[BakerAunt]

My baking plans were disrupted on Thursday because the electricity was off from 9 a.m. until almost 4 p.m. The work was related to repairing the storm damage from a tree to the line to the large storage shed/workplace we have across the road, but they also needed to do some upgrading, so the electricity to the house was also shut off. I worried about the levain that I had started early yesterday evening, but it was cold enough in the house that it went slowly.

I was able to proceed with the bread in the late afternoon. The recipe is from KAF, Honey Spelt Sourdough Bread, and when it works it is excellent. I mostly follow the recipe, but I use ¼ cup of my sourdough starter, rather than the 1 Tbs. in the recipe, as I have a more liquid starter than KAF uses. I replace the 2 Tbs. butter with 2 Tbs. olive oil. I decided to use ½ cup BRM artisan bread flour and ½ cup KAF AP for the white flour. The spelt is a combination of BRM, and enough of a bag of Arrowhead Mills spelt to make the full four cups. I bought that bag at Kroger in May when flour was disappearing fast, but people were ignoring some of the specialty ones.

The bread has a first rise of an hour and a second rise of 90 minutes. I bake it in my Emile Henry long baker. It did have good oven spring, but I did not manage to do a good job at the slashing, so it is a bit rustic. I look forward to cutting into it tomorrow

[BakerAunt]

We are out of crackers. Like Aaron, I have a problem with crackers disappearing fast. I made another batch of dough on Wednesday for the Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. I will bake them next week.

I also baked cornbread to go with soup for dinner. I put the batter into a Nordic Ware Autumn Muffin pan (two leaves, two pumpkins, two acorns). It was slightly too much, but they still came out well. I reduced the temperature to 375F and baked on the third shelf up, which seems to work better with the Nordic Ware pans.

My last project was to make a levain for Honey-Spelt Sourdough Bread, which I plan to bake tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

That sounds delicious, Navlys.

It is soup weather, so on Wednesday, I made a pot of soup, using a mixture of beans and some barley from a company called Pereg. They pride themselves on gourmet beans, grains, and various mixtures. I bought this package a while ago at T.J. Maxx and needed to use it. I did a long soak overnight in salted water, following Kenji Lopez-Alt’s technique. I rinsed them this afternoon, then cooked them in fresh salted water. In a larger pot, I sauteed chopped celery and carrots in olive oil, then added a package of ground turkey and browned it. I added about 6 cups of turkey broth from the freezer, along with 2 tsp. of re-hydrated dried onion and 1 Tbs. Penzey’s Ozark Seasoning. I added the beans to this mixture, then simmered on low. We will have several more meals from this pot of soup.

[BakerAunt]

Why we garden:

https://www.gocomics.com/luann/2020/09/30

[BakerAunt]

Autumn is here, so on Tuesday afternoon, I baked Skeptic’s Pumpkin Biscotti, using white whole wheat flour.

Dinner on Tuesday was sourdough pan pizza (half-sheet pan). I topped with my own sauce, Canadian bacon, 4 oz. low-fat mozzarella, mushrooms, red bell pepper from our garden, green onions, black olives on my half, and Parmesan cheese. Dinner was about an hour late because with the cooler weather, the sourdough crust needed longer first and second rises.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday morning, I made pizza sauce from some of our tomatoes. It is for pizza tonight.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Chocomouse! Apple season should be here. We are trying to figure out how to drive to the nearby orchard and stay safe on the trip. The vendor who came to the farmers' market occasionally has not sppeared this year.

[BakerAunt]

I wanted to use up some limes that were drying out, so I grated what zest I could, then squeezed them for 1 ½ Tbs. juice. My tree produced these limes last year. My husband had had them in the apt. refrigerator, so they were overlooked. I decided that I would see if I could adapt Nick Malgieri’s Macadamia Lime Cookies recipe from Cookies Unlimited (p. 188). It was a favorite of mine back when I could eat buttery rich treats without a second thought. I made up a half recipe, using white whole wheat flour and replacing what would be 6 Tbs. of butter with 3 Tbs. canola oil and 1 Tbs. buttermilk. I added 2 tsp. water as I was shy ½ Tbs. lime juice. I mixed by hand. The dough was crumbly, and I realized after trying to do them as drop cookies that it would not work. Clearly, they need the fat the butter provides to hold together. I pulled out a glass 6x10 inch baking dish, greased it, then pressed the mixture into it. I baked at 350F for 23 minutes (checked at 20 minutes) on the third shelf up in my oven (above halfway).

We won't be cutting the bars until tomorrow, so I'll report then how they taste.

[BakerAunt]

A glass jar shortage could be behind Vermont Country Store not having the large jars. We buy honey from a local beekeeper, and he told us he has had to raise his prices due to the increased cost of the glass jars. We wash and return our jars, because as someone who makes jam, I am grateful when people return the empty jars. He was happy to get the jars back and gives us a discount on each bottle for the bottle returned. I have saved the Vermont Country Store jars because they can be used for canning, and sometimes a three cup jar is a handy size.

[BakerAunt]

Our weather is also predicted to be colder this week. My husband expects that we will have the first fire of the season in the wood stove.

I realized last night that we would be out of bread after lunch today, so I baked my more whole wheat version of Buttermilk Grape Nuts Bread. I decided to try the technique of heating the oven 25F hotter, then turning it down once I put the loaves in. I had a good result with the Whole Wheat Sourdough Pan Bread I baked two weeks ago with that technique. The Grape Nuts Bread loaves had superior oven spring, so I will continue trying this technique on most of the other loaves that I bake.

[BakerAunt]

Delicious leftovers from last night are on our menu.

[BakerAunt]

That makes sense. However, I did notice that the viscosity of the grapeseed oil that I am using now is less than that of the Aldi's grapeseed oil, so I'm not sure it is only about rounding up or down. For me, the choice is less about .5 or more grams of saturated fat and more about what works better in terms of brushing my crackers, browning meat, or sauteing vegetables. What I'm trying to figure out is why the two, from my observations, perform differently.

[BakerAunt]

I agree, Joan! So-called Thanksgiving food is good year around!

On Saturday, I made another batch of yogurt.

Saturday night’s dinner was Tarragon Chicken, Mushrooms, and Rice, a recipe that I adapted from John Waite’s One-Pot Tarragon Chicken, Mushrooms & Rice, which was featured on The Splendid Table website. I replace the basmati rice with a 50-50 mix of brown rice and Lundburg mixed rice, and I scale it so that I can do either six or eight chicken thighs. I found that the rice I use works better if I first bake it for 20 minutes, then add the chicken and roast for an additional 45-50 minutes.

[BakerAunt]

I checked, and the brand I currently used says "expeller pressed" and product of Portugal, Italy, and Spain.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I used leftover grated zucchini to bake my Squash, Whole Wheat, and Oat Quick bread, an adaptation of Ken Haedrich’s recipe in The Harvest Baker. I use a four-well Bundt loaf pan. I will reserve one for dessert and freeze the other three.

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