[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I baked Rustic Sourdough Wholegrain Bread in a Cloche. The finished loaf is so beautiful that my husband is impressed. The recipe has not been coming out as well the last few times. I finally realized that King Arthur has changed their Harvest Grains mix. It has broken grains and seeds but no rolled grains anymore. My mind had registered that something was different, but I thought it was just the end of the bag, I experimented this time by mixing ½ cup of their rolled 5-grain mix with ¼ cup of the Harvest Grains, which I then covered with 5 oz. of boiling water and let cool. I had to add an extra tablespoon of water to the dough at the start of kneading. I already reduce the bread flour by 30 grams due to the Ankarsrum. I am looking forward to tomorrow's slice.

[BakerAunt]

I started my bread baking late, so instead of the planned meal, we finished the rest of the pizza for dinner on Tuesday, with more coleslaw on the side.

[BakerAunt]

The only vegetables left in the garden are cherry tomatoes, which continue to ripen and make nice addition to salads, a bell pepper or two, and some green tomatoes from a volunteer plant. I'm sad that I did not have tomatoes for making sauce. Scott thinks that the tomatoes do not get enough sun in that location, so he is planning to put them in pots along the side of the house next year, as the cherry tomatoes did very well.

[BakerAunt]

I baked Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers on Monday from dough I made last week. Tonight, I will make the levain for the sourdough bread in a cloche that I plan to bake tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

While I don't have a Kitchen Aid Kimbob, I do have a separate machine that separates apple cores and peels from cooked apples. I used to do the hand crank, but that got old. Now I can process them fast. Cooking the whole apple before processing without coring it also allows for more pectin and thus thicker applesauce. It's a double win.

I made yogurt on Monday. Dinner was another third of the pizza and more coleslaw.

[BakerAunt]

Sometimes, CWCdesign, it seems as if the baking universe is against us. I'm glad your brownies turned out ok. We are often more critical of our baking results than our friends are.

I baked soft oatmeal cookies with raisins and walnuts on Sunday. The recipe is my adaptation from one at Jenny Can Cook, the baking site that Len told us about some years ago.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Sunday, I roasted honey nut squash cubes after tossing them in olive oil. We had it with the rest of the roast turkey breast and some coleslaw.

[BakerAunt]

I made sourdough pan pizza on Saturday. Scott had confessed earlier that he does not care for my sauce, or rather, he could take it or leave it. I tried a different approach today. I did not use tomato sauce but put on the usual Canadian bacon, then added two vertically sliced yellow tomatoes from today's farmers market. They were not particularly juicy, and slicing them vertically helps the slices stay together. I then sprinkled on the 8 oz of mozzarella pieces that I had cut, before adding the mushrooms, red bell pepper (including a small one from our garden), green onion, Greek olives on my side, and Parmesan grated on top. It came out very well. I did have to bake it at 450 F for 18 minutes rather than 15 to get the crust browned and evaporate a bit of water. I let it rest for 10 minutes before cutting it. We have both put on four pounds since spring, so instead of cutting this half sheet pizza into 8 pieces, with each of us eating two for tonight's dinner, I cut it into six pieces, and we each had one, along with coleslaw. I usually felt stuffed with a quarter of the pizza, so reducing it to a sixth is good, and we will have an additional meal from it. Scott also liked it.

[BakerAunt]

I made a large buttermilk coleslaw on Saturday, using a green cabbage and a red cabbage that I bought a while back at the farmers market. They kept well in the refrigerator, since I wrapped them tightly in saran. I also added carrots, which makes it extra colorful. We arrived too late at the farmers market today to get salad mix and spinach. They had someone show up earlier and buy every package they had. So, it is good that we have coleslaw for the week.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--King Arthur sells this brand of orange oil. I've also seen them at Williams Sonoma. My current small box of orange, lemon, and lime came from T.J. Maxx, although I have not seen it there in a while. (Refrigerate once opened.)

I awoke too late on Friday morning to bake a new muffin recipe, so I had toast. I decided that for breakfast for the next few days that I would like something less sweet, so in the afternoon, I baked Pumpernickel Raisin Bread with Walnuts, a recipe that I created a couple of years ago from two recipes. I am looking forward to slices with my coffee tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

I'm glad to hear that your finger has healed, Navlys, and that your husband now understands that food does not magically appear.

I made clam chowder for lunch on Friday and will have it for two more lunches. For dinner, we had large salads with pieces of roast turkey on top.

[BakerAunt]

Your friend, and her dachshund, are lucky to have you, Joan. I'm glad all was well.

For dinner on Thursday, I roasted a half turkey breast, which I drizzled with olive oil and Penzey's Northwoods seasoning. I will use a lighter hand next time with the seasoning as it was too salty. I also roasted chunks of honey nut squash and microwaved frozen peas.

[BakerAunt]

We finished the Turkey Spaghetti Squash casserole tonight, along with some microwaved fresh broccoli. We had a drizzly day, so I enjoyed taking it easy after my last three days in the kitchen.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--that ridiculous direction is right up there with directions in some recipes to put the garlic in early. It tends to burn before the other ingredients are sauteed. (I will briefly add them at the start to olive oi before throwing in tomatoes, but that is the only time.)

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--I checked my various recipes and they all call for orange zest along with the juice. That seems to be a fact of life for citrus recipes, and one that I find frustrating, as I always have a lot more juice than zest. However, if you have some orange oil (Boyajian makes one), 1/4 tsp. replaces the zest nicely.

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