What are you Baking the Week of October 12, 2025?

[Mike Nolan]

No baking plans yet, either. I finished the last of the cinnamon rolls last night, so I'll make another batch at some point.

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[cwcdesign]

I made Ballymaloe Brown Bread from Simon Pearce's cookbook. His mother had given the original recipe to the Allens (they lived nearby) and then Mrs. Allen adapted it. Simon Pearce's restaurant uses an Irish wholemeal from Ireland, but says you can substitute KAF Irish-Style Flour. The KAF is lower in protein so I subbed in a cup of bread flour for one cup of the Irish-Style

This version is made with yeast and it was supposed to have a quick rise. It started out great in the oven. After I took the loaves out of the pan and put them upside down on the rack for the final phase of baking, I noticed they had shrunk. As I turned around, I glanced at the recipe and noticed that I had forgotten the salt 🙄 which explains a lot.

Good news is the texture and flavor are fine, but the salt will certainly enhance it next time.

[BakerAunt]

Oh, CWC design--I hate it when I make those mistakes. Maybe some salted butter will help the bread?

For Sunday breakfast, I made Pumpkin Oat Wholegrain Belgium Waffles. Annie, our dog, loves waffle mornings, and she gets tidbits from both of us, since Scott has his waffles first, and then I have mine while I finish cooking the rest. I had eight left over, which I froze for future quick breakfasts.

[cwcdesign]

The salted butter does help, as does dipping the bread in tomato soup.

BA, I'm always jealous of your waffles - I'm usually too lazy to make waffles or pancakes (don't even own a waffle iron). But, then again, y family was never up to eat them when I'd want to make them.

[BakerAunt]

I have a simple waffle iron, CWCdesign that is 35 years old and still works well as long as I brush it with canola oil before each double waffle. It was a reward to myself after I had to drive in the aftermath of a major snowstorm in Washington state, that got me off the road and into a motel the night before. I had waffles at a diner restaurant chain the next morning before getting back on the road, and I told myself that when I got home, I would buy a waffle iron and make my own.

I was going to give one of my sisters a waffle iron last Christmas, but all I could find were the very large, complicated ones, with lots of settings. Mine is on when plugged in and off when not. Four and a half minutes does an excellent job. I don't think that brand is even made any more.

[Mike Nolan]

Your waffle iron sounds like ours, and we've probably had it for over 40 years.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--they don't make waffle irons like they used to!

I began Tuesday by baking Pumpkin Oatmeal Whole Wheat Muffins, which I sprinkled with Penzey's Cinnamon Sugar before baking. I used Halloween muffin pan liners.

In the afternoon, I baked Pumpkin Spice Latte Bars, a King Arthur recipe that was new last year and we liked. My main change is to replace 4 Tbs. of butter with avocado oil, but I also use white whole wheat flour. They have to cool completely before glazing, then the glaze needs to set, so we will start eating them for dessert tomorrow.

After dinner, I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, because I noticed that the level in the cracker container is getting low, and the dough needs to rest for four or five days in the refrigerator before I can roll it out and bake it.

[Mike Nolan]

Mike--they don't make waffle irons like they used to!

Ain't that the truth. Or toasters.

[RiversideLen]

I baked chocolate cupcakes from a box mix. I froze half of them for later.

[BakerAunt]

As for toasters, our old one that had belonged to Scott's parents, finally popped and smoked, so that was the end of it. When I looked at toasters online, my head was spinning--so complicated and so expensive. I then went to the Best Buy site and found a Bella toaster. It's long and thin, so easily stowed, and I can put a slice of long bread in it for toasting. It also works reasonably well for waffles from the freezer if I give them a short thaw in the wrapping on the counter. Not bad for $25. My only complaint is that the numbers are written in white on the light blue green, so I have to look closely at the settings, but I usually don't change them much anyway.

[BakerAunt]

On Thursday, I adapted the recipe "Chewy Oatmeal Cookies" from King Arthur's Whole Grain Baking, 1st edition (p. 314). I replaced ¾ cup of butter with ½ cup avocado oil plus 2 Tbs. buttermilk. My only other change was to add 1 Tbs. of milk powder. I used dates as the dried fruit and walnuts. I used a #30 scoop and got 39. I made a mistake by putting 20 on the baking sheet. They were fine when I turned them around after 7 minutes, but at the end of another 7 minutes, they had run together. Oops. Even if I were making them with butter, I think that would have happened. (So much for 2 baking sheets for 50 cookies.) I redistributed some of the scooped batter on the remaining baking sheet onto yet another, so that this time they were properly spaced. On the first sheet, I was able to cut the cookies apart and only two fell apart, which of course meant that I had to eat them. I really like the flavor and the chewiness: oats, dates, and walnuts are a wonderful combination. The cookies need to cool on the pan until firm enough to move. I will definitely make this version again, although I will probably add another tablespoon of powdered milk.

After dinner, I made the levain for another loaf of my Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough bread.

[Joan Simpson]

Cookies sound good BakerAunt and I need to get back to baking breads too.I made Banana bread for my sister in love and a Lemon Supreme pound cake for my friends and family tomorrow, don't think we're playing tomorrow night so I'll be heading to my friends.

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[BakerAunt]

The cookies are good, Joan, but I should have put waxed paper between them in the container, or else stored them in single layers. We are breaking pieces off to eat. Next time, I will get it right.

On Friday, I baked another loaf of Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough bread.

[BakerAunt]

I decided on Saturday to bake a pumpkin pie. I found a container of frozen Fairy Tale pumpkin from last year in the freezer. After dinner, when it had thawed, I made the pie, which is now cooling on the counter. I was worried about getting another Fairy Tale this year, as the usual vendors did not grow pumpkins this year. However, when we were at Kroger last Monday, lo and behold, there were Fairy Tale pumpkins from a family farm, so I bought a large one and will process it later.

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