The Bread Flour Trial!

Yesterday I decided to figure out which bread flour worked best for us. I bought 3 different brands of bread flour. Gold Medal "Better For Bread" flour, Pillsbury Best Bread Flour, and King Arthur Unbleached Bread Flour. 1. Gold Medal flour - Best If Used By : March 1, 2014 I tried this one 1st. It seemed to work up as well as others, but I feel that it didn't rise quite as quickly as some of the others I have used. Perhaps due to the 5 degree temps outside? Rose for 1 1/2 hrs in the oven with the oven barely turned on. Upon baking this loaf out, it was left in the oven just a tad too long. The crust was a little darker than we liked and under the top crust of one of the loaves it had a large bubble area that extended over the top of the loaf. The other loaf didn't have the air bubble at the top. These were baked for 25 mins. but then additional baking time was added. (A bit too much time perhaps as the crust was a bit dark, but they didn't burn). (It was too comfy under the nice warm blankets in my bedroom away from the oven!)

2. Pillsbury Flour - Best if Used By : Dec. 5, 2013 This one was 2nd. The resulting dough seemed a little bit nicer texture?? It was quite soft in feel. (Perhaps this was due to the 'Dough Conditioner - Ascorbic Acid ?) Also the bread at 1 hr rising time seemed to be rising better than the Gold Medal flour did. Both were risen in the oven turned on very low. At 1 hour the bead had risen and could have been baked, however I left it in for the full 1 1/2 hr rising time. Within the 1 1/2 hr rising time it didn't rise any higher than the 1 hr time, but one of the loaves seemed to fall in, in one small place. I baked these two loaves out 350 degrees for 25 mins. These two loaves both had a large air bubble the whole length of the top crust.

3. Kink Arthur Flour - Best if Use By : Dec. 8, 2013 This was the 3rd bread flour that I tested. The dough didn't impress me as being as smooth as the Pillsbury Bread Flour ones, but perhaps we will escape the large air bubbles with this flour? The bread had risen enough to bake at the first hour of rising. I again left the bread to rise for the extra 1/2 hour to see if it would also develop a large air pocket just under the top crust. I liked the look of the risen bread. After the additional 30 min. rising time the bread continued to look normal. I baked the bread for the 25 mins. that I had the 2nd loaf. (Remember the 1st loaf looked like it needed additional baking time so I added additional time.)

I am guessing that my air bubble under the crust is from "over-proofing" the bread before baking it out. I will limit my rising time before baking to the 45 mins to 1 hour time. Hopefully this will rectify the situation. I thought that might just be the case, but I didn't want to give any advantage to any of the loaves of bread in the test.

After cutting the King Arthur Flour loaf and looking at the crumb and tasting the King Arthur bread, I decided to re-bake the Pillsbury and King Arthur flour breads for additional oven time of approximately 30 mins. for although the bread, when tapped on the bottom sounded hollow, I felt it might have benefited from additional oven time.. The texture of the crumb when using the Pillsbury and the King Arthur flours was way off for the "Amish Bread" recipe that I was using for all 3 breads. The texture I was going for seemed best when using the Gold Medal flour, which really surprised me! I was actually leaning towards the King Arthur Flour when I started this trial as I really like the King Arthur Flour company and all of their really great recipies! I do need to give points to the King Arthur bread as the one that didn't end up with a large air bubble hole at the top of the breads. Here are some of the pictures of my results. I DO intend to re-do my trail on a warmer day, (sorry neighbors! :0), and not proof the bread as much before baking it also to bake it a bit longer in the oven before removing it. Looking at the ingredients listing; All 3 had Malted Barley Flour, (Which is used to improve yeast, as it is a natural yeast food) Niacin (A B vitamin) Thiamin Mononitrate (Vitamin B1) Riboflavin (Vitamin B2) Folic Acid (A B Vitamin) Gold Medal adds Iron and Wheat Flour Pillsbury adds Iron, Wheat Flour AND Ascorbic Acid (Vitamin C which is used as a Dough Conditioner) King Arthur adds "Reduced Iron" , (although both Gold Medal and Pillsbury both list their Nutrition facts as Iron 6% and King Arthur lists theirs as 8%), and "Unbleached Hard Spring Wheat Flour" The Nutrition Facts were the same in the following listings: Serving size 1/4 cup Calories 110 Calories from fat 0 Total Fat, Saturated Fat, Trans Fat, Cholesterol, Sodium (All 0 ) Total Carbohydrates were all 22g 7% Protein in all three was listed as 4g Vitamins A, C and Calcium were listed as 0% in all three flours. Differences: Dietary Fiber in Gold Medal and Pillsbury were both listed as 3% But was listed in King Arthur as 4 % Iron in Pillsbury and Gold Medal were listed as 6 % and King Arthur was listed as 8% Thiamin in Gold Medal and Pillsbury was listed as 10%. King Arthur's 15% Riboflavin 6% in Gold Medal and Pillsbury. 10% in King Arthur. Niacin 8% in Gold Medal and Pillsbury and 10% in King Arthur. Folic Acid was listed as 10% in both Gold Medal and Pillsbury, but was listed as 'Folate' on King Arthur Flour and 15%

