[BakerAunt]

We're having the same meal as last night: soup and cornbread.

[BakerAunt]

I should have posted here before I placed that order! Sigh. From now on, Chocomouse, I will contact you first! We are devotees of dark maple syrup, and I use a cup every time I make granola, which is frequently, as it has become one of my husband's favorite snacks. In addition to pancakes and waffles, I've been using it more in my cooking and baking.

I try to avoid plastic when I can since I doubt that much of it gets recycled, since so many people around here are careless with what they put into their recycle bins, and if a load has too much contamination, it gets dumped with the trash. I thought that glass might not be as bad for the environment, which is why I have favored it.

I didn't realize that soap could affect glass and damage the flavor of the maple syrup.

I did buy a large jar of maple syrup this summer at the farmers market, as I did last year. They guy selling it is from Michigan and said that demand was such that the cooperative didn't think any would be left over to divide amongst them.

[BakerAunt]

In spite of the key hole, the bread still looks delicious, Mike.

I baked cornbread on Wednesday to go with the soup I made for dinner.

[BakerAunt]

I hope that your garden is ok, Mike.

With more normal temperatures on Wednesday, I made a pot of soup, using about 10 cups of the broth I made earlier this week. I used 1 ½ cups of the Bob’s Vegi-Soup mix of red and brown lentils, split peas, and barley, as well as sliced carrots, chopped celery, a red bell pepper from our garden, about 1 Tbs. dried onion, some dried parsley, and 2 tsp. of Penzey’s Ozark seasoning. When I tasted it after an hour, it seemed to be missing something, so I added a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, and that fixed it.

[BakerAunt]

The comment about American yeast interests me. I have a bread book from a Swedish baker, and I noted early on that it uses a LOT of yeast. He does say in the introduction that he likes to use fresh yeast, but it is not clear from one recipe to another what he is using. I'm curious as to whether the Albanian baker was referring to fresh yeast or the freeze dried yeast.

[BakerAunt]

I've been holding back the oil and salt until most of the flour is incorporated. I usually have about 1-2 cups of flour that I mix with the salt and hold back until after a 15-20 minute rest, then I mix in the oil, then the reserved flour and salt. I agree that it makes a difference in the dough. Cass gave me that hint about holding back the oil until the yeast could get working.

[BakerAunt]

As a retired English professor, I agree with him on inexact word usage.

[BakerAunt]

What a great opportunity, Aaron! I look forward to hearing about further adventures in the bakery.

[BakerAunt]

I understand what you are saying about price, Aaron. If I get a chance to buy flour from a specialty mill, it would only be a small quantity with which I would experiment. What struck me, however, was that I prefer the Bob's Red Mill whole wheat over the King Arthur whole wheat, and I can usually buy it for less than a bag of the KABC whole wheat, especially if I can buy a case of it from Bob's--something that I hope will again be possible when the pandemic flour flurry finally settles down.

I'd be curious as to what KABC would have to say about this article. The article did not give us the numbers.

[BakerAunt]

In another slight tweak to how I bake these crackers, I've started baking them using the convection setting on my oven and baking for 12 minutes, turning half-way through. I bake them three racks up, which is above center. These changes seem to help the crackers bake more evenly.

After I remove the pan from the oven, I make sure all the crackers are separated from each other, then pull out the parchment and allow the crackers to rest on the hot baking sheet while I bake the next batch. The crackers should have space between them on the hot baking sheet, which will promote crunchiness. When the next batch is ready to exit the oven, I move the ones from the baking sheet to a rack to finish cooling.

[BakerAunt]

Earlier this summer, I used the Bob’s Red Mill “Oregon Trail Cookies” recipe as the basis to develop my own version using olive oil and a bit of buttermilk in place of butter. I deleted the flax seeds but used 1 Tbs. flax meal and added 2 Tbs. sunflower seeds. I baked the recipe again on Tuesday, but we are low on honey, and I wanted to save it for my husband to use on his oatmeal, and so I used molasses in its place and added ¼ tsp. ginger to the cinnamon. I like the combination and would use this variation again.

[BakerAunt]

I made another batch of yogurt on Tuesday.

[BakerAunt]

Removed. I put it in the wrong thread.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I baked my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough I made last week.

Yesterday was pleasantly cool. Today was warmer, around 81F. The rain keeps missing us. Our area desperately needs a good rain. My husband says it is one of the most sustained droughts the area has seen.

[BakerAunt]

For Monday dinner, I thawed gravy left over from when we had turkey. I cut up the rest of the leftover chicken and added it to the gravy, along with some dried parsley and chives. I cooked half a package of spinach noodles, then combined them with the gravy and chicken. It made enough that we can have it for dinner tomorrow night as well. We had it with microwaved frozen peas.

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