Home Baking

I'm all for it!

Awhile back I was in a conversation that turned to baking. My friend extolled my baking and deferred to my expertise because I bake "professionally." I reminded her of the absolutely delicious loaf of raisin-cinnamon bread that she baked and gave me at Christmastime, that she was indeed a baker.

I bake a lot and people do buy my baked goods. That doesn't necessarily make me a better baker than anyone else, just a more prolific one. And maybe a more interested one.

I think anyone who wants to can bake. And if they want to, I encourage them to do so. I think we need lots more home baking and home cooking and lots less processed, mass-produced food.

I write this blog in part to encourage others to bake--to share what I know and learn about baking, present ideas, and to give information about baking.

I encourage you to bake. Whether you bake once in a while or regularly, I think it enriches your health and your life.

When you bake something yourself, you know what's in it. You can make something that is (or should be) inherently healthful, like bread, more healthful. Even if you are baking white bread, you can use fresh, high-quality ingredients in appropriate proportions (lower on the salt, sugar, and fat) and no preservatives. And if you want to bake whole-grain bread, I'm your cheerleader! Even if you bake something that's not so healthful, like brownies, you can still use fresh, high-quality ingredients, no preservatives, and you may even find you prefer them with whole-grain flour. I do!

When you bake something yourself, it is fresh. You get to enjoy it at its peak of deliciousness. Not to mention you get to enjoy the lovely scent of whatever you're baking.

There is a sense of satisfaction, even accomplishment, when you bake something yourself. I don't know if baking skills will ever be necessary for your survival, but when you can bake, your world is a little better for it

My dinner: Buffalo-chicken pizza with broccoli, peppers and onions, on a whole-wheat tortilla crust.

Fusion Pizza

I'm not trying to be trendy. This pizza developed from a love of buffalo chicken and a need for lower calorie pizza crust.

My daughter shared with me this great recipe for Buffalo Chicken:

Crockpot Buffalo Chicken

3 lbs frozen (or fresh) chicken breasts
1 bottle Franks buffalo sauce
1 packet of ranch seasoning (Hidden Valley)

Throw it all in the crockpot on low for 6-7 hours. Then shred the chicken, then cook for another hour in the crockpot to soak up juices. Then eat and enjoy!!

It is so good! I've used up to double the amount of chicken called for with excellent results. Also, I don't have a crockpot, so I put everything in a Dutch oven, put it in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes and then turn down the heat to the lowest setting, cook it for 3 or so hours, shred the chicken, and then return it to the oven for another hour. So easy!

I'm sure you can imagine lots of ways to use it. Quesadillas come to mind. But my favorite way to use it is on pizza.

You can use regular pizza dough. If you want to lighten things up, try using flour tortillas. These days I use the flour of hard white wheat for tortillas.

I discovered I can bake my tortillas on my pizza stone!

Here I'm using my new pizza peel to set the tortilla onto my new pizza stone. (Go here and scroll down to see my old pizza stone.)

The baked tortilla is ready to come out. I find this an easier way to bake them than on top of the stove, pizza or not. Either way is pretty easy, though!

And, yes, I've already managed to stain my pizza stone. The tortilla is so thin that the toppings weigh it down too much to slide off of the peel. That's how I learned to use parchment paper under the tortillas. By the way, you can put toppings on tortillas unbaked or baked. Since I wasn't making pizza with all of the tortillas, I just found it easier to pre-bake the tortillas today. Then I put the leftover ones in a gallon-size ziploc bag and put them in the refrigerator for another day.

Now for the pizza topping:

Mix together 2 parts ranch dressing and 1 part Frank's Red Hot Original Cayenne Pepper Sauce. I use light ranch dressing, or part fat-free. Some people use blue cheese dressing. Spread it thinly on the tortilla (or pizza dough).

Layer Crockpot Buffalo Chicken on top.

Sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese, and perhaps a bit of shredded Parmesan cheese, on top.

