[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked Spiced Pumpkin Bread from Stanley Ginsberg’s The Rye Baker blog (not in his rye baking book). I have baked it four times previously, so I had some notes to follow, including mixing with the paddle rather than the dough hook initially, holding back the oil until after the first rest, and adding a bit more flour (3 Tbs. this time). I may have added a bit too much flour, as the dough was not as slack as usual. That did make shaping easier, and it held its shape nicely when baked. I will see how the texture is tomorrow. I have not ruled out using the bread machine for it next time, as my 7-qt. mixer has trouble kneading this particular dough. It sticks to the bowl and the kneading spiral just makes an indentation in it, so that I have to keep stopping the mixer and re-positioning the dough, which for 8-10 minutes of kneading is a pain, and probably not great for the mixer. I also did not knock the dough down with the mixer after the first rise but kneaded it a bit by hand. I found that it baked in 55 minutes, not an hour.

I baked my signature pumpkin pie, which is my variation on my Mom’s, using my oil crust.

[BakerAunt]

I'm always amazed at people who don't know what to do with Thanksgiving leftovers. The answer is easy: eat them!

I made another batch of yogurt on Wednesday.

I also made my favorite cranberry sauce, using cranberries, dried cherries, light brown sugar, and cardamom. My husband does not like cranberries, so it is all mine, and I will happily eat it until Christmas--as an accompaniment to some meals, stirred into yogurt, spread on toast.

[BakerAunt]

While I didn't have a box that looked as if the NFL had tackled it, the syrup I ordered from another source (before I knew of Chocomouse's sales) also arrived with one of the plastic lids damaged, although it did have a seal inside the cap, so no spilling. Clearly it's rough out there in the mailroom.

[BakerAunt]

Ah, yes, Aaron--chocolate cookie wafers! I have a favorite recipe, from a small Hershey's cookbook that was my go-to for the crust on my chocolate cheesecake. (I really long for the day when I can have a lot of people over, and so can bake those kind of recipes again, knowing that I will only need to eat a little bit.)

Chocolate tart and pumpkin pie--sounds like a balanced Thanksgiving to me! I'd miss the turkey, however. Even when I was single and celebrating Thanksgiving alone, I always made a turkey. Usually, I'd freeze some of it and also freeze some casseroles from it for quick dinners.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I cooked up the rest of our tomatoes that have been ripening in the house. I cooked them down enough for sauce for two pan pizzas. I will freeze these containers.

For lunch on Tuesday, I made a soup using some frozen turkey broth (after setting aside the broth I will need for the ‘stuffing” on Thanksgiving). I used chopped carrots, celery, sliced green onions, sliced mushrooms, and I halved, then peeled a small Queen squash and diced it. I also added some rosemary, sage, thyme, and sweet Curry (Penzey’s), parsley, and the last of the autumn-shaped pasta. It made enough that we can warm it for dinner on Wednesday, so as not to interfere with my pre-Thanksgiving baking.

[BakerAunt]

That's exactly why I chose to stop watching Master Chef. I prefer cooking and baking programs that are actually about cooking and baking.

Monday has been a busy day in the kitchen. I started by making another batch of Maple Granola.

I realized we were almost out of bread, at lunch, so I used the bread machine to knead and then baked my significant adaptation of King Arthur’s Oat Toasting Bread. Mine uses 2 cups whole wheat flour, flax meal, Bob’s Red Mill rolled five-grains, oat bran, buttermilk, less salt and less yeast. I used oil and honey. I also bake it at 375 rather than 350 for 38 minutes.

My final baking project on Monday was Pear Spice Muffins, a recipe by Ellie Krieger. I had baked the recipe last year, but the muffins were a bit spongy. This time, I reduced the oil from 1/3 to ¼ cup and used homemade apple sauce. I baked them in Fall cupcake papers, sprayed with cooking oil, and I sprinkled fall colored sugar on top before baking.

[BakerAunt]

I roasted and processed two pie pumpkins on Sunday. I set aside pumpkin to make Ginsberg’s Pumpkin Rye bread and froze the rest.

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I fed my starter and made dough for another batch of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them after Thanksgiving.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I made another batch of applesauce with the Gold Rush and Winesap “seconds” we bought. I was going to freeze it all, but my husband wanted some with dinner, so I put some in a bowl for the next couple of days and froze the rest. I have enough apples for at least two more batches. With the turkey in the refrigerator to start thawing, I have room for it in the freezer.

For dinner on Saturday, I made green pea soup with carrots, celery, and ham; I season it at the end with dried thyme and marjoram. We have enough for several more meals.

[BakerAunt]

Sigh. I edited the first post, and it disappeared. I unchecked the "save a copy" box, so I'm not sure what happened.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I roasted a peanut pumpkin, made puree, and froze it for later use. I made sure to have five 1/2 cup containers, as I particularly like it in Skeptic's pumpkin biscotti recipe.

[BakerAunt]

I've not had any issues with rising time using the dough bucket.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked Pumpkin Ginger Braid, a King Arthur recipe, using my own homemade pumpkin puree. I replaced 3 cups of the bread flour with whole wheat and increased the bread flour to 3 cups, which is needed since my pumpkin has more liquid than canned pumpkin. I increased the ginger, as I thought it did not have enough last time I baked it, from 1/3 to ½ cup and rehydrated it with a Tbs. of water in the microwave (then left covered). I added 1/3 cup milk powder (BRM) and ¼ cup flax meal to increase nutrition and replaced the 4 Tbs. butter with 4 Tbs. canola oil. I used golden raisins.

I was able to mix and knead it in the bread machine. It rose in a little over an hour in the dough bucket. I have the King Arthur mat with the braiding directions, so I was able to braid it on the first try, although I still need to work on where I join the pieces at the top. I let the second rise go for an hour. I brushed the loaf with beaten egg left over from when I baked crispbread, although I added 1 tsp. water. I baked on the second rack for 30 minutes, but it needed an additional 8 minutes to reach 190F. I covered it with foil for the last eight minutes, as it was overbrowning. Next time, I will cover it a little sooner.

The loaf was a little overdone on the bottom, not bad, but not desirable. I might use a double cookie sheet next time (this is my heavy one) or perhaps the third rack for baking. Another option might be to reduce the oven temperature. The flavor is excellent.

[BakerAunt]

I used leftovers on Thursday to make lunch for today and tomorrow. I sauteed onion in olive oil, then added mushrooms, next garlic, the leftover maple glazed roasted sweet potatoes, the leftover bulgur, then a small can of white chicken. I added some torn kale leaves—which I should have added before the warmed bulgur, but I added a bit of chicken broth so it would wilt.

I made another batch of yogurt.

For Thursday dinner, I made stir-fry using soba noodles, leftover pork and the drippings from deglazing the pan. For vegetables, I used carrots, celery, the last of the red bell pepper from our garden, green onion tops from a pot my husband has been growing, broccoli, and mushrooms.

Note: Day of the week corrected.

[BakerAunt]

Yes, it is sturdy. I lightly oil the dough bucket before I put the dough in it to rise. The dough comes out cleanly--at least so far--even with a higher hydration dough. To wash it, I usually put a bit of dish soap in it, then rub it around to cut the grease before adding warm water and washing it. Hand washing is fast.

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