[BakerAunt]

I baked a new cracker recipe on Saturday: Toasty Wheat Oat Crackers. I adapted this recipe, which appears in Recipes from the Old Mill: Baking with Whole Grains, a book I’ve previously mentioned. My ingredient changes were to reduce the salt from 1 tsp. to ¾ tsp., and to substitute 2 ½ Tbs. canola oil for 3 Tbs. margarine. The original recipe formed the dough into a log; after refrigerating for several hours, it was sliced 1/8-inch thick, then put on ungreased baking sheets and flattened until very thin with the tines of a fork. Instead, I formed the dough into a rectangular mass, wrapped it in saran and refrigerated for several hours. I then rolled it out as thin as I could get it by hand onto parchment paper, using saran over the top while I rolled. It filled a large flat baking sheet. I used a pizza cutter to cut it into 3x3 cm. squares. I had to bake it longer than the 15 minutes stated. I also cut the crackers apart at the end of that time, then put them back in for a few more minutes. After removing them, I emptied the parchment onto the hot cookie sheet, made sure that they were all spaced apart, and allowed to cool. The flavor is excellent, and the thinnest ones are nicely crispy.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I baked the Easy Italian Honey Whole Wheat Breakfast Cookies again, as I enjoy having one at breakfast with my coffee after eating my steel-cut oats. This time, I still left the vanilla at ½ tsp., and I still added 3 drops of Fiori di Sicilia, but I also rehydrated 2 tsp. of Penzey’s dried orange peel with 2 Tbs. of water. I’m still working on the flavoring, as I am rationing my vanilla, and I rarely have an orange around the house that I can grate for zest. I'll add a note tomorrow on the taste.

[BakerAunt]

Before we left Indian Rocks Beach on Saturday morning, I made my husband wait until the bakery put out its bread at 9:30. I bought another loaf of the 10-grain bread, which we ate at a couple of meals on the way home. I also bought two of the dinner rolls to try. These rolls have that wonderful crusty outside and that soft, light interior.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday morning, I baked Seeded Crispbread, a Scandinavian recipe I baked last year and to which I posted a link at that time. This time I used the finely ground cornmeal, and the recipe came out better than with the medium grind. As I did last year, I replaced the flax seed with 2 1/2 Tbs. flax meal, since the human digestive system cannot break down flax seed. These make a nice, low in saturated fat, cracker, and they are very easy.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you, Joan.

I tried a new recipe today for Whole Grain Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies, which I changed around and tried to convert into a bar cookie. I'll post about it in the dessert thread.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, I made Pork Loin Roast with Barley, Butternut Squash, and Swiss Chard, a Cook’s Illustrated recipe that I have made about five times now. I like the recipe, but the author is wrong that the pork loin roast does not need to be turned to cook evenly, since I had the issue again with our apt. oven that I had with the oven that was in the house. I will plan on turning it half-way through cooking time in the future.

[BakerAunt]

Although I enjoyed our vacation, I am glad to be back in the kitchen baking. Today I baked my Barley Whole Wheat Buttermilk Bread.

[BakerAunt]

We got back from our Florida vacation late Monday afternoon. Dinner was a rotisserie chicken and half a package of mushroom noodles (sold by Aldi’s) mixed with some olive oil, and a package of frozen broccoli and some Parmesan cheese. I microwaved the package of broccoli first, then when the noodles finished cooking, added the broccoli to the water and allowed to sit for a minute or so before draining, then adding the olive oil and Parmesan

[BakerAunt]

To go with leftover chicken and potatoes tonight, I sautéed slices of zucchini in olive oil with 1/8 tsp. Penzey's dried garlic and sliced green onions. I added some balsamic vinegar and black pepper at the end. We liked the combination.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Thursday, I roasted cubed Yukon Gold potatoes rubbed with olive oil and sprinkled with Penzey’s Sunny Paris. I also roasted 6 chicken thighs, which I drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with Penzey’s Greek Seasoning, an idea that I got from Chocomouse. Because this oven is so small, and I only had a large rectangular Pyrex dish and a square one, I had to roast the potatoes for an hour, then roast the chicken. As the oven seems not to be heating as high as it is set, I used a temperature of 425F, which worked well. We had microwaved peas as well.

