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I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Crackers on Sunday afternoon, from the dough I made a week ago Saturday. They should have been baked on Wednesday or Thursday, but life intervened. These have a stronger sourdough flavor, so I’m surprised that my husband, who says he does not like sourdough, has commented on their tastiness.
I also baked a Blueberry Galette. I had a Fruit Galette with Buckwheat Crust that came into my mail box from Bon Appetit. The BA staff member used blueberries instead of the given strawberry-rhubarb filling, but did not say how the filling needed to be changed for blueberries. Then when I read that the person, a rookie baker, used waxed paper instead of parchment paper, I lost confidence in approaching that recipe. I have suspected for some time, based on their email recipes, that Bon Appetit, in its quest for the "Millennial” audience, has been focusing on trend foods, and perhaps they thought illustrating the human error of this baker was a good thing. I’ve not seen an issue of the magazine for years, so I do not know if it reflects their emails.
I went back online and found a Blueberry Galette recipe at Everyday Dorrie, which is Dorrie Greenspan’s website. The recipe is from her 2014 Baking Chez Moi:
Of course, I used her recipe! The doughs were almost the same, except hers used all AP flour. I substituted in ¼ cup of buckwheat flour, so consider my galette rustic! Her recipe is also designed for blueberries. I made up the galette dough in the morning. While she uses a food processor, I did mine by hand. She instructs you to roll out the dough after it has come together, instead of leaving it in a disc, and then having to bring it to temperature and roll it out later. I made a 12-inch circle (although she does not give a thickness, 1/8th-inch thick is perfect), then stuck it in the refrigerator for several hours. My husband is not a fan of ginger, so I substituted 1/8th tsp. allspice and a couple of scrapes of freshly grated nutmeg. I used Panko for the bread crumbs. After assembling the galette, I brushed the crust with heavy cream and sprinkled it with sugar.
I just took it out of this old avocado green oven, which is increasingly hard to set to a specific temperature. [If you are wondering about the kitchen remodel, so am I. The contractor keeps putting us off.] The galette did have some juices leak out, which I've read is typical and the reason why the baker should always use a rimmed pan, which I did. I'll add a note tonight after we sample the galette for dessert.
Promised Note: Delicious! The pastry is nice and flaky and the filling is slightly tart, which is fine with us. We had it with a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side.
On Saturday, I again baked Bernard Clayton’s Dark Grains Bread. This time, I used 3 ¾ tsp. yeast and 2 ¼ tsp. salt. I again used 1 ½ cups buttermilk. I tried soaking the wheat germ and buckwheat in the buttermilk while I proofed the yeast with a bit of the honey. I then added the rest of the honey and the buttermilk mixture, mixing with the flat beater of my 7-quart Cuisinart. One cup at a time, I beat in the 3 cups of whole wheat flour. I removed the paddle and allowed the dough to sit for 15 minutes. I then added 2 Tbs. melted butter around the edges of the dough in the bowl, before adding 1 ½ cups of bread flour with the salt—half at a time—using the kneading hook on speed 2, and stopping to use the scraper into all the flour was incorporated. I then kneaded at speed 3 for 5 minutes. It looked risen at 55 minutes, so I de-gassed it and pre-shaped two loaves, then let rest 5 minutes before final shaping and panning. I preheated the oven after 15 minutes, as the rise was going quickly. After 35 minutes, I put the bread into the oven. I checked it at 45 minutes (5 minutes earlier than the recipe states), and it registered 205F. There is a bit of “dimpling” on the top, but less pronounced than last time. It may be that is a feature in a 75% whole grain bread. I'll add a note on taste and texture after we cut into it tomorrow. As soon as I am satisfied with my version of this recipe, I will post it at Nebraska Kitchen.
I made the All-American Potato Salad again, as there are such nice red potatoes for it at the farmers’ market--the kind where you can leave the skins. We had it with the rest of the turkey-zucchini loaf and some steamed broccoli.
Have a safe trip, Chocomouse! We will miss you.
Joan--Did you can your fig jam, or did you make it for the refrigerator or freezer? It sounds delicious.
Because vanilla has been plentiful for most of our lives, it seems to make its way as an ingredient into most dessert recipes. What I would like to figure out is when the vanilla (and how much of it) is essential, and when it is being added as force of habit. In the case of these scones, my husband thinks the lemon oil is too strong, although I find it ok; perhaps the vanilla would have evened it out, or perhaps I could have left both out.
For breakfast, I baked a new recipe, “Blueberry Cream Scones [with Mint Sugar], from Ken Haedrich’s The Harvest Baker (p. 46). I did not use the optional mint sugar (my husband is not a mint fan, nor do I have any fresh mint on hand) or the glaze, as a good scone should be able to stand on its own! I made a couple of changes: I substituted in 25% barley flour for that much AP flour, I deleted the ½ tsp. of vanilla, and I used ¼ tsp. lemon oil rather than 1/2 tsp. lemon extract or 2 tsp. grated lemon zest, which I do not have. I have an old jar of vanilla sugar that still smells like vanilla, so I sprinkled some of it on top before baking, along with a bit of the KAF sparkling sugar. These are some of the lightest, most tender scones that I’ve ever baked, and they are heavenly. I followed Haedrich's advice to freeze the blueberries overnight. I also mixed up all the dry ingredients the night before, covered the bowl and put it in the refrigerator, along with my pastry cutter.
I omitted the vanilla because, with the skyrocketing vanilla prices (and no end to it in sight), I find myself taking a page from the home front of the second world war when posters reminded motorists of gas shortages: “Is this trip necessary?” I try to apply that to recipes these days, “Is the vanilla necessary?” My only concession was that stash of vanilla sugar that I really should use up.
I have had that issue with rye breads baked with first clear flour. I attributed it to warm weather and perhaps the rye flour, so I have avoided baking rye breads in warmer weather--which was a long span of time when we lived in Texas. In Indiana, the humidity is higher in hot weather, so I've continued to avoid rye breads in summer. However, when I started adding some rye to other breads, even in summer, there did not seem to be a mold issue unless the bread was kept too long. My husband actually left a slice of that Bernard Clayton Dark Grains Bread, and I found it after a week, but it had only just started to mold. The rye made up a small proportion of the flour in these various recipes, but perhaps I was too hasty in blaming the rye flour.
At this point I would still suspect the warmer weather as the deciding factor, but it will be an interesting experiment with the first clear flour when the weather gets cooler.
I baked a second batch of large zucchini muffins on Monday. I again used Ruth Bass’ recipe as my base and added 1/2 cup cinnamon chips. I tried adding ¼ tsp. baking soda, but it barely affected the rise, so I will leave it out in the future. I also reduced the canola oil to ¼ cup. I will add a note to this post tomorrow about taste and texture.
Promised Note: Reducing the oil further did help the texture, as I thought the first batch was too wet. Next time, I might try reducing the sugar from 1/2 to 1/3 cup, since I do add cinnamon chips.
