I started Sunday by making Cornmeal Pumpernickel Waffles. My waffle iron, which I bought in 1990, has developed some sticking issues, but brushing it with canola oil before each waffle does the trick.

I also baked a new recipe on Sunday, "Cinnamon Roll Baby Bunny Cakes," which came from the Nordic Ware site, and which is designed to use their 6-well bunny pan. I made changes by using half barley flour and half King Arthur AP and adding 2 tsp. Bob's Red Mill milk powder. I replaced the ½ cup of butter with 1/3 cup canola oil. Since the butter is melted for the recipe, I knew the oil would work. I replaced regular milk with buttermilk and added 1/16th tsp. baking soda to balance it. For the filling, I used the Penzey's Chinese cinnamon, which is a little stronger than my regular cinnamon. The cakes took 23 minutes to bake and came out beautifully, thanks to The Grease. I was particularly pleased at the definition. Although we should have waited, we did split one this evening. I do need to do a better job getting the cinnamon filling more toward the middle. I am not a great judge of how much batter I have put in, particularly with more decorative pans.

Aaron--My understanding is that the King Arthur milk is heat treated so as not to interfere with yeast bread rise.

I have a hazy memory that the BRM milk powder is not so treated. I know that the one time I mixed the BRM into my yogurt AFTER I had heated the milk to between 180-190F, and kept it there for the required ten minutes, that the yogurt was runny. That suggests to me that the BRM is not the same. That is my one-time observation; others may have a different experience. I cannot use the KA special dry milk for yogurt because it needs to be mixed in with dry ingredients as it does not reconstitute.

I keep both the KA and the BRM milk powder in my cupboard, but I reserve the first for yeast bread (mostly to add additional calcium even if I am using buttermilk) and the second for non-yeast baking and yogurt.

After a morning of thunderstorm and tornado watches on Wednesday ended, I celebrated the quiet afternoon by baking a double recipe of Almond Date Breakfast Bars from Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, by Deb Perelman. I made two minor changes by halving the salt and adding 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder. I baked them in a parchment-lined 11x11" pan for 25 minutes. I cut them into 32 bars. My husband had two at dinner and was much more favorable than in the past. I had not baked the recipe since before we moved here nearly six years ago. I think that using the 11x11 pan rather than a 13x9 pan works better. The recipe is for an 8x8 pan, so that area would be 128, and the 11x11 pan gets closer than the 13x9. The zest from a Cara Cara orange that I used this time gives a lovely flavor superior to the typical Navel orange. We will not be eating them for breakfast but with tea in the afternoon.

I hope that everyone in tornado areas is staying safe.

I made dinner rolls, using a basic bread recipe to which I added a generous helping of Herbes de Provence. I shaped 12 rolls with 80 grams of dough in each, and rolled the tops in KAF's Artisan Bread Topping seeds. 80 grams makes a fairly large roll, good to have with a bowl of soup; but it is more bread than I want to eat with a "dinner" meal.

I baked my Pumpkin Snacking Cake on Thursday, using a cup of frozen "peanut" pumpkin puree. I sprinkled multi-colored nonpareils on top to give a hint of spring to the autumn flavor. Due to its wholegrain content (buckwheat, spelt), I do not bake this cake when the weather gets warm. Right now, that is not a problem.

The dinner rolls I made yesterday are delicious! I'll be making these again.