to thaw it!). For my pizza, I cut the cheese into small cubes and sprinkle evenly on top.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

For lunch on Monday, I pulled out my recipe for Turkey Wild Rice Soup, which came from a Pillsbury cook booklet (#34), over thirty years ago. The original recipe used ½ cup margarine and half and half. I altered a few years back to unsalted butter and nonfat milk. Today is a further evolution/adaptation of that recipe. I deleted the butter and flour and replaced the 2 cups of nonfat milk with 12 oz. of low-fat (2%) evaporated milk. I used two 6 oz. cans of chicken. (If I waited for leftover chicken or turkey to make this soup, I would wait a long time because there never seems to be any leftovers.)

Results: I prefer roasted chicken or turkey to the canned chicken. The flavor is ok, but I do miss the richness that the butter added. Oddly, the 2 Tbs. of sherry that always gave the 6 cups of broth plus the milk great flavor can hardly be tasted. I’m debating as to whether adding more would help the flavor emerge, or if it’s a matter of the drastic reduction in fat.

[BakerAunt]

My sourdough starter is out of the refrigerator and coming to room temperature on the counter. Dinner on Monday will be Sourdough Crust Sheet Pan Pizza, topped with cherry tomatoes, cooked ground turkey, red bell pepper, Baby Bella Mushrooms, and mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. I may try to put green onion on my half.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: added missing ingredient

[BakerAunt]

I didn't know, so I googled it rather than guessing. I don't know if I've ever eaten it, unless it was in a special dessert when I was eating out. It does sound delicious.

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