BakerAunt

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Viewing 15 posts - 5,986 through 6,000 (of 6,978 total)
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  • in reply to: Thankgiving #9881
    BakerAunt
    Participant

      Happy Thanksgiving to all the people who read and who post on this site! We are blessed to have this community.

      in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of November 19, 2017? #9879
      BakerAunt
      Participant

        On Wednesday, I baked my version of my Mom's pumpkin pie. As I was making the crust, I realized that I had accidentally used 1 cup of butter instead of 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 half cup Crisco. (I'm glad that I realized that before adding the Crisco!) Once again, the open concept kitchen allows for too much distraction. I forged ahead. After the dough had rested in the refrigerator, I rolled it the usual 1/8-inch thick. I had made a two-crust recipe, so I could do leaf and acorn cut outs around the edge. I decided instead to use more dough for the crust and made sure that I had a thick fold around the perimeter where I would crimp it. I was relieved that the blind-bake was excellent. The pie baked very well. I then rolled out the remaining dough 1/4-inch thick and cut out little turkeys, pumpkins, and acorns, using some of those plastic cutters with the springs that let you make a cookie with a design and then eject it. I baked those at 375F for 16 minutes, until they were lightly brown. I will serve a couple alongside slices of pie.
        I used 5 parts pastry flour to 1 part whole wheat pastry flour in my favorite buttermilk pie crust recipe. Maybe the pastry flour helped the all-butter crust hold.

        • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
        in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of November 19, 2017? #9878
        BakerAunt
        Participant

          For Wednesday's dinner, I made Dilled Salmon and Couscous, which we had with peas.

          After dinner, I made a Cranberry and Dried Cherry Relish that includes cardamom and brown sugar. It's a favorite of mine from the November 2001 issue of Bon Appetit. After Thanksgiving, I eat it on toast and in yogurt. Strictly speaking, it is not "cooking," but it does go into the food processor. I had combined all but the cherries, then realized I only had half of what I needed, so I pulled out my last bag, only to discover that the oil in it had gone rancid. I threw it away and resigned myself to a relish with only half the dried cherries. Next time I will assemble all ingredients and verify before proceeding. From now on, I date mark my dried fruit!

          in reply to: Fruit Cake #9872
          BakerAunt
          Participant

            I have now posted my Bishofsbrot recipe in the recipe section. Enjoy!

            in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of November 19, 2017? #9865
            BakerAunt
            Participant

              For Tuesday dinner, I thawed a boneless chicken breast (yes, from a sale) and cut it in half. I rubbed it with mayonnaise, and dredged them in a mixture of panko, onion powder, garlic powder, chives, pepper, and freshly grated Parmesan. I roasted them at 375F for 30 minutes. To go with it, I sautéed chopped onion, chopped celery, coarsely chopped carrot, and mushrooms in grapeseed oil. I stirred in the leftover rice from last night and added a bit of the leftover broth. I also microwaved some frozen peas.

              • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
              in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of November 19, 2017? #9864
              BakerAunt
              Participant

                I've been seeing a lot of recipes lately for sweet potato breads, pies, and soups. King Arthur had a wonderful sweet potato sandwich roll in the Fall 2015 issue of Sift. I've made it a couple of times. It's also on their site:

                https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/sweet-potato-sandwich-rolls-recipe

                There are other sweet potato recipes there as well, so it may give you some ideas.

                in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of November 19, 2017? #9861
                BakerAunt
                Participant

                  I made a half recipe of Fancy Flours No Fail Sugar Cookie dough on Monday. Instead of vanilla, I used 1/4 tsp of Fiori di Sicilia, because I bought it long ago to use in another recipe, brought it to Indiana in an ice chest, and decided I actually need to use it. I baked the cookies on Tuesday morning. As I smelled them baking, I worried, as it was not the most inviting of smells, but the cookies do taste good. I might, however, use only 1/8 tsp of the Fiori di Sicilia next time and a 1/2 tsp. vanilla, as I would like for the orange flavor to be more of a hint. I used Thanksgiving cookie cutters and decorated with colored sugar.

                  in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of November 19, 2017? #9856
                  BakerAunt
                  Participant

                    Navlys--Perhaps use half rum and half water?

                    in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of November 19, 2017? #9855
                    BakerAunt
                    Participant

                      Monday night I tried an experiment. I had an acorn squash left from a farmers' market in October. The people selling them said that their children had experimented with squashes and were very excited at how they had grown, but they had other activities on the Saturday, so the parents ended up at the market. I had looked at stuffed acorn squash on the internet and finally found a site that gave general directions about using a protein, a grain, and vegetables but left the decision to the cook.
                      I began by cutting the squash in half lengthwise and seeding it. I put it cut-side down on parchment and roasted for 40 minutes at 375F, until the squash was tender. Meanwhile, I cooked some Bob's Red Mill Country Rice Blend in turkey broth from the freezer. I chopped some onion and sliced three mushrooms, which I sautéed in olive oil, before adding the leftover cooked ground turkey from when we did our pizza last week. I added 1/4 tsp. dried sage and mixed in 1/2 cup of the cooked rice, along with 1/4 cup grated cheese (mozzarella-provolone blend). I divided the filling between the two squashes. I baked for 15 minutes more, then sprinkled with some freshly grated parmesan. My husband was initially dubious, but he enjoyed the dinner.