My Recipe for Overnight Oatmeal

I love to wake up to a hot breakfast, unfortunately I lack a servant! You can find a lot of Crockpot Oatmeal recipies on the internet. I took a little of this and a little of that from 4 recipies and came up with a recipe of my own. Although it didn't waft aroma throughout the house in the morning, like some recipies do, the taste was good! I doubled the recipe to make a larger crockpot full. The ingredients did swell up a little, but didn't over-flow the crockpot. We dished it up and ate it with a bit extra brown sugar and milk. Yummy! My recipe, (which is for twice the amount for a smaller batch), was as follows; Into a 2 cup measuring cup place 1 cup of raisins. Fill the measuring cup, (in which the raisins rest), to the 2 cup mark with water. Let this soak while you put the rest of the ingredients together. Stir together; 4 apples peeled, or not peeled, cut into chunks, or slices if desidered. 1 TB Cinnamon 1 tsp. nutmeg 2/3 cup of brown sugar 2 tsp. vanilla 1 tsp of salt Place this into a greased crockpot. Add 2 cups of Old Fasioned Oatmeal, (Quick or instant oats will over-cook to mush) 2 cups of Steel Cut Oats, (Or 2 cups additional Old Fashioned Oatmeal) 4 TB butter / margarine cut up and added. Stir. 2/3 cups of broken walnut meats 2 cups of milk 4 1/3 cups of water Add the raisins and the water, (which will probably measure 1 2/3 cups. (Don't worry if it doesn't) Mix all together in the crockpot and heat on low in the crockpot for approximately 7 hrs. If it stays on low for about 10 - 11 hrs. it will begin to dry out around the sides of the crockpot. Enjoy! Many recipies do not call for the apples, walnuts, raisins, butter, cinnamon, nutmeg, vanilla, or salt, so do your own thing!

Something I am Thankful for Each Day

One of the items I received for Christmas this year was Velcro straps from my children. I absolutely LOVE these gadgets!

The little soft Velcro straps come in different sizes and colors. The strap has a soft side and a loopy side. It has a slot that the strap fits into when you place it around the cord of your appliance.

You tighten up the strap:

Now you gather up the cord, wrap the velcro strap around the cord and it sticks to itself to hold your cord together. No more dangling cords or rubber bands to hold the cords of your bread machine, toaster, crock pots, and other appliances! It is very handy when you store the appliance, or even when you take a crockpot to an outing and can sit your crockpot on a table without the messy cord all over. I REALLY enjoy mine! I believe that our children bought these at Wal-Mart in the hardware dept.

