[BakerAunt]

Interesting. I recall the boxes stating an answer between the one that I chose and the greater amount that is listed here as the correct answer. Clearly the key word is sifted.

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

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Monday, I made sauce using my already cooked garden tomatoes, ground turkey, onion, garlic, celery, red bell pepper; parsley, a tablespoon of tomato paste, a bit of Penzey’s concentrated beef base, a splash of Worcestershire sauce, and 1 tsp. Penzey’s Tuscan Sunset. I mixed it with a box of Barilla pasta—the kind that touts itself as high protein because it uses some bean and whole grain flour in addition to the semolina (it was on sale), and we grated Parmesan over it.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday morning, I baked a new recipe, Almond and Apricot Biscotti, which the Mayo Clinic has as part of the DASH diet:

https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/recipes/almond-and-apricot-biscotti/rcp-20049600

I made two ingredient changes in that I used white whole wheat flour rather than regular whole wheat, and I added 3 Tbs. BRM milk powder.

I also created some of my own directions. After mixing the dry ingredients, I whisked together the wet ingredients before adding them. I used my “dough whisk,” which I find perfect for oil-based biscotti recipes. After I had mixed in the apricots and almonds, I shaped it by putting scoops of it onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, then using slightly damp hands (not floured hands) to shape it into a log, which I sprinkled with KAF’s sparkling sugar, after first spritzing it. After the first bake, I let rest the stated ten minutes, but I then spritzed it and waited another five minutes before slicing straight rather than diagonally. These were slightly fragile, so I might wait a bit longer next time, but they still sliced well. I stand them up for the second bake, which I did for the lesser time of 15 minutes, as my husband does not like them too hard.

I got 20 biscotti, and the end pieces are small. I tasted the crumbs and a warm end piece, and the flavor is good. We’ll see how they are when they cool. These will be good for calcium and potassium. Sometimes the Mayo Clinic recipes try too hard to be healthy and do not give what a lot of us crave: texture and taste in addition to the health benefits. If I like these, I could see perhaps substituting other fruits and nuts into the basic recipe.

[BakerAunt]

Sorry to hear about your banana bread, Joan. Usually the grease works well. I did have an issue with it once when I did not stir it up well after it had been siting for a while. Next time, you might want to try lining the bottom only of the greased loaf pan with parchment paper--and greasing and flouring the side next to the banana bread. It seems to me that particularly sweet breads--and maybe your bananas were extra sweet that day?--have more of a tendency to stick, which is why cake recipes specify parchment on the bottom.

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

[BakerAunt]

Joan probably needed less flour because she uses the scoop method to measure flour. KAF recipes are written for the "spoon it into a cup" method.

I distrust King Arthur on metric weights. I had baked their spelt bread and it was wonderful. I could not figure out why some people had a problem with it. Then I used their gram "equivalencies," as I wanted to avoid dirtying measuring cups, and I had the same problem as the other posters. The next time I baked it, I used cups but I weighed the flours, and the KAF metric weights (I didn't check the ounces) were significantly different. Whatever conversion they are using doesn't work. I recently baked another bread, and I tested it with metric and with the cups measurements on flour, and I noted the discrepancy as well.

It makes sense that KAF would focus on measurements by cups on their site for home bakers, because that is what their target audience uses, but they need to be more accurate if they want to give metric measurements.

[BakerAunt]

I'm going to try the pasta attachment to my food machine on noodles and see it by any chance it would work on my cracker dough. Ideally, I would like something wider. While I can and do roll out by hand with my dough wands, I could produce many more crackers--and keep up with my husband's consumption of those crackers--if I had a machine doing it. However, the sheeter takes up too much space--even if I parked it in my spare kitchen in the apt. over that garage.

Someone out there is going to make a fortune when she or he figures out how to make a compact, easy to clean "sheeter" for the household kitchen. Surely there is a niche there with home bakers--particularly the ones with lots of money who use their new toy a couple of times then forget about it....

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

[BakerAunt]

I successfully worked out the correct answer.

I recently read about a rise in people cutting their hands when cutting avocados and ending up in the emergency room--probably due to the avocado toast fad--in the article linked to the instructions below on how to cut an avocado safely:

https://www.realsimple.com/food-recipes/cooking-tips-techniques/preparation/slice-dice-avocado

I've been fond of avocados since high school, when my family had several avocado trees in our backyard. It's also a food endorsed by the American Heart Association as good for you. I've tried the method in the video and it works well, although the pit can still stick to one of the quarters a bit.

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

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I made applesauce, using more “seconds” apples from the farmers’ market. I also made a Lentil soup, which was a change of plans. My husband picked up his son in Detroit, so I knew that they would not be home until after 8 p.m., and a lighter meal was in order, especially since we have blueberry pie for dessert!

[BakerAunt]

Happy Anniversary wishes to Joan and her husband!

Happy Anniversary wishes to Mike and his wife!

Chocomouse--it is irritating when you get through the surgery, and then the medication causes the reaction. I hope that you will soon see your way around the kitchen again. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

We also were short on honey bees this spring and summer. We had some nice clover in the yard, and my husband remarked that years ago, honey bees would have been all over them. We've seen the bumble bees around the goldenrod, and I did see some little honey bees the other day. The biggest problem in our area are the people who want to make our rural area into suburbia--with the manicured lawns, fertilizers, and pesticides suburban lawns demand.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it, but I now have even greater respect for bees and their product. The answer here shows us why we need to put in plants that encourage honey bees and to protect them from chemicals known to hurt them.

[BakerAunt]

Like Joan, we're about to have company, and like Joan, I've baked a pie. My younger stepson arrives for a week’s visit tomorrow. When I asked if he is on a particular eating plan, he replied that he is on a “strict blueberry pie diet.” So, on Saturday evening, I baked Carole Walter’s Blueberry Crumb pie that I first baked on July 27, again using the oil pie crust variation that I worked out from the King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook. I had one glitch. After gently cooking what I thought were 7 cups of blueberries and removing them from the juices to rest for 15 minutes, I realized that I still had 1 cup frozen berries in a cup on the counter. I had returned the bag with the rest to the freezer, but then the dog requested she be taken out, and when I came back, I forgot to add that last cup. I took a chance and mixed in the cup of frozen ones. The pie may be a tad juicier than it should be, but at least it will have enough blueberries. I used frozen berries that we picked in July. As for the juice, I made it into the warm blueberry sauce that can either be served with the pie or used otherwise—I’m thinking over cornmeal pancakes.

[BakerAunt]

I also made broth on Saturday afternoon from the remains of a rotisserie chicken.

[BakerAunt]

I made salmon and couscous for dinner, using 1 tsp. of Penzey’s Mural Seasoning. We microwaved frozen peas to go with it—the first time we’ve eaten frozen peas in probably two months. (The beans are slowing down.)

So far, it seems to be a bad year for baking pumpkins in my area of Indiana. I only got one slightly anemic "peanut" pumpkin last week, which I was assured will ripen up in the next few weeks. I have it on the sun porch to help it along. This week the vendors were all about the decorative pumpkins. I'm bemused by the people who were spending time trying to find three to stack for their doorsteps. Sigh. Can you say food waste--and probably not composted?

[BakerAunt]

I had no knowledge on this topic, and my wild guess was incorrect.

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