                      in reply to: Fruit Cake #9850
                      BakerAunt
                      Participant

                        I have a recipe for Bischofsbrot--translation is Bishop's Bread--which has regular raisins, golden raisins, currents, whole maraschino cherries, walnuts or pecans, and chocolate chips. The idea is for slices to be like a stained glass window. It's not really a traditional fruit cake, so it is not overly moist. It's been a while since I baked it, but I think that I will bake it in the Christmas season.

                        in reply to: Roasting Butternut Squash #9842
                        BakerAunt
                        Participant

                          Ole Lady,

                          This would be an easier way to get the squash peeled:

                          https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/national/how-to-peel-butternut-squash-microwave?utm_medium=email&utm_source=TT&utm_campaign=Daily&utm_content=Editorial

                          • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
                          in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of November 12, 2017? #9836
                          BakerAunt
                          Participant

                            Hello, Ole Lady. I will do a special entry under cooking about Butternut Squash, so that it will be easy to find.

                            in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of November 12, 2017? #9831
                            BakerAunt
                            Participant

                              Saturday evening, I tried an experiment with my springerle pumpkin mold. I had made springerle once years ago, and maybe it was the recipe, or maybe it was my technique, but I did not care for them and have not tried baking them again. I did try the KAF Springerle Shortbread recipe a couple of years ago, but the taste and texture made them a so-so cookie for me.

                              I decided to try making a brown sugar shortbread. I looked at the KAF recipe, then I googled brown sugar shortbread recipes. I ended up using 1 Cup of salted butter, 1/2 Cup light brown sugar, 2 Tbs. regular sugar, and 2 1/4 cups bleached flour. After making a smooth dough, I rolled it to 1/4 inch, but that was not deep enough, so I added another 1/8 inch. Once the mold is pushed down, the cookie is probably about 1/4-inch thick. I also used a copper pumpkin cut-out cookie cutter that is designed to go around the pumpkin springerle mold, so that the cookie has crisp edges.

                              I baked these on parchment at 325F for 35 minutes--checking at 25 minutes and 30 minutes. The design came out pretty well on about half of them, as I got better at it as I went along. I would still like a little more clarity on the design. Taste and texture is good (as of next morning.) However, I think that they might need 1/2 tsp. of vanilla next time.

                              • 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: Chefs Catalog #9822
                              BakerAunt
                              Participant

                                I shopped Chefs back when they were out of the Midwest (Illinois?). Then Nieman-Marcus got a hold of them, and I had to pay sales tax in Texas. They also stopped carrying some of the really useful stuff, such as wide saran. (Not everyone has access to Sam's, Cosco, or a local restaurant store.) I do not recall if there was an additional owner before Target bought them to cannibalize for their customer data base and recipes. Much of the Cook's unsold inventory has ended up at Tuesday Morning on "close-out."

                                I'll have to look online. They were my favorite place to kitchen shop.

                                OK: Here's the scoop: https://www.chefscatalog.com/about-us/

                                • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
                                in reply to: Vienna Bread Baguettes by Antilope #9815
                                BakerAunt
                                Participant

                                  Hi, Rascals,

                                  I just saw your post. Here is the variation I used the last time I baked this bread:

                                  I preheated the oven to 400F, but turned it down to 375F once the bread was in. I baked for 40 minutes to an internal temperature of 205. That will make the bread a darker color. For a lighter bread, perhaps bake for 35 minutes. I used my hearth pan.

                                  1 cup whole wheat flour
                                  1/2 cup rye flour
                                  1 1/2 cups bread flour
                                  1 1/2 cups AP flour
                                  2 Tbs. flax meal
                                  2 Tbs. special dried milk
                                  2 tsp. salt.

                                  1/2 cup "honey water" (cleaned out a honey jar)--regular water will do
                                  1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast and 1 tsp. special gold yeast
                                  3 Tbs. honey
                                  3 Tbs. unsalted butter
                                  9 oz. buttermilk

                                  By "honey water," I simply mean that we had a jar with most of the honey scraped out. I save them, and when I bake bread, I put the water in them that I plan to use for proofing the yeast, so that the jar is cleaned out.

                                  You can delete the special dried milk if you like. I'm trying to use it up.

                                  • This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by BakerAunt.
                                Viewing 15 posts - 5,986 through 6,000 (of 6,978 total)