[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I baked Pumpkin Espresso Bundt Cake from the KAF site. I had to forgo the espresso in the cinnamon filling because my espresso powder was caked and cemented to the bottom of the jar. I could not pry it out or make a dent into it. Last time, I had been able to put the caked espresso in my grinder and pulverize it but not this time. It went into the trash still in the jar. I bake this cake with white whole wheat flour, and I add 1/4 cup of powdered milk. I replace ¼ cup of the oil with buttermilk. I also reduced the granulated sugar in the cake from 1 cup to ¾ cup and the brown sugar from ¾ to 2/3 cup. There is an additional 1/3 cup brown sugar in the filling. I baked it in my Nordic Ware autumn wreath Bundt pan rather than a deep Bundt pan, so I put half the batter into the pan, then all of the filling on top, then the rest of the batter. I baked for 50 minutes on the third shelf up in my oven.

[BakerAunt]

My bread is a delicious, chewy bread. I'll keep the changes I made to the recipe.

On Friday afternoon, I baked another batch of Maple Granola. My husband, who daily snacks on raisins, had eaten all the raisins in the house, so I used 2 cups of a bag of KAF’s Bakers Blend of dried fruit that I had on hand. I have made a note to hide a package of raisins after we go shopping again.

[BakerAunt]

Here's a take on using a lower protein flour for biscuits:

https://www.foodandwine.com/bread-dough/rolls-buns/biscuits/kelly-fields-biscuits-trick

I don't know where the author of the article shops, but I've NEVER seen 00 flour in a grocery store.

[BakerAunt]

Friday afternoon I'm making another batch of yogurt.

[BakerAunt]

We have a frost warning. We did get some rain yesterday, along with thunder. (Of course we did: there was an all day electrical project going on outside our house and in the garage and shed.)

I have been reading about an eggplant dip that sounds interesting.

I wish that I could make ratatouille, but my husband is not on board with eating it. I love it with brown rice and chicken.

[BakerAunt]

I find Subway bread squshy and not particularly satisfying. However, when we are traveling (back when we could!), Subway is our fast food choice when we do not have our own with us. Although we both get the whole grain, I'm somewhat dubious about the whole grain content.

[BakerAunt]

Time for ratatouille?

[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.

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