[skeptic7]

I envy you the strawberries. My last purchase at the farmer's market was an heirloom tomato and a Canary melon. I'll have to cut it open soon.

[skeptic7]

I'm glad you are having fun with the blueberries and brownies. I made rosemary focaccio yesterday to have something to use with the leftover cream cheese. I wish I had pressed the rosemary into the dough before the last rise. the rosemary falls off as I pick up a piece of bread.

[skeptic7]

The Apricot sheet cake looks tasty. Good luck on a peach variant.

[skeptic7]

I found one of Ginsburg's recipes on the web. It called for 2 cups of hard cider. Wouldn't the alcohol interfere with the yeast growth? It looks like an interesting recipe but I don't know if I would sacrifice the cider to make the bread.

https://www.splendidtable.org/story/2016/12/06/normandy-cider-rye

[skeptic7]

Vermont is always being used as the "good" stage in comparison to South Dakota. They have the same size population and South Dakota has many more casulties. The difference is mainly the government of South Dakota is assuming that if they ignore the disease, and the disease will ignore them in turn. The numbers show that that didn't work.
I'm in Northern Virginia, most people are wearing masks but some aren't. I am still wearing a mask in all public spaces. I wish everyone would wear a mask, it seems so much safer.
I hope there isn't much damage from Henri. It seems to be following the same path as the 1938 New England Hurricane.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt;
Thank you. I saved the recipe and will have to try it sometime especially as it doesn't call for a sweetner. I like the seeds and the spices to keep it from getting boring.

[skeptic7]

I'm sorry to hear that NY Bakers will no longer be selling non commercial amounts. I never bought anything from them but it was nice to know that these things were available if you could use 50 lbs of a rare flour. I like their blog and recipes.

[skeptic7]

After trying some rye yeast breads I finally read the sections on rye in King Arthur's Whole Grains, and Laurel's Kitchen bread book and realized some of the things I did wrong, and the reasons for the instructions in the desert focaccio. Most of the information explains why a sour starter is used in most rye breads, the acid contributes to the structure and reduces gumminess. A couple recipes I've used have had molasses as an ingredient. I am going to have to try the dessert focaccio again -- focaccio's are useful for bread experiments if they don't rise its easier to tell people that was planned. :).
Will adding lemon juice help with a rye bread? Will buttermilk? I need to find acid ingredients that don't have sugar so orange juice won't help.
Has anyone advice on rye quick breads?

[skeptic7]

I did the KAF Sourdough Rye desert Focaccio, and it turned out soft and gooey. I think I underbaked it. Its a very elaborate recipe with lots of wait time built in -- Make Levain and wait -- make dough and wait -- stretch and fold and wait and stretch and fold -- then let rise in peace for 4-5 hours, then form it into a cylinder and place on baking sheet and refrigerate overnight. It was soft and sticky and hard to handle but I think I manaaged that part. The difficulty came in finding enough room in the refrigerator for a half sheet tray. I didn't bake it long enough, but the plum topping probably didn't help as it added extra liquid to the dough.
I don't know if there will be a next time for this recipe, but I might just leave out the plums. It might be easier to bake with just almond honey topping. Or a half recipe in a large cast iron frying pan might cook better.

[skeptic7]

Happy Anniversary.

I did Jane Brody's Pumpkin-Rye bread again, just a single load's worth without any molasses. I think it came out well, but I haven't had any feed back. I made it for a friend who is diabetic. I also did a sugarless pumpkin cream cheese spread to go with the pumpkin-rye bread.

I also made maple-walnut granola in the slow cooker. It cooked on low for around 4 hours, and was probably over cooked. Its has a slightly smoked/charred taste. Next time I'll try to cook for around three hours.

I'm starting the sponge to to the Dessert Rye Focaccio recipe tomorrow. I'm going to let the sponge sit for around 18-24 hours to see if it gets sour enough to compensate for the lack of a sour dough starter.

[skeptic7]

That is splendid!! Are the flowers appliqued on? And you did THREE of them? One dress would be a masterpiece. Were they all the same sizes? What part are you most proud of?

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
For me candied orange peel is a seasonable activity -- winter season when the house is cold and dry and can use extra humidity in the air. My orange peel is in the refrigerator, I used to think it was dry enough and sugary enough that it could be stored in the cabinet. Now I refrigerated it to prevent mold.

I'm doing a beef stew from an old and tried recipe. Its the recipe for Beef Stew with Burgandy in "The Cookbook Decoder" by Arthur E. Grosser 1981. I've loved this cookbook since I got it, which was either a gift from my brother, or a theft from the same brother. Now I'm looking at it with new eyes. It asks for 4 onions and 2 carrots. Today I am using 1 large onion and 4 small carrots. This is so horribly imprecise. 4 onions could be a pound of onions or half a pound. Carrots can be small and skinny or large and fat.

The recipe calls for flouring the beef cubes and searing them to seal in the juices. This is now known not to work. I do it anyway for the flavor, and because I like the thicker juice caused by adding flour to the stew. The recipe says the stew beef should be in 1 inch cubes. I've done that before, but today I thought it too small and fussy and am using larger hunks.

I wish this recipe was more precise with respect to the ingredients, but one of the things I learned from this recipe is that stews don't need to be precise. 2 carrots make a good stew, so do 4 carrots. Some celery is a good addition, also some turnips. 1 1/2 cups of burgandy is good, 2 cups of California red is good. If I was eschewing alcohol, I could put in a couple of cups of V8.

[skeptic7]

Jane; BakerAunt;
I need to try this again but leave out the molasses, and cut the recipe down to make only one loaf. I might try a half recipe but put it in a large loaf pan to get something that looks like a normal loaf of bread. I think the rye makes it flatter and gives it a richer taste than a pumpkin whole wheat yeast bread.
I think I am using something called Dark Rye Flour from my local coop. Since I was using a sponge and it was a warm day, I only used 1 teaspoon of yeast.
I've finished eating one loaf of the bread, it was wonderful with cream cheese. I've given the other round boule away and the last is in the freezer to be given away Saturday.

• This reply was modified 3 years, 6 months ago by skeptic7.

[skeptic7]

Joan, hope your sister gets better.

[skeptic7]

On Sunday morning I baked a second batch of Strawberry Spoon cake and delivered it to a friend.
The day before I started mixing Pumpkin-Rye bread from Jane Brody's Good Food Gourmet. It is about 1/3 rye flour and 2/3 whole wheat flour. I chose to use this recipe instead of the Ginsburg recipe many of you recommended because the recipe is in volume not weight. I subsituted 6 cups whole wheat flour for the 6 1/2 cups all purpose flour. I also started off with a short sponge using the rye flour and milk. The rye flour dough looked so wierd. Its an odd grayish color. I was tired by the time the dough was mixed together so I put it into the refrigerator overnight.
On Sunday I kneaded the dough and formed into 3 large pans, one large loaf and 2 round boules.
I let it rise but it is flatter and denser than a wheat bread. I had originally planned to give one loaf to a diabetic friend, but the recipe calls for molasses and I can't give this friend anything with sugars.

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