[BakerAunt]

Thanks for finding the recipe and doing the math, Mike. I've printed it for reference.

I did some googling, and King Arthur AP flour has a protein content of 11.7, so I'd use that instead of bread flour. I looked at whole wheat. I have KAF white whole wheat (13% protein) and Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat, which both appear to have 13% protein.

I'm not going to try that Jack-o-lantern stamp. I compared it to two Kaiser stamps that I have (one heavy plastic and one acrylic), and it's a lot smaller. I think starting with the regular one might be a better plan. I will let you know when I bake these and how they turn out.

[BakerAunt]

Wow! That's a neat cake, Mike!

On Wednesday, I made up another batch of my Lower Saturated Fat, Whole Wheat, Sourdough, Cheese Cracker dough. I’ll bake them sometime next week.

I also experimented with “Easy Italian Whole Wheat Honey Breakfast Cookies,” a recipe that I’ve been adapting since last year. This time I used ¾ cup white whole wheat flour and ½ cup barley flour. I used the full teaspoon of vanilla, but I had no orange zest, and so omitted it. After I mixed the dough, I refrigerated it, covered, for about 2 ½ hours before I could get back to it. I divided it into 9 sections, formed each into a ball, then used my Nordic Ware Halloween heavy cookie stamps. The designs came out clearly, and I didn’t have an issue with the dough sticking to the stamps. I baked for 14 minutes on a parchment covered sheet. The designs held up, although the pumpkin is a little faint. That stamp is not as deep as it could be. It may be that the dough was a bit warm, since I stamped the three pumpkins last. I seem to recall reading in a molded cookie book that cookies sweetened with honey hold designs better than cookies that use sugar. I’ll have to look that up. I’m pleased that I could bake a special Halloween cookie and could again use my stamps. I may try this recipe with cookie cutters as well.

[BakerAunt]

For dinner on Wednesday, I made my adaptation of my mother’s hamburger stroganoff, which we had over a blend of wild and brown rice, with microwaved broccoli as a side dish. Instead of low-fat sour cream in the stroganoff, I used Fage 2% Greek yogurt (on sale at store), and it worked well.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, S. Wirth. The recipe looks good, although I don't have any old dough available to use. In looking online, I noted that Fleischmann's has a recipe that like this one uses bread flour.

[BakerAunt]

I answered incorrectly, but I have learned what I need to do when using garlic.

[BakerAunt]

Alexa doesn't bake. 🙂

[BakerAunt]

Those who missed it were probably mislead by the old adage: "A pint's a pound the world around." Clearly popular thought was wrong about that.

[BakerAunt]

I selected the correct answer in spite of my husband's lecturing me on why the metric system is more valuable since 1 milliliter equals 1 gram. I pointed out that was not the question I was asked to answer. (I may have also said something about do you want to cook your own dinner....) 🙂

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I made an experimental soup for lunch today (and into the week). I used Penzey's beef base and hot water, and the liquid left from cooking the lima beans last week. I sautéed some onion, celery, and carrots, before adding the liquids, a scant cup barley, and rosemary, thyme, a bay leaf, and a dash of sweet Paprika. As it turns out, I didn't have enough substance in the soup, so I pulled out 15 oz. of garbanzo beans that I had frozen and added them. It's an ok soup and will get me through the next few days, which are supposed to be rather chilly.

[BakerAunt]

I got it, too, perhaps because we may have discussed the temperature on this site before. It's good to know that I'm absorbing some information.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday morning, I baked Fig Muffins, from Dimetra Makris’s Delicious Quick Breads and Muffins (New York: Fawcett Columbine: 1986), p. 44. It is lovely having my cookbooks close at hand. These are an oat muffin, and I used old-fashioned oats, as the recipe did not specify. I switched regular AP flour for white whole wheat and substituted buttermilk for regular milk, and so reduced the baking powder to 2 tsp. and added ¼ tsp. baking soda. I reduced the salt from 1/2 to 1/4 tsp. I used Halloween paper liners (with a bit of nonstick spray) and sprinkled orange and black sugar on top. I chose the recipe because I have some dried figs—bought for a homemade fig newton recipe that I can no longer try, since the butter is prohibitive. I like the taste of the figs in the muffins. [Note: I baked them for 18 minutes, using the rack I use for cookies and crackers.]

• This reply was modified 6 years, 7 months ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I'm not baking today, but I am thinking about Halloween. I pulled out some Halloween muffin papers and may try a new muffin recipe tomorrow. I also may experiment this week with Halloween cookies that I can eat.

[BakerAunt]

We were going to have leftovers, but my husband asked if we could alternate it with a different meal, since we've had the gigante bean dish twice in a row. So, for Sunday dinner, I roasted four whole chicken legs. I made a pilaf with onion, mushrooms, a mixture of brown and wild rice cooked in chicken/turkey stock in the rice cooker, and roasted delicata squash that we bought from the apple orchard people. I roasted the squash in the small countertop oven, which I’m finding increasingly useful. We also had microwaved broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

I answered correctly, but I also learned from Mike's explanation.

[BakerAunt]

Skeptic--I haven't made pumpkin chili, but I did make a black bean and pumpkin soup last year from The Smitten Kitchen blog. I liked it, but the pumpkin does tend to disappear with the black beans and spices.

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