[BakerAunt]

Friday morning was cool enough that I decided to bake Buttermilk Oaten Cakes, a recipe from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads (1987), pp. 215-216, that I had marked to try. He notes that the recipe comes from County Cork, Ireland. It called for mixing 2 cups quick or old-fashioned oats with 1 ¼ cup buttermilk or sour milk and allowing to sit overnight before adding a mixture of 2 ½ cups bread or AP flour combined with 1 tsp. baking soda and 1 tsp. salt the next day. I used old-fashioned oats, and when I looked at them this morning, they had absorbed the buttermilk, and I knew that 2 ½ cups flour would be too much, especially as I planned to substitute 1 cup of white whole wheat flour. So, I used 1 cup white whole wheat and 1 cup King Arthur AP flour. I left the baking soda amount but cut the salt to ½ tsp. The recipe states to add a little milk if the mixture is dry in order to get a soft, smooth dough. I added an additional 4 Tbs. of buttermilk. I though the baking time of 40 minutes at 350 F seemed a bit long for the dough, which is flattened to 1-inch thickness, then cut into four quarters, "placed side by side." I was not sure what side by side meant. I kept them separated from each other. I baked for 30 minutes, then checked with my trusty instant read thermometer. With temperatures of 198 and 202 F, I took them out. I had a warm one for breakfast. I like the taste. Although it has no sugar, the oats give it a slightly sweet taste, and I used Land 'o Lakes canola-butter spread on my first half and added blackberry jam on the second, although the jam covers the oat flavor. I am not sure how these will be at room temperature. I may re-heat slightly. They are large, so if I were to bake them again, I might cut them into sixths rather than fourths and adjust the baking time accordingly.

One reason I tried this recipe is that my husband has taken to eating jam and bread with tea, so we are going through bread much faster. I want to give him an alternative.

[BakerAunt]

I made dough for Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I'll bake them early next week.

[BakerAunt]

What concerns me is whether the book focuses mostly on regular flour rather than wholegrain flours, which I prefer.

I will look at it on Amazon. I can get a good deal at Barnes and Noble, but I have to move quickly on that one, as it would soon expire.

I'm also feeling guilty about not using my shelf of bread books more than I do. Maybe it is time to set up a challenge for myself to bake new breads, particularly with the weather about to turn cooler.

[BakerAunt]

Temperatures were in the upper 80s today, so I had no desire to turn on the oven. Our Thursday night meal was more of the black-eyed peas, rice, and ham, which we heat in the microwave, and an ear of sweet corn each. Our favorite growers just announced that there last planting is ready, so we drove there and picked up another dozen ears.

I also made a small batch of tomato sauce (2 cups) from about 6 cups of tomatoes.

[BakerAunt]

Happy Birthday Mike!

[BakerAunt]

Here is the link to the peach pie recipe that I used:

Brown Sugar Peach Crumble Pie

Another change I made was NOT to peel the peaches. The peach muffin recipe from King Arthur left the peaches unpeeled, and I did not notice the peel in the muffins. I wondered if I could also leave it on for pie, so I googled it and found that I could leave the peel:

https://www.muddysbakeshop.com/blogs/all/a-peeling-peach-pies

So, leaving the peel on tastes better, may be more nutritious, reduces food waste, and saves time in the kitchen.

Although the pie is supposed to set for three hours, we sliced it after two hours, and it was delicious warm! I've found my peach pie recipe.

[BakerAunt]

We will have more of the black-eyed peas, mixed brown and wild rice, and ham that I made yesterday. Dinner that needs just warming up let me have a lot of baking time today!

[BakerAunt]

I looked at our bread holder Wednesday morning and saw that there was a single thick slice, so I knew that I would need to bake bread. As the temperatures are rising again, a three-loaf recipe would let me freeze two to get us through the heat wave, so I defaulted to my Whole Wheat Oat Bran Bread. We both really like this bread.

