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Well, Joan, my husband nixed putting it in our wood stove, and in this rainy, windy weather, there will not be any outside fires.... 🙂
Some people put them in the oven on the self-clean cycle, but as we've discussed before, oven self-clean, especially the really hot ones, may contribute to stove failure. While I could try it with the old avocado green Frigidare that we will donate to Habitat for Humanity if they want it, when we first got the house, the previous people had run the self-clean, and the oven was locked. Someone who knew how to jiggle it got it unlocked for us, and we have never run it ourselves. The sales rep at the store where I will purchase my stove told me that there is an increase in service calls right before Thanksgiving and Christmas because people decide to clean the oven before the holiday baking, and some of the modern ovens get stuck in the locked position.
On Friday, I decided to bake Bernard Clayton's French Apple Pie, from The Complete Book of Pastry Sweet and Savory. It's an apple pie with a streusel topping. I decided to try an oil crust, only to discover that crust needed to be blind-baked. (I posted about it in a thread under desserts.)
I decided to change around the recipe to accommodate the blind-baked crust. After I cut up the apples, I mixed them with the sugar, spices, and tapioca and let them set, while I blind baked the crust, which I had refrigerated after making. I then cooked the apples over medium-high heat until they were softened and most of the juice thickened. I sprinkled Panko crumbs on the bottom of the pie crust before adding the apple filling to try to keep it crisp. I topped with the streusel and baked at 375F. Bernard Clayton’s recipe calls for 15 minutes at 425F, then 375F for 45 minutes. With the apples pre-cooked and the crust already browned, I baked at 375f for 30 minutes, then an additional five when I could see it bubbling. It smells good. I used 5 Winesaps and 2 Jonathans.
I'll add a note tomorrow after we try it.
Promised Note: The pie is delicious, and the crust works well. I did substitute 1/3 white whole wheat flour in the crust. I also used half white whole wheat flour in the topping. The pie is still 4.85g sat. fat per slice (1/8th of the pie), but the oil crust makes it come out much better than it otherwise would.I bought marked down bananas at the grocery yesterday. The store sells them for 69 cents a pound, but when they begin to turn, they are marked down to 29 cents. Given how many of their bananas end up marked for reduction, I’m not sure why they don’t just lower the price to a reasonable amount before they go brown.
Usually the ones I get are fine for eating, but these were a little too ripe, so I used two on Monday morning to try a new recipe for Oat Bran Banana Bread, from North Dakota State University Extension Services. It's one that Italian Baker might like because it uses baking soda for the leavening, not baking powder.
As usual, I modified it. I ground the oat bran in the food processor, and I substituted in ½ cup of whole wheat flour for the 1 cup of AP specified. I added 4 Tbs. powdered milk. I used buttermilk instead of skim milk. I left out the optional salt. The recipe didn’t specify a pan size, so I used a 9x5 inch loaf pan. It’s not an overly high quick bread, so possibly 8x4 inch would work as well. I sprinkled the top with demerara sugar. It baked in 50 minutes in my oven in a USA loaf pan coated with THE grease, and it released beautifully. We had some for dessert this evening, and we like it. I might add some walnuts next time.
The loaf has about 8.75 g saturated fat and 222.5 mg calcium.
Although we still have leftover soup and some slices of turkey, for Sunday dinner I made acorn squash halves stuffed with a combination of bulgur, cooked ground turkey, mozzarella, sliced mushrooms, onion, parsley, and sage. We had steamed broccoli on the side.
