skeptic7

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  • in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of May 27, 2018? #12519
    skeptic7
    Participant

      I did Northern style cornbread to eat with strawberries -- I would really like to eat biscuits as in strawberry shortcake, but its hard to make a whole wheat biscuit and they are sort of gritty. I could eat strawberries and yogurt by themselves but it tastes better accompanied by a biscuit, or muffin or cake. This year I've decided that quick breads are moister and tastier than biscuits and less sweet than cake and can be made with whole wheat flour.
      I also made gingerbread with diced apples. Tasty and moist and gets rid of more apples. I want to eat all the apples in the refrigerator before cantalope season starts. Last week was apple and raisin scones. Apple pizza is in the future.

      BakerAunt;
      Is making crackers like making rolled cookies? Doesn't this take a lot of time to roll and cut and bake them? Especially since they could mysteriously disappear in a couple of minutes with a little cheese. or apples, or soup.

      in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of May 20, 2018? #12460
      skeptic7
      Participant

        I did chicken drumsticks in a slow cooker with barbeque sauce on Monday night. I had this on high for awhile and then turned to low. I saw the legs were cooked at about Midnight and decided to turn the crock pot off, but waked up the next morning to find the legs were still cooking away. I am pulling the meat off the bones for sandwiches for lunch, and warming up the chicken with rice and vegetables for supper. The meet is over cooked but still very tasty. The meat off one drumstick is enough for one sandwich.

        in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of May 20, 2018? #12459
        skeptic7
        Participant

          BakerAunt;
          I used parchment paper on the bottom of the cloche, but I didn't do anything else. I was surprised at how well the ceramic cloche bottom conducted heat.

          On your pizza, do you use a very hot oven? why is that recommended for thin crust pizzas? A lot of articles talk about trying to get a very hot oven or to use a baking stone to increase the heat transfer. What good is this suppose to do?

          in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of May 20, 2018? #12454
          skeptic7
          Participant

            I baked a buttermilk whole wheat bread in my cloche! It was enormous about 3 lbs and around 7 cups of flour with cut up dried apricots. It was much better than the last whole wheat bread, but it was pushing the capabilities of the cloche as a bit of the top crust was stuck to the top of the cloche. It was also a bit too soft and on what I thought was a final rise, melted down into a shapeless blob instead of a nice round super boule. I added more flour and reshaped it.
            Next time I am going to do this with 4 cups or less of flour and have a boule that fits comfortably within the cloche. I am also going to let it rise in a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan to have a layer between the bottom of the bread and the baking pan. The bottom was more cooked and dry than the top and sides.
            Should the dough of a bread be noticeably drier than that of rolls? The noknead bread is more hydrated and they form shapely boules.

            in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of April 29, 2018? #12334
            skeptic7
            Participant

              On Friday May 4th stretching into the early hours of Saturday I made King Arthur Flour breakfast cookies with oatmeal, cranberries and walnuts. This made 29 tasty cookies about two sheets worth. I made this as a present since it was tasty and sturdy enough not to crumble if eaten in the car.
              I also made a double recipe of a quick bread and baked it in a 9X13 pan. This was easier than baking it in two pans but its rather short, might have made prettier slices if I had used a triple recipe. The bread was date orange and I normally bake this recipe in a 8inch cast iron frying pan and cut in wedges.
              I had the idea for the pan from this site
              http://heidimix.blogspot.com/2014/05/quick-bread-for-crowd.html

              in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of April 29, 2018? #12272
              skeptic7
              Participant

                I made two batches of chocolate cherry scones on Sunday which were great!

                Yesterday I made A whole wheat cinnamon raisin bread which turned out be be a large flat circle and the sort of bread that is cut very thin and eaten with cream cheese. I did everything wrong and knew it as I did it, but I was so tired i let it rise too long at most of the stages and before baking. If it wasn't for a very good bread knife and a lot of cream cheese, this would be best fed to the geese. Its very dense and heavy and sort of harsh tasting. I basically made this bread to use up a lot of milk that had been accidently left unrefrigerated. The next loaf is going to have white flour which is easier to work with.