In between the steps for the bread, I tried a new recipe, Brown Sugar Peach Crumble Pie," from the site, "Sally's Baking Addiction." I think someone at Nebraska Kitchen has baked from this site with positive results, and I liked how the recipe looked. I made a couple of changes, as I used my oil-buttermilk crust, which requires a blind bake. I used 1 Tbs. butter and 3 ½ Tbs. avocado oil in the crumb topping instead of all butter. I use a deep-dish Emile Henry ceramic pie plate, and I had eleven peaches, some small, so I increased the peaches from seven to eight. I used the tapioca option for thickening. I baked the pie at 375 F convection for 20 minutes, then put a shield over the crust and reduced the temperature to 350 F convection, after another 20 minutes, I covered the pie with foil to keep the crumbs from getting any browner, and let the pie bake for another 20 minutes. I then took off the pie shield, which prevents my seeing if the pie is bubbling around the edges and baked another 5 minutes. The streusel is a little too browned in spots. Next time, I will do my usual initial foil topping for the first 45 minutes.

[BakerAunt]

I like a peanut butter-banana, with drizzle of honey, on wholegrain bread sandwich. I developed a taste for it when I was a student at UCLA and if I were in a situation where I needed to grab lunch, the "Walter Wheatbunny," as it was called, always hit the spot.

[BakerAunt]

Sounds like a balanced dinner to me, Joan--fruit/vegetable and grains!

I made yogurt on Tuesday. For dinner, I made black-eyed peas with mixed brown and wild rice and ham. We are enjoying the cooler weather, but it is not predicted to last.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--I debated whether to take a walk or bake. Baking won. The tomatoes, to my surprise did not cause any moisture issues in the quiche. It is tasty, and I would certainly bake it again. I like the square shape, as it is easier to arrange the tomato slices on top.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I cut up, tossed with olive oil, and roasted some of the potatoes my husband harvested from our two plants. We had it with the leftover roasted chicken thighs and most of the rest of the green bean, tomato, and feta salad.

[BakerAunt]

We awoke to a cooler day on Monday. I took advantage of it by baking 35 mini-chocolate chip banana mini-muffins. I will freeze some of these, and we will have the rest at teatime.

I then baked a tomato quiche recipe that came last year in an email from Stonyfield Yogurt that I have wanted to try since last year. I used my oil-buttermilk partly wholegrain crust, rolled 1/8th-inch thick and fitted into a 12 x 12 inch La Forme quiche pan with removeable bottom. I'm not sure that I have ever used that pan before. I had to adapt the recipe a bit as I did not have Stonyfield full-fat Greek yogurt but Chobani non-fat Greek yogurt, which is what is sold in my area. I replaced the halved Roma tomatoes with thick slices of tomatoes from our garden. I used 3 tsp. dried basil, as I did not have ¼ cup fresh basil. (If I had planned in advance, I could have bought fresh basil at the market this past weekend. Sigh.) I also halved the salt from ½ tsp. to ¼ tsp., as the Parmesan and crust would have enough salt on their own. I par-baked the crust at 400 F for 10 minutes. The quiche itself baked for 23 minutes. I cut it into fourths and had a quarter for lunch. The rest if for lunches, or even breakfast, the rest of this week.

Once the quiche came out, I mixed up a batch of maple granola that bakes at a lower temperature for an hour before being stirred and baking for another hour. My husband tackled the pile of dishes. I think he was grateful for the mini-muffins and the maple granola.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday morning, I baked Oatmeal Peach Muffins, a recipe that I adapted from the book, Muffin Magic. This time, I used all white whole wheat flour and added 1 Tbs. of flax meal to my adaptation. For spices I used 1 tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ginger. I added 1/3 cup candied ginger, which I let pre-soak for 15 minutes with the oats and buttermilk. Next time, I might increase it to ½ cup.

I had planned to do more baking today, but it was warmer and more humid than expected, so I will wait until tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

Our green bean plants have been producing again, while my husband was not looking, so some beans were fatter than optimal. However, I still used them to make our favorite Green Bean, Cherry Tomato, and Feta salad for dinner on Sunday. We had it with leftover roasted chicken thighs, and the last two ears of corn.

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