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On Monday, I used the KAF Barista Bites recipe, but I added 3/4 cups of hazelnut meal. I will not be dipping these in chocolate, as they would not travel well in the heat. I also made the KAF Irish Cream Scone recipe, but this time, I substituted a cup of pastry flour for the regular flour. I also added a little over 1/2 cup of hazelnut meal (I used it up!). I used 1/2 cup of half and half rather than the Bailey's Irish Cream, and I used hazelnut flavoring rather than the Irish Cream flavoring. I also made corn bread muffins to go with the leftover pot roast for dinner.
Addendum: I did the scones in triangles, but they spread a bit. I probably should have dropped them. However, they are tasty.
I realized today that I did not post what I cooked on Saturday. I made another "throw-together" soup, using canned Spam (bacon one), onions, garlic, carrots, celery, some red bell pepper, about 3 cups white beans that I found in the freezer, and the rest of the black rice and the brown rice. These were combined with 8 cups of chicken/turkey stock and seasoned with sage and thyme. However, I did not get to sample it until the following Monday because I had to go check our building after flooding from the heavy rain Friday evening, and I went out to lunch with friends after church. This is the second time I've tried Spam in a soup. I'm just not impressed.
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.
