Hi,

I've been baking ciabatta weekly although that will probably end this week. Sam is back at school and Henry leaves Sunday so a batch may last as long as a month if I leave them in the freezer after cooling.

I am making progress on shaping them. Less is more in this case. I don't handle them too much so they don't form tight rolls but are rustic buns. I also reduced the rise time after shaping and they came out of the oven higher so maybe I was over proofing them. They still shrink a bit after cooling but they are deeper than before.

I've been making chocolate chip cookies with brown butter and toasted sugar. I think the sugar needs to be toasted more. I think I told you about the first batch with melted butter. These cookies stayed globs and didn't spread. When I used the rest of the brown butter that had cooled and was solid, the cookies spread like normal. I remember reading some place that melted butter will coat the individual flour grains and prevent gluten from forming but is this why they didn't spread?

BA - when you moved from butter to oil did you see anything like this? What kind of oil do you use?

In my quest for a crisp crust I tried something new with pizza. I have been rolling them out and leaving them in the refrigerator for about 12 hours and that dries the top but the bottom on the parchment stays damp. I tried putting them on a paper towel and that didn't really do anything.

Good to see you resurfacing, Aaron! BTW, your thoughts a while ago about forming spread out buns rather than tight rolls helped me figure out why my sandwich buns were not coming out flatter.

I would say that with oil for butter in cookies, it depends. When I bake the Soft Oatmeal Cookies (use canola oil) from Jenny Can Bake, I find that it helps to press them down gently so that they spread out a bit rather than remaining as haystacks. The King Arthur Spiced Rye Cookies that I baked last week use oil (I use avocado for these) spread of their own accord, as do Big Lake Judy's Best Ever Molasses Cookies (use canola oil in these). The Drop Sugar Cookie recipe that I adapted from Betty Crocker online--I reduced the oil and use avocado oil--needs to be pressed down.

Perhaps it depends on the ingredients and their proportions? I do not think it is the oil itself. I favor avocado oil when I want a bit more fat (double what canola oil has) as I removed what the butter has.

I use white whole wheat flour for most of my cookies these days, so that may make a difference as well.

Oatmeal Scotchies are so good, Joan!

I was able to buy another dozen lovely Michigan peaches at the farmers market last weekend. On Wednesday morning, I used them in a recipe that I adapted from King Arthur's "Just Peachy Peach Muffins," to make a half recipe (original made 24) and am calling Peachy Keen Muffins. Among other changes, mine has half the sugar (their version produces cupcakes for all intents and purposes) and uses white whole wheat flour. I also deleted the vanilla, which King Arthur tends to use liberally. In a few of their recipes, lately, a lot of vanilla is used to cover up other problems with a recipe. I erred this morning, as I had intended to adjust the 2 ¼ tsp. baking powder to accommodate the buttermilk I used in place of milk. I meant to use 1 ¼ tsp. baking powder and ¼ tsp. baking soda. However, I had not had my coffee before I started baking and realized that I had put in 1 tsp. baking soda rather than baking powder. So, I added 1 tsp. baking powder and hoped for the best. The muffins rose perfectly, so I will keep the "error." I baked them as six large muffins. I will freeze a few of these for fast breakfasts. I will post my recipe adaptation here at Nebraska Kitchen in case anyone is interested in that I changed.

I finished out Wednesday morning by baking Squash Whole Wheat and Oat Quick Bread, a recipe that I adapted from Ken Haedrich's The Harvest Baker. I needed to use up 2 cups of shredded zucchini left over from when I made turkey-zucchini loaf last week, as well as a partial egg (added 1 Tbs. of water to replace the other half). I baked the recipe as four loaves in a 4-well Nordic Ware loaf pan. I will leave one out for dessert tonight and tomorrow. I will freeze the other three. While it was a little warm for baking today, it is about 10 degrees cooler than yesterday.

I also made the Peachy Muffins last week, BakerAunt. I cut back the sugar and salt, and used buttermilk. I sprinkled the tops with turbinado sugar. I made the full batch of 24 and froze most of them. They turned out great. I really like making big batches so that I have some for the freezer for when I am traveling. I'm considering using the recipe to make other fruit muffins, with some changes in the flavoring/spices used. I also used 1/2 cup of almond flour in place of 1/2 cup of the AP; next time I will use all AP, I just want to see if the almond flour makes a huge difference in the texture, particularly the tenderness.

BakerAunt, you are right, I've read at least one blog on KAF about using almond flour. But decided to just try a 1:1 substitution, and it worked. But -- it was a small amount, just 1/2 cup swap. I was going to call the help line, but decided to just wing it.

I enjoy and appreciate the photos y'all put on this site. They're lovely to look at and inspirational. Of course, the posts are also inspirational -- so much good cooking and baking going on.

Joan, I'd like to make a request of you. I've found your baked goodies for your yard man both scrumptious-looking and guilt-inducing. I'm gyping my yard man. I never bake for him. So the request is this: Please keep giving your yard man lovely goodies so he never moves to my part of the nation. I don't want him meeting my yard man and telling him about the wonderful woman who baked for him.