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On Friday, I baked my version of Ellen's buns using some additional whole wheat flour. They are good, but I will go back to my original adaptation. We used them for sandwiches with some of the leftover maple pork tenderloin.
I also baked my Eggnog cake, using low-fat eggnog, which I miraculously found in Kroger. The original recipe uses 1/2 cup oil and 1/2 cup butter; I substituted 2/3 cup oil for both. I also substituted in 1 cup of barley flour. I made it in the "Party" cake pan, which can be neatly sliced into 20 pieces, which comes to 1 g of fat per slice. I'll add a note tomorrow about whether this experiment is successful.
Note: The low-saturated fat eggnog cake is delicious and compares well to the original recipe. I think that I posted it here, so I'll add a note to the recipe.
I had some issues with the Blueberry Pie.
I tried baking the blueberry pie on New Year’s Day, using the oil crust, and reserving some of the crust ingredients to sprinkle on top. It came out more as a cobbler. The crust held up, but the filling did not thicken up. I used homemade blueberry pie filling that I canned last summer. I probably should have used just 1-quart rather than adding an additional pint. The pie would have been a bit low, but that would have been fine. I added 2 tsp. of lime juice and ¼ tsp. allspice. I may not have baked it-- after blind-baking the shell--for long enough at a higher temperature. I started it at 425F, then after 10 minutes reduced it to 375F and baked another 40 minutes. That works for my apple pie, which has a hot filling added, but not for this one with room-temperature filling. (The apple pie is also baked in a deep-dish Emile Henry ceramic pie plate; this one was baked in a regular 9-inch pie tin.) I probably would have left it longer, but we had Skype appointments with the kids, so I pulled it out, thinking it would gel as it cooled. It didn’t. The crust did come out crisp and not soggy, and I liked the topping. The filling is delicious, but we were hoping for regular pie.
Next time, I’ll use just a quart of filling. Other possible issues that may have created problems include the different kind of oven, putting the pie on the center shelf rather than the lower one, since the top element only comes on for broiling, need for higher oven temperature, or maybe it would bake best with a top crust. There is also the possibility that the filling could have been thicker.
I tried a new recipe on Friday, Maple Date Kamut Cookies, from Bob’s Red Mill. It was on a package of dates I bought from them, and apparently it is in their cook book, but it is not on their website. The only saturated fat comes from the two eggs, and the recipe made 26 cookies. It also has oats. The cookies stay as little balls. I left the first batch that way; the second batch I smooshed flat. I think that the flatter ones bake better. I was not that impressed with them Friday evening, but they improve the next day. If I make them again, and likely I will since my husband likes them, and I still have the rest of the bag of kamut flour to finish, I might cut the quick oats back from 2 ½ cups to 2 ¼ cups, as the cookies seem a bit heavy.
I baked another new recipe on Saturday, Fresh Apple Cake, from Recipes from the Old Mill: Baking with Whole Grains, by Sarah E. Myers and Mary Beth Lind, two sisters whose family, according to the blurb on the back, has operated a mill producing stone-ground flour in West Virginia for two generations. This recipe is on p. 213. (Publisher: Good Books, 1995). It’s a favorite baking book, and so far, every recipe has worked well. I was particularly pleased that the 13x9-inch cake has 18g of saturated fat, so reasonable pieces work within dietary parameters. I used one Jonathan and three Winesaps. I substituted Penzey's Apple Pie Spice for 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. cloves in the cake itself, simply because I have the apple pie spice (a free sample) to use. I also substituted 1 cup buttermilk for 1 cup yogurt. We will have it for dinner tonight. I'll add a note after we sample it.
Note: The apple cake is delicious. I will definitely bake it again.
On Thursday, I baked a bread that KAF called “Nelson’s Choice Rye Bread,” on a long-ago package, but which they now call something else. The recipe comes directly from Secrets of Jewish Baker, and it was so attributed at the time. It’s an iffy recipe, and KAF now has reduced the original amount of water in order to produce a better result. I used 1 cup plus 1 Tbs. water; next time, I will reduce that to 1 cup, although the rainy day may have also affected the dough. I baked it this time with dark rye flour (usually I do a mix of dark and medium rye flour), and I used non-fat plain Greek yogurt in place of the sour cream. (I’ve used regular sour cream and low-fat sour cream in the past.) I added 1 Tbs. canola oil to try to make up for the fat that isn’t there in the dairy. I do not have vital wheat gluten, an ingredient that I do not stock, so I omitted it. I had to add an additional 4 Tbs. of First Clear flour, which is the other flour in the bread. With this bread, the key is not to let the second rise go too long, or it will collapse when baking. I let it rise for about 35 minutes, then slashed and baked in a round 8-inch cake pan. The bread did not rise as high as it sometimes does, but it held its shape better. We will try it for sandwiches on Friday. I'll add a note to this post then about taste and texture.
Note: The bread came out delicious, and the crumb was even throughout.
