BakerAunt

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  • in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 3, 2019? #14937
    BakerAunt
    Participant

      I tried a new recipe on Tuesday afternoon, “Quinoa-Pumpkin Seed Granola,” from that Better Homes and Gardens special issue reprint of Cut the Sugar (p. 69). I made one change in that I replaced ¼ cup flax seeds with ¼ cup sunflower seeds, since humans cannot get the benefit of whole flax seeds. The finished granola has a good flavor. I was surprised that the recipe specifies refrigerating it, but maybe the quinoa needs that even after being baked.
      I baked the granola directly on the baking sheet, and there was some sticking. If I make it again, I would spray the pan to prevent sticking. (At least the pan washed clean easily with a brief soak.)

      in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 3, 2019? #14936
      BakerAunt
      Participant

        Italian Cook--Chocolate always helps in difficult times!

        On Monday, I baked a new recipe, Millet-Sunflower Bread, from King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking (pp. 202-203). I made a few changes. I replaced the orange juice with an equal amount of water, I deleted the 1 tsp. dark sesame oil, and I replaced the 2 Tbs. of vital wheat gluten with an equivalent amount of first clear flour. (I recall Cass telling us that first clear flour is the same thing as vital wheat gluten, so I thought, why not?) I reduced the salt by ¼ tsp., and I used active yeast. I was nervous about this recipe, as it only calls for 1 tsp. of yeast, but since it has longer rising times, I decided to forge ahead.

        I proofed the yeast in the water with the honey. I then mixed in the millet I cooked yesterday. I weighed it to be certain I used the correct amount. I mixed together all rest of the ingredients, but I held back the salt and the olive oil. I did that to give the yeast more time to get going during the 45-minute rest after the initial mixing. At the end of the 45-minute rest period, I sprinkled in the salt and added the olive oil, then mixed it together with the paddle before switching to the kneading hook. I initially had to keep stopping the mixer to get the dough pushed together, but once it did, I kneaded for 4 minutes until I was satisfied with the texture.

        Both the first and second rising times corresponded to what the recipe states. The bread baked into a beautiful loaf. I baked it to 200F, rather than th3e 190F. We cut into it for lunch on Tuesday, and it is a wonderful bread. The millet gives it a sweeter tasted than the 1 Tbs. of honey would have, yet the flavor is not overpowering. It is a perfect bread for any sandwich, and I will bake it again. This recipe makes it worth my while to keep a small bag of whole millet on hand

        in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of March 3, 2019? #14935
        BakerAunt
        Participant

          I made a stir-fry for dinner on Tuesday. I thawed a chicken breast, which my husband cut into pieces so that I could stir-fry it. I then stir-fried sliced celery, cut-up small carrots, and broccoli. I added the leftover millet and leftover mixed rice. I added ¼ tsp. sweet curry and sliced green onion. I would have liked a bit more curry, but I didn’t want to push it with my husband.

          in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 3, 2019? #14919
          BakerAunt
          Participant

            Italian Cook: Here is the chart I use:

            I do a bit of "guesstimating" with smaller amounts.

            On Sunday afternoon, I baked another new recipe from the King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook. It’s the Basic Quick Bread, and I baked the Spicy Applesauce Bread version (pp. 90-91). I used the smaller amounts of oil and brown sugar. I substituted 1 tsp. boiled cider for the vanilla, and I added 1/3 cup of quick oats. I did not add the nuts or raisins. I baked the batter in three mini-loaf pans (coated with THE grease), and it took 35 minutes. These have nice rise, especially given that they are half whole wheat. We will sample them on Monday, since quick breads are usually best if allowed to sit for a day.

            Note: Note: The spice combination is excellent. However, the breads were slightly dry. Next time, I’ll omit the oats I added or else decrease the flour slightly.

            It was a good day to bake, since it has been snowing all day. Tomorrow should also be a good baking day.

            • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
            • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
            in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 24, 2019? #14910
            BakerAunt
            Participant

              I still have some limes from my lime tree in the refrigerator, and they are starting to yellow, although they still have juice. In paging through King Arthur Flour’s Whole Grain Baking, I came upon a recipe for “Sunny Citrus Squares” (pp. 363-364) that uses ½ cup citrus juice—lime, lemon, or combination—along with zest. The only issue for me was the 6 Tbs. of butter in the crust. I decided to use the guidelines for the oil pie crust that I’ve baked from the KAF 200th Anniversary Cookbook and see if I could modify the crust.

              I used 4 ½ Tbs. canola oil in place of the butter, and I replaced the 3 Tbs. of orange juice in the crust (meant to cut the whole grain flavor of the spelt flour) with 3 Tbs. buttermilk. I whisked the buttermilk and oil together, before combining with the flour, using a fork. I followed the rest of the recipe as given, although I used a bit of water to reach the ½ cup of lime juice. It baked up well. As the recipe states, I will refrigerate it overnight. I’ll add a note tomorrow after we have it for dessert.

              Note: The bars are delicious. I did have some shrinkage of the crust, so some of the topping flowed over and got beneath the crust. Next time, I will refrigerate the crust for an hour in the pan before I bake it, since my oil pie crust recipe says that doing so will relax the gluten and prevent shrinkage.

              I don't know if I will have so many limes this year. Usually we put the lime tree in the apt., which we keep cool, but with the house renovation and our living in the apt., it got too warm and the lime tree bloomed early, but inside there are no pollinators.

              • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
              • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
              in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 24, 2019? #14909
              BakerAunt
              Participant

                Saturday’s dinner was my healthier take on my Mom’s hamburger stroganoff, which we had over brown and mixed rice with microwaved peas.

                in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 24, 2019? #14904
                BakerAunt
                Participant

                  Happy belated birthday, Joan! It sounds like a great day!

                  Italian Cook: I used Land o' Lakes light butter-canola spread. It comes in a tub. It gives me the flavor with less of the saturated fat. I also wanted to avoid the palm oil that is in most other spreads.

                  in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 24, 2019? #14903
                  BakerAunt
                  Participant

                    Italian Cook, it's hard to tell without seeing the recipe, but I'm guessing that the curds of cottage cheese darkened during the baking. I've had that happen with regular cheese. If that is the case, you might want to tent them with foil at some point in the baking process to prevent the over-browning.

                    I had a similar experience with that sunflower-sesame seed that I baked, even though I covered the bread early on, as the recipe specified.

                    in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 24, 2019? #14895
                    BakerAunt
                    Participant

                      I roasted some sweet potatoes with olive oil and maple syrup on Tuesday, and we had it with sliced turkey breast that my husband had roasted, with steamed broccoli on the side. On Thursday, I used some of the cut-up turkey, combined with celery, carrots, onion, the drippings from the turkey breast, Parmesan cheese, and spinach noodles to make a one-dish dinner. I seasoned it with ½ cup poultry seasoning. (Thyme or sage would also have been nice.)

                      My family ate only Kraft Macaroni and Cheese, and we were never impressed with any baked macaroni and cheese. The Kraft was also cheap and quick when I was in graduate school, and sometimes I would mix it with hamburger for a main dish. My husband would buy cheaper brands--yuk. I then started making my own, using KAF's Vermont Cheese Powder, a bit of Land o' Lakes light-butter canola spread, and 1% milk, on whole wheat macaroni. It's good, but it will never be Kraft. However, this lower-saturated fat version, works better for my current dietary needs.

                      I wish that I knew more about what spices go with what. My husband is not a fan of assertive spices, and so I tread carefully there. However, for the black bean chili I made earlier this week, I used 2 tsp. chili powder, 1/4 tsp. cayenne (older), and 1/4 tsp. ground cumin. I like the flavor combination and will use it again.

                      in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 24, 2019? #14893
                      BakerAunt
                      Participant

                        I baked my version of that Seeded Crispbread recipe again on Friday morning. This time, I used my fingers at the end to spread the batter as evenly as possible on a large baking sheet lined with a large piece of parchment. I baked for an additional 8 minutes over the stated time, which seems necessary with my heavy baking sheets for this recipe.

