[BakerAunt]

Italian Cook: I adore cannoli and would go off my eating plan to have a good one. Enjoy!

My oven is new, so I've not checked the interior temperature. I just know that everything bakes evenly and a bit faster in it. I will at some point need to get a new oven thermometer.

[BakerAunt]

I cut the bread for lunch today. It has a chewy crust and a softer interior. Substituting in the 1 cup of white whole wheat flour did not affect the rise. With the cold oven start, and my particular oven, I will try baking with the lid on for 40 minutes next time.

I would like to take this bread to my husband's family reunion at the end of the month, as his cousins do not seem to be keen on wholegrain wheat breads, but they liked the semolina bread I brought last year.

[BakerAunt]

I also had a 50/50 chance, and I got it wrong. 🙁

[BakerAunt]

I baked a new recipe on Thursday, “Light-As-Air Seed Bread,” which is on the KAF site and was also featured in the August catalog in a doubled version for the long Emile Henry Baker, which I have and like to use. I made a few changes. I substituted in 1 cup of white whole wheat flour for that much bread flour. I substituted in 1 ½ cups buttermilk for that much of the water. I reduced the salt to 1 ¾ tsp.

I used active yeast, so I proofed it with a pinch of sugar, before adding the buttermilk and the semolina, white whole wheat flour, and about half the bread flour. I mixed it, then gave it a fifteen-minute rest. I mixed in the rest of the flour with the salt, then mixed in the olive oil. Once all was combined, I switched to the bread hook, and because the dough was a little dry, I added 1 Tbs. water. II kneaded on speed 2 for 4 minutes and had a lovely windowpane.

The dough rose for an hour to double, then I turned it out, formed a rough oval, covered it, and let it rest 5 minutes. I shaped it into a log, then placed it in my greased—and liberally sprinkled with farina—Emile Henry long baker, covered with the top and let rise for 45-minutes. (I checked it at 35, and it needed longer.) I slashed, spritzed with water, then sprinkled with a mixture of 1 Tbs. sunflower seeds and 1 tsp. each sesame seed and chia seed. Next time, I will sprinkle on the sesame seed and chia seed after sprinkling on the sunflower seed. (KAF uses one of its blends, but I want a bread that will work for a variety of sandwiches this time, or I might have tried my free sample of their Bagel Blend.)

I started in a cold oven, as specified. My oven took 18 minutes to reach 425F. When I took the cover off at 35 minutes, as specified, that was too soon. After 5 minutes, the bread was only at 145F. I let it go another 10, and it was 174. After an additional 4 minutes, with temperature reduced to 400F, the bread was over 200F. The bread browned nicely, but the seeds on the top are somewhat burned. This recipe depends on how long it takes the oven to come to temperature. Next time I bake it, I would leave the bread covered for at least 40 minutes before uncovering it.

Otherwise, it is a lovely loaf. I'll post tomorrow about taste and texture.

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

[BakerAunt]

Len--I think that your Rye/Whole Wheat/Semolina innovation got lost amidst the English Muffin discussion. I have read about hydrating flour before it is time to mix the bread, so I'll need to make a note of that.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it. I should have gone with my first guess, but then "analysis" suggested it would be what is served on an airline. (I think that I've only had one meal on an airline, and that was a long time ago.)

[BakerAunt]

Wednesday night’s dinner was stir-fry, using the leftover rotisserie chicken, along with a red bell pepper and snow peas from our garden, as well as celery, carrots, green onion, and broccoli. As usual, we used soba noodles.

[BakerAunt]

I needed a quick dessert for Wednesday, so I used the Apricot Oatmeal Bar recipe on this site, with my substitution of white whole wheat flour and reduction to ½ cup brown sugar and 1/8th tsp. salt. For the fruit spread, I used a 10 oz. jar of all-fruit blueberry jam.

Chocomouse--Please do post the recipe. It would be nice to have a sourdough English muffin recipe from Paddy. I would try it with my starter.

