[BakerAunt]

Tuesday morning, I put the bones from the Thanksgiving turkey (they were in the freezer) into a large pot, along with savory spices, some chopped celery, and some parsley, and put it on the wood stove to simmer. Some broth was used in the dinner meal, some is for soup later this week, and some will be frozen.

On Tuesday evening, I tried a new recipe, "One-Pan Pork Loin Roast Dinner," from a recent special collector's edition of Cook's Fall Harvest Recipes, p. 22. The roast cooks in a heavy Dutch oven in the oven, then the meat sits covered while the rest of the vegetables and barley are finished stove top. I was forced to make some substitutions, since the only grocery store in town did not have pearl barley (?!) only quick barley. Less surprisingly, the store did not have Swiss chard--or any fresh slightly bitter greens. I found collard greens in the frozen food section, so that is what I used. I was uncertain about putting the pot on the very lowest oven rack, so I put it on the next lowest. That may have been a mistake, as it added about 40 minutes to the roast's cooking time, but since I did not have the pearl barley, I was worried about the grains sticking. It came out well, albeit perhaps slightly mushy due to using instant rather than pearl barley. I will make it again.

[BakerAunt]

Riverside Len--I have done pan chicken with both regular potatoes and sweet potatoes (not together). They do seem to roast in the same time as long as they are cut to the same size.

[BakerAunt]

I would guess that cooked cranberry sauce could be frozen. I always make one with raw cranberries, which might not work for freezing.

[BakerAunt]

Joan--oh, yes, we've all had that experience of somehow getting our hands on the wrong ingredient....

As I've said before, anyone who has not made a mistake in the kitchen either does not cook or bake or is fibbing.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you for telling us Jan. She is a dear member of our community. I will keep her and your family in my prayers.

[BakerAunt]

I baked Eggnog Cake in a Nordic Ware Christmas Wreath Bundt Pan. I think that I've posted that recipe here, along with details about the various-sized pans in which I've baked it. The original recipe was for some kind of silicone cakelet pan that KAF only sold briefly, but I found that I could adapt it to Nordic Ware pans. I decided this time to use Gold Medal flour rather than KAF and to beat each egg in individually. I also used full-fat egg nog, as that is the only kind available in the store here. It will be for dessert tomorrow and throughout the rest of the week.

[BakerAunt]

Saturday evening, I baked "Butterscotch Apple Sweet Rolls," from Sift (Fall 2015), p. 40.

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/butterscotch-apple-sweet-rolls-recipe

I used Jonathan apples, which I grated with my food processor. I made three changes: I replaced one of four cups of flour with a cup of white whole wheat flour, I added 2 Tbs. flax meal, and I used the gold yeast, since the rolls had 1/2 cup of sugar, not to mention the 3/4 cup brown sugar in the filling. I mixed the dough in my bread machine. I will add the glaze tomorrow morning.

Added Note: We had these for breakfast this morning. They are excellent. I recommend this recipe.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Saturday evening, I made spinach fettuccini with a light cream sauce, mushrooms, leftover rotisserie chicken and frozen broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

When I freeze breads or muffins, I thaw them wrapped on the counter overnight. I think it would be the same for a coffee cake in a glass dish.

I'm not sure about reheating, but it seems to be that those temperatures might be too low. Maybe someone else has some experience?

[BakerAunt]

I wanted to try another bread with the Emile Henry Glazed Long Covered Baker. The KAF Golden Grains Bread seemed a good place to start, as I have Harvest Grains to use:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/golden-grains-bread-recipe

However, I do not have whole-grain improver, and I do not have non-diastatic malt powder, nor do I wish to buy them. I compared the recipe to my version of the Grape Nuts bread recipe in terms of proportions. I decided to modify the KAF Golden Grains Bread by adding honey, using butter instead of oil, adding some malted milk powder and flax meal, substituting half bread flour for half of the AP flour, and reducing the salt by 1/4 tsp. I used a cup of buttermilk and pre-soaked the Harvest Grains Blend for 25 minutes. I made the dough in the bread machine and after 10 minutes, it seemed dry, so I added a tablespoon of water. At first, I worried that I'd added too much, but I ended up with a slightly sticky dough that rose nicely after 1 hour and 45 minutes.