[BakerAunt]

Well, maybe parsley isn't the best example....

I still remember becoming fascinated making "candlestick salads," which consisted of an iceberg lettuce leaf, a pineapple ring, a half banana placed in the ring, a bit of mayonnaise to simulate wax, and a maraschino cherry on top. I thought that I was quite the little chef.

[BakerAunt]

For Tuesday night dinner, I made a stir-fry combination of cooked ground turkey, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, green onion, ½ tsp. dried Penzey’s garlic, ¼ tsp. celery salt, black pepper, and half a package of mushroom noodles bought at Aldi’s. My husband liked it. I found it a bit bland, and I think that I’d like it better with some sort of sauce. I thought of trying to make a yogurt sauce but decided that experimenting in a rental kitchen without my usual assortment of pantry items might not be a good idea. The combination was still good, and it gave me the assortment of vegetables that I had been craving.

Navlys--that's why I keep the small sample bottles from Penzey's; they are perfect for travel. Otherwise, write on the baggies. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--my large food processor (probably a 10 or 12 cup?) is a 30-year old Cuisinart. I like it for pureeing baked pumpkin. I also like it for grating zucchini or carrots for baking, which it accomplishes with no wrist fatigue and so much more quickly than I could grate it by hand. However, for a small amount, I would grate by hand, as the food processor is more work to clean. I like it for chopping cranberries for relish or baking. It's great for making a graham cracker crust. I have used it to chop almonds for cookies. The large processor does not do well with small amounts, so I have a small processor (about 2-cups) that I use for grinding oats when I need oat flour. It comes in handy for grinding oat bran, which makes the oat bran finer, so that the finished product is not dry. I even have a little 1-cup Cuisinart that I use for grinding powdered milk that is in granular form--or caked espresso powder. If my Cuisinart were ever to break, I would replace it. Once the house is remodeled, I'm going to try the pasta attachment my mother also gave me years ago, and which I've not used.

That said, I could get along without it, but I would prefer not to do so.

You have an excellent point about recipes that seem to require a specific piece of equipment. As this is the second Stella Parks recipe that "requires" a food processor, I'm wondering if her next cookbook will revolve around it. Len and I were able to bake her Maple Pumpkin bread using our mixers, and the breads came out great. I do have a fuzzy recollection that Peter Reinhart's latest wholegrain bread baking book uses this soaking technique, but I think he does the rest of it by hand. I'll check the book when I get home.

King Arthur Flour can be particularly irritating about not giving alternatives for baking dishes for some of their recipes, which then becomes an issue when they stop selling those dishes or pans. Usually, I can figure out a workaround that yields just as good of a result.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--since you mentioned in an earlier thread that you had bought buckwheat flour, you might want to give this English Muffin recipe a try:

Easy Buckwheat-Oat English Muffins by sue/theviewfrom…

It's my favorite, and the one I always make when I want English muffins.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, we made our yearly trek to Honeymoon Island, a state park that has a number of beaches, including one where dogs are allowed, as well as a trail from which people can see ospreys in their nests. Last year, every osprey we saw seemed to have a fish in its bill. The end of the trail was closed, as once again there is a bald eagle nest that can be seen from a distance.

Before going to the park, however, we made our pilgrimage to the National Bakery (founded 1925) in Tarpon Springs--the subject of this thread a year ago. This year we bought a long loaf of whole wheat bread, which we both like a lot. We bought a bag of anise-sesame biscotti for me, as I am running out of the low-fat items that I brought with us. I will limit myself to one per day, as I'm not sure what is in them, although I don't think they are butter based. My husband wanted to buy some Koulourakia, but he instead ended up with a circular cookie, which has what I think it an almond taste. (It is probably a good idea to ask for exactly what you want.) I looked longingly at the pastries but passed them by.

If you are ever in this area, do go to this bakery.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 9 months ago by BakerAunt.

[Author]

Posts