[skeptic7]

I baked a batch of Hot Cross Buns. The original recipe was from a friend who had it from another friend. They were a little underdone. I'm going to reheat in the oven to get rid of some of the gumminess. It can't be any worse than brown and serve rolls. This made a half sheet pan, which I think is a perfect size.
It took a while to knead by hand. Could I use a KitchenAid Mixer on 7 cups of flour, about 4 lbs of dough?

[skeptic7]

Mike, congratulations on your success!

[skeptic7]

I just tasted a cinnamon raisin boule I made in my bread cloche. It is much better than I expected being light and fluffy with a thin crust. I was looking at the Cinnamon Bread in Peter Reinharts "Whole Grain Breads" then remembered how I adapted this to English muffins and Hot Cross Buns, so I made a recipe with all the good things buttermilk, and whole wheat flour and currants and cinnamon sugar. I started a sponge and soaker this morning, combined them this afternoon and baked a couple of hours ago.
I will have to try the cloche again. I wonder what it will do to dinner rolls.

[skeptic7]

I killed off three small Rosemary plants this winter by forgetting to water them. Another Rosemary branch which just started growing roots might not make it either. The ones outside were doing well until the very hard freeze, I just hope they will make it.
Over wintering rosemary is tricky lots of light, not too much water and not too little water.

[skeptic7]

Mike;
Do you avoid all members of the garlic-onion family when cooking? Can you still cook Italian by relying heavily on basil and parsley and various peppers?

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt, Congratulations on successfully culturing and using your own buttermilk!

Mike; I hope your buttermilk thickens with time. Do you think your starter was fresh enough? It just might need more time to ferment in the cooler environment. I've given buttermilk half a day longer in winter.

[skeptic7]

I did Pumpkin Biryani with half of a small pumpkin. I cut the recipe in 1/4, it was designed for 4 small pumpkins. The savory mixture of onions and spices and green pepper fit well in my half pumpkin. I had to use aluminum foil to create a support for the pumpkin to keep the cut side up, and cover the pumpkin with aluminum foil.
This was very interesting and tasty. A little too spicy I was eating bland crackers and extra yogurt to tone down the spice.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/biryani-stuffed-pumpkins/16169/

[skeptic7]

Thats great news! I screw the lid down tight once its in the refrigerator just in case it gets accidently jostled -- I don't think it needs to breathe once refrigerated.

[skeptic7]

Tuesday, I did very boring wholewheat gingerbread scones from my tried and true recipe. I had a little grated ginger as well as powdered ginger and candied ginger.

[skeptic7]

aaronatthedoublef;
Your baking is impressive! I couldn't make so many loaves. What sort of challah do you make? Do you give out recipes for challah French Toast to your buyers.

[skeptic7]

Mike;
The graham crackers look impressive! How big did you cut the crackers? The recipe didn't give a size.

Dachshundlady had such very cute puppies.

Mardigras has sneaked up on me. I am torn between doing cinnamon rolls to celebrate or an apple slab pie.

[skeptic7]

Mike;
I use a clean quart canning jar with each new batch of buttermilk. I put 3/4 - 1 cup of buttermilk into a quart jar, and then fill it nearly all the way up with milk. Sometimes I rinse the old jar out with fresh milk and add it to the new jar. I screw on the mason jar lid and shake vigorously. I then loosen the lid but leave it on to keep out dust, and place the jar in a warm place for around 24 hours until the buttermilk is thick. The time varies being more in the winter and less in the summer. I then open the lid to let air in and then screw the lid on tight and put it in the refrigerator.

BakerAunt;
I find the buttermilk is good for a long time too. Its possible its too old to use to make more buttermilk, and that the bacteria is weak or died, but you will have to try it to see. Does it smell or look bad? There have been times I gave up on my buttermilk and started again with a new batch from the store. Its perfectly normal for the solids and liquid to settle out, just stir or shake it up before using.

Rottiedogs;
Thanks for bringing back the old thread. Its sweet hearing advice from Mrs. Cindy again. The real difference I find in buttermilk is with pancakes, they are thicker and easier to handle.

[skeptic7]

Here is the link to the best directions for cultured buttermilk. I now keep a quart jar of buttermilk always in the refrigerator and when it gets low I make more. I keep the buttermilk in a warm spot like the top of a refrigerator for 12 -24 hours until sufficiently thick. I use fat free milk . Since I learned to make liquid buttermilk I use it all the time, before I just used powdered buttermilk.

Making Buttermilk, Illustrated

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
I like it if I think of it as a pizza, if I think of it as a pie I miss the crispness of a real pie crust. A real piece of pie can be microwaved until hot, but that would ruin the bread crust.
I liked the hard boiled egg slices much more than I expected and the mushrooms make it much more flavorfull than can be expected from a cabbage pie. I had a piece for breakfast, gently heated so not to try out the crust, very good.
I think you could try any vegetables as long as they were cooked to remove the excess water. The Baking Sheet article said that the author had tried a lot of different vegetables and her husband enjoyed them all. I would like to try other types of cheese, probably ricotta instead of cream cheese.

[skeptic7]

Sunday night I baked the "Winter Vegetable Pie" which is found in King Arthur's Bakers Companion, and an old issue of the KA Baking Sheet. This is a pie made of a thin layer of cream cheese, sliced hard boiled eggs and a mixture of cooked cabbage, onions and mushrooms. The recipe called for a normal pie crust but I used my pizza style yeasted pastry recipe so I had a pizza sort of crust on top and bottom. It looked wonderful baked and sliced well, and warmed up well for today's lunch. I only warm it up for 15-20 seconds in the microwave since bread doesn't microwave well.
Its sort of like a stuffed pizza without the tomato sauce and cheese. I found it strange to hard boil eggs before putting it in a pie. There are 4 eggs in the recipe. All the vegetables are precooked probably to reduce the moisture. I sliced the cabbage and sauted it pouring off excess liquid, slice the onion and sauted this until slightly brown and sweet, sliced the mushrooms and sauted them until not only the mushrooms were cooked but most of the liquid was evaporated.
This does seem to call for some sort of tomato, and I started tomato soup in the slow cooker but it wasn't finished in time to eat with the pie. I still need to run it through a food mill.

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