Month: January 2017

Lodge Cast Iron Loaf Pan – a Baking Review

Cooking Overhaul

I won this Lodge cast iron loaf pan in a contest on Linda’s Pantry YouTube channel. It is such a great addition to my cast iron collection. I now have a Lodge cast iron 10″ frying pan, a 10″ dutch oven and a 12″ dutch oven. I’ve used the loaf pan several times already, but I will tell you about my first bake in this extraordinary little guy.

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I made dill bread. Many years ago, my husband and I would go to a dinner theater. I had been going to this theater with my mother since I was a little girl. The one thing I always remembered about the place was…. the bread. They served the most amazing dill bread and cheese bread that you have ever tasted. Everyone would ask for seconds, thirds, and more. After many years, the theater actually opened up a separate bakery on site where they would sell loaves so that you could bring some home. They sold out almost every time. It is that good. Soft and airy, with a great dill flavor. It became the routine that when you went there, you rushed to the bakery line that winded down several hallways, and bought your bread before the meal was served. Some people even came late to the meal so that they could get their bread. I wanted to recreate the kind of dill bread that my husband and I had been served at this fantastic dinner theater.  It is that good. Soft and airy, with a great dill flavor.

To recreate this recipe I used my tried and true white bread dough recipe and added 2 tablespoons of dill. It looked good. It smelled good. I set it for the first rise and then pressed it into the Lodge cast iron loaf pan for the second rise.

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I sprinkled some cheese on top, just like they do at the theater bakery.

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The house smelled amazing. I wish I would bake bread more often because whenever I do, I am so happy. And the family loves it, too. While we’re waiting for it to bake, I will review the pan.

LODGE CAST IRON LOAF PAN REVIEW

When the loaf pan first came, I was surprised by how small it was. I’m used to long skinny loaf pans, and this one is a bit wider, but not very long. It measures 10″ long, 5″ wide, and has a depth of 2 3/4″. Once I used it, I realized that it is the perfect size. It weighs a nice and heavy 4.5 pounds. You know you are using cast iron when you pick this thing up! My daughters’ eyes bulged with surprise when they held it!

The pan is already seasoned and ready to use. After baking dill bread, banana bread, sourdough bread and meatloaf, everything just kind of slid out when it was baked, leaving little to clean up. A quick wipe with warm to hot water and a thin coating of fresh oil, and it was ready for it’s next use. This pan can also be used on the grill for holding smoker chips! That’s what I love about cast iron, it is pretty much indestructible!

So, how did my bread turn out?

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Yum! It wasn’t quite as light as we get from the theater bakery, but we loved it. Next time, I’m going to add more dill. While we could taste the dill, we were expecting a stronger flavor, so next time I’ll double it and see if that is better.

The bread was gone in a few hours. And the crust all around was just perfect. Yep, I’m in love with my new Lodge cast iron loaf pan!

 

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My Last Day of Christmas Break

Cooking Overhaul

This summer, I purchased a pressure canner. It has become one of my favorite tools. I had wanted one for years, and after making too much corn on the cob for the 4th of July, I really wanted to can the leftovers because my freezer was full. I had used a water bath canner for years, but was excited to spread my wings challenge myself to canning meats, beans, vegetables, soup, etc.

I went and bought it, yes, I went that night and bought it! It was already 8:00pm by the time I got home.  I canned that corn until 1:00am, loving every minute of it. Yes, I am insane! Now, six months later, I have over 100 jars of food in my reorganized basement pantry. I have a variety of beans (kidney, garbanzo, and pinto,) corn, green beans, red cabbage, peaches, blueberries, barbecue sauce, pickles, potatoes, jams, chicken, pork, sloppy joes, and just a few days ago I canned chicken soup. I plan to can chili, more meat, and some more jam in the months to come.

But today is the last day of Christmas Break, and my family needs something yummy and healthy to eat. Enough with over-indulgence. We need to get back to the weight watchers meals and drop some more pounds! So I decided to make banana bread? Yes, I had 12 frozen bananas taking up too much space in my freezer, so I whipped up 3 large loaves of banana bread, using my new cast iron loaf pan for one. That loaf turned out the best!

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One of my loaves. It looks slightly burnt in the picture, but it wasn’t. 

The banana bread will be perfect for my little girls to eat for breakfast. And if we save up enough points during the day, we can also have a slice. I figured that each slice is about 6 – 8 points. Without butter. Yeah, it’s pricey, but ohh so good!

My official start time = 4:30pm

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I put 4 chicken thighs and 4 skinless chicken breasts in a baking tray and slathered on some of my homemade zesty peach barbecue sauce from the Ball Canning recipe. I covered the meat and baked it at 350 F for 30 minutes and then checked it. I slathered on some more sauce and baked it uncovered for 45 more minutes until the internal temperature was 165F.

Meanwhile, the banana bread also baked away in the oven. I made some rice in my rice cooker, and heated up my homemade canned green beans with mushrooms. This recipe is from my new Ball Canning Book.

 

When the chicken and rice were done, and the green beans were heated up, we sat down for a wonderful meal. We added even more of the zesty peach barbecue sauce, and served up some canned peaches to help take away from the heat of the sauce. Supper was wonderful.

Our goal is to stay around 15 smartpoints per meal. The sauce was 5 points per serving, the rice was 4 points, the chicken was 3 points, and the peaches were 4, for a total of 16 points. That was close enough to our goal of 15 to make us happy eaters! I cleaned up the table and baking supplies and returned my kitchen to normal.

My kitchen was closed at 7:17 pm

So, in less then three hours I had three loaves of yummy banana bread and a healthy meal of zesty peach barbecued chicken with rice, green beans and canned peaches. I also had all of the dishes in the dishwasher and the kitchen was returned to normal. I’d call that a pretty good night!

Now, back to work!

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