                        in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 24, 2019? #14882
                        BakerAunt
                        Participant

                          I baked a new recipe on Thursday morning: “Apple-Maple Snack Cake,” from Better Homes and Gardens Cut the Sugar, the third re-issue of a special interest magazine first published in 2017. I looked at the magazine carefully before buying it, and most of the recipes are also low in saturated fat, or can be made with an oil substitution, as was the case with this one (p. 85).

                          Like Wonky, my baking sister, I can never leave a recipe alone. I replaced the 4 Tbs. butter with 3 Tbs. canola oil; I added 1 Tbs. flax meal and 2 Tbs. Bob’s Red Mill powdered milk. I deleted 2 tsp. vanilla and replaced it with ¼ tsp. maple extract. (Why would I want to cover up the maple syrup in the cake with an expensive 2 tsp. vanilla?) I used two unpeeled Winesaps; I deleted the almonds used to top it and used Swedish Pearl Sugar instead, and it baked up very prettily.

                          I'll add a note to this post after we have it for dessert tonight.

                          Note: We like the cake! It has a definite maple flavor that pairs nicely with the apple. I will bake it again.

                          • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: added follow-up
                          in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of February 24, 2019? #14881
                          BakerAunt
                          Participant

                            I like to add freshly ground black pepper on top of my macaroni and cheese, something to which my college roommate introduced me!

                            in reply to: Italiancook Update #14874
                            BakerAunt
                            Participant

                              It's so nice to see you posting again, Italian Cook.

                              Riverside Len is the once who introduced us to the jennycancook.com site. It's great.

                              in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 24, 2019? #14873
                              BakerAunt
                              Participant

                                On Tuesday evening, I baked another version of that bread recipe with which I've been experimenting. This tie I made Rolled Barley-Whole Wheat-Buttermilk Bread, and I used the bread machine. I decided to decrease the honey by 1 Tbs. and add 2 Tbs. malted milk powder, along with 2 Tbs. special dried milk. It was a more compact loaf than I expected, but the taste is good, and my husband particularly liked it. I will be glad when I have the freezer space again to be able to bake two loaves and freeze one.

                                I spent Wednesday afternoon baking the Lower-Fat, Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, using the dough I made up a week ago. I cut the baking time by one minute, which works better for the oven we have in the apartment. These have particularly good flavor, so perhaps it is good to let this dough sit longer.

                                I know what you mean, Chocomouse about resisting baking bagels. However, I did buy some barley malt syrup (like you, I don't know WHY, but it must have seemed a good idea at the time). I'll be interested in your bagel experiments, and I'll come back here to read Mike's advice. I will not be making the bagel attempt, however, until I have my new kitchen in which to bake. It's a little too snug in the garage apt. kitchen.

                                Italian Cook--I like the jennycancook.com site also. I'll have to look at that recipe.

                                in reply to: What are you Baking the week of February 24, 2019? #14857
                                BakerAunt
                                Participant

                                  Yes, my date sugar came from Bob's Red Mill. I added it to an order, especially for trying this recipe. I may have another recipe for it in my stash as well. Although the package says that date sugar can be substituted in recipes for date sugar, Ellie Krieger says it behaves more like flour (it isn't really "sugar") and suggests increasing the flour in her recipe by 1/2 cup and decreasing the applesauce by 1/2 cup if replacing it with an equal amount of brown sugar.

                                  Bob's Red Mill has discounts for purchases by the case. I usually order their flours, grains, seeds, beans, powdered milk by the case. They have various email promotions with discounts as well. Orders over $59 ship free. (You don't want to know what regular shipping would cost!)

                                  Joan--I find that King Arthur tends to overdo the streusel, so I usually cut back, especially now that I have to watch saturated fat intake.

                                  • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
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