Forum Replies Created
-
Lunch meat is a quandary. After all the discussion on nitrates, I switched to nitrate-free lunch meats--fine, if refrigeration is close by--but not a good idea if it is not. I then worried about the salt--and the fact that it usually took at least three slices to make a decent sandwich. I finally gave up on lunch meat but will buy the nitrate-free salami for pizza (but the salt is still an issue there).
The healthy choice is to cook your own meat and slice it--and to watch out for whether it has a sodium solution injected into it.
On Tuesday morning, I baked a new recipe, Hearty Barley Muffins, which is in the KAF January 2018 catalog. I made some changes: I reduced the brown sugar from 1/2 to 1/3 cup, and I deleted the ubiquitous tsp. of vanilla. I do not, have and do not want to purchase the "Jammy Bits." Instead, I used 1/3 cup of cinnamon chips. Instead of a cup of nuts, I used 1/2 cup pecans. I baked these as six "Texas-sized" muffins, rather than twelve standard-sized. (I know that I'm going to eat two standard-sized for breakfast, so why not save on greasing small muffin wells? 🙂 ) I baked for 25 minutes. The muffin I ate was excellent warm. I'll see how they are at room temperature tomorrow.
On Monday night, I baked a new recipe, Lemon-Oat Squares, from KAF's Whole Grain Baking, pp. 365-366. After it cools, it needs to be refrigerated overnight before it can be cut. I will add a note to this post after I've had a chance to taste them.
Addendum: The Lemon Oat Squares are good, but they are certainly tart. Are some lemons more tart than others? They make a kind of bar cookie with a thin lemon filling.
Blanche--it's ok to proof the yeast with a small bit of sugar. The problem only comes in high sugar recipes, as with coffee cakes, sweet rolls, etc.
I guess the next question to ask is how long are you kneading your bread and at what speed?
Also, do you use a rest period when you are mixing? Whole grain flours, once you add liquid take a while to absorb it, so the danger is that you may add too much flour or too little liquid. You might want to give your dough about 15 minutes, after its mixed, to sit covered (I put a towel over the mixer), and then knead it.
A couple of thoughts:
1. I have a used bread machine which I bought at an estate sale for $20. I only use it for the initial mixing and the kneading when I'm doing a recipe of up to 4 1/2 cups flour (5 is pushing it). I don't even allow it to rise in the bread machine, which I think is too small and gets too warm. For my larger recipes, I use a 7-quart Cuisinart mixer. Cuisinart got out of the mixer business a year later. I can do three loaves of bread in it.
2. You mention proofing your bread at 80F. I think that is too warm. I've not used a proofing box, but when it is exceptionally cool, I move the dough to a location that will be around 70F (in my case, close to the wood stove in the front room). Some people use the top of the refrigerator. For an initial rise, I cover the greased bowl with one of those food-safe "shower caps" that KAF sells or with some flat German plastic lids. I've also used saran. For the second rise, I like to put the shaped dough in its pan into a plastic snapped box. That keeps the bread from drying out on top.
3. Be careful not to add too much flour to your dough. That was a problem that I always had when I kneaded by hand. Too much flour will make the bread more dense.
