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The Bob's Red Mill Unbleached Super-Fine Cake Flour produced the lightest of these cakes that I have yet baked. The ones in the past have been a wee bit dry, but needed to bake the 35 minutes to be done in the center. This one had exactly the right moistness. As usual with this recipe, I did have a slight dip in the center, even with the cake straps and building up the sides slightly. Next time, I will use the more finely ground sugar or grind it fine myself. I might also wait 15 rather than 10 minutes before removing the cake from the pan. It was delicate and required careful handling, and it got a bit ragged around the edges where I'd run a knife around.
Everyone loved the cake. It was a good way to culminate my cake baking for staff parties over the past four years.
On Monday, I made up the dough for David Lebovitz's "Salted Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies," which we talked about a few weeks ago. It used up the rest of the tahini I had in the refrigerator and 2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips. The dough has to sit overnight, so I'll bake them tomorrow.
I also made up the dough for Rye Crisps, from a recipe in The Baking Sheet 13.1 (Holiday 2001), pp. 18-19. I made them last year and liked them. This dough, after the first rise, goes into the refrigerator for up to 24 hours, so it too will be baked tomorrow. I've used up almost all the medium rye flour. I'll sneak the remaining 1/2 cup into the dough when I make rolls for our trip.
On Sunday evening, I baked a new recipe, "Spelt Raisin Pecan Bread" (but I used walnuts), that came from the back of a package of spelt flour that KAF sold. The recipe, which is not on their website, took a pound of spelt flour, or a little over 4 cups (so I think that I no longer have any in the freezer). I used golden raisins and 2 tsp. gold yeast and 1/2 tsp regular yeast. I considered cutting back on the yeast, but I've not worked with spelt flour in bread, so I decided not to do so; I recall that Wonky had tried to do an all-spelt bread and it came out heavy. However, with a first rise of 45 minutes and a second one of 20 minutes, perhaps I should use less yeast next time. The oven spring was dramatic, with the loaf almost too large for the 8x4 loaf pan. It needed the full 40 minutes baking time. I'll add a note tomorrow, after I sample it for breakfast, about taste and texture.
Promised Note: I had a couple of slices of the bread this morning for breakfast. It is good. It's substantial enough for slicing thinly. If I make it again, I would definitely try it with only 2 tsp. of yeast, since that might make for a softer texture. It should make good French Toast later in the week.
The weather cooled down on Saturday, so I seized the baking opportunity. I tried a new bread recipe, "Naturally Sweet Wheat Bread," from the KAF Whole Grain Baking book (p. 190). The need to use up various ingredients and substitute for others where I was short meant adapting the recipe. I left out the raisins, as my husband will use this loaf for sandwiches. I omitted the orange juice (we like the whole wheat taste) and substituted additional water. I used 2 Tbs. honey and no brown sugar. I used 1/2 cup half and half that was starting to sour, along with 1/4 cup 1% milk. I used 3/4 cup spelt flour (only one package left to use!) and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour rather than all whole wheat. I only had about 1 1/4 cups bread flour left, so I used First Clear Flour to make up the remainder. I also used the gold yeast, as that is all I have on hand. I should probably cut back on the gold yeast; the first rise was 45 minutes and the second one 30 minutes.
For dinner, I made the KAF Utra-Thin Crust Pizza. Now it is time to pack my large rectangular Emile Henry pizza stone.
Chocomouse and Navlys--Thanks for your comments. I hate to waste food, not to mention valuable ingredients. I also tend to stock up when there are sales, and I probably stocked up too much on some ingredients. I remember when Zen moved a few years back, and was trying to use up her stock or explain to her son why some items needed to be moved.
On Friday, I made Dilled Salmon and Couscous again. We did not plan this week's menu very well, and it was quick to pull out the last two pieces of frozen salmon from the freezer.
I made Four Bean Salad (recipe from my college roommate) on Saturday morning. I think that I posted it on this site. That uses up four cans of beans and finishes up the large bottle of cider vinegar.
