[skeptic7]

I did buttermilk whole wheat bread on Thursday. This is the recipe that I have been playing with for awhile. This works perfectly with a cinnamon swirl in it, but not so well with fruit and a cinnamon swirl. I wanted to try this again carefully without any problems like letting it sit too long before baking it, or letting the sponge part ferment too long which had happened in the last two batches. This time everything was mixed perfectly and rose perfectly and baked in a timely fashion. It was very tasty but much denser than I had hoped for. I'm going give up on buttermilk whole wheat raisin bread -- next time I'm going to see if leaving out some liquid and adding an egg will fix this.
On Friday, I did apple challah from the KAF recipe but changing it to leave out the honey and use all whole wheat flour. The dough was stiffer than it was normally but made a perfectly good bread. I mixed it in a stand mixer and only did a little hand mixing. This saved a lot of time. I've looked at my recipe and I first made it nearly 20 years ago. I like it for New Years as that appeals to my sense of humour. Apples and honey are traditional for the Jewish New Year, but I make it for the secular New Year. I bring it to a party where the hostess is avoiding sugar.
I baked this a couple of months ago in a slow cooker.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 4 months ago by skeptic7.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt;
Perhaps you can find a manual for the oven on the internet. I found instructions for mine there.

[skeptic7]

Merry Christmas to you too, and a Happy New Year to come!

[skeptic7]

I was going to refute this but A) I don't know many millenials B) Fads are fun. If everyone in your social group are baking the same cookies, you have funny stories to share. Like I would have had the biggest, bestest cookies but my SO came through the kitchen and they disappeared. C) Does Colbert know many millenials? Perhaps its just this one group that took to cookie baking and there are oodles of support millenials who just take pictures, offer support and disapper Beta versions ( millenials don't have mistakes they have beta recipes )

[skeptic7]

Saturday I did a pan of gingerbread in a cast iron skillet with candied orange peel and candied ginger peel and regular and black strap molasses. It was very tasty but I gave much of it away.

[skeptic7]

On Monday I baked two loaves of buttermilk whole wheat bread with cinnamon spirals. One of them had currants kneaded into the dough and the other one had dates kneaded into it. These were shorter and denser than I had hoped. There are a couple of reasons that could have caused this perhaps having fruit in an all whole wheat bread weighed it down, perhaps the sponge had fermented too long, perhaps it was just too cold to rise well.
I also made two more pans of gingerbread. In honor of the season I had 1/2 cup of candied orange peel as well as 1/4 cup candied ginger. I gave 1 1/2 pans away but I kept the rest for myself.
I hope to bake cookies today -- I really shouldn't I've eaten enough cookies this holiday season but it would be good to use up the almond flour. I plan to add substitute 1 cup of almond flour for 1 cup of whole wheat flour in a regular biscotti recipe. Is this likely to cause problems? My normal recipe has 3 cups of whole wheat flour so this is only 1/3 almond flour.

[skeptic7]

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

[skeptic7]

I did a carrot quick bread with no sugar. Its flavored with dried thyme and had fresh rosemary on top. Its very pretty but I gave it away whole so I don't know what it will taste like. The sweet versions of this bread were quite good. This went to a neighbor who is avoiding sugar.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt;
The buttermilk scallion flatbread looks interesting. How big are these when they are cooked? Is the texture anything like Chinese scallion pancakes?

I did a cheese pizza on Sunday with Mexican Oaxaca cheese as a mozarella substitute and Vermont Cheddar for more flavor. I should have put on more cheese. The pizza puffed up into a dome and sent the melted cheese running to the edges.

[skeptic7]

On Friday, I mixed up two loaves of buttermilk whole wheat bread, enhanced with a little tiny bit of cardamon and some dried dates. I had it all kneaded and shaped and into normal bread pans on Friday night but ran out of energy and left it to rise overnight. On Saturday morning they were both beautifully risen and high and ready to bake. However I had to try to donate blood, go to martial arts practice, take a friend shopping and then check on another friend, so they didn't get baked till 8:00 pm and had fallen a bit. The resulting loaves were rather sour and dense. It went great with cream cheese. I cut them in thin slices and took one loaf to a party with a brick of cream cheese, and gave another half loaf away, and finished the rest of the loaf myself.
It was quite tasty but it would have been just perfect if I could have baked it Saturday morning instead of Saturday night.

[skeptic7]

I have been going for years too! I go both days and visit friends and buy things and admire the sheep. What is your booth? I'll stop by and say hello this year. I knit and spin although I've done more cooking and less fiber arts for the past several years. We could have met in person ages ago.
I love the lamb burgers and used to buy sheep's milk cheese.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
Do you come to the Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival or any others in the Virginia/Maryland area?

[skeptic7]

I baked a carrot raisin quick bread yesterday, with rosemary as the seasoning instead of thyme. This is basically the same recipe as I put on its own thread only I measure everything more carefully having 1/2 cup of raisins instead of what was easily available, and a nearly 1 cup of grated carrots.

[skeptic7]

I've used this when baking quick breads for vegans.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse:
How did the farmer's market go? The Maple Pecan Scones sound especially good.

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