[BakerAunt]

Our garden was fine last night, but tonight may be a different story. My husband and I covered it the best we could after picking what was ready.

[BakerAunt]

Thank you Nancy for letting us know. I'll be emailing you for the address.

Pmiker taught us all a lot about bread baking, mixers, and allergies (he had to avoid oats and eggs). If you do a search here, using "pmiker" you will find three of his recipes that I posted from the Baking Circle. I only wish that it had been possible to save the threads that he accompanied with pictures and great narration. I think that I saved his thread on mixers but I'm not sure.

[BakerAunt]

Hey, Sis! I did find my list, and I emailed you this evening, so you should have my info. Let me know if you do not get it.

[BakerAunt]

We had our first cold day of the autumn today. It is supposed to get close to freezing the next few nights. My husband covered the garden, after picking whatever was ripe or getting close to ripe. I'm hoping we can avoid the freeze a little longer.

[BakerAunt]

I’ve been yearning for chocolate, so on Thursday afternoon, I baked Espresso Brownie Bites, a recipe that came with the Nordic Ware Bundt Brownie Baking Pan. I decided to try it with half oil and half buttermilk, and I reduced the espresso powder to 1 tsp. I used Double Dutch Cocoa. I used THE grease to coat the pan cavities. These came out very well; indeed, we like them better than the ones made only with oil, and I saved 3.625 g of saturated fat overall by making the substitution. Each of the twelve has about .833g saturated fat.

Thursday evening, I made up the dough for a double recipe of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, using the substitution of 1/3 cup oil for ½ cup butter. As an experiment, I added 2 Tbs. special dried milk to the dry ingredients before mixing them in. I’ll bake the crackers later this week.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt. Reason: clarity

[BakerAunt]

For Thursday night’s dinner, I made stir fry, using two left over boneless pork slices from earlier in the week, celery, two red bell peppers, mushrooms, broccoli, the drippings from de-glazing the pork pan several nights ago, the leftover beans and tomato sauce, and green onion. I mixed it with soba noodles. The two red bell peppers and the green onion are from our garden.

Skeptic--your dinner sounds so good! I do miss having the occasional baked beans. My husband is just not a fan of them.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

Joan, thank you for letting us know you are ok.

[BakerAunt]

A rainy, cool Wednesday afternoon was the perfect time to try a new recipe, Ginger Pumpkin Braid, that I pulled out of the KAF catalog last year. (Yes, I also bought the mat that shows how to do a six-strand braid.) I began by proofing the Gold yeast in the warmed 15 oz. pumpkin puree that I had defrosted, along with some of the sugar. I then mixed in the eggs, then nearly ½ cup of diced candied ginger. I had decided to add whole grain flour, and I like to add flour in two stages, with the whole grains first. I substituted 2 cups white whole wheat flour (Bob’s Red Mill Ivory flour) and added the rest of the sugar; I then added ¼ cup flax meal and 1/3 cup special dried milk (getting in the calcium!). I mixed those in, then let the dough sit for 15 minutes. I replaced the 4 Tbs. of butter with 4 Tbs. of canola oil, which I mixed in. Then I mixed in the remaining bread flour (from BRM) with the salt (reduced to 1 ¼ tsp. from 1 ½ tsp.) and spices. (I used 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon, ½ tsp. ginger, and ½ tsp. freshly grated nutmeg, which is my pumpkin spice blend.) At that point, I switched to the dough hook. I had read the comments on the KAF site, which noted that a lot of people needed to add flour. I expected to do so, since I use homemade pumpkin puree. In the end, I needed an additional cup of bread flour. I kneaded for 5 minutes at speed 3 on my Cuisinart stand mixer. I let it rise in a greased dough bucket. It took about 50 minutes.

I decided to try the six-strand braid and make a large loaf. I have the KAF mat that includes directions for a six-strand braid. It took me four tries, but I did get it braided. It was a very thick loaf. I let it rise 45 minutes, then brushed it with the egg-water glaze and baked. It took about 33 minutes. My husband and I had a couple of slices this evening. It’s a lovely, barely sweet bread. I might use more crystalized ginger next time. (I omitted the optional raisins.) I might also use three instead of two cups of white whole wheat flour, since I’m likely to need to add a cup of flour anyway.

[BakerAunt]

To go with leftover pork chops and leftover roasted potatoes for Wednesday dinner, I made Green Beans and Tomato Sauce, a recipe from Betty Crocker International Cookbook (at least 30 years old and full of great recipes), using green beans and tomatoes from our garden and onion and garlic from the farmers’ market. I omitted the basil, since my husband does not care for that herb.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by BakerAunt.

[BakerAunt]

I know this will be anathema to the New Englanders, but what about substituting maple syrup, rather than honey, for the molasses? Would it go with the rye flour? I can't do a beans and hot dogs dinner because my husband will not eat most dried and then cooked beans (lentil, lima beans, and black-eyed peas seem to be the exception), and currently I'm staying away from hot dogs (saturated fat and sodium). I'd still like to try steaming bread on the wood stove.

Wonky--Take care of yourself! You may be a "medical person," but you are not indestructible, and you have been under a lot of stress these past few months, so it is no wonder your resistance is low. (If you read my thread on lowering saturated fat, you will find that, although I am not a "medical person," I, too, will question my doctor about treatment. 🙂 That's not a bad thing.) I need my baking sister to inspire me!

Joan--I was thinking of you and Bev today with the news about the hurricane and the expected rain. Stay safe. And if there are other members and readers of this site in the danger zones, please take care.

[BakerAunt]

I have his contact information if needed. Email me from the list that S. Wirth sent around, but use the "education" email address. The att one is defunct.

[BakerAunt]

I've found that, for me, a little molasses goes a long way. When I baked Bernard Clayton's Dark Grains Bread for the first time, the 1/4 cup molasses came front and center--even with 70% whole grains. My husband didn't mind it, but for me it was overwhelming, although after a couple of days it mellowed. I switched it out with honey after that time, and I prefer it.

I have a steamed bread mold that I bought from KAF a couple of years ago. My idea is to try it in a pot on the wood stove. I have a recipe (somewhere) that came out of the catalog. It's probably this one (out of several) on the KAF site:

https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/traditional-boston-brown-bread-recipe

I'm pretty sure that 3/4 cups of molasses would be far too much for me. One person who commented on the recipe replaced half the molasses with honey for that reason.

There is also a crock pot recipe at the KAF site for Boston Brown Bread baked in four 1-pint canning jars.

[BakerAunt]

I enjoyed reading the article and the comments. Apparently his claims really miffed the New Yorkers.

[BakerAunt]

On Monday, I baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Barley-Whole Wheat Grape Nuts Bread.

[BakerAunt]

To go with the pork chops my husband cooked, I cut up five Purple Viking Potatoes from the farmers’ market (skin left on). I rubbed them with olive oil, then put them on parchment on a baking sheet and roasted them at 400F for about 50 minutes. I sprinkled a dash of cider vinegar over them before serving. We had steamed broccoli as well.

Temperatures here were in the mid-80s today, with humidity. Our cold weather is supposed to come in on Friday, with highs only in the 40s. We will likely be having our first fire in the wood stove and turning on the furnace in the evening.

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