With all of the Twinkies now VERY highly priced, here is an alternative! With a little patience and creativity, you can make a reasonable facsimile of those beloved Twinkies® at home. They won't be quite the same, but close. You might even like these little filled cakes better than the popular commercial brand. This would make a great supervised project for the kids. Prep Time: 30 minutes Cook Time: 30 minutes Total Time: 1 hour Ingredients: •Supplies: •1 round spice bottle, the size of a Twinkie •12 (12 x 14-inches each) pieces non-stick aluminum foil •Pastry bag •Toothpick •Vegetable oil spray •Cake: •16-ounce box golden pound cake mix •4 egg whites, beaten until stiff •2/3 cup water •Filling: •1/3 cup vegetable shortening •2 teaspoons butter, at room temperature •1 cup powdered sugar •1/4 cup granulated white sugar •1/3 cup evaporated milk •1 teaspoon vanilla extract •2 drops lemon extract Preparation: Faux twinkie cakes: Fold each piece of foil in half with the nonstick side out. Then fold in half again. Roll foil pieces around the spice bottle to form a tube. Fold down edges to seal, leaving one end of the tube open to be filled with the batter. Remove the spice bottle. Spray the insides with vegetable oil and set each tube open-end-up in a muffin tray. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Beat cake mix, whipped egg whites, and water on medium speed until completely blended, about 2 minutes. Carefully fill the foil tubes, leaving 3/4-inch headspace. Bake about 30 minutes until golden and toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cakes cool, then remove foil. Use a toothpick to make 3 holes along the length of each cake. Wiggle the toothpick around the center to make room for the filling, taking care not to poke through to the other side. Filling: Cream shortening and butter together in a medium bowl. With mixer running on medium speed, add powdered sugar and granulated sugar, a little at a time, until smooth. Add evaporated milk, vanilla, and lemon extract. Continue mixing until fluffy. Spoon filling into a pastry bag with a No. 5 tip. Inject filling into each of the 3 holes in each faux twinkie cake and place hole-side-down on a serving platter or store in a covered container. Yield: 12 faux twinkie cakes

Civil War Receipt for Potato Chips

Being a part of the Civil War Re-enactors group, I am interested in finding and using recipes ("reciepts"), from the Civil War years. In reading reciepts from the pages of Godey's Lady's Book, I found that a 'reciept'for "Potato Chips" was printed in their magazine in the year 1865. This was approximately 15 years BEFORE the acclaimed Chef from Saratoga, NY, invented 'potato chips' serving a customer very thinly sliced french fries, and people proclaimed that he was the 1st to do so. Untrue! In Godey's magazine, most recipies were sent in by readers to the Philadelphia based magazine. (Since the magazine was based in Philly it is more likely that these recipies came from the Union side during these times. The magazine didn't publich reports of the Civil War and very little mention of the war was in Godey's. The magazines published during these times read as if there wasn't even a war taking place. Absolutely LOVING cooking over the campfire at re-enactments, I try to re-create the recipies of these times. I don't hold to the theroy that we should only be cooking and showing what would have been growing during those times as there are many fine recipies that would have to be eliminated since the 'visitors' for some reason don't care to come 'visiting' in the dead of winter. Also, I have been told by other re-enactors that I shouldn't be using recipies with apples since they wouldn't have had apples during those times of the year when we are re-enacting. (Apples weren't in season that time of the year.) HOGWASH! The people of the Civil War times did have ways of preserving the apples. Dried apples for example. You can dry apples and then re-constitute them to use in varies recipies. Ah, but alass, I digress. :0) The Potato Chip receipt! Wash some potatoes and peel them. (I skip the peeling part as we like the peelings). Pare the potato into long, ribbon like, lengths. Place them into cold water to "remove the strong potato flavor", (which I believe also will remove some of the starch). Drain them and throw them into a pan, (I use cast iron as only the higher class would have had metal, or copper pans, during those times). Fry them with a little butter until they are a light brown. "Take them out of the pan, and place them close to the fire on a seive lined with clean writing paper to dry, before they are served up. A little salt may be sprinkled over them."

