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Sceptic--I get emails from Red Star Yeast with recipes, and lo and behold, in the most recent one is a hot cross bun recipe with mini-chocolate chips. I agree with you that chocolate chips do not belong in a hot cross bun.
I baked my Hot Cross Buns on Friday morning. I always glaze them instead of making crosses, although one of these days, I will make some frosting and pipe crosses atop the glaze. I have the recipe exactly the way I like it now, so I will type up the new version. An added bonus for me is that the dough works in the Zo bread machine for mixing and kneading. I used golden raisins. I thought about adding some candied orange and lemon peel, but I was not sure that my husband would like that innovation.
I had two for breakfast with my coffee. My husband will probably have one with his tea this afternoon. He will share a bit with the dog, while making sure she does not get any of the raisins.
On Thursday I made and shaped the dough for my wholegrain Hot Cross Buns. The recipe originally came from the Los Angeles Times food section many years ago (back when they had real recipes that people would mostly cook and bake), but I made it mostly whole grain and did so many other tweaks that it is now my own recipe. I will let the dough rise in the pan overnight, then I will bake them on the morning of Good Friday.
On Thursday, we had Crispy Oven Baked Fish and Chips with the remainder of the dill tartar sauce and coleslaw.
Some things are Just Not Done.
On Wednesday, I roasted my last two large butternut squashes (I still have a small one) and made Curried Butternut Squash Soup. I mixed the puree with 3 ½ cups chicken/turkey broth and about 1 ¾ cups apple juice that I froze in December after making applesauce. I used a tablespoon of Penzey's Now Curry. I was able to freeze five 2-cup containers for future lunches, and I had some for lunch today, with enough for two more days.
For dinner we had more of the pea soup I made earlier this week.
My Honey Spelt Sourdough did not come out as I would have liked. The house was too cool today but not cool enough for the furnace to come on that often, so my usual spot for letting dough rise was not getting the heat from the vent. I perhaps should have allowed more time for the first rise than the 70 minutes that I did, but the recipe suggests that it is the second rise which should be the longest. For the second rise, I did move it, eventually to the stove top where I had made soup to warm it up. I was using the Emile Henry Long Baker. I decided to put it into the oven, then turn on the baking temperature, so that the bread had a cold start, although the oven was already a bit warm from the squash I had roasted earlier. Where I made my error is not slashing the bread, so while it had a nice rise and baked well, it broke across the top in a not attractive way. It's a rookie error. I should have known better, but my mind was preoccupied with other matters. I think it will still be a good loaf. I may repeat the experiment to see if I can perfect this recipe. It's unusual in that it uses 4 cups of spelt flour and just 1 ¼ cups bread flour. I have baked it before, and I kept my changes, but it has been hit or miss on whether I get a loaf that does not sink. This one did not, so I am on the right track. The original recipe is from King Arthur. It uses an Emile Henry covered loaf pan rather than the long baker.
Before going to bed on Tuesday, I stirred up levain for Honey Spelt Sourdough Bread, which I plan to bake tomorrow.
I keep my various beans in glass jars. We used to buy honey in jars with rubber rings and metal clasps. Those are the majority of my storage containers. I also keep various pastas in some of the glass jars. It helps me to be able to see them, and I like how they look on the shelf my husband built for me.
I do like containers for flours and sugar and grains. However, it is not an aesthetic choice for me but a pragmatic one. Until I open a bag of flour, it gets stored in the refrigerator or freezer.
I shake my head when I see some of those pantry pictures!
We had leftover pizza and coleslaw for dinner.
Navlys--When you are cleaning out the freezer, do you sometimes feel like a contestant on Chopped?
I baked pumpkin oat muffins for breakfast on Monday from a recipe that I have adapted (a lot). I like my version.
I also baked an apple pie, using most of the rest of the Winesaps. I still have five in the garage. They will likely become apple cobbler soon.
I made pea soup for dinner on Monday, using the last packet of ham pieces from the freezer. Of course, our chilly weather has given wat to highs in the low 60s today. We were hoping for some rain.
I made sourdough pan pizza for dinner on Sunday. We had it with coleslaw.
Skeptic--the cake story gets sadder. We did call someone with a key to tell the person he and his family could have it. He never picked it up. When we returned in May, there was a moldy mess sitting in the cake holder. I refused to look at it, although my husband found the mold fascinating. He buried the cake in the back yard. Our garden is now on top of the spot. He also cleaned the cake holder and plate.
Report on the Honey, Anise, and Almond Biscotti: The biscotti are crunchy but not hard. The honey is the foremost flavor with the aniseed in the background. The lemon peel is not obvious. These biscotti go well with tea and would work well with coffee.
My husband ate some with his tea. He said that they are not his favorite, but they may grow on him. (He had claimed not to care for the spices in my Pfeffernusse, which include anise extract, but I realized a couple of Christmases ago, as they started disappearing rather quickly, that he had started to enjoy them. That might be the powdered sugar coating....)
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