[BakerAunt]

Everyone must be in After Thanksgiving Day Mode.

We enjoyed re-running yesterday's feast on Friday.

[BakerAunt]

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The 18 lb. turkey is in the oven. I have some downtime before I need to cook potatoes for muddled mashed potatoes, make the dressing, and then make the gravy. We think that we will be eating between 6 and 6:30 p.m.

[BakerAunt]

Stella Parks is an advocate of using sugar for blind baking. I think that Aaron started a conversation on it a couple of years ago.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked Pumpkin Maple Rolls, using Stella Parks' recipe for Yeasted Pumpkin Bread. I did not use a food processor. Instead, I made it in my bread machine and substituted in half white whole wheat and added 2 Tbs. special dry milk and 3 Tbs. flax meal.

I also baked my pumpkin pie on Wednesday evening. I made one change, since I use an oil crust and did the initial 10 minutes at 400F instead of 425F, before dropping the temperature to 350F for the remaining 10-15 minutes.

[BakerAunt]

My husband cooked boneless pork chops for dinner, and I roasted some cubed sweet potatoes tossed in olive oil. We also had microwaved frozen peas. We also had some of the applesauce that I made on Tuesday. Since my son and daughter-in-law have to leave early Friday morning and will miss leftovers, this way they get the leftovers in advance!

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I made yogurt. I also made my first batch of applesauce from the Ida Red seconds that we bought from the orchard two weeks ago. The applesauce has a lovely pink color. I made it for Thanksgiving, but we will likely have some with tomorrow dinner.

Dinner on Tuesday was leftover turkey, spinach, and mushroom lasagna and roasted honey nut squash.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--I started by using canola oil. When I tried using all olive oil, the dough was not as easy to handle, although that was back when I used AP rather than pastry flour, so maybe I will try it again. I have used half olive oil with the canola for quiche or savory tarts. One reason I have incorporated avocado oil in my pie crust is that it, like olive oil, has 2 g saturated fat as opposed to 1 g in canola oil. I found that a bit more oil made for a better crust, with a bit of flakiness. The recipe uses 1 part buttermilk to 2 parts oil.

The original oil crust recipe came from the King Arthur 200th Anniversary Cookbook. I've adapted it over the years, by reducing the salt by 25% and adding some Bob's Red Mill milk powder. The pastry flours were my idea as well. The original recipe is designed to be pressed into the pie pan without rolling it out. However, with the two pastry flours, I find that I can roll it out and transfer it to the pie dish.

What I found took so long with how I made butter crusts is that once it was rolled out and put in the pan, it needed to be refrigerated, then I would put it in the freezer before blind baking. (I was following Cooks'' Illustrated directions.) The oil crust is put into the pie plate immediately after being mixed, rests for an hour, and then is ready to be blind baked.

I have my old recipe posted, but I should post my updated one. I will do so once I have tried some variation in the savory pie crust.

As for avocado oil, I also like it when I need to brown roasts or in bread recipes where I do not want the olive oil flavor. In whole grain breads, like the Grandma A's Bread, I can use olive oil and the whole grains cover the flavor. In the pumpkin braid I baked last week, I used avocado oil.

[BakerAunt]

What I remember about butter crusts is how time intensive they are. The oil crusts I now make (having given up eating most butter), are easier, and we like the taste and texture. I keep refining my recipe and now use a combination of pastry flour and whole wheat pastry flour, as well as half canola and half avocado oil.

[BakerAunt]

I'm glad you are feeling well enough to bake, Chocomouse. I hope that you feel better each day.

After baking the blueberry pie, I baked three loaves of Grandma A's Ranch Hand Bread, using my changes of substituting in some whole wheat flour and some bread flour, as well as replacing 75% of the water with buttermilk, the butter with 4 Tbs. olive oil, and adding flax meal and milk powder. I also cut the salt by a third. With company, depending on what people want for lunch, we might easily go through two loaves by the end of the week, as I bought some ham for sandwiches.

[BakerAunt]

Joan, I will say a prayer that this time your husband can persevere and quit those cigarettes.

For dinner on Monday, I made Turkey, Mushroom, and Spinach Lasagna, a recipe that I first made several weeks ago. We had roasted honey-nut squash from our garden on the side.

[BakerAunt]

I had some turnip greens that needed using, so I made a quick pasta dish for my lunch on Monday and tomorrow. I sauteed onion, chopped carrot, and chopped celery in olive oil. Near the end, I added the cut turnip greens with a bit more olive oil. After they had cooked for a couple of minutes, I added 1 ½ cups turkey broth leftover from the meal I cooked on Saturday, a heaping tablespoon of tomato paste, ¼ tsp. dried oregano, and ½ cup autumn-shaped pasta (leaves and pumpkins). I cooked at a low boil for 7 minutes, then added ¼ tsp. dried basil, some shakes of garlic powder, and freshly grated black pepper. I had half of it with Parmesan shredded on top.

[BakerAunt]

Today, I'm preparing to bake my blueberry streusel pie. (It uses an oil crust, so I cannot answer Aaron's question, but I bet that Mike can.) I would not usually bake a blueberry pie before Thanksgiving, but my younger stepson (aka as one of my three Bonus Kids) and his wife are coming tonight for three days to spend Thanksgiving with us. They could not come this summer, so he missed out on blueberry pie so far this year, and I need to remedy that situation, as he is usually on a strict blueberry pie diet when he comes.

I will be baking a pumpkin pie on Wednesday for Thanksgiving dinner.

[BakerAunt]

I did the 6-strand braid following King Arthur's directions. I bought a baking mat they had which has the directions written down on the right side. It also has directions for another kind of bread with the filling in the center and cut strips folded over from each side.

When I cut the bread yesterday, I thought it was a bit dry, but that is not the case with the two slices I cut on Sunday.

[BakerAunt]

Now is a great time to stock up on holiday food specials for later.

On Saturday, I cooked Skillet Chicken Thighs with Broccoli and Orzo, a recipe that appeared in The New York Times cooking section, and modified in line with reviews. I like this recipe a lot, but it does mean a major cleaning of the stove afterwards, as the grease splatters from cooking the chicken. We had a bit of leftover coleslaw on the side.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I baked the Ginger Pumpkin Braid recipe from King Arthur. I use my own pumpkin puree (from last year's peanut pumpkin), so I find that I need to increase the flour, and I like to use more whole grain, so instead of 4 ½ cups bread flour, I used 2 ½ cups white whole wheat, 2 cups bread flour, then ended up adding ½ cup whole wheat flour and about an additional 1/3 cup bread flour. I also add 1/3 cup special dry milk and ¼ cup flax meal. I replace 4 Tbs. melted butter with 3 Tbs. avocado oil. I increase the candied ginger from 1/3 to ½ cup, and I use golden raisins. I cut the salt from 1 ½ tsp. to 1 ¼ tsp. I use my own mix of spices instead of a pumpkin pie blend: 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ginger, and ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg. The bread machine can just handle that amount of dough. I did the best six-braid bread that I have ever done. It is cooling, and I am looking forward to slicing it at breakfast tomorrow.

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