[BakerAunt]

After two days of solid rain, today has been dry—so far. I’ve been craving raisin bran muffins, so I made a batch of six in my large muffin pan, using my regular recipe, but this time I used white whole wheat flour to make them 100% wholegrain. I like the taste and will make them this way again.

My second project was another batch of my cornmeal seeded crispbread. These are my favorite healthy snack cracker.

My third project was the lime Bundt cake recipe I created last year that uses 1 cup of barley flour to 2 cups of AP flour. I decided to bake it because the last of the limes from my tree in the refrigerator drawer were looking a bit sad. They yielded up a nice amount of juice yesterday, but the skin could not be used for zest, so I added ½ tsp. lime oil. That was perhaps a little strong, although not unpleasantly so. I may reduce it to ¼ tsp next time. I'll freeze the rest of the lime juice.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover rotisserie chicken, microwaved frozen lima beans, and "mushroom" noodles from Aldi's, which I fixed up with sliced mushrooms sautéed in a bit of olive oil and then the defatted drippings from the rotisserie chicken.

[BakerAunt]

Sigh. Add me to the list of people who missed it.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Italian Cook. If garnish is their only use, I probably won't be using them. My husband is more concerned with having the food on the table than with how it looks, although every now and then I try to drag him into more of a fine dining experience.

[BakerAunt]

We were out of bread, so on Monday morning I baked my half whole grain version of King Arthur’s Rustic Sourdough. I made a levain the night before, using 1 cup of AP flour, 1 cup of my starter, and ½ cup warm water. It was nicely bubbly the next morning, so I cut the yeast from 2 to 1 ½ tsp. I also cut the salt to 1 ¼ tsp. My wholegrain substitutions were 2 cups Irish Wholemeal flour, ¾ cup dark rye, 2 Tbs. flax meal, and I added 2 Tbs. special dried milk. I proofed the yeast in the remaining 1 cup water with 1 Tbs. of honey instead of sugar. After mixing in the levain, I mixed in the wholegrain flours, then let it sit covered for 20 minutes. I then mixed in the salt with 1 ¾ cups AP flour. I needed about 6 ½ minutes of kneading to get the windowpane. The first rise took 70 minutes. I pre-shaped the loaf, let it sit 5 minutes, then shaped it and put it into my Emile Henry long baker (greased and coated with farina). The second rise took about 50 minutes. I’m still experimenting with times and temperatures on the EH baker. 425F seems a good temperature for this bread. I took the cover off after 23 minutes, but next time, I may leave it on for 30. The bread needed another 23 minutes to get to 202F. It’s a beautiful loaf, and I look forward to cutting into it tomorrow for lunch.

[BakerAunt]

We have leftovers for tonight, which I consider good planning. 🙂

Our town had a twice-monthly farmers' market this winter. Any produce was gone by December. We do have a local chocolatier who makes beautiful artisan chocolates, which, SOB, I have resisted. There is a local meat producer, a jam maker, local honey, muffins and dessert items, and of course lots of crafts. Microgreens have appeared, but I'm not sure what to do with them. There were also eggs, even goose eggs. The market is on a brief hiatus before opening for the season the Saturday before Mother's Day.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

To go with our soup on a cold, rainy Saturday, I made Buttermilk Scallion Flatbreads, a recipe from the KAF site (that also appears in an issue of Sift) that I first made last fall and adapted to have less saturated fat. This time, I cut the salt to ½ tsp., and I substituted ½ cup of white rye flour for that much of the whole wheat flour. The rye gave a subtle flavor to the flatbreads, cooked on an iron flat grill pan, and it also made the flatbreads easier to roll out, as there was no shrinking from the 7-inch-circles. I pointed out to my husband that on Saturday, we had both eaten six different kinds of whole grains: oats, millet, whole wheat, barley, farro, and white rye.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

We had cold, rainy weather on Saturday, so it was a perfect day to make my Butternut Squash, Kale, and Farro soup. I only had about 6 cups of broth, so I cut the farro by ½ cup, which still made for the kind of chunky soup we like.

[BakerAunt]

I used up the last of our orchard Winesap apples from last fall, which for the most part kept well in the cold detached garage with thermostat at 48F. We only lost one apple, although some were beginning to soften. I made that Apple Cake from Recipes from the Old Mill, which I’ve baked about four times since last fall. This time I reduced the whole wheat flour to ¾ cup, and the AP to 1 cup and instead used ½ cup of barley flour. I added 2 Tbs. flax meal and 1/3 cup powdered milk (large granule type). I used white whole wheat flour in the topping in place of the AP flour. The texture of the cake is particularly delicious, as is the taste, so I will use this combination again.

[BakerAunt]

I missed it too, as I was thinking of churros.

[BakerAunt]

Friday’s dinner consisted of chicken legs, seasoned with sage, thyme, and sweet curry powder, roasted on a rack. The cuts we had seemed odd and had a lot of fat. For a side dish, I used a leftover mixture of brown rice, which I combined with cooked millet, leftover from the bread I baked on Wednesday. I sautéed onion, celery, and carrots, and a package of mushrooms (I sliced). I added some lightly microwaved frozen peas. The rice-millet combination went in at the end. I liked including so many vegetables with the grains.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you for weighing in Cass! I'll look forward to your call in a month.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--you probably could cut the oil to 1/3 cup and not see too much difference. You could also replace half the oil with buttermilk, which would keep them nicely moist.

Chocomouse--I'm so sorry that your oven decided that NOW is the time to demand mechanical attention. At least it waited until after the holiday.

[BakerAunt]

I knew the answer without seeing the choices due to discussions here at Nebraska Kitchen. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

I meant the water bottle one. Even if I wanted to try it, rarely do we have water or soda bottles around the house. However, I don't know that I would risk my nice Bundt pan to cut corn off the cob.

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