[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, all the cooking and baking you do is really great, since you didn't have a grandmother's influence in the kitchen. You're making the memories you missed out on, although you appear to have cute memories of them (Velvetta & rutabaga).

I don't have many grandmotherly memories in the kitchen. I recall one grandmother cooking only for the annual picnic. She would never have allowed a child to help her. My other grandmother made a Banana Cake with me once. I can recall her method for making fried potatoes, but otherwise, nothing.

My dad was the cook from whom I learned the most. My mother canned a lot each summer, but I didn't inherit the desire to do that. Maybe that's the difference between rural-living and city life.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

The 7 lbs. dark chocolate looks inviting enough to dive in head first.

I enjoyed this blog post, Mike. Looking forward to the others. Interesting.

[Italiancook]

Another week unsure of what we ate.

[Italiancook]

I baked 4-1/2 dozen Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, using the recipe on the lid of an old Quaker Oats box. I gave away 2-1/2 dozen of the cookies. We enjoyed the rest.

I also baked Cranberry Banana Nut Bread, which has been discussed in a couple of threads during the week.

[Italiancook]

Glad you and yours made it to safety. I hope you find everything AOK when you return home.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike, for the information.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for thinking about this, BakerAunt. I've certainly given a lot of thought to it. But I hadn't thought about draining the relish. That makes a lot of sense. I'll do it next time. Unfortunately, that may be a week or so, since I have to have ripe bananas and now have none.

I've also decided to eliminate the milk in the recipe, since the batter was so soupy. My Banana Bread recipe uses the same amount of bananas as this one, but obtains all it's liquid from the mashed bananas.

Since I don't know how the flour was originally measured, I will use the scoop method next time. I may opt not to sift the flour, although I really don't know whether that will solve anything.

There will definitely be a next attempt, because I know how special this bread is when made as my mom did. So thanks for helping me think this through. I'll let you know after I make it again.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 2 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, S_Wirth for the assist. Next time, I'll scoop the flour.

BakerAunt, the bread bake time was okay. I inserted the cake tester to the bottom of the pan, and it came out clean. But I was worried about it, so I cooked it an additional five minutes. That made the top way too brown.

Yes, it's totally possible that the relish I used is wetter than what Mom used. Maybe I'll cut it back by 1/4 cup next time.

I've eaten restaurant Banana Bread that has the texture and moistness I achieved today. I don't really like the texture of it. Since it's the restaurant's normal, over time, bread, I have to imagine that it's a fully baked product, as I think mine is.

Maybe all I need to do is scoop the flour. Maybe I'll try that next time and use the full amount of relish. I hate to change more than one variable at a time. Or, more probably, I'll scoop, then check the consistency before adding relish. It if seems soupy, I'll cut back on the relish. Yet, it is supposed to be a moist bread.

[Italiancook]

I'll look forward to reading your reports, Mike. I hope you are able to achieve good rest once you're home.

[Italiancook]

Bread is out of the oven. The loaf smells exactly like my memory of it.

The loaf came out of oven with a rounded top. During cooling, the top went down. Now, it's a flat-topped loaf, and that's exactly the way all my mother's loaves of this bread looked. So I'm calling it normal and will add a note to the recipe about this.

I'll report back tomorrow after I eat a slice of the wrapped, 1 day old bread.

[Italiancook]

luvpyrpom, I've often wondered whether I could freeze mason jars. I've been afraid to try; I didn't want a bunch of glass in my freezer. Are your jars made for the freezer? I know there are some that are marketed as being made for the freezer.

[Italiancook]

luvpyrpom, I'm going to make the Cranberry Banana Nut Bread tomorrow. William-Sonoma's relish has arrived. It won't be a replica of my mom's, because the W-S product also has apples -- dried, I think. Since you're interested, I'll post the recipe tomorrow or the next day, even if it doesn't work for me. You can tinker with it if you want, if I don't have success with it.

Thanks for your investigative work with Ocean Spray, BakerAunt.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, rottiedogs, for the link to the relish.

[Italiancook]

Actually, now that you mention it, cwc, I don't know for certain my mom used a product from a jar. The only thing I can recall seeing her do while making this bread is crack the walnuts. I just assumed the cranberry orange relish came from an Ocean Spray jar. Maybe she made the relish from scratch while I was at school and I never knew it. Other than cracking the walnuts, which she did the evening before she baked, I never saw her make this bread. I just remember coming home to a scrumptious odor and eating the moist bread. Mom made a lot of loaves of this in November & December to give to people. It is a special bread.

As soon as the Williams-Sonoma relish arrives, I'll make it, and IF the recipe works, I'll post it. I hesitate to post it first, because I don't know if it came from my grandmother who routinely messed up recipes people requested from her.

[Italiancook]

Another note you may want to make concerns the frying time. As I recall, the KAF recipe says to fry the Welsh cakes for 2-1/2 minute per side. I found it took the first side much longer than that, with the second side being a little less time. But I have a stovetop that leaves a lot to be desired. KAF does say to fry on medium-low. I burned three of mine, because I had the heat up too high.

[Author]

Posts