[BakerAunt]

I'm beginning to think that the original recipe used powdered mustard and that my mother may have substituted in the sweet curry. I found an internet recipe that I can use as a base for recreating her recipe, which may also have included canned mushrooms.

[BakerAunt]

Last night I hardboiled four eggs. My husband dyed three of them (fourth one has a crack). An egg salad sandwich is on my menu for lunch.

My husband will roast a turkey breast. I usually do a maple-glazed pork loin, but the local store only had very small ones for a rather high price. I will make mashed potatoes and gravy to go with the turkey. We will have to cook up some frozen peas, as the fresh green beans in the grocery looked as if they should have been cooked a couple of days ago.

[BakerAunt]

Happy Easter! Also, Happy Passover to those celebrating the seven days of this holiday!

I usually bake THE Lamb Cake, but I cannot locate the container with the mold.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I baked rolled and cut out sugar cookies this afternoon. I used my copper Easter cookie cutters (rabbits, chicks, lambs, butterfly) and decorated with those colored sprinkles, with some chocolate pieces used for whiskers. I use the No Fail Sugar Cookie recipe from the Fancy Flours site, making a half recipe. I increase the salt in the half recipe from 1/2 tsp to 3/4 tsp. It just tastes better.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner tonight is baked potatoes, boneless chicken breast rubbed with mayonnaise and coated with panko, garlic powder, onion powder, Parmesan, chives, and pepper. Steamed broccoli completes the meal.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--Clearly he's addicted to all those additives and preservatives, not to mention the caramel color, in the store-bought stuff. 🙂

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--Thanks for the spice suggestions. I certainly have celery seed, and I have marjarom too.

My husband cooked pork chops for dinner tonight. I made a noodle dish to go with it. I deglazed the pan in which he cooked the pork with a bit of white wine and water. Then I cooked sliced mushrooms in it until I'd reduced the sauce. I added a bit of heavy cream. I mixed in some cooked noodles and a bit of the pasta water. We had steamed broccoli as well.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--my husband made it clear years ago that he does not want cardamom in hot cross buns. To be fair, I had some particularly fresh cardamom one year, and even I thought it way too much and it overwhelmed the cinnamon. I use nutmeg in its place, and in this recipe I don't miss it. However, when it comes to my Swedish coffee ring, they will have to pry the cardamom out of my hand. In that case, I think it blends nicely with the almond paste.

Wonky--That's exciting that you may be teaching a group of future bakers! I believe that this world would be a much better place if more people baked bread. It teaches patience and process, and the nutritional advantages are stupendous. You might want to start people who have never baked bread with a simple hand-kneaded recipe. I recall Aaron saying that when he teaches challah baking, he wants to stress to the students that they can bake bread even without the expense of a mixer, and it is good to get a sense of how the dough feels. Also, as we've noted, not everyone has a KA that can handle a bread dough. Or perhaps you could offer a "by hand" class and a "mixer" class.

I'm still hoping to do a hand kneading lesson for my younger stepson when he gets a chance to visit us. I plan to follow Mike's recommendation and teach him to bake either the Austrian Malt Bread or Paddy's recipe for Clonmel Kitchen Double Crusty Bread.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I am also in the process of baking wholegrain hot cross buns. This recipe started out as one from the L.A. Times, then I started substituting in some whole grains and making other changes, so it is now definitely my own. Indeed, I still find myself changing it. I've not yet decided if I will make 16 or 18 buns. I usually smear frosting over the top instead of piping a cross. I may use some decorating sugar to make the cross on top of the frosting.

[BakerAunt]

This evening I baked another experimental mixed grains bread in my Emile Henry long baker. The recipe started out as a KAF one with the Harvest Grains Blend and some semolina flour. This time, I used a mixture of bread flour, Harvest Grains (first soaked in buttermilk), and equal parts of whole wheat and dark rye flour, with 2 Tbs. of potato flour and 2 Tbs. of flax meal. Although the dough was wetter than what I usually do, it still baked up nicely, and the aroma brought my husband down from upstairs to see what was in the oven. I'll add a note tomorrow on taste and texture.

[BakerAunt]

We had salmon and couscous again, but I wanted a variation from the dill. I was going to use tarragon, but that was a no-go after my husband sniffed it and made a face. Instead, I used Penzey's salt-free Mural Seasoning, which I also use when I make salmon patties. (The Mural Seasoning passed the sniff test with my husband.) It's nice to shake up the usual recipe.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--I'm glad that you enjoyed the granola bars! And thank you for posting about your variation. I had not thought to try them with jam, but now I will put that on my "to bake" list.

I've also made the Soft Wraps, and we like them a lot. I substitute in some white whole wheat flour, some buckwheat flour, and add a Tbs. of ground flax meal. To roll them out, I use a little wooden rolling pin that came with a ravioli tray. It's not very long and is thin, so it is easier to roll out the small flat breads.

[BakerAunt]

Wonky--I'm sure your homemade breads are most welcomed by these women and their families.

[BakerAunt]

I baked a new recipe this morning: Havremel Flatbrod (imagine a diagonal line to the right through the o) or Oatmeal Flatbread, from the recipe in Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Small Breads (Simon and Schuster: 1998), pp. 107-108. He attributes this Norwegian recipe to Norma Wangsness of Decorah, Iowa.

I made the included variation that substitutes in 1 cup of whole wheat flour. I found that I needed an additional 2 Tbs. regular flour in order for the dough to come together. I also gave it a rest of 10 minutes before kneading it. I rolled out the dough as think as I could--the thinnest I've ever managed, but the 8 minute baking time was not enough, so clearly my very thin ones are not as thin as what Bernard and Norma manage. I found that 14-15 minutes is needed so that they will crisp. I did bake them on parchment paper on heavy baking sheets. I rolled each of the six pieces of dough into a rectangle of about 27x33 cm. (metric is SO much easier for cracker measurements!). These are a very slightly sweet, crispy oat-wheat cracker.

I wish that recipes would state if the product is supposed to be crisp. Just saying "golden" does not help, particularly when wheat flour is incorporated.

An unusual direction in this recipe is that the teaspoon of baking soda is dissolved in the 1 1/2 cups of buttermilk, which makes if foamier.

It made a large batch. I may make them again, depending on what we think when we eat our way through them.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Tonight I made stuffed acorn squash. I first halved it and cooked it at 375F for 45 minutes. In the meantime, I sautéed some chopped onion and celery and sliced mushrooms in the defatted drippings from the chicken and sweet potatoes I made earlier this week. I stirred in leftover rice blend and leftover cooked ground turkey. I added about 1/2 tsp. ground sage and some black pepper. I mixed in about 3/4 cup mozzarella, then mounded it in the now turned over acorn squash and returned it to the oven for another 15 minutes.

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