[BakerAunt]

I made a big pot of soup on Monday. I used the chicken broth that I made yesterday and added carrots, celery, yellow bell pepper, garlic, and mushrooms sauteed in olive oil and browned ground turkey and 1 ½ cups of Bob's Red Mill Vegi-Soup blend (red and brown lentils, split green and yellow peas; barley) dehydrated onions, and Penzey's Ozark seasoning. After it cooked for 40 minutes, I added a chopped large zucchini, and then some kale, along with a splash of cider vinegar. Although my husband keeps telling me we are headed for a warm spell this week, the forecasts do not appear to be correct so far.

[BakerAunt]

I'm glad that your challah project has begun again, Aaron. It certainly requires careful logistics to produce those loaves.

[BakerAunt]

I needed to use up three overripe bananas, so I baked a new recipe for Banana Oat Muffin, from All Recipes, s on Monday morning. I had been searching for a banana and oats muffin recipe, and I had saved the recipe from a magazine. I altered the recipe by using white whole wheat flour and adding 2 Tbs. Bob's Red Mill milk powder. I reduced the sugar to 1/3 cup and the salt to ¼ tsp. I deleted the vanilla. The kind of oats was not specified. I used quick oats. I also changed the mixing instructions. I put the dry ingredients, except for the oats in a small bowl. In a larger bowl, I mashed the bananas, mixed in the milk, then stirred in the oats. I mixed in the egg, then the oil, before adding the dry ingredients. I baked in Crisco greased, large muffin cups for 20 minutes. The flavor is excellent, so this recipe is a keeper. The muffins are plenty sweet. Possibly the sugar could be reduced a bit more.

In the afternoon, I baked another batch of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers from dough I made last week.

[BakerAunt]

My recipe does call for 2 Tbs. of oil, and the fat in the oil does make for a softer texture. Since the original recipe was 2 Tbs. melted butter, 2 Tbs. of oil is a good substitution. If Will is worried that the olive oil would change the flavor, then using 2 Tbs. of avocado oil will give the fat but with a neutral taste.

Butter differs from oil in that butter contains some water, so adding oil does not necessarily increase moisture, but it does give a softer texture to baked goods and keeps them moist longer.

Will may need to accept that he can create a great cornbread recipe, but that it will not, in the end, be like that favorite family recipe. It will be different, but different is not necessarily negative if the product is good. My oil-based scones will never be the same as my beloved butter scones, but I enjoy them as an excellent bakery good in their own right.

[BakerAunt]

I'm not sure oat milk is the way to go. When I was working out my Vegan Cinnamon Roll recipe, I tried oat milk and I thought that it made the rolls gummy and heavy. When I used hazelnut milk or almond milk, they came out lighter. It was also homemade hazelnut and almond milk, which meant it did not have all the additives.

Buttermilk tenderizes, and I am not sure what can substitute for it. I have seen the idea of adding lemon juice or vinegar to it, as people do when they do not have buttermilk, but I am not sure that the chemistry would be the same. I also never liked the lemon juice or vinegar in milk as a substitute. The taste and texture are not the same.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign--I always grease the Emile Henry bakers with Crisco, then sprinkle it with farina (Cream of Wheat). While it can be messy when turning it out--which is why I do so over a towel--there is never any problem with sticking, and it comes out easily.

For Sunday breakfast, I made Cornmeal-Pumpernickel Waffles (my husband's request). We had them with a bit of maple syrup and the blueberry compote that is leftover from when I bake blueberry pie. I froze the six leftover waffles, which will make fast breakfasts on three mornings for me.

In the afternoon, I baked White Whole Wheat Apple Cider Baked Doughnuts, which I adapted from a King Arthur recipe. I cut back the sugar by another ¼ cup (used 3/4 where original recipe uses 1 1/4 cup), and they are sweet enough and of just the right texture. Nothing beats using homemade applesauce! I sprinkled six of the doughnuts with Penzey's Cinnamon Sugar. I set the other six aside and will make a maple glaze for them tomorrow. I was inspired to bake these today because I came across a 1-cup container of unsweetened applesauce that I froze in November 2021 for this recipe.

[BakerAunt]

Happy Anniversary, Mike and Diane!

