BakerAunt

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  • in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017 #7404
    BakerAunt
    Participant

      On Saturday, I baked Oat-Flax Buns (recipe at KAF site) to use for Sloppy Josephines. I substituted in 3/4 cups of buttermilk for 3/4 of the water and omitted the special dried milk. I also reduced the honey to 2 Tbs., the yeast to 2 tsp., and the salt to 1 14 tsp. salt.

      in reply to: What are you cooking the week of April 23, 2017 #7403
      BakerAunt
      Participant

        My older stepson arrived this evening to visit for the week. For Saturday dinner, I needed something flexible, since we were not sure of the time, so I made Sloppy Josephines.

        in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017 #7383
        BakerAunt
        Participant

          On Thursday, I fed my sourdough starter and made the dough for a double batch of Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them over the weekend. The dough handles more easily if it has a couple of days in the refrigerator, and it gives the crackers a bit of a zing.

          • This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
          in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017 #7377
          BakerAunt
          Participant

            Yesterday, I baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread.

            in reply to: What are you cooking the week of April 23, 2017 #7375
            BakerAunt
            Participant

              For Wednesday dinner, I combined leftover roast chicken with sautéed vegetables, drippings from the chicken, and buckwheat noodles. I added a few shakes of fish sauce.

              • This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
              in reply to: Nut Genoise #7372
              BakerAunt
              Participant

                Susan Purdy's recipe was not the issue. It's a great recipe. The cake came out pretty well, in spite of my inexperience and actually seemed better after sitting an additional day in the refrigerator. On my notes to myself, I'm writing down that with my Cuisinart mixer, I should use speed 8, and that I should work toward a wide ribbon.

                in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017 #7371
                BakerAunt
                Participant

                  Let's all meet for coffee/tea time at Joan's!

                  in reply to: Nut Genoise #7365
                  BakerAunt
                  Participant

                    Thanks for the encouragement and suggestions, Cass and Mike.

                    Actually, I wasn't beating egg whites. The recipe calls for heating a mixture of six eggs and a cup of sugar in the mixing bowl on top of a pan (double boiler), stirring constantly with a whisk, until it reaches (110-120F). Then the bowl goes onto the mixer, and the egg-sugar mixer is beaten at medium high speed until it reaches the "ribbon stage." While the directions said 3-4 minutes, it was not at that stage at that point, so I increased the speed and beat longer, but I suspect that I was not clear on what ribbon stage should look like. After looking at some pictures later on, I think beating a little longer was likely necessary. I don't know if that mixture could be over beaten or not.

                    I folded in the flour, then the nuts, a little at a time with a spatula. I wonder if I should have used my cake whisk. It has a flat oval top, with a square criss-cross pattern, and I've used it for adding in whipped egg whites for waffles.

                    I will try this again, because, hey, I like the challenge, but probably not before we move in June. I'm focusing now on using up a lot of ingredients that would be difficult to move, especially in hotter weather.

                    • This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
                    • This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
                    • This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
                    in reply to: Nut Genoise #7356
                    BakerAunt
                    Participant

                      The cake seemed a bit dry to me, in spite of the soaking syrup. The book cautioned not to use more than 3 Tbs. per layer, but with the nuts, maybe a little more would have been better. I used 1 tsp of rum extract in the soaking syrup. That did not have very much taste. I probably should have used regular rum, but I worried about overwhelming the cake.

                      People liked it, but that may have been the frosting talking. 🙂 I will probably try it again some time, but next time, I will beat the egg-sugar mixer at a higher speed. "Medium high" did not tell me a lot, and my Cuisinart has 12 speeds. I think that I should have beaten it on 8 the entire time. (I started it on six.) I think that I lost some loft when I folded the melted butter into 1 1/2 cups of the batter that I'd moved to a different bowl, per directions, then added it back to the large bowl.

                      I also wish that I had looked at more internet pictures before I started. It really does help to see what batter is supposed to look like at certain stages.

                      in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017 #7355
                      BakerAunt
                      Participant

                        I actually have not tried the round slicing guide. It's one of those implements that was a good price, so I picked it up--and when I needed it, it was 1200 miles away....

                        Susan Purdy did say one could use dental floss to split the layers, but I was not up to trying that last night.

                        The cake was ok but seemed a bit dry to me, even with the soaking syrup. I only put 1 tsp. of rum extract in it, and it did not have much flavor. I should have used regular rum.

                        in reply to: Nut Genoise #7353
                        BakerAunt
                        Participant

                          The interior looked like a sponge cake, so I assembled it. I'll report tomorrow after the office party.

                          in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017 #7352
                          BakerAunt
                          Participant

                            Ah, I didn't even think about raising the level. Sometimes I miss the obvious. I did pretty well with a serrated knife and the cake turntable. One layer ended up a bit thin in the center but the others came out pretty well. The cake looked ok to me once I cut it apart, so I assembled it, and it is now parked in the refrigerator.

                            I actually own one of those German "cake slicer" guides, but it went up to Indiana at spring break because I did not anticipate using it before we move at the end of June.

                            in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 23, 2017 #7347
                            BakerAunt
                            Participant

                              Thanks, Mike. You and Cass have given me hope. I have a German-made cake leveler, but its lowest setting is 1/2 inch. Susan Purdy has directions in her book, so I'll try her technique.

                              in reply to: Nut Genoise #7345
                              BakerAunt
                              Participant

                                Cass, I'm going to go ahead and split them and see if they are ok. Mike commented in the baking thread that this may be the height that they are supposed to have. I also looked at some pictures on the internet, which give me hope. I will go ahead and slice the layers, and if they look good, I'll assemble the cake.

                                • This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by BakerAunt.
                                in reply to: Nut Genoise #7341
                                BakerAunt
                                Participant

                                  As noted in this week's baking thread (April 23), I'm not sure I had a success. The two 8-inch cake layers are each 5/8 inch thick. I'm not sure what height they were supposed to be, but I suspect that the batter deflated.

                                  I'm wondering if I need to default to a different cake.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 7,201 through 7,215 (of 7,756 total)