[BakerAunt]

With Bob's Red Mill, I try to wait for a discount. It is possible to get a case with four 5-pound bags of their Artisan Bread flour, which last time came out cheaper than buying the KAF bread flour at the store. I can't find BRM flours easily. The local store has a few. The Kroger in the larger town north of us has a decent selection, but no BRM bread flour. Now that I'm eating steel-cut oats for breakfast almost every morning, I go through those quickly, and I can only get the large bags when I order, and I usually get a case.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Friday night was salmon and couscous with Penzey’s Greek seasoning. We microwaved frozen peas for a side. I needed a quick and easy dinner, since we spent the day in South Bend, picking up more materials for the house.

I’m hoping that the Farmers’ Market tomorrow might have some kind of vegetables, but it is still early for much.

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

[BakerAunt]

I also missed it. I narrowed it down to two, but it was flipping a coin for me at that point.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday afternoon, I baked my Lower-Fat Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made last week.

[BakerAunt]

I'll use the durum flour when I try these.

[BakerAunt]

When I don't have wine around, I've just used water, but I think an acidic ingredient helps. What about a touch of white vinegar?

[BakerAunt]

These are very thin flatbreads, and Aaron is correct in that they look like crackers. I'm on the fence about which flour to use when I try the recipe. I use both semolina and durum flour in my pizza crust.

[BakerAunt]

I was able to figure it out.

[BakerAunt]

The cabinet tops were measured for templating yesterday, and we discovered that the space for the stove is 1/16th-inch off. Someone measured from the interior and forgot about the side pieces. so, the back set of lower cabinets will need to be moved over. I'm glad that they found the problem now and not later when the stove is delivered. Other than that, the cabinets are installed.

Our contractor thinks he can get us into the house by June, barring bad weather and other little surprises like the front door that was put in during the first phase of our renovation 4 1/2 years ago and has never worked correctly, in spite of calling back the first contractor a couple of times.

[BakerAunt]

It's so nice when site members get to meet each other! It's even better when they get to bake for one another.

I spent Tuesday morning shelling pecans from our Texas stash. In the afternoon, I made Apple Cinnamon Bars, using my much-adapted recipe from the KAF site. I replaced the 6 Tbs. of butter with 4 ½ Tbs. canola oil and reduced the brown sugar by a third. I used the other half of a jar of apple butter that was in the refrigerator. I replaced the AP flour with ¾ cup white whole wheat and ½ cup barley; I added 1 Tbs. flax meal and 1 tbs. Bob’s Red Mill powdered milk. I cut the cinnamon chips to 45g (scant 1/3 cup). After they cooled, I glazed with my lower-fat adaptation. I always halved the recipe, as it makes too much, but I replaced the water and butter with two “mini-moos” half and half. I used glazing sugar, which I still have from when KAF sold it. The bars are delicious.

After the bars came out, I made my Cherry-Pecan Granola, but I cut the coconut amount from 1 cup to ½ cup, since ¼ cup coconut has 9g saturated fat. I also added 1 Tbs. flax meal.

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

[BakerAunt]

My educated guess worked this time. Now I'm hearing "I Love You, a bushel and a peck...." from the musical Guys and Dolls.

[BakerAunt]

For Monday’s dinner, I made stir-fry, using leftover pork and the drippings I saved when my husband cooked it last week. I started by sauteeing celery, carrots, and red bell pepper in grapeseed oil, then added mushrooms, then broccoli, before adding the meat and the green onion, along with the drippings. I combined it with soba noodles. All those vegetables really hit the spot, and we have enough for another meal.

[BakerAunt]

We were out of bread, so I used my basic recipe for kneading in the bread machine, that includes 1 ½ cup bread flour, then varied the ingredients. I used ¾ cup Harvest Grains and ¼ cup rolled 5-grain mix from Bob’s Red Mill. I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and ½ cup white rye flour. I reduced the yeast from 2 tsp. to 1 ¾ tsp. I went ahead and baked it in an 8 ½ x 4 1/2 -inch loaf pan, but it is slightly too much dough, so there is a bit of a side slump on the sides of the pan. Still, the loaf looks good and smells wonderful, so I look forward to slicing it tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

Interesting and useful information--thanks!. I had been told that it should be as long as it takes to sing Happy Birthday twice.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday afternoon, I cooked 2 ½ cups of dried lima beans that I had begun soaking Friday night. (I drained them first, then added fresh water.) I used these to make “Pizza Beans,” a recipe from Smitten Kitchen Every Day, which is also on Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen website. The amount of beans is my estimate, and it works well. I put in the whole bunch of kale. I also add browned ground turkey, in deference to my husband. I cut the amount of mozzarella in half, and I use low-fat. I do the final baking in a lasagna pan. The recipe has become a favorite of ours.

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