                Today I made my absolutely perfect brownies in a double batch -- but what can you say about perfect brownies? These are cakey with nuts, and have whole wheat flour and oil and cocoa and walnuts.

                in reply to: Kitchen Gadgetry and the Pampered Chef #12271
                skeptic7
                Participant

                  My favorite whisk is a flat one used for roux, but I like it for mixing quick breads and doughs. It has the plastic fill to support the handle and its much easier to clean than a round whisk. I've seen it in two sizes but the smaller one is easier to use.

                  in reply to: Saveur Article on Jeffrey Hamelman #12270
                  skeptic7
                  Participant

                    I like the article and the picture.

                    in reply to: Cocoa prices at a 3 year high #12181
                    skeptic7
                    Participant

                      I keep my cocoa in the refrigerator or freezer. It lasts a long time if I stick to hot chocolate or chocolate scones, but brownies can use up a lot of cocoa fast.
                      Has anyone made chocolate yeast bread? I think I did it before and can only remember that this recipe does need sugar or honey to taste right.

                      in reply to: Kitchen Gadgetry and the Pampered Chef #12180
                      skeptic7
                      Participant

                        I like my potato ricer -- it was a gift from a friend when she was cleaning out her mother's collection. Its messier to clean and has more wastage than a round potato masher, but it does a more thorough job and produces fluffier mash potatoes.
                        I'm not sure it counts as "gadgets" but I have a lot of cake pans. I liked the deeper 3 and 4 inch cake pans since the idea of baking one large cake and then slicing it in layers sounded so cute and practical and then I wouldn't have to deal with trying to fit domed layers together. I have 9", 8" rounds and a 9"square all 3'' deep. I also have spring form pans of various sizes, and a couple shallow 8" rounds. I am now baking mainly bread and don't use these pans at all. My last couple of cakes were done in a half sheet pan, or a 9X13 pan.
                        On the gadgets, I have a glass gravy strainer which is suppose to seperate the fat from the juice. This is really only useful for large amounts of gravy. For smaller amounts like a quart, its easier to just remove the fat with a spoon.

                        in reply to: What are you baking the week of April 22, 2018? #12148
                        skeptic7
                        Participant

                          I did apricot scones/muffins yesterday with chopped dried apricots and apricot jam. Very tasty. Also did medium dish pizza with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese. I wish I could make an apricot yeast bread or a chocolate yeast bread but that takes so much more time to mix and knead.

                          in reply to: When to Use or Not Use Expensive Chocolate #12028
                          skeptic7
                          Participant

                            I am eating a bar of 72% chocolate from Trader Joe's. Its one of their pound + bars and I have plenty left. I broke it up and it fills a quart mason jar. I might melt the rest down for chocolate rabbits or chocolate bark. This was $4.99 for the bar

                            in reply to: What are you Baking the week of April 8, 2018? #12027
                            skeptic7
                            Participant

                              Baker Aunt;
                              Good luck with your biscotti. I like orange/ginger flavor in scones and the recent hot cross buns. I don't think dried orange peel has much flavor compared to orange extract or candied orange peel. The recipe in which I used dried orange peel, like sponge cake, have a very subtle orange flavor.
                              Cabot Cheddar is wonderful stuff as is the Greek yogurt. I've been to the Cabot Creamery twice when I was going through Vermont and stopping at King Arthur -- they aren't close but I was going up the Eastern part of the state. Very nice people and a wonderfully clean and modern plant. I love their history. Last time I was there I bought plenty of cheese and later a Cabot Creamery cook book. Its amazing how recipes from a dairy farmer uses much more cheese in macaroni and cheese, then my older cook books. I've seen a cheese sauce recipe that uses 1/2 cup of cheese in a white sauce, and the Cabot Creamery had 2 cups of cheese with just enough milk and flour to let it spread easily.

                              in reply to: What are you Baking the week of April 8, 2018? #12017
                              skeptic7
                              Participant

                                I baked white whole wheat bread with hunks of Cabot chedder mixed in. This was based on my focaccio recipe but I cut up a cup of Extra Sharp Cabot Cheddar in 1/2-3/4 inch cupes and mixed it in. I had 4 cups of flour in the recipe. It was very good, I gave half away and ate the other half in two days. This made a rather large flat round that I baked in a cloche.

                                in reply to: Reviving Stale Bread #11926
                                skeptic7
                                Participant

                                  Thanks for sharing this article! There are many interesting articles on that site.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 1,081 through 1,095 (of 1,239 total)