[BakerAunt]

For Saturday night dinner, my husband cooked pork chops in a skillet. I diced some Yukon Gold potatoes, rubbed them with olive oil, then sprinkled them with Penzey’s Sunny Paris blend. This oven is definitely cooking cooler than the set temperature. I started the potatoes at 400F, when I checked them at what should have been halfway at 25 minutes, I decided to increase the temperature to 425F. I checked them at 20 minutes, then let them go an additional 20-25 minutes, then let them sit in the oven while my husband finished the pork chops. They came out well, but it was a long cooking time. We also had fresh green beans done in the microwave.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--I've not made buckwheat pancakes with only buckwheat flour. My favorite recipe uses it in conjunction with some other flours. I have heard of little buckwheat pancakes, cooked in a special skillet that has small round wells so that they hold their shape. These are then eaten with a topping such as cream cheese. Elizabeth David has such a recipe in her English bread book, but I've yet to try it.

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

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Aaron for posting this notice.

I would usually have Gold Medal unbleached flour on hand, but the stores here did not have their usual sales on flour in November and December, so I did not stock up. Then I had a coupon for Bob's Red Mill flour that made their 5 pound bags a better price than those of General Mills.

[BakerAunt]

I looked at that KAF Breakfast Cookie recipe, but even before I was watching saturated fat, I thought that the fat content is high, and it seems to me the nutritional value lower than it should be for a breakfast that gives energy.

The Easy Italian Honey Whole Wheat Breakfast cookies are good, but they are not in themselves a breakfast. I like to have one with my coffee after a bowl of oatmeal. I also like them for afternoon tea. The graham crackers I baked fill a similar niche.

I've looked at baked oatmeal recipes, but I have not yet found one I wanted to try.

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

[BakerAunt]

Hmm--at the very least I should bring an oven thermometer, but I do have an infrared thermometer that I bought for testing pan temperature when I make English muffins....

Maybe we need a thread on cooking essentials needed when traveling. 🙂

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

[BakerAunt]

I roasted four whole chicken legs for dinner tonight. The oven at the place where we are staying was not accurate, and we ended up putting them into the microwave to finish cooking. We had the chicken with spinach noodles and steamed broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I made my adaptation of my mother’s hamburger stroganoff, which we had over brown rice with microwaved peas on the side. I find it handy to bring my rice cooker on vacation, since it is never certain what kitchen equipment will be available.

[BakerAunt]

I'm on vacation without my baking stuff, so I don't know that I will be doing much baking. We are across the alley from a French bakery and cafe. I tried to buy a wholegrain loaf there this morning, and the customer service gal must have been new, because when I got to the cashier, I learned it was garlic bread. I noted the basket for wholegrain was empty. I went ahead and bought it for $3.20, but I doubt my husband will eat it. I'll go earlier next time. They had been open for four hours.

[BakerAunt]

Wednesday evening, I baked Oat Bran Pumpkin muffins from a recipe I posted here. I made six large ones, so that we can have them for travel breakfasts. We stay at Day's Inns, mostly because they allow dogs, and there is a complimentary breakfast, but these vary. The first one really didn't have anything that we could eat. The second one had funny tasting oatmeal, which we both had. I had an egg, which must have been made from liquid eggs, as it was yellow and round, some orange juice, and a Yoplait non-fat vanilla yogurt. Then I went back to the room and had my own coffee and a muffin.

[BakerAunt]

My husband's cousins spatchcocked a turkey for our October family reunion. The cousin who cooked it also used a LOT of butter, and I think gauze was used, perhaps it was soaked in the butter then spread over the turkey? There were so many people in the kitchen that I kept out of the way. The turkey was delicious, but I did wonder what the butter was doing to my low-saturated fat diet.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I baked another recipe of the Easy Italian Honey Whole Wheat Breakfast Cookies. This time I again used ½ tsp. vanilla, but I only used 3 drops of the Fiori di Sicilia; I also baked the double recipe of Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from the dough I made last week. As an experiment, I did not sprinkle them with Kosher salt. We will see if reducing the salt in this way works for us.

Thanks, Chocomouse. It's too late for this trip, but I'll check it out for baking when we get back. I've been buying my buckwheat flour (and much of my specialty flours and grains) from Bob's Red Mill by the case (four in a case), which reduces the individual package price. I wait to order from them until I'm buying enough for free shipping, and sometimes they run discounts.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--it is a cookie rather than a cracker, as it is soft on the interior. If you use the Fiori di Sicilia, you might want to use only 3 drops or so.

[BakerAunt]

Tuesday's dinner was a stir-fry using leftover pork chops that my husband cooked last night (along with the drippings), buckwheat noodles, red bell pepper, broccoli; mushrooms, celery, green onion, and parsley. I needed to use up all the vegetables in the refrigerator.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I baked my wholegrain pumpkin bread (a recipe low in saturated fat). I baked it as 6 small loaves and froze there. I used the recipe Lemonpoppy posted on the Baking Circle, and that Rottiedogs kindly posted here, but I made the changes noted in my comments on the recipe.

On Monday, I baked Malted Whole Grain Rolls, a KAF recipe:
https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/malted-whole-grain-rolls-recipe

I substituted in 1 cup buttermilk and soaked the malted whole wheat flakes for 30-40 minutes before combining ingredients. I don’t think rolled grains work so well when KAF recipes just throw everything together and mix. I added 1 Tbs. honey to help prevent staling (a tip from Cass in the past). I reduced the salt from 1 ½ tsp. to 1 tsp. I used my bread machine to mix the dough. After the initial 5 minutes of mixing, I waited a couple of minutes (it has a 5-minute rest), then added the 2 Tbs. of oil. That was another tip from Cass, about a year ago. Although I own the “Tear and Share” baker, I’ve no idea where it is, and it makes huge rolls. Instead, I used a 9x9-inch pottery baker that also came from KAF, but it was made by an old, established family pottery Hartstone Pottery in Zanesville, Ohio, that went out of business a couple of years ago, probably due to cheaper ceramic bakers and dishes from China. The rolls baked beautifully. I'll add a note after we taste them.

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

[BakerAunt]

I had to giggle, Skeptic, as I, too, often forget to include the prepping when tackling a recipe. We must remind ourselves that we have no sous chef!

Thanks for posting the result of your substitution of almond flour in the biscotti recipe. You might consider reducing it to 3/4 cups if it seems too crumbly.

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