skeptic7

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Viewing 15 posts - 286 through 300 (of 1,280 total)
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  • in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of August 29,2021? #31201
    skeptic7
    Participant

      Chocomouse; your bread looks lovely.

      in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 22, 2021? #31199
      skeptic7
      Participant

        BakerAunt; Mike;
        Thanks for the information. I was hoping that quick rye bread would be more like cornbread or wheat breads. I knew that it needed to be cooled before cutting but I didn't realize it needed that long. I let it cool somewhat maybe an hour or so before the first slice and tried again about 8 hours later, but I noticed a change in texture by the next day. What do starches gelling have to do with texture and sliceability. I've noticed changes in wheat bread on the next day but not as drastic. The wheat bread is slightly drier and slices slightly better 24 hours after baking.

        in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 22, 2021? #31184
        skeptic7
        Participant

          I made "Honey-Spice Rye" from the Laurel's Kitchen Bread Book. This is a rye - whole wheat quick bread whic is suppose to make a loaf. I baked it in a cast iron frying pan. Its soft and dense. Its quite nice today ( Sunday ) but when cut still warm yesterday is was gummy. The flavor is nice with honey, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves and anise. I'm wondering if the recipe was originally Jewish. The liquids are water, honey and lemon juice. Most quick breads I've made recently use buttermilk as the liquid.

          in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 22, 2021? #31128
          skeptic7
          Participant

            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.

            in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 22, 2021? #31122
            skeptic7
            Participant

              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.

              in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 15, 2021? #31090
              skeptic7
              Participant

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

                in reply to: Coming Through the Rye #31089
                skeptic7
                Participant

                  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

                  in reply to: Covid-19: It Continues #31088
                  skeptic7
                  Participant

                    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.

                    in reply to: New York Bakers is Closing Down #31062
                    skeptic7
                    Participant

                      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.

                      in reply to: New York Bakers is Closing Down #31059
                      skeptic7
                      Participant

                        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.

                        in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 15, 2021? #31058
                        skeptic7
                        Participant

                          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?

                          in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 15, 2021? #31045
                          skeptic7
                          Participant

                            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.

                            in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 1, 2021? #31014
                            skeptic7
                            Participant

                              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.

                              in reply to: Finally finished. #30958
                              skeptic7
                              Participant

                                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?

                                in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of August 8, 2021? #30942
                                skeptic7
                                Participant

                                  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.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 286 through 300 (of 1,280 total)