I made chicken broth on Sunday from the bones of three roasted chickens that I had in the freezer. I plan to use it for soup tomorrow.

For Sunday dinner, I made Salmon and Couscous with Penzey's Greek Seasoning. We had it with microwaved fresh green beans from our garden.

[BakerAunt]

Mike has a recipe for gluten-free cornbread which he says they prefer over the gluten varieties, even though they do not need to be gluten free. I'm unsure if it is posted here.

CWCdesign--did you leave the milk out of the original recipe? If so, was it buttermilk or regular milk? You could probably reduce or eliminate the baking soda if it was regular milk. Too much baking soda can give a bitter taste.

Dairy-free and gluten-free, with some nut allergies thrown in, is a difficult combination. I would definitely try it with water, especially since it includes 1/2 cup sugar. I use minimum sugar in mine (1 Tbs.), but I was raised on a more southern-style cornbread. A stone-ground cornmeal has a natural sweetness to it. I like the Bob's Red Mill medium grind (at least until the Indiana State Park at Spring Mill gets their grist meal repaired and can start selling their medium grind).

[BakerAunt]

I had to add this link for our favorite maple syrup producers:

https://www.gocomics.com/frazz/2023/09/17

[BakerAunt]

My sister and her husband just celebrated 40 years of marriage, and they also married in September!

To go with the rest of the leftover roasted chicken thighs for Saturday night dinner, I roasted a combination of red potatoes, patty pan squash, and carrots that I had tossed in olive oil. After 50 minutes at 400F, I sprinkled Penzey's Sunny Paris over the vegetables and roasted another ten minutes. We also had microwaved fresh broccoli. Every vegetable tonight was bought at the local farmers' market.

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover roasted chicken, leftover noodles and mushrooms, and fresh green beans from the garden. I had the last slice of cantaloupe, and my husband had a ripe pear from last week's farmers' market.

I also made some tomato sauce from some of our tomatoes that I will freeze.

Hugs to Joan.

[BakerAunt]

Dinner on Thursday was roasted chicken thighs with noodles and sauteed mushrooms and microwaved fresh broccoli. We had some sliced cantaloupe as part of the dessert but did not neglect the pumpkin snacking cake.

[BakerAunt]

Our Wednesday dinner was also a repeat of Tuesday's black-eyed peas, farro, and ham.

[BakerAunt]

I had a day of baking on Wednesday. I am thankful that my husband helped me with the dishes. I baked my Rustic Wholegrain Sourdough Bread (made the levain last night), using the cloche top and the Rommerhof bowl. I did three shapings of the loaf, with 5 minutes between each time. Next time, I will do just two, as the dough becomes harder to form into a nice-looking round after the second time. The bread still baked well, and I look forward to slicing it tomorrow.

My second project was the wholegrain Pumpkin Snacking Cake, using a cup of peanut pumpkin that I had frozen last year. I am mindful that I need to make room in the freezer for this year's pumpkin bounty. The vendors have gotten to know me and have promised to save back a peanut pumpkin for me when they are ready.

My final bake on Wednesday was a recipe for Applesauce Muffins, from a Los Angeles Times Magazine piece featuring three muffin recipes from the 1990s titled "Muffins are Back." I recall at the time thinking that I had not known that muffins had ever gone away. I had cut out the page with the recipes and found it a while back as I was sorting some of my stacks of recipes. I had some commercial applesauce to finish in the refrigerator, so today was a good time to try at least one of the recipes, and the oven was already warm. I made some adjustments in that I used white whole wheat flour instead of AP, added some milk powder and flax meal, and added a bit of water as I did not have enough applesauce. I replaced the dried apricots and raisins with some dried fruit mix from King Arthur that I wanted to finish, and I microwaved the fruit with water to liven it up. I baked the recipe as six large muffins and will probably freeze a couple for quick breakfasts.

[BakerAunt]

As the weather has turned cooler, and since I have fed my sourdough starter twice within a week, my mind had also turned to sourdough bread to bake in a cloche. I have been adapting the Kind Arthur Rustic Sourdough recipe to make it more wholegrain, so that is the recipe I am using. My starter is my trusty milk-based one that I started around 1991. I like it because it is willing to let me ignore it for several weeks, although with my husband's love of my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers, it is now gets fed at least every two weeks.

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