[BakerAunt]

I also got into canning jams and blueberry pie filling a few years back. No canning happened this summer, as we arrived too late for most of the fruits, and my canning supplies were buried. I've since found them, and I am looking forward to jams this summer--as long as the weather does not yo-yo and a freeze kill the developing fruit.

In the meantime, we are still finishing the last jars of jam from 2016.

Wonky, you are so fortunate to have kitchen time with your sister! My sisters live too far away for that. Your story also makes me think that perhaps I should consider trying to can some fruit this year.

Once canning season starts for 2018 (maybe it already has for Wonky!), let's start a dedicated canning thread.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I've always used non-iodized salt, in part because my mother, due to a thyroid issue, needed to avoid iodized salt. I use what is sold as "sea-salt."

My understanding has been that if one eats fish a couple of times a week, extra iodine is not necessary.

[BakerAunt]

Beans--specifically brown lentils from Bob's Red Mill--are on our menu for this evening. Here's a link to the recipe:

Jane Brody’s Favorite Lentil Soup

Jane Brody's cookbooks are favorites of mine, although right now they are still somewhere among the boxes. I followed this recipe except that I added a stalk of chopped celery, I used sliced carrots, since I only have baby carrots and did not want to bother grating them, and I added 1/2 cup of pearl barley. I also only used one, not two onions. (I've only recently been able to get my husband to eat onions in soup; it works as long as I saute them first.) I do not have parsley, so I could not add it. I used homemade turkey stock from the freezer.

As always, I started the soup on my regular stove, then moved it to the wood stove. I'll add a note after dinner about how we like it.

Note: It's delicious. I will definitely make it again.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

For Saturday night's dessert, I baked "Cinnamon-Apple Bars with Peanut Butter Glaze," from KAF's Whole Grain Baking (345-346). I reduced the brown sugar from 1 1/3 cups to 1 1/8 cups, and I reduced the salt from 1 1/2 tsp. to 1/2 tsp. The top glaze is made of peanut butter and honey and is really more a frosting than a glaze. I used Jiff Peanut Butter. For eating, we always use the old-fashioned peanut butter--the kind you stir the oil back into--but most recipes do not work well with the healthy peanut butter.

My husband and I had the same reaction: the peanut butter-honey frosting needs to be deleted. The issue with this recipe is that the peanut butter is so strong it overwhelms the applesauce-spice bars it covers. I will probably make this recipe again, and maybe even reduce the sugar to 1 cup, but instead of the peanut butter-honey frosting, I would use a light vanilla glaze that would let the applesauce and spices come to the fore.

That peanut butter frosting might go well on assertive dark chocolate brownies.

[BakerAunt]

Wonky--I'm following in your floury footsteps!

[BakerAunt]

I baked raisin bran muffins for breakfast this morning, using some of my cultured buttermilk. I cut the salt to 1/4 tsp., and I did not notice a difference.

[BakerAunt]

I think that I paid $1.69 a dozen today.

[BakerAunt]

The local grocery store had whole chicken legs on sale--three per pack--for 39 cents a pound. We bought two packages, and I'm making the Maple Glazed Chicken with sweet potatoes and rosemary for dinner tonight, and for two additional dinners as well.

For some reason, whole chicken legs tend to sell at good prices here, although usually it's 59 cents per pound. I've not seen such prices on other cuts of chicken nor on eggs.

[BakerAunt]

Thursday night, I baked bread. I started with this KAF recipe that has been on their website for a while and was recently featured in their catalog, along with the Emile Henry long baker:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/bakers-grain-sourdough-bread-recipe

I don't have Ancient Grains flour, as I tried it years ago and disliked it. (I used it up by adding just a little at a time to various bread recipes.) I also prefer butter to oil in my breads. I couldn't figure out why the recipe uses 1/2 cup of potato flour. I also did not like that the Harvest Grains do not get soaked.

Here is what I did:

I soaked the Harvest Grains in 1/2 cup buttermilk that I heated to boiling. I let the grains soak for several hours.

I proofed ADY in 1/2 cup of warm water, along with a Tbs. of the honey, then added the remaining honey with the rest of the ingredients--except for the salt, the butter, and the high gluten flour. I added those after a 15 minute rest, when the other ingredients had been mixed.

I used 1 cup unfed sourdough starter.

For the "Ancient Grains," I used 1/2 cup dark rye, 1/4 cup barley flour. I later added 1/4 cup whole wheat flour because my sourdough starter is soupier than the KAF one, and I have found that I need to add 1/4 cup more flour for each cup of starter.

I only used 1/4 cup of potato flour (replaced it with the barley flour).

I used 2 Tbs. butter in place of the oil

I reduced the salt to 1 3/4 tsp. from 2 tsp.

I needed all the 2 1/4 cups high-gluten flour. I had to knead it on 3 for about 8 minutes.

I baked it in the Emile Henry long baker, but I used my usual times of 10 minutes at 425, 25 minutes at 375, and 5 minutes with the lid off at 375. I had to add another 5 minutes at the end, but I was having temperature issues with my oven. (Sometimes it is 25F hotter and sometimes 50F hotter; I don't know until I look at the thermometer.)

It does smell wonderful, so I'm looking forward to slicing it at lunch tomorrow.

Update: It's delicious, with a soft interior, a nice crumb, and a chewy crust.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Ooooh! Thanks, Cwcdesign! While I won't be buying an electric crepe maker, I do have some crepe pans--not 13-inches wide, but they should work. I'll let you know when I get around to trying them!

[BakerAunt]

Hmm--I have known of people who gave their bread two bulk rises before shaping. I've not heard about doing that amount of kneading a second time. I assume that the second kneading is by hand, not machine?

Where are you finding these recipes, Wonky?

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday afternoon, I baked the 100% Whole Wheat Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts with Maple Glaze (KAF website). I baked them in a the small Bundt swirl pans--it made ten. I changed the recipe by reducing the sugar from 1 1/4 to just 1 cup. I also cut the salt in half, from 1 tsp. to 1/2 tsp. I used just 2 Tbs. boiled cider and reduced the vanilla from 1 1/2 tsp. to 1/2 tsp. I added 1 Tbs. flax meal.

I used unsweetened applesauce that I bought at Aldi's. It's nice and thick.

They taste very nice. I made the maple glaze. For some reason, it was very thick, even after I upped the heavy cream from 1 Tbs. to 3 Tbs. I did reduce the maple flavoring from 3/4 to 1/2 tsp. I think it is more of a spreading frosting than a glaze. It covered up the nice swirl design on the "doughnuts." However, the flavor goes nicely with the doughnut.

We enjoyed them as dessert tonight, and we each shamelessly ate two. It's a good thing that the weather allowed us to take a walk in the early afternoon.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. I shall take the plunge.

Also, New York Bakers has a wonderful blog. I lost track of time reading some of the posts.

I have some rye chops that I bought to bake the canapé breads from KAF (something that I have yet to do). I will need to find an additional recipes to use those up. I think that they are equivalent to cracked rye?

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

He uses coarse rye meal and boiling water to make a "scald." It stands at room temperature for 16-18 hours, then the salt and the rest of the coarse rye meal are added.

Now if we can just find a place that has coarse rye meal in stock.... I need it to make a rye crispbread.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--Stanley Ginsberg's The Rye Baker has a recipe for Westphalian Pumpernickel (336-337) Total start to finish time is 36-40 hours. It uses coarse rye meal and salt. It bakes at 300 for 40 minutes, then at 220F for 24 hours.

Maybe you could borrow the book from the library? He says that recipes for it abound, but by German law, it must consist of rye, water, and salt--nothing else.

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