[BakerAunt]

I found a review of the Wolf and the Viking, which seems to indicate they are comparable:

https://www.remodelista.com/posts/remodeling-101-viking-vs-wolf-ranges/

[BakerAunt]

Oh, no! For those of you reading, who were not on the KA Baking Circle, you can find a number of GinaG's recipes in the recipe section. She is an extraordinary baker.

[BakerAunt]

We are almost out of bread, so I baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Barley Whole Wheat Grape Nuts bread. One will go into the freezer.

[BakerAunt]

For Friday night’s dinner, I tried a new recipe, “Oprah’s Kale and Farro Soup,” which I got from an email sent by Tasting Table. I tweaked it slightly, in that I cannot find leeks in the grocery store here. I also did not have a 3-inch Parmesan rind to add. I used close to 3 rather than 2 lbs. of butternut squash. I deleted the can of tomatoes because tonight I felt like a non-tomato soup. I didn’t add any salt. It seemed to be missing something, so, taking a hint from a barley-butternut recipe I like, I added 2 tsp. cider vinegar. It made a very chunky soup, but we like chunky soups. It’s the first time we’ve tried farro. It is chewy and mild. We had the soup with a turkey sandwich (our hosts and hostess last night kindly sent some turkey home with us) on a yeasted pumpkin roll.

Here's a link to the recipe:

https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/recipes/oprah-kale-farro-soup-recipe

And in case you are wondering what the heck farro is, I did some googling. I'm not sure that this story explains it, but it is a start:

https://www.npr.org/2013/10/02/227838385/farro-an-ancient-if-complicated-grain-worth-figuring-out

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--I'm glad that your pumpkin pie turned out well.

I also found that the standard butter--what Aldi's sells--is perfectly fine in baked goods. Of course, for now, I'm not using much butter. Sigh. The canola oil at Aldi's is a lot less expensive than what Walmart carries, so I buy that. I've been reluctant to move too far from name brands of extra virgin olive oil.

[BakerAunt]

When I bake pecan pie--which I have not done for years, I use the recipe in Bernard Clayton's pie or pastry cookbook. (I can't check it right now because that is one of the books still packed.) My only change is to use half light and half dark Karo, which is what my mother claimed was the secret to her pecan pies, which I think were the recipe on the back of Karo.

I will only use Karo for corn syrup recipes, just as I will only use C&H or Domino brown sugar. I tried a cheaper brown sugar once, and yuk--too molasses tasting.

[BakerAunt]

I sympathize with you on the pie crust, Mike. In my case, it was those two "not pie pumpkins" that put me behind on preparations. At least you will be able to use the first crust in another way.

This Thanksgiving morning, I baked Stella Parks’ Yeasted Pumpkin Bread as twelve rolls, following her directions, except that I baked them in a 9x9-inch pan rather than in a cast iron 10-inch skillet. Of course, I used my stand mixer, added 3 Tbs. flax meal, used white whole wheat flour (1 1/2 cups and made up the rest of the weight with the bread flour), and added 2 1/2 Tbs. special dried milk. I used grapeseed oil rather than butter. I will take these to the friends’ house where we are invited for dinner tonight. The pumpkin and maple should make a delicious accompaniment to the traditional dinner.

[BakerAunt]

Enjoy your pie, Aaron. Remember--taste makes people not think about shrinkage.

You may need to order the drip catcher at their online site and have it delivered to the store.

The bread flour is probably not helping the crust. In bread, I know that when using bread flour, the dough has to rest about 10 minutes after the first rise and being punched down, or it resists.

Have you looked at Ken Haedrich's Pie Academy online?

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I roasted two pumpkins, which turned out not to be pie pumpkins. (See details in the "Is there Pumpkin in Your Pumpkin Pie? thread). After throwing it out, I roasted another pumpkin that is a pie pumpkin, and this one I made into puree.

[BakerAunt]

OK, the single pumpkin that I roasted is indeed a sugar/pie pumpkin. Whew.

[BakerAunt]

Well, the next pumpkin that I tried to cut into also resisted my knife, so I stopped. I tried another one, and it cut more easily. I think that it smells and looks more like a pie pumpkin, so I am roasting it now. If it caramelizes, then it is a sugar pumpkin. If worst comes to worst, I can pull some frozen puree from the freezer.

This little episode has wasted a huge part of my day. I googled to see if I could find an explanation of how to distinguish between a pie pumpkin and a small jack-o-lantern (or perhaps decorative only pumpkin?), but even the one article that covered outside appearances, after first saying that the pie pumpkins are a darker orange, then said that some varieties of the sugar pumpkins are lighter in color. Aurgh!!

[BakerAunt]

Well, the joke (?!) is on me. What the pumpkin producer at the farmers' market sold me back in October are NOT pie pumpkins. They seem to be a small variety of the jack-o-lantern type pumpkin. The first clue was the extremely hard-to-cut through skin. The second was when that skin was still hard after an hour, an hour and a half, and two hours of roasting. The third clue, when I took them out after the two-hour mark, is that the hard shells separated almost completely intact from the puree, which I was able to cut into chunks. There was no caramelization, so these two are definitely not sugar pumpkins.

They won't have much taste. I don't want to use them in baking. I'm not ready to make pumpkin/black bean/tomato soup again, where the pumpkin is just an element without much taste, and what taste it has is not tasty. I have thrown it away.

I have another three small pumpkins. I'm pretty sure one is a sugar pumpkin, so I may go ahead and bake it for my rolls. I'm not sure that I want to deal with the other two today.

I think that these vendors grow the pumpkin as a side project. From talking with them, I gather that the wife does not cook or bake with them. I may have to stick with peanut pumpkins and the blue-green ones and look elsewhere for my pie pumpkins.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Note: I also could not read the article because of the paywall.

The two sugar pumpkins that I now have roasting were very difficult to cut open for some reason, even with my Kuhn-Rikon sawtooth pumpkin knife if was quite a struggle. I resorted to sticking a butter knife in where I'd started cutting to create a wedge, but it was hard going. At that moment, a can opener and a can of pumpkin looked appealing....

Jack-o-lantern pumpkins make very thin puree, and as Skeptic notes, do not have much taste. My mom used to cook them--even roast them--when she got a good deal at the end of Halloween (free). It's a wonder any of us still like pumpkin.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I have read that butternut squash makes a dandy pie.

[BakerAunt]

The key to making pumpkin pies from scratch is to start with the right pumpkin. I've used sugar (pie) pumpkins for years. The "peanut pumpkin" (origin France) has particularly nice texture, as does the blue/grey Jarrahdale pumpkin (origin in Australia). I like a nice thick, non-stringy puree. Some pumpkin varieties taste better than others. I did not like the white Lumina. The Cinderella had far too much water to make it worth the trouble, given how little puree was produced after extensive draining.

I cut the pumpkin in half vertically (a sawing knife helps) and scoop out the seeds with a grapefruit spoon. I roast the pumpkin in a Calphalon roaster, cut side down, at 325F for at least an hour or until flesh softens. With some varieties, water may accumulate in the pan; just pour it off. I turn the sliced halves over and let them cool briefly--until I can handle them. I scoop out the flesh and make puree in my Cuisinart food processor.

I've done five pumpkins so far, and I have five more to do. I'll be roasting two of the pie pumpkins tomorrow.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

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