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Thanks, Len, for the detailed recipe review. I think that one of the comments on the recipe also mentioned it puffing up in the oven.
The first pizza crust I ever made, and that I made for years, was from Fleischmann's Yeast. It called for an initial parbake of each of the two crusts after the dough rose. I used this recipe a lot, back in my single days, because I could parbake each pizza crust, then wrap and freeze one for use later. In those days I did not have a pizza stone, nor had I used parchment, so I did the first bake in a greased pizza pan to keep it from sticking. As I recall, sometimes I had that puffing up in the oven as well and had to deflate it as it parbaked. A big difference is that the parbake was at a lower temperature--maybe 350F--then the topped pizza baked at a higher one. I eventually incorporated some whole grain into the recipe. I've been thinking of trying it again, especially since my husband seems to care less and less for pizza. (Sigh.) I often used it for a vegetarian pizza topped with a mixture of red, yellow, orange bell pepper, and chopped red onion mixed with oil and spices. Feta cheese was sprinkled on top.
When I went to the Farmers Market on Saturday morning, one of the Amish stands had small baskets (pint) of strawberries for $3.50. These are the small strawberries, which taste so much better than the large ones sold commercially. We will likely eat them plain—they are that delicious--but with what?
I decided that a Sour-Cream Pound Cake is in order, but I did not want to bake the KAF recipe which always seems a bit dry to me. One of the cookbooks, which I made sure last summer I could quickly unpack once we got here, is Susan G. Purdy’s The Perfect Cake, which is my go-to baking book for any cake. I was not disappointed: there on pages 118-119 is “Sour-Cream Pound Cake,” which can be baked in an 8 1/2x 4 1/2 -inch loaf pan (or 9x5) or in a 6 ½ cup tube pan. I pulled out the Vintage Star Bundt pan I bought from KAF with the help of some Bakers Bucks and mixed up a batch of THE Grease to coat the pan.
I’ve probably not tried this recipe before because it requires separating the three eggs. I was tempted to forgo that step, but I decided to follow the recipe exactly, as Susan Purdy has never steered me wrong. I had a bit of trouble when I beat the egg whites. I had decided to use the whisk attachment for my hand mixer, but when the egg and sugar mixture looked like it was not firming up, I washed the regular beaters and used them instead. It took a while, but I got to what I think was “stiff but not dry” whites. The cake bakes at 325F, which is a hard temperature to set with my c. 1970s oven, which likes to be about 25-50F degrees hotter than the set temperature. KAF also had a note that their staff has found this Vintage Star Bundt pan tends to bake faster than usual, so I checked the cake ten minutes early, and it was done.
We had it for dessert tonight, with strawberries on the side. The cake has a light, melt in the mouth texture and a slightly crunchy bottom (which was the top in the Bundt pan). It was worth separating the eggs, and I will definitely bake this cake again. It can also be doubled and baked in a 12-cup Bundt pan.
We had two cooked boneless pork chops in the refrigerator left over from the four my husband cooked earlier this week. I made a stir fry with red bell pepper, snow peas from the farmers market, the diced pork, a brown rice blend, and sliced green onion. There's enough for tomorrow night as well.
My Thermador oven, that I left in Texas, has a convection feature, but I only tried it a couple of times. It did not work well for doing two pizzas at once (back in the days when I used pizza pans). Although it was supposed to allow even temperatures when baking on multiple racks, I did not find that to work very well.
A lot of ranges these days come with the convection. When I get my new one, I may, based on Riverside Len's comments, try the convection setting for roasting meat.
For my new range, I'm still looking at the dual-fuel Thermador four burner, no grill. It is, however, pricy. The place in South Bend that sells Thermadors will also service the ones that they sell--an important consideration.
Wonky: the Hickory cabinets will be lovely. We considered hickory, but in terms of blending with the rest of our very open-concept floor plan, and with the ash flooring we will install, we decided on maple. Ours will be natural wood with a clear sealer. I've decided on quartz for the counter, since it holds up to heat and should never need to be replaced. I've never wanted marble in the kitchen, and our contractor mentioned that it cannot take heat. I was going to go with granite, but it is never clear what the pattern of a large piece would be (which is why they ask you to look at it before they cut it), and I noted that the granite countertops at the place we stayed in Florida had pitted in various places.
I'm curious about what sink you are going to choose. We're looking at composite ones. I know that I want a large one with no divider, but I would like it not to be as long as the ones that seem to be the standard. I'm not doing an apron front, since the detail would be lost in such a narrow kitchen.
I awoke early on Wednesday morning, and there was nothing for breakfast, so I baked a new recipe, "Hazelnut and Dried-Pear Scones," that appeared in Bon Appetit (August (2001), p. 120. The feature story was on Eugene, Oregon, and the recipe came from The Campbell House, which serves them in its dining room. Note: As my husband and I were preparing to move a year ago, I was frantically going through my collection of Bon Appetit issues, which dates back to the 1990s through about 2005, and pulling out recipes that I thought I might try some day. This recipe was one of them.
Both Wonky and I are charter members of the Make It Better Recipe Guild, so of course I altered this recipe a bit. I substituted in 1 cup of barley flour for one of the 3 cups of flour, used buttermilk instead of regular milk, cut the salt from 3/4 to 1/2 tsp. and deleted a tsp. of vanilla extract (I want to taste the butter!) and a tsp. of grated orange peel. They have a light texture, although an individual scone feels heavy for its size. I like that combination of hazelnuts and dried pears.
I never did get through all those issues of Bon Appetit. My husband relented and agreed I could bring those still unmined issues with me.
