I'm not baking today, but I am sampling a slice of yesterday's apple pie, along with some coffee. These apples are great for baking. They have a milder taste than the Winesaps that I will be using later this year. I like both. I probably will never get any more of these apples from Michigan, as we will be changing the time of the cousins' reunion. One cousin and her husband spent several days worried whether Hurricane Milton would hit their home in Florida. Fortunately, they did not sustain any damage, but they want to avoid being away during hurricane season in the future, as they would have made certain preparations, which includes their two cats.

I baked another loaf of sourdough .

I baked Maple Granola today, as I ate the rest of the last batch for breakfast yesterday.

By bonus younger son and daughter-in-law are taking the plunge and getting a bread machine. They want their son to have good, healthy bread but were dismayed by the cost. He asked about recipes, which gives me an excellent opportunity to try some single loaf recipes to send to them. I remembered that Zen had done a scaled version of the three-loaf recipe for Grandma A's Ranch Hand Bread (posted at Nebraska Kitchen from the defunct King Arthur Baking Circle), so I looked it up, then looked at how I had adapted the three loaf recipe and made some changes to the single loaf so that it is two-thirds whole wheat with some flax meal, as well as buttermilk and some special dried milk. I replace the butter with olive oil. I am not going to experiment with raising the dough or baking it in the bread machine, but if they want to do it, that is fine. At least they will have good bread! I'm giving them volume measurements but will also tell them about scales.

I have a second reason for this experiment. When we take our next extended trip, I plan to take along the small bread machine (a first generation one!), as it is lightweight and more compact than the Zo, even though the Zo does a better job and can handle more dough. That way, we can have good bread away from home. I will package up ingredients for the recipe and take along a small dough bucket.

I will add to this post after the loaf, which is on its second rise with the oven heating, has baked.

Addition: The loaf did not have the oven spring that this bread has when I bake three loaves, so I must have done something to affect that. I'll see how it is tomorrow when we cut into it. I know that Zen, in her notes on scaling it down mentioned that she had used just 1 1/2 tsp. of yeast but thought that 2 to 2 1/2 tsp. was probably needed. I used 2 tsp. If I try it again, I will increase the yeast.

Yes, Joan! I will be delighted if we have other bakers in the family.

On Friday, I baked a new recipe from King Arthur, "Pumpkin Spice Latte Bars," which was one of their "Bake of the Week" recipes in October. Several reviewers commented that it was too sweet. One reduced the sugar by ¼ cup. I reduced it from 1 ½ cups to 1 cup. I used avocado oil for the oil, and I used just 1 Tbs. of butter and replaced the rest with 3 Tbs. of avocado oil. I suspect that the change in sugar and butter will alter the texture, but without those changes, it does not fit into our dietary parameters. With 1 cup of sugar in the bars and 3/4 cup powdered sugar in the glaze, it's already a dessert on the edge for us.

I did not read the directions for the glaze and went ahead and mixed the espresso powder and salt into the powdered sugar, so I had to heat the water, then mix it into the glaze mixture. As the bars have to be cooled completely before the glaze is added, and then the glaze has to set, we will not be sampling these before tomorrow with tea. I will report tomorrow on taste and texture.

King Arthur also included a link to this discussion of increasing pumpkin flavor:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/10/04/simple-trick-for-better-pumpkin-bakes