I keep coming across articles about baking when some ingredients are difficult to find. Thought maybe a master thread with links might help me remember some of the ideas.
Note: if any of these are behind a paywall, I’m glad to paraphrase.
Please share what you’re finding, too!
This recipe is getting some pleased reviews on the WaPo site; I’m thinking of trying it next week.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/no-knead-english-muffins/17366/
A good round-up of ideas, recipes, and resources for “easy” breads:
Cake ideas for when you’re missing a critical ingredient yet still want, well, to eat cake:
Egg replacement:
I know this is posted elsewhere on FTC, and @catholiver has made it; it is very easy and quite tasty (I tend to make it as a foccacia-style loaf, using olive oil rather than butter to grease the pan):
I’ve found that instant yeast goes nuts with lukewarm water or rising in a warm spot. Which is great for me since our house is often 65°.
Now that’s a clever idea.
Some years ago we bought a Samsung range because of an induction cooktop. Never thought the proof setting in the oven would be used. Like yours, our house is ‘chilly.’
Butter in focaccia. Oh lordy . Never ever . Perdonami signore .
Who said anything about that?
Italians do it sometimes. Probably northerners.
https://www.google.com/search?ei=7riUXtCqJ4yV0PEPnuum-AE&q=focaccia+al+burro&oq=focaccia+al+burro
Equipment:
heavy-duty mixer with a dough hook
instant-read thermometer:
Ingredients:
170 g whole-wheat flour
330 g all-purpose flour
10 g salt
6 g instant yeast
325 g water
Mix dry ingredients in mixer bowl. Add water and beat with dough hook (#2 speed on a KitchenAid) until the dough forms a ball and cleans the bowl, then continue beating for two minutes more.
Release the dough hook, remove the bowl from the mixer, and remove the hook from the dough. Using a spatula, shape the dough into a smooth ball. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled. Took one hour and 45 minutes in my kitchen.
Set oven to 465°. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board, then stretch and fold for three turns. Shape as you like, optionally cutting to make multiple loaves, place on a sheet pan, then cover with a towel for 20 minutes.
Bake on the sheet pan until the internal temperature reaches 210°, around 20-30 minutes depending on the shape. The boule shown above took 30.
Next time I’ll try one of the techniques discussed here for making it crustier.
I started with this Mark Bittman recipe, which I found annoyingly vague.
probably mentioned in at least one of the posted articles, but my baking is limited to mixes, so i only need substitutes for eggs and oil at most. mayo works in place of eggs, and any sort of fruit puree works in place of oil - with the advantage that cakes made with fruit actually get moister with time. prune puree works pretty well with chocolate cake/brownie mix. a little dense sometimes, but tasty.
Here is a link to recipes using aquafaba instead of eggs, [] Results from SeriousEats.com. It works well for egg white substitutes, and some whole egg recipes. Hasn’t been a run on canned beans yet so it should be around for awhile.
There were no beans when I went to Costco the other week.
I guess you should have gone to Ralphs, or the Krogers equivalent in the Bay Area, https://www.ralphs.com/search?query=canned%20beans&searchType=natural
Foods Co.? No thanks.
continuing way off topic, i much prefer dry beans to canned, they’re cheaper, and if you slow cook them (vs. pressure cooker), the flavor and texture are so much better. legumes are a primary source of protein for the dishes i prepare for the homeless. a popular dish is vegetarian chili by substituting ratatouille (wow, surprised i spelled it correctly on the first try) ingredients minus the mushrooms for the meat and adding corn. but i add the cubed squash last so it retains texture. most of them don’t even realize there’s no meat.
this is where ethnic markets come in; they’re more likely to offer dry beans in bulk. before the quarantine i could stock up on pinto beans at $.39/lb on sale. now they’re $1.49/lb. dry garbanzos were still only $.79/lb. so i went with them and made a curry instead.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of mushrooms in ratatouille before. Or am I misunderstanding what you wrote?