After I had shaped it and let it rise the second time, for baking, I did not use the cold oven technique, but the one from the Honey Spelt Sourdough Bread recipe that I baked a couple of weeks ago:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/honey-spelt-sourdough-bread-recipe

The bread was 200F when I took it out of the oven, and it is a beautiful loaf. I will try to get a picture and post it. I had splurged on the black walnut Lame that KAF sells, and this was my first time using it. Wow! Where has it been my whole life? 🙂 It is made by Zatoba (see zatoba.com), which KAF does not tell you, maybe because they charge $10 more for it. (Sigh.) Zatoba has a link to a YouTube video that shows how to insert the blade and to position it. (The KAF picture is misleading.) I was nervous about getting the razor blade inserted without cutting myself, but it was not hard at all.

I look forward to tasting it tomorrow.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Friday evening, I made a double batch of dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. The dough is best when it has a few days in the refrigerator, so I will bake them next week.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--thank you for the review of the KAF cheese filled bread recipe. I'll make a note on the copy of the recipe that I saved.

[BakerAunt]

Note: I posted this before I read Cass's previous comment.

I agree with S.Wirth in that I have also noticed that KAF overuses vanilla in some of their recipes. Although there is a time and a place for vanilla, it does not belong in almost every recipe. I had thought with the prices going up, there might be some backing off from their vanilla obsession.

Some of my recipes do require KAF specific ingredients. I am sorry that the cappuccino chips were discontinued, as they are key to the biscotti recipe and scone recipe KAF developed. Butterscotch chips --their suggested substitution--do not cut it. They now carry a different almond paste and a different "cinnamon chip," and I hope that those will work in my recipes.

Back to shortbread: I enjoy the taste of the butter and do not want it overshadowed. A good shortbread is an antidote to the abundance of chocolate this time of year.

My shortbread recipe comes from Scotland. I have improved it due to Kid Pizza's comments on shortbread: increasing the salt and using bleached flour (not KAF AP). I'll post it, as well as the maple sugar shortbread recipe I adapted from KAF. I'm not a fan of powdered sugar in shortbread, and I did not like using some rice flour when I tried that, as both seem to me to interfere with the taste and texture. The exception for me with powdered sugar is if I plan to use a large mold. Then I follow the recipe that came with the mold.

While KAF flour is wonderful for breads, I have moved away from using it in most cookies. I either use unbleached Gold Medal or Pillsbury, or if there is a high proportion of butter, I use bleached. Hudson Mill is my favorite bleached flour, but I do not seem to be able to find it here. My husband has been told that when we travel, we will be hitting the grocery stores in route.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic: Wow! I wish that I had such access to apples. I do have some Jonathan's in the refrigerator. I hope to bake some into sweet rolls in the coming week.

[BakerAunt]

I baked a lot on Tuesday. I made Red Velvet baked doughnuts with cream cheese frosting from Stonewall Kitchen mix that was marked down at T.J. Maxx. I had meant to use it as we got into the hectic moving time, but instead, I ended up moving it here. The cake-like doughnuts are very good; the cream cheese frosting is so-so, although it works with the cake.

I also baked Maple Shortbread. It's a KAF recipe that I tried five years ago (my review is still there) that I did not quite hit what I was looking for. I tried a different one the next year, but I could not roll that dough out and ended up with round stamped cookies. I wanted to use a small imprint maple leaf cutter I have (the kind with the spring). I really do love fall, so in this week before he Christmas season begins (I know: it began in the stores before Halloween was over), I wanted to bake this cookie again. I followed the recipe that I had used the first time:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/maple-shortbread-cookies-recipe

I deleted the vanilla and the maple extract, and I used 2 1/4 cups bleached flour instead of 2 1/2 cups of KAF all-purpose. The recipe made 58 cookies (about 2-inches wide) and one blob from leftover dough. I baked them on heavy baking sheets for 15 minutes at 350F. I'm eager to test them tomorrow.

I baked Ellen's (Moomie's) Buns as twelve rolls, making my usual substitutions. We are going hiking tomorrow, and I needed some rolls for our sandwiches.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 1 month ago by BakerAunt. Reason: added omitted word

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