[BakerAunt]

I saw this cartoon and wanted to add the link to this discussion:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/family/daddy-daze-by-john-kovaleski/ss-AA1X2lUr#image=1

[BakerAunt]

On Tuesday, I baked Orange-Barley Pound Cake, a recipe that I adapted last year from a favorite Martha Stewart one. This year, I used cream cheese rather than replacing it with Greek yogurt because I needed to use up the 4 oz. that I had left after baking the pumpkin squares last week.

For those interested in the changes, I posted about it last year in this thread:

What are you Baking the Week of February 2, 2025?

[BakerAunt]

Chicken and chocolate are known cures for whatever ails a person!

We had more of the soup and pumpkin soda bread for Tuesday night's dinner.

[BakerAunt]

Thanks, Len, and thank you so much for the original recipe. It has become one of our favorites.

[BakerAunt]

That is excellent advance meal prep, Len. Future you will applaud your efforts!

Joan, I hope your head feels better soon.

On Monday, I roasted and pureed two more small pumpkins. I will freeze it.

Dinner was more of the soup and Pumpkin Soda Bread. We cut into the second loaf tonight.

We had another half inch of snow overnight, but I am grateful we did not have as much as Mike did in Nebraska. Our roads were in good shape, a blessing, as I had a doctor's appointment today.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign. I was trying not to step on Len's toes by not posting my variation, but since you asked about using the Zo, I hope that is OK with Len. I have a copy that I wrote up for myself that uses my Zo for mixing and kneading a single loaf or for buns. I have posted it in the recipe section for you. Enjoy!

The amounts I posted in the Ankarsrum thread are for two loaves. That would be too much dough for the bread machine.

[BakerAunt]

Today, I tried two loaves of Whole Wheat, Rye, and Semolina Bread, using the Ankarsrum to mix and knead it. This is Len's recipes, with a couple changes I made and doubling it. I will list my ingredients and amounts at the end of this post. I initially held back 86 g of the bread flour, but all was required. I kneaded it for 8 minutes, then another two, then two more. The house was cool, so I needed to add 15 minutes to both rises. The loaves had lovely oven spring, much more than with my previous mixer. I achieved similar heights with this bread when I baked a loaf in Florida. At the time, I attributed that to the humidity there, but I was also using a bread machine, which may have done a better job of kneading. Perhaps this is another example of how the Ankarsrum does a better job of hydrating the flour than my last mixer did.

List of ingredients:
115 g semolina flour
117 g dark rye flour
229 g whole wheat flour
2 Tbs. milk powder
286 g bread flour
1 1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup water
3 1/4 tsp. yeast
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 Tbs. honey
2 eggs
6 Tbs. olive oil

[BakerAunt]

On Sunday, I baked two loaves of Whole Wheat, Rye, and Semolina Bread. It was my first time making this dough with the Ankarsrum, and these loaves are beautiful. (See Ankdarsrum thread for details.)

[BakerAunt]

We will have leftover soup and Pumpkin Soda Bread, while contemplating the 2 1/2 inches of snow we have gotten and speculating as to whether we will be getting more overnight.

[BakerAunt]

On Saturday, I baked two loaves of Pumpkin Soda Bread, a recipe that I adapted from Ken Haedrich's The Harvest Baker. My changes are increasing the pumpkin to one cup, substituting Irish-Style flour for some of the AP flour, and replacing the butter with avocado oil, I have in the past baked the loaves on a baking sheet, but the bottoms tended to burn. This time I used two round Silverlake pans that measure seven inches across the bottom with a slight flare. I bought these British pans from King Arthur a long time ago. (They had a sweet cake made with tea and fruit that used one.) I prepared the pans by spraying with Vegalene, lined them with parchment paper circles, and sprayed the papers. For shaping, I took half out of the mixing bowl (used my scale) and plopped it in the center of each pan, then used my scraper to shape it around the edges. They baked very well, perhaps a smidge more done on the bottom than I would have liked but not burnt. I will reduce the baking time from 40 to 38 minutes next time I bake the recipe.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Saturday, at Scott's request, was soup made with Bob's Red Mill mixture of red and brown lentils and green and yellow split peas. I used some of the turkey broth I made yesterday, ground turkey, chopped carrots, celery, orange and red bell peppers, and sliced mushrooms, as well as 1 Tbs. dehydrated onion reconstituted with water. I used 1 Tbs. Penzey's Ozark Seasoning. At the end, I stirred in kale sauteed in olive oil. We had it with the Pumpkin Soda Bread on this colder night. Our weather was back in the 20s and 30 Fs today, with snow predicted tonight and maybe tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

On Friday, I made yogurt. I also made broth from the Thanksgiving turkey bones that have been in the freezer. I plan to use some of the broth for soup tomorrow and will freeze the rest. I roasted sweet potato chunks this evening, which we had with the rest of the roast chicken and gravy and some microwaved mixed vegetables. Our weather has turned cold today, with a high around 32 or 33 F and a bit of snow this morning. Scott noted that the steps had the thinnest coating of ice, so he went around them to get the mail and to bring in wood for the fire.

I'm glad that you now have the date for your shoulder surgery, CWCdesign and that the insurance is figured out.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the roasted chicken (it was a big one) and finished the Pepperidge Farm dressing. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

I had a package of Philadelphia Cream Cheese that needed to be used, and I have plenty of frozen pumpkin, so on Thursday, I baked Pecan Pumpkin Squares, a recipe that I adapted that appeared in the Los Angeles Times, attributed to Joan Drake, about forty years ago. I replaced the walnut crust with one made of pecan meal, I replaced the AP flour with whole wheat pastry flour, and the 1/3 cup butter with ¼ cup avocado oil with buttermilk added to make 1/3 cup. I long ago deleted a cup of water because homemade pumpkin puree needs no added water. Instead of 1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice, I use ¾ tsp. cinnamon, ¼ tsp. ginger, and 1/8 tsp. nutmeg. The original was baked in an 8 x 8-inch glass dish, but I have used a 10 x 7-inch dish, which means every serving has a side that baked next to the dish. This time, I used an 11 x 7-inch. When I baked this recipe last year, I replaced the cream cheese with 4 oz. of nonfat Greek yogurt, and it worked well. I will need to use the other 4 oz. of cream cheese in another recipe.

[BakerAunt]

After I got home from my dental checkup and cleaning on Wednesday, I made a large pot of Turkey, Butternut Squash, and Black Bean Chili. I had a small bowl for a late lunch, then froze six one-serving containers, an act for which future me will thank past me. I have enough for three more lunches. Today's weather did not lend itself to soup or chili, as we had a high of 67 F, but I needed to use some of my store of butternut squashes, and temperatures are supposed to return to freezing on Friday, which may save the lake ice if there is no wind.

For dinner, we had the rest of the turkey, spinach, and mushroom lasagna.

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