Variations: Before adding the cheese, top with some cooked broccoli and/or sautéed onions and peppers.

 Baked to perfection!

 It's ready to be eaten!

Measuring Cups and Flour Tortillas

Nerd Alert: If you are not fascinated by measuring cup adventures, you may just want to skip to the end for the flour tortilla recipe.

I used to take measuring cups for granted. I presumed that they all measured the same amounts. Last summer I found that this isn't necessarily so.

Our family rented a house on a lake. The second day there I made tortillas for chicken enchiladas. My recipe always worked great, whether I halved or doubled it; whether I used white or whole wheat flour. But on this day, when I was making enough for 16 people, the dough turned out very dry. I managed to renovate it, and the tortillas, though not my best, were still good. But I couldn't figure out what happened.

Later in the week I noticed a set of dry measuring cups different from the ones I had used for the tortillas. I noticed that the 1-cup I used to measure the flour for the tortillas appeared to be bigger than the other one. So I took a liquid measuring cup, measured 1 cup of water in it, and poured it into the first cup. There was unfilled space. Quite a bit of it. The water fit exactly into the second cup. I even poured the water back into the liquid measuring cup to make sure the amount was constant. It turned out that the first "cup" held about another 1/4 cup! With 5 cups of flour called for in the tortillas, that meant I had added  about 1-1/4 cups too much! No wonder the dough was so dry!

Whole Wheat Tortillas

At home I have a few different sets of measuring cups, so I thought I would compare 1-cup amounts.

 The red (Betty Crocker) cup was labeled 1 C/235 ml, so I weighed it with 235 ml (grams) of water in it. The water filled it perfectly to the brim. I poured the water and weighed it in the orange and white dry measuring cups. The 235 grams remained constant and the water filled them perfectly to their brims as well. Next I poured the water into the Betty Crocker liquid measuring cup. The water came right up to the 1-cup line and weighed 235 grams. Then I poured the water into my Pyrex 2-cup measure. The 235 grams of water rose markedly above the 1-cup line. I had to take out 25 grams of water, or 5 teaspoons, for it to match the 1-cup line at 210 grams. Poured into my Pyrex 1-cup measure, 235 grams of water rose slightly above the 1-cup line. To match the 1-cup line, I had to take out 11 grams of water, or 2 teaspoons, and it weighed 224 grams. So Pyrex didn't come out looking so good.

Wikipedia: "The cup currently used in the United States for nutrition labeling is defined in United States law as 240 mL." King Arthur Flour: "1 cup = 227 (or 230) ml/g." This discrepancy of standards, about 1 tablespoon difference, surprised me. At 235 ml/g, most of my measuring cups fall in the middle of this range and are consistent with each other. Interestingly, both Pyrex measuring cups not only fall below this range but are inconsistent with each other.

Flour Tortillas

5 C flour (originally called for white, but I use whole wheat)

2 1/2 tsp. salt

3 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 C very hot water

5 Tbsp. canola oil (originally called for shortening; oil works really well)

Mix together dry ingredients. Pour oil into the hot water. Then pour the liquids into the dry ingredients. Stir together with a spoon, and then squish together with hands and knead slightly until you have a cohesive ball. You may need to add a bit more water or flour.  Make about 20 golf ball-sized balls of dough. Cover them with a towel or wax paper so they don't dry out. Let rest for a few minutes. Using a little flour, roll each ball very thin. Cook in a dry skillet on high heat, turning as soon as it starts to bubble; cook for a few more seconds. Do not over-cook. Place cooked tortillas inside a folded tea towel.

Making 20 tortillas all at once can be tedious. So, if I just need a few, I decrease the recipe amounts as follows:

1/3 Recipe: (yields 6-7 tortillas)

1 2/3 C flour

3/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 C very hot water

1 2/3 Tbsp. canola oil

 

1/5 Recipe: (yields 4 tortillas)

1 C flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. (generous) baking powder

1/3 C (scant) very hot water

1 Tbsp. canola oil