[BakerAunt]

I've had my starter for 25+ years, which I made from a recipe in Sunset magazine, a popular publication in California (food, house projects, places to travel). Mine is a milk-based starter, which is apparently not the norm. It is not as thick as what King Arthur seems to have. It does ok with a bit of "neglect"--but it is definitely thicker and more active if I feed it once or twice a week. Since my husband adores my Sourdough cheese crackers and prefers the sourdough pan pizza (adapted from a King Arthur recipe), and I like sourdough breads, it gets used a lot.

I've not tried using it in recipes that don't call for sourdough starter, but I do have to adapt the KAF ones that use starter. I usually need about 1/4 cup more flour per cup of sourdough that their recipes use. To get more of a sourdough taste, it usually helps to give it some

I plan to try adapting this starter in some recipes that require rye starters, etc., for which the recipe authors give their own starter recipes, and which I really do not have room to keep around. I'm sure that it will change the taste, but tasting different is not necessarily a negative.

[BakerAunt]

A year ago, I began following a way of eating that reduced saturated fat to less than 11g per day (and sometimes less). I also incorporated additional whole grains and a variety of beans. With the high cholesterol diagnosis came an osteopenia diagnosis. I've been trying to balance the two, which most dietary advice does not do. I began incorporating some exercise, but not as diligently the past six months. I gradually lost 15 pounds, which was not a goal but a nice side benefit.

It's been a year. My cholesterol was down by 25--even with having the blood drawn after a breakfast of coffee, oatmeal, and a banana. (I didn't know they would draw blood, but the doctor said that particular breakfast would be ok. I'm now at the low end of "high risk" for LDL cholesterol, but all the other numbers are still fine. The doctor said to continue what I've been doing, so I'm hoping that it will come down further. I think that more exercise, more beans, and more fruits and vegetables will bring it down further.

I won't know about progress on bone density until I have another scan. I've incorporated 900mg calcium into my daily diet, since calcium from food is better than supplements, although I still take a 300mg supplement, along with 2000 Vitamin D. (The doctor insists on that.) Walking will help here, as it will with the cholesterol (and the dog loves it). I've also upped the weight bearing exercise.

I appreciate the discussions we have here at Nebraska Kitchen about food and health, and the links people provide to useful articles on nutrition, and the information in some of the Daily Quiz questions. It can be a challenge when the two baking magazines I get regularly, Bake from Scratch and Sift, are so butter-centric. I don't plan to renew Bake from Scratch for that reason. Sift usually has at least some bread recipes that I can use or adapt. Entrees can be a little more challenging, given the prevalence of cheese in the recipes that land in my email in-box, and I also have to ask myself if my husband will eat it, or if it is one that I can make for myself for lunch.

It is an interesting journey, but oh, I miss BLTs in the summertime!

[BakerAunt]

I have an English Muffin splitter that I bought from King Arthur. It's a small plastic contraption that has the tines of a fork. It requires compressing the handle when you stick it in, then releasing it. I work my way around the muffin until I have two halves.

I think that buttermilk makes a particularly great muffin, which is why I replaced the milk. I've had to switch out the butter in my recipe with canola oil to accommodate my need to reduce saturated fat. Inn this recipe, I can get away with doing that.

[BakerAunt]

That's a fun link, skeptic!

Upon reflection, I would say that the recipe I made yesterday is a dough English muffin, but a slack dough.

After sampling at breakfast, I am very pleased--holes and cooked through nicely. Of course, I would have been ranked low in the Great British Baking Show because I was only able to make ten and not a dozen--another reason that I would never want to compete on a TV baking show: it takes the spontaneity out of baking--and the fun--and the need just to go with what works.

[BakerAunt]

I narrowed it down to two and picked the correct answer.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--I think that I tried the zucchini brownie recipe once and was similarly underwhelmed.

[BakerAunt]

To change up tonight's dinner, I mixed some leftover cooked ground turkey that I had in the freezer with the rest of the ratatouille and brown rice. We had it with an ear of sweet corn each.

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