[BakerAunt]

Oh, no! Mike, what is the rationale for the ban?

[BakerAunt]

When I turn my oven off, if it is over a certain temperature, the fans come on to cool it down. It would work with 250, however, since the oven doesn't bother with a temperature that low. (I had to explain that to my husband when I cooked granola, turned off the oven, and he didn't hear the fan.)

[BakerAunt]

Now I'm craving a sandwich made with Aaron's rye bread! Ah, the testing parties and potlucks we would have if we all lived close to each other....

After lunch on Thursday, I baked Apple-Cider Doughnut Cake, a recipe from Martha Stewart’s A New Way to Bake, which, is also available on the internet. I made some minor changes in that I used white whole wheat flour rather than whole wheat. I also increased the cinnamon in the batter to 1 ½ tsp and added ¼ tsp. nutmeg. I don’t use kosher salt in baking, so I used ½ tsp. salt in place of the ¾ tsp. After reading some comments, I reduced the olive oil to ¼ cup and made up the difference with ½ cup canola oil. I also added ¼ cup Bob’s Red Mill milk powder and 2 Tbs. flax meal. I used cider we bought at a local orchard. I decided to try it in my 10-cup Nordic Ware Autumn Wreath pan, instead of a 12-cup Bundt pan, and it fit well. I used The Grease, and the cake easily came out of the pan. The pattern shows up pretty well, but I am concluding that it will never be as sharp as it can be with a butter cake. Nonetheless, I’m opting not to do the cinnamon sugar “coating,” as I don’t want to obscure the pattern that is there.

Here is a link to the recipe: https://www.marthastewart.com/1513135/apple-cider-doughnut-cake

Update: We like the cake a lot and don't think it would need the sugar coating. I will bake it again, with the same changes I made this time.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.
• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I think at one point, in a discussion on this site (or was it the old KAF site?), we concluded that Sugar-in-the-Raw is the same as demerara sugar, except for the name and the cheaper price, not to mention easy availability. Unless a recipe specifically calls for it, then I mostly use it to sprinkle on top of breads and muffins. It makes a nice finish, and I like the taste.

I did once use it in a cake and had some issues. Cass suggested at that time I might grind it in a blender if I were to bake the recipe again.

[BakerAunt]

I found this site:
https://www.whatsugar.com/post/unrefined-vs-raw-vs-refined-cane-sugar

I'm going to go with the idea that Martha's "natural cane sugar" is the same as sugar in the raw or demerara sugar.

[BakerAunt]

I selected the correct answer.

[BakerAunt]

On Wednesday, I baked my lower-saturated fat, whole wheat, sourdough cheese crackers from dough I made up last week.

[BakerAunt]

Wednesday’s dinner was panko coated chicken breast, accompanied by spinach noodles that I mixed with some leftover frozen broccoli from the freezer, along with some olive oil, a little milk, and Parmesan cheese.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--It might be that the bread needed more yeast and/or more water. A few weeks ago, I tried some changes to a bread I'd not made in a long time, and it came out dense after both rises took longer, and it too did not have the oven spring it should have had. I recalled this bread having a good rise previously. I realized that I'd cut the yeast too much, and that with some additional whole grains, it needed more water.

I'm also finding, now that the weather has cooled down, that my kitchen is not the best place for dough rising. The kitchen countertops are cold, so it does help to put a pad under the dough bucket, so heat is not lost there. The adjacent dining area is warmer when our wood stove is in use.

[BakerAunt]

I had no idea.

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday morning, I cooked a package of Bob’s Red Mill black beans, which I had soaked overnight. I used most of the beans (3 lbs.) to make Black Bean Pumpkin Soup, a recipe from Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen. I made some minor changes, using onion rather than shallots, which I don’t have, and substituting 1 cup crushed tomatoes left over from another recipe for 1 cup drained canned tomatoes that get pureed with the beans. I deleted the salt and reduced the cumin to 1 ½ tsp., since I know my limits. I replaced butter with olive oil, and a 16 oz. can pumpkin with about 3 cups of my puree from the freezer. I had a bit of chopped ham, which I added, but I didn’t have 8 oz. I deleted toe 3-4 Tbs. of sherry vinegar, as I don’t have it, but I did add the ½ cup sherry. In place of the 4 cups beef broth, I used 2 cups boiling water with a heaping tablespoon of Penzey’s beef base, and I added 2 cups of the black bean liquid, because why waste it? It makes a lot of soup, and I had to change over to my 5 ½ quart Dutch oven from a 4 quart. I’ll be eating it this week for lunch (and may freeze a couple of servings) by myself, since my husband does not care for black beans or cumin.

I also made applesauce with some “seconds” apples that have been in the refrigerator for a while and looked it. The applesauce came out well, and I froze it for Thanksgiving, since my husband does not care for cranberries.

For Tuesday dinner, I made a stir-fry using leftover rotisserie chicken, soba noodles, green onion, celery, carrots, red bell pepper, mushrooms, and broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

Len--I'll post it in the next day or so.

I had dreams of doing the kind of bread variety showcase that Chocomouse did and Mike plans to do, but my husband's cousins seem to prefer the bread that one cousin brings from a bakery. The bread is ok, but it isn't wholegrain and not what I am wild about eating. So, this year I focused on cinnamon rolls, and those went over very well.

[BakerAunt]

Sigh. I always miss a carb question.

[BakerAunt]

Len, I don't think that I've ever posted it, but if you are interested, I will--along with the oil crust that I now use.

[BakerAunt]

Chocomouse--Did you hear back from anyone about Paddy?

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