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I needed to make room for blueberries in the freezer, so I thawed a 15 oz. container of my pumpkin puree. On Saturday, I baked five small loaves of my adaptation of the Whole Grain Pumpkin Bread recipe that Lemon Poppy posted at Nebraska Kitchen. I always think of S. Wirth when I bake it, as she recommended the recipe to me when I had to stop baking my long-time favorite one that used butter.
We had more leftover roasted chicken breast and farro stir-fry. Yesterday, my husband and I picked 20 lbs. of blueberries at our favorite local place. At $3.50 a pound, that is not exactly inexpensive, but this farm has the best blueberries I have ever tasted, and the price was the same as last year. We will probably pick more before the season ends. I washed them yesterday and spread them on paper towels on pans to dry overnight. This morning, I packed them into quart bags (4 cups per bag) and froze eleven bags for use throughout the year. I have some in the refrigerator that I have not frozen, with which I will start baking.
We had leftover farro stir-fry and roasted chicken breast.
Joan--my husband and I are going to try your microwave technique with corn once sweet corn becomes available here. We have an ancient microwave, so that may affect our experiment. I will let you know.
King Arthur still sells a longer, narrower ceramic loaf pan. I never bought it, but I have a variety of longer, narrower loaf pans that work well.
It sounds like a great first effort, Skeptic. Depending on the mixer, you might be able to substitute a spiral attachment for the hook, if you wish. That would be a question for Kitchen Aid.
If you were having trouble mixing a small amount, it may be that the mixer head needs adjusting? I seem to recall Kitchen Aid videos on that subject. Or, it could be that your mixer is like my 7-qt Cuisinart which handles large amounts of dough beautifully but gets into trouble with small amounts of dough (makes a well in the center, and rest of ingredients are on the side not being touched). That was one reason I was eager to get the used bread machine, which I use for most sweet rolls, buns, and single loaves. It was a problem both with a small amount of stickier dough, which the bread machine handles well, or a small amount of heavy dough, as in my crispbread recipe, where I just do the ten minutes of kneading by hand, as I think that dough too heavy for a bread machine.
I have two special long spatulas that I use with the deep bowl of my stand mixer. One is straight, and the other has a slight curve.
Mike--Did Diane use the technique of putting them in boiling water, then ice water, before peeling? I did MANY peaches for the several years my family had a peach tree. I looked at a You Tube video today, and that person suggests making a small X on the bottom of each one before putting into boiling water for 45 seconds to a minute, then moving to ice water.
Now, the stone is another matter!
Joan--Up here in northern Indiana, we are still waiting for the corn to be ready!
I had not planned to cook on Tuesday night, but we found a marked down package of three bone-in chicken breasts for 99 cents a pound at the grocery this morning and could not pass it up. I looked up a recipe on Serious Eats for how to roast a chicken breast and used it. My modification was to use avocado oil in place of butter. For the spice, I used Penzey's Justice blend and seasoned liberally under the skin. I second guessed the temperature of 450 and should not have done so, as I had to increase the cooking time. One breast was larger than the rest, so we took out the two that were done, and my husband sliced them, and let the third one go another ten minutes. I had forgotten how wonderful bone-in chicken breasts can be. I had my husband save the bones, and I will use them to make broth.
To go with the chicken, I made another one of my farro stir-fries with carrots, celery, red bell pepper, sliced mushrooms, and kale from our garden. I seasoned it with thyme, sage, and dried chives. I cooked the farro in turkey/chicken broth from the freezer and put in the rest of that bag of frozen peas that were clearly old and cannot be eaten on their own. However, mixed into the stir-fry, they are not that noticeable. We should get another two nights or maybe three from the leftovers, so I should not have to cook until the weekend.
Len, your peppers look wonderful. Like Mike, I have a spouse who has a problem with green peppers, but fortunately, orange, yellow, and red are fine. Now if the pepper plants in our garden would set fruit, we can eat some from our garden, which are always better than what I can get in the store.
I have found with my 7-qt. Cuisinart stand mixer that most dough needs 6-8 minutes. Of course, I'm usually making breads that are heavily whole grain with a recipe that makes 2-3 loaves. I also find my Cuisinart mixer kneads better on speed 3 rather than the recommended 2 (note that it has 12 speeds on the dial). I usually check my dough after 6 minutes. None of that counts the initial mixing of the wet ingredients with most of the flour and a resting time of 15 minutes before adding the remaining flour.
The big difference I noticed when I moved from hand kneading to using the stand mixer was that I used less flour.
I only got into trouble with my mixer once, as I wrote a while back when I smelled burning, and that was because I was using the mixing rather than the kneading attachment, because I wanted to mix in the oil (I add last) before moving to the kneading hook. That was not a good idea since it was a heavy dough for three loaves. Lesson learned.
Keep us posted, Skeptic, as you acclimate to the raised bowl stand mixer. Have you decided what your first bake will be?
These days I mostly do quick breads in small loaf pans and freeze a loaf or two. In the summer, with heat and humidity, I find that the quick breads that use fresh fruits and vegetables do not last well past a few days. It is also nice to have the variety.
Small loaves at the farmers' market encourage people to try them since if they do not like it, there is not much left over.
If you have a longer, narrower loaf pan, Mike, that will help with the underdone center. I have some recipes that I just do not bake in my standard loaf pans, as the centers do not seem to bake completely, even though the outer edges are done.
I baked Cinnamon Biscotti on Sunday--a recipe that I have not baked in a while. I cut the amount of cinnamon chips in half, but the saturated fat is still high. I told my husband to limit himself to two per day.
As I had 2 cups of zucchini left from the turkey loaf that was cooking for dinner, I mixed my adaptation of The Shipyard Galley's Zucchini Muffins and put them into the already heated oven before we sat down for dinner. I make mine two-thirds whole wheat, add some powdered milk, replace some oil with buttermilk, add some flax meal, and add cinnamon chips. I made the full recipe, or 24 small muffins. I will freeze some for quick breakfasts.
I had a busy day in the kitchen. For dinner, I made potato salad and my Turkey-Zucchini Loaf with Peach-Dijon Glaze. We have leftovers for the next two days of dinners.
I also made yogurt.
I am really missing my favorite farmers' market vendor, as her produce was excellent and reasonably priced. I bought lovely broccoli from the Amish lady, but she charged $6 for a 1 lb. stalk. I bought 4 oz. of salad mixed greens from the organic farmer (only one who had greens when I got there), but the cost was $6--an increase of a dollar since they moved to compostable plastic holders. I did get a good buy on two green and one yellow zucchini for $1 each. I want to help the farmers' out, but I'm beginning to wonder if we should go to the larger town where we shop next Saturday to check out their farmers' market.
My grandmother liked to slice bananas and add a little milk and sugar to them. As kids, we enjoyed that treat.
On Saturday, I made broth, using the bones from a turkey and from a chicken that I had in the freezer.
I also made four jars of black raspberry jam. I will freeze any remaining black raspberries and use them in combination with blackberries when the blackberries ripen.
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