[BakerAunt]

I cooked a pot of black beans on Friday. We had fill-your-own rye tortilla wraps for dinner. I put ground beef, black beans, tomato (the first one from our garden!), onion, Penzeys Salsa and Pico, and grated mozzarella in mine. My husband omitted the black beans and onion and the seasoning. The tortillas did not soften in the microwave very much. My husband ate his like tostadas. I managed to get mine folded around the filling.

[BakerAunt]

My first chocolate for breakfast was a chocolate cinnamon roll recipe. I think longingly of it, but I can only bake it now if I have enough people to eat almost all of it after I have a single roll.

Friday's baking plans were derailed at the crack of dawn when my husband awoke me with the words: "We have problems. The pump won't shut off." In our area, the houses have wells. We have a call into the plumber to diagnose the problem, which could range from the simple to the very expensive. For now, my husband has shut it off, so activity that generates a pile of dirty dishes is not viable.

[BakerAunt]

That's my husband's tomato philosophy as well. I never heard the end of it the year I bought a plant which featured tomatoes with green shoulders.

Congratulations on a splendid tomato crop, Len. We have now harvested three tomatoes from the plant I got at the farmers' market. The two Gurney's tomato plants are disappointing. One finally has some fruit, the other nothing. These were the two that started life under the grow lights that appear to have stunted them badly. Our cherry tomato plant has fruit, so I look forward to their ripening.

[BakerAunt]

Bob's keep sending me emails proclaiming how it is now easier to get their products. They include a "store finder." Of course, no one store has all the products, and they cost more. The marketing spin seems to be that they are supporting local stores and making it easier for us. I'm surprised that BRM did not also present a bridge for sale....

[BakerAunt]

Pie is always better when there are people with whom we can share it!

[BakerAunt]

I tried a new recipe for dinner on Tuesday: Turkey Sausage and Spinach Lasagna, which was posted online at My Recipes. It uses no-boil lasagna noodles. I replaced the turkey sausage with ground turkey and deleted the garlic. I used 12 oz. frozen spinach in place of fresh. I deleted the shallots and used ½ tsp. dried onion. To thicken the milk sauce, I used whole wheat flour, and I used olive oil rather than canola oil. I used ½ tsp. poultry seasoning and a bit of sweet curry in the sauce. I baked in a 13x9 lasagna pan because with no-boil noodles, they should not touch the side of the pan or each other, and I used three per layer. I used 15 oz. of low-fat ricotta rather than 12 oz. because I did not want it left over. My husband and I thought it a delicious meal, certainly something different to do with ground turkey, so I will probably make it again. We had it with some fresh green beans from the garden.

I also made yogurt today.

Here's the original recipe: https://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/turkey-sausage-spinach-lasagna

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover roasted chicken thighs, potato salad, and some of the fresh crop of green beans from our garden.

[BakerAunt]

A bit of humor on bread baking:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/entertainment/comics/mt-pleasant-by-rick-mckee-and-kent-sligh/ss-AA10GqyG?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=c90885b16a5e4cf1e4c698100590e0bb#image=1

[BakerAunt]

Ken Haedrich has a recipe in The Harvest Baker for Roasted Beet, Spinach, and Feta Cheese Flatbread, which I tried last year and liked. I decided to bake it for lunch on Monday, with leftovers for the week.

Our farmers' market is currently in a spinach lull, but the golden beets I bought had lovely tops, so I cleaned them well and used them instead of spinach. The kind of onion is not specified; I chose red onion. The recipe calls for 2 cups feta cheese. I bought a 4 oz. log of goat cheese and cut it up to use as the topping.

I used his crust recipe--well, sort of used it. He has a variation where a cup of whole wheat flour can be substituted for AP flour. I did that, but I used King Arthur's Italian-Style Flour rather than AP, and for the extra 2 Tbs., I used semolina. I also use water rather than milk but add 2 Tbs. special dry milk. My other alteration was unintentional. I noticed that the dough was rather dry as it was kneading in the bread machine, so I added 2 tsp. water. I only realized when the dough had risen that I had forgotten to add the egg, which was still sitting on my counter. Mise en place only works if the counter is not cluttered.

Instead of making two separate flatbreads, I made one big one that I rolled out and put on my 1 and 2/3 sheet pan. I baked for 24 minutes. The result was a thin, crisp, cracker crust. The topping is superb. Given how well the crust turned out, I will not bother with the egg but instead use 2-3 tsp. water when I make the recipe again.

[BakerAunt]

It also may have health benefits if, as thought, it lowers cholesterol, helps with blood pressure, and improves blood sugar.

I regularly use half barley flour in many of my cakes. I had planned to use half barley in this one, but as I checked some internet sites to make sure barley and chocolate go together, I read that barley can be substituted for AP flour and decided to experiment. There was a warning to substitute by weight not volume.

The sources did state not to use too much of it in yeast breads because of its low gluten content.

[BakerAunt]

We had the rest of the leftover stir-fry, which is why I could do a major cake baking project this afternoon.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday afternoon, I baked Chocolate Zucchini Bundt Cake, a recipe from an email that Williams Sonoma recently sent. I baked it as four small Bundt cakes, using my Nordic Ware 9-cup pan that makes four small ones, and the batter fit perfectly. I decided to weigh ingredients using the metric measurements. I replaced the AP flour with barley flour, after researching it online and finding a lot of chocolate cakes that exclusively use barley flour. I halved the salt since I was not using kosher salt. I added 2 Tbs. of Bob’s Red Mill milk powder. I used the canola oil option. I used light brown sugar rather than dark, as that is what I have. I reduced it from 280g to 224 (20%), and I also reduced the granulated sugar slightly from 125 g to 109g. I used the fine grating disc for my food processor to achieve the finely grated zucchini. I had a bit more than needed but added all of it. I baked for slightly less than 45 minutes, cooled in the pan for 15 minutes, then turned them out with no sticking. (I used The Grease.) I will let them rest overnight. One will be sliced at dessert after dinner on Monday. I will freeze at least two of the others for dessert emergencies.

I will add a note to this post tomorrow about taste and texture.

Promised Note: The flavor is good, and I can even taste a bit of the 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon. Next time, I would use avocado oil instead of canola, because it needs a bit more fat. I might also bake it for a few minutes less.

[BakerAunt]

It still looks like a great loaf, CWCdesign. I find that most of the KABC recipes have much longer proofing times than my dough needs, particularly in the summer.

I use the gold yeast mostly for sweet doughs. I use a combination for my Grape Nuts Bread, which seems to rise better with some of the special gold added. However, I seem to recall that Len uses the special gold for all his breads. Perhaps he can weigh in on the issue.

I used the last of the blueberries on Sunday to bake my adaptation of that oatmeal blueberry muffin recipe I baked a couple of weeks ago for breakfast this morning. Next time I may reduce the brown sugar from a half cup to a third cup, but I will go ahead and type my version for my recipe binder.

[BakerAunt]

There were no electric mail trucks on order last year, but there were surcharges.

Last year, I was caught by surprise, so I wanted to make sure people on this site are aware this year and plan accordingly.

[BakerAunt]

I was able to buy lovely organic Kennebec potatoes at the farmers' market, so I made potato salad on Saturday, which we had with roasted chicken thighs and microwaved frozen peas.

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