Those look good, Mike, and an interesting outcome. I don't even remember why we use baking soda in the water bath, but I do. And I ran out of barley malt syrup, so I've been using honey. I might try brown sugar next batch.
Our dinner tonight was hamburger steaks, with cole slaw, green salad, steamed zucchini and summer squash, and a teensy 2 inch diameter tomato. All of this, except the beef, are from our garden. I'm so happy it is finally producing. I watered everything today, as the the next 2 days will be in the 90s again. We've never had heat like this before in Vermont!
I do not refrigerate AP flour, but store it in my pantry which is a bit cooler than the rest of the house. I buy whole wheat in 20 pound bags, usually buying 2 at a time, and keep the spare bag in the freezer. I think the whole grains go rancid a lot faster than the more processed all purpose.
Thank you so much for the cobbler post, BakerAunt!! I've been searching for the perfect cobbler recipe; I'd love to have a basic recipe to use for all my cobblers (we already made rhubarb, now picking blueberries, and next raspberries and then black berries are ripening). I will look up that recipe tomorrow. The cobbler I made a few days ago is almost gone,and my husband will be delighted to have waiting for him to cut into. I'm pretty sure I'll use 6 cups of berries, maybe even 8, double the cobbles, and bake it in a 9 x 12. I've found using canola oil in place of butter works fine, and I almost always reduce the amount of sugar. I'll have to decide if I follow their recipe exactly, or make your substitutions. Thank you!
Joan, it wasn't me who had the allergic reaction to shell fish -- that was posted by cwcdesign. Sorry you had to suffer that, cwcdesign - allergies are scary, especially when they are sudden and you've never had a problem in the past.
This is the bread I baked today. It's a variation on my usual whole-grain sandwich bread, as I added 1/2 cup of Super 10 Blend (KAF).
The 50 lbs I bought last week cost $29.95; it usually runs $25-$30. It's about the same as buying 5 lb bags on sale at the grocery store, or 25 lbs at a big box such as BJs. For me, it's about the convenience. You can just walk into the KAF bakery store and buy it; only once have they been out of it when I wanted it. They will even put it in your car for you! A few weeks ago, when the store was closed to shoppers due to Covid, you could call them and pick it up at the back door within 10-15 minutes (and could get anything they had in stock that way, also). I'm not sure if they are still doing curbside pick up now that the stores have been allowed to reopen.
KAF sells 5 pounds of AP flour for $4.95 in the store. Most grocery stores around here sell 5 pounds for 4.29. A few times a year, groceries sell it for 2 bags for $5.00
The Sir Galahad is what KAF sells wholesale, to "professional" bakers, in 50 pound bags. I believe it is the same flour as their All-Purpose; it behaves the same way. For me, it's just a convenient way to buy flour, and I use about 100 pounds a year.
Cass, I think Sheila has the right idea!
I buy KAF Sir Galahad AP flour in 50 pound bags. I've been thinking about changing out an old poster of birds I have in my studio. I'm going to try cutting the next empty bag to fit the poster frame. I might have to lightly iron the brown paper bag to get some wrinkles out, and I might need to have it matted. I just really don't want to let go of that old logo!
Dinner tonight was ribs, cole slaw,macaroni salad, green salad, and green and yellow beans. The cabbage, greens, and beans were all from the garden.
Roughing it means boondocking without solar panels.
Today I baked a blueberry cobbler. It's OK, but needs some changes. I used the Boyajian lemon oil and it leaves a terrible after-taste, kind of metallic, artificial which also overpowers the blueberry flavor and really ruins the cobbler. It does have the cake-like quality of the cobber that we prefer, compared to a crsip-type topping.
We finally got some rain, overnight and a couple of passing showers during the day, for a total of .56 inches. That totals about 1 inch for the month of July so far. To celebrate, I made pizza for dinner!
Another salad night at our house: chicken salad from leftover chicken breasts, more leftover macaroni salad, a tomato and onion salad, and fresh cole slaw using the first cabbage from our garden. Another hot and humid day, with thunderstorms in the area, but not a drop of rain in our neighborhood.
That looks really good, Len. We've learned that opening the top of the grill lets out a ton of hot air, much more than opening the oven door. As Aaron asks, did you have the lid off? Or, if shut, maybe don't rotate the pizza as frequently or open the lid to check doneness.
