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Aaron--I, too, have sheeter envy. I could put a sheeter in the Annex kitchen (apt. over our freestanding garage). The price, however, is high, and I would have to prove to my husband that it is worth it. Now that I have developed a second cracker recipe--for which I will post the recipe-in-progress later today--perhaps I can chip away at his financial resistance. 🙂
With the new cracker recipe, those that I can get thinner have a nice light texture. The ones that are thicker (toward the center) are still good and work nicely with heavier toppings. The new recipe--which is not a sourdough--uses lower gluten flours, an idea that I got from a King Arthur cracker recipe that was inconvenient, as it requires the crackers to cool overnight in the oven, so it requires a lot of planning ahead if I baked in the afternoon, so that the oven would not be needed in the evening. I used a combination of half Italian-style flour and a quarter whole wheat and a quarter barley this last time. I plan to substitute spelt for the whole wheat next time. I may at some point see if I can reduce the Italian-style flour, which is the more expensive ingredient.
We had leftover soup for dinner on Friday. We went to a nature preserve dedication and hike this afternoon, so it was good to come home to a dinner that just needed to be microwaved.
Len--King Arthur and some other sites state 200F for quick breads, although I think that I might go with 190-195F.
I was not sure that I was going to cook on Thursday, since I got this year's Covid shot yesterday, which has sapped my energy today. However, I was able to pull myself together and make the planned soup with ground turkey, a variety of vegetables (carrots, celery, red and yellow bell pepper, mushrooms, a mixture of red and brown lentils and yellow and green split peas with some barley, my turkey/chicken broth from the freezer, and kale. I have discovered that the kale is tastier if I first sauté it in olive oil near the end of the soup's cooking time, then add it. We have plenty left over for at least two or three more meals.
Follow-Up on Pumpkin Cake: When I went to trim the cake to assemble it the next day, I discovered that it had not cooked through in the center. I am kicking myself for not having used my trusty digital thermometer. To try and salvage the cake, as my husband wished, I set the oven at 350F and put the halves and the trimmed pieces in for about 25 minutes, which dried them out enough that most of the cake (thankful it is small) is edible. Next time, I will cook it longer and use the digital thermometer!
Mike--I was looking at apple butter recipes, and I may try the one you made, although I will need to halve it, as I only have a 3 1/2-quart crock pot. In reading various recipes, I think that the headspace for canning apple butter should be 1/4-inch rather than 1/2 inch. While someone in the comments on the recipe says 1/2 inch, other recipes, and the Ball canning recipe, say 1/4 inch, which would be the same headspace as jam.
On Wednesday, I baked my adaptation of the pumpkin cake recipe that came with the Nordic Ware 3-D pumpkin pan. The pan bakes the two halves of the pumpkin, which I will assemble tomorrow with some glaze to stick them together. The recipe uses 1 2/3 cups AP flour. I substituted in 2/3 cup barley flour. I added 2 Tbs. milk powder and 1 Tbs. flax meal. I replaced 1/3 cup butter with 4 Tbs. of avocado oil and deleted the water, since my homemade pumpkin puree has more water than canned pumpkin. I look forward to assembling the little cake tomorrow.
I first adapted this cake and wrote up notes on it on October 10, 2020 but never got back to trying it again until today. I am on a mission to use all of my lovely autumn Nordic Ware pans before the end of November.
I roasted chicken thighs for Wednesday's dinner, which we had with leftover roasted potatoes and carrots and microwaved peas. We will have leftover chicken for another two meals with different side dishes.
I baked Skeptic's Pumpkin Biscotti on Tuesday in honor of Halloween. I used autumn-colored sugar to sprinkle on top of them.
I also baked another recipe of crackers from that pizza crust/flatbread recipe that Ken Haedrich has. This time, I replaced half of the whole wheat flour with barley flour and baked each tray for eleven minutes instead of ten. The previous batch was somewhat bland, but these crackers have more flavor. I may try half barley and half Italian-style flour next time. These crackers are still sturdy enough to withstand my covering them with hummus.
I made yogurt on Tuesday. Dinner tonight will be leftover pizza and coleslaw.
Our temperatures went to the low 20s, and we are having our first snow of the season this Halloween. It is not sticking, but the larger flakes are falling.
Our temperatures will go below freezing tonight, so that is the end of the outside garden. My husband has planted some lettuce and kale and is using the grow lights. We will see how that goes.
For next year, I have already put in a request for us to plant fairy tale pumpkin. We can probably run the vine along the side of the house.
I was able to buy Rubinette apples from a local vendor a couple of weeks ago. These are the perfect apples for the filling for the Butterscotch Apple Sweet Rolls that I baked a couple of weeks ago, using some filling from Rubinette apples that I had frozen last year. On Monday, I made and froze filling for two future batches of these sweet rolls. I did not have quite enough for a full third batch, so I made a smaller amount of about 2 cups, which I will also freeze. I plan to try it in a braided sweet bread recipe.
For dinner tonight, we had salmon and couscous with Greek seasoning and the last of the green beans from our garden. Tonight, our area will be below freezing, so my husband picked the rest of the squash and the green tomatoes.
I remember that article on Mis en Place and Sarah's definition that I will paraphrase as "French for having someone to do the dishes after you cook or bake!"
I baked a Sourdough Pan Pizza for dinner tonight. It was misty/rainy today, and the dough was very wet. It was a sticky mess to get it out of the bread machine. However, it made an excellent crust. I did my usual toppings. The tomato sauce, from our tomatoes, came from the freezer where I stashed it in the late summer. The red bell pepper and green onion tops are from the garden and my husband's pot of green onions. I added a yellow bell pepper from the farmers' market, along with mushrooms from the grocery. Of course, I used Canadian bacon, mozzarella, and Parmesan. I added a few Greek olives on my half.
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