[BakerAunt]

I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough that I made last Sunday. My husband finished off the last batch yesterday.

[BakerAunt]

Beautiful loaves, Aaron!

[BakerAunt]

I baked cornbread on Friday to go with leftover beef stew for dinner.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Mike. That does not seem to have helped. I will have my stepson look at it and see if I did it correctly. I recently installed a new malware product after a malware attack that went right past Norton and the minimal Edge defender. Since doing so, I note that ads are getting blocked, which does not bother me, but I wonder if it interprets the comments on the recipes as ads.

[BakerAunt]

Like Joan, I needed a chocolate fix!

I was in the mood for chocolate, but the only recipe for oil-based Chocolate Crinkle Cookies that I could find was at the Lehman's website, and I thought there was one that I had liked better that had more chocolate. I looked in the King Arthur Cookie Companion and found a Chocolate Crinkle Cookie recipe that calls for 6 Tbs. melted butter. I decided to try modifying it. I used 75% white whole wheat, since I still had a mixture left over from last week that I wanted to use up. I cut the salt by a third, and I added a teaspoon of espresso powder. In place of the butter, I used 4 Tbs. olive oil and 2 Tbs. buttermilk. The dough was somewhat slack, but I was able to use a #30 Zeroll scoop. I put each ball into powdered sugar to coat, then used my hand to move each one to the baking sheet. I ended up with 20 large cookies. I baked each sheet on the third rack up for 14 minutes, turning halfway through. These are flat, soft cookies with intense chocolate flavor.

[BakerAunt]

Ah, I love creative cooking, Joan! Your dinner sounds good.

Thursday night's dinner was Garden-Style Turkey Meatloaf with Oats [and Spinach]; My stepson and I had more of the Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta. For my husband, I roasted some potatoes, and he microwaved himself some broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

For some reason, the reviews are not showing up when I go to the recipes. If I click on "reviews," I still do not get them. I had tried to review those for "Rustic Sourdough Bread," but nothing came up for me. That happened with other recipes as well.

I don't know if it is worth it to contact King Arthur, as this appears to be a technical issue.

[BakerAunt]

Well, we have heard no more about KABC bringing back any form of the Baking Circle. I also have noticed that when I go to a recipe at the KABC site now, the written reviews are no longer accessible. That is disappointing, as other bakers' experiences often alert me to issues that may arise BEFORE I try the recipe.

[BakerAunt]

We had a cooler day, with thunderstorms and some heavy rain in the afternoon, so Wednesday was a perfect day for beef stew

[BakerAunt]

Tuesday's dinner was salmon and couscous with Penzey's Greek Seasoning. We also had a microwaved mix of frozen broccoli, carrots, and cauliflower.

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--I found this video useful, including tips on how not to get burned while dropping in the loaf:

Clay Baker Usage Tips

While I haven't tried working with a heated baker, I did find their shaping instructions helpful. We shall see if I ever get the nerve to try the hot, pre-heated baker or Dutch oven.

[BakerAunt]

I made hummus on Monday to eat with the Gourmet Soda Crackers I baked last week. I used chickpeas that I had frozen, and I neglected to drain them, so the hummus is more like a dip than its usual chunky consistency. However, it is still good.

I also made yogurt.

Dinner tonight will be leftovers.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Sunday was roasted chicken thighs. To go with it, for my husband, I roasted some potato chunks tossed in olive oil and sprinkled with Penzey's Mural of Flavor and re-heated some leftover peas and carrots. For me and my stepson, I tried a new recipe, from Smitten Kitchen, for Asparagus, Goat Cheese, and Lemon Pasta. (My husband is not an asparagus fan.) I made a couple of changes by deleting the lemon. I used 1/2 tsp. dried tarragon in place of 2 tsp. fresh, and I added 1/2 tsp. of dried shallots. I used a 4 oz. package of goat cheese that I had, rather than the 5 oz. the recipe specified. I think it needs a little more of something; perhaps I should have included the lemon zest and/or a bit of lemon juice, but that is not my idea of a hot pasta dish. It went well with the chicken, and I could see adding cooked chunks of chicken to make it a main dish.

[BakerAunt]

I once read an article about how professional bakers bake at home. One just put a metal bowl over the loaf.

I'm not sure why one would turn the Dutch oven upside down with the lid rather than leaving it right side up with the lid on.

[BakerAunt]

I'm not sure what was in the Ancient Grains flour that King Arthur marketed some years back, but none of us liked the resulting loaf of bread, which tasted somewhat bitter. I ended up subbing small amounts of that flour into other breads in order to use it up and not waste money.

I suggest being skeptical about coconut oil. While it is trendy in some "health" writings, it has a lot of saturated fat. The last I heard, the American Heart Association was not recommending it.

I have been using avocado oil in some of my cakes. It is neutral and has the same amount of saturated fat as olive oil, plus it also has healthy fats. I also use it, with a tad of butter when making crumb toppings. It works well for sauteing vegetables and meat, and it has a higher smoke point than olive oil.

For a time, I used grapeseed oil, but I could never find information on its health benefits, so I switched to avocado oil.

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