Taco Bowls!

Today we decided to make taco bowls!
We purchased soft tacos and in turning our cupcake pans upside down we can place the soft taco shells in-between the bottoms of the cupcake holes. Take the soft taco out of the holders one at a time and with a LITTLE bit of water and a LITTLE salt, use your fingers and smear the wet salt over the flat surface. Replace the soft taco in the holder, (cupcake pan bottom).  Bake at 375 F for 10 mins. We did not get the taco shells overly wet and did not have to grease the bottom of the pans. Remove carefully.
We filled ours with browned hamburger seasoned with the following seasoning, also shredded cheese and lettuce and cut up tomatoes, green peppers and onions.

Homemade Taco Seasoning
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
Directions
In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Use this recipe with 2/3 cup of water.  We had 2 lbs of hamburg so we doubled the recipe.
Enjoy!

Enjoy!

ITALIAN BREAD MADE IN THE BREADMAKER

Today I decided to try to better my bread making skills and decided to work on my Italian bread. I made 3 loaves, (2 to share with neighbors and 1 for us). The bread turned out pretty good so I thought I would share my recipe. I would like to add pictures but at this time the "blogger" won't let me add the pictures, so I will add them when it will.

My Italian Bread Made In The Breadmaker - 1-13-2013

To make the Italian bread I place 3 cups of 100 -110 degree water, (120 degrees will kill the yeast), into the bread maker add I tsp of sugar and 1 TB of yeast, (sprinkled on top). I let it set to proof for 20 mins. It will grow and get bubbly. I then added 4 cups of all purpose flour and started the bread maker on the 'dough' cycle. I let it mix in the flour and then after it was well mixed, I unplugged the bread maker and let it sit, (with the lid closed), for 15 minutes. After the 15 mins. rest the voume had increased. I restarted the bread maket on 'dough' cycle as it had shut itself off during the 15 mins of rest. I added the 1 TB of salt and 3 1/2 - 4 additional cups of all purpose flour and started the bread maker to mix in the ingredients. I tested the dough and stopped adding flour when the dough was still sticky to the touch, but didn't stay on my fingers after pushing lightly against the dough. I let the breadmaker knead the bread from the start through the 'add' cycle and until it came to rest at the 'rise' part of the breadmaker program. I let it rise in the breadmaker until the 'dough cycle' had completed. Make sure that the bread dough has deflated at the end of the cycle. Let it rise again in the breadmaker, with the lid closed, until doubled again. (45 mins to 1 hr?). When it has risen the 2^nd time, punch it down and then cut the dough into 3 equal pieces. Shape each of these into Italian bread, or football shaped, loaves. Place these loaves on a heavy cooksheet that has been greased and sprinkled with corn meal, (where the loaves will go), or on parchment paper lined cookie sheet, (which I did), or onto parchment paper which will be lifted onto a baking stone which has heated up to temperature with the oven preheating to 450 degrees, (which is the baking temperature of this bread). I also made 2 slash marks across the bread at an angle width wise. Let the bread rise. If not yet preheating the oven, let the bread rise in the oven with the oven just barely turned on. This gives the bread a warm, but not hot temperature to rise. (100 -125 degrees?). When the bread has risen, (about an hour), turn the oven temp to 450 degrees and mist the bread with water. (I sprayed it with a mix of olive oil and water). Do this 3 times about 3 minutes apart, during the first ten mins. that the bead is in the oven. (This gives a more Italian type crust.) Also place a pan of water under the baking bread in the oven. This will also help with a more authentic crust. After the oven temp reaches 450 degrees, bake about 20 – 30 mins. I also butter the hot bread when it comes out of the oven which makes a softer crust. You could leave it and it would be a crisper crust. Using a pizza stone could also result in a crisper crust. If I were to use the pizza stone I would just use a piece of parchment paper and lift the bread dough onto the pizza stone to bake, or sprinkle the pizza stone with corn meal and let it all heat up together to the 450 degree oven temp.