[BakerAunt]

I had a lot of cooking projects on Tuesday. I made yogurt. I also cooked a pot of black-eyed peas. I used a cup of the black-eyed peas in the Green Bean, Cherry Tomato, and Greek Cheese Salad we like so much. Our cherry tomatoes are running out in the garden, and we are unlikely to have another large batch of beans, and since the recipe takes a pound, we wanted to have it one more time. I also used the leftover roasted chicken breast to make a chicken salad. We had it on sandwiches for dinner, along with the green bean salad.

[BakerAunt]

Congratulations on finally being able to christen the new oven, Skeptic. That sounds like a perfect recipe for doing so!

I had hoped to bake biscotti on Tuesday, but I had too many other kitchen projects. I did make Maple Granola, as we were almost out of the last batch. It is a staple here, along with the cheese crackers and whatever bread I choose to bake.

[BakerAunt]

I hope to work my way through at least two more of the recipes, buckwheat banana bread and spelt blueberry muffins in the next month or so. Of course, with apple and pumpkin season upon us, seasonal baking will have the greater priority.

On Monday, I made dough for my Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers. We were eating them with the soup, so we went through them faster than usual.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the leftover roasted chicken breast, the rest of the Greek pasta salad, microwaved fresh broccoli, and slices of Barley Pumpkin Bread for dessert.

[BakerAunt]

I have also noticed that fruit flies find sourdough starters attractive. With bread dough, I think the yeast attracts them, so when the bread bakes, and the yeast is gone, so is their interest.

[BakerAunt]

I have been eying Roxana Jullapat's book, Mother Grains, ever since its publication in 2021. I was reluctant to spend $40 on a book without knowing if it would work with my dietary parameters, but Barnes & Noble had a reduce price and a 20% savings for members last week, so I bought it for $25.

The book arrived on Friday, and on Sunday, I baked my first recipe, "Barley Pumpkin Bread." It made an 8 ½ x 4 ½ -inch loaf. I modified the recipe by reducing the sugar from 1 1/3 cups to 1 cup and the oil from ¾ cup to ½ cup and adding a tablespoon of Bob's Red Mill milk powder. I used half the salt, since the recipe called for kosher salt. I did not include the golden raisins or the optional candied fruit, since I like my pumpkin bread without add-ins. I also did not use the optional barley malt syrup topping.

I changed the mixing instructions, since for oil cakes, etc. I now like to combine the sugar with the oil first, using my hand mixer, add the rest of the wet ingredients, and then, by hand, stir in the dry ingredients. I also did not use the parchment sling to line the pan but relied on The Grease, which worked perfectly. The bread was to bake for 45 minutes at 325, but it did not test done until 57 minutes. I let it cool for 10 minutes rather than an hour before turning it out of the pan without a problem.

In comparing my bread to the cookbook picture, I note that the one in the picture is relatively flat on top, where my loaf has the usual quick bread rise. I attribute the difference to reducing the sugar. Cass always reminded me that structure suffers when the sugar outweighs the flour.

We let it cool and had a slice for dessert tonight, although it probably would have been best to wait until tomorrow. My husband and I find it has just the right amount of sweetness. I will be baking this recipe, with my changes, again.

While some of the recipes in Mother Grains are not within my dietary parameters, there are enough other interesting recipes that are, so I consider the purchase of the book worthwhile.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of last week's soup with some of the Whole Wheat Sourdough Cheese Crackers for Sunday dinner.

[BakerAunt]

I knew that the Chewy Semolina Rye Bread is good, and I like the changes I made, but the best change was using pumpernickel in place of the medium rye. Delicious!

[BakerAunt]

We had leftover roasted chicken breast, leftover Greek Pasta Salad, and microwaved fresh broccoli.

[BakerAunt]

I realized at lunch on Saturday that we would be needing bread for tomorrow. I wanted to bake a large single loaf because right now the freezers are full. I remembered the Chewy Semolina Rye Bread because CWCdesign baked it earlier this week. I made a few more tweaks. This time, I used 1 ½ cups of buttermilk and ¾ cup of water. I added 2 Tbs. special dry milk. Instead of the medium rye flour, I used pumpernickel. I used 2 Tbs. First Clear Flour in place of the vital wheat gluten. I reduced the yeast to 3 ½ tsp. and the salt to 2 ¼ tsp. I did not add the dried onion. As I was kneading it in the mixer, it seemed a bit dry, so I added 1 Tbs. of water. I did not do the topping, as my husband would dislike it. The loaf is lovely, and I look forward to slicing it tomorrow.

[BakerAunt]

We had more of the leftover soup from earlier this week for dinner on Friday.

I had some tomatoes that needed to be used, so I made pizza sauce on Friday and froze it.

[BakerAunt]

I realize zucchini season has ended, but I wanted to share this comic from The New 60 that I receive in a weekly email. I can't send the specific comic (or perhaps cannot figure out how to do so), but if you go to the site and go to the September 13 strips, there is a great take on using all that zucchini:

https://www.thenew60comic.com/

[BakerAunt]

We attended a fundraiser Trivia Night on Thursday, so we ate an early dinner of leftover roasted chicken breast, Greek pasta salad, and microwaved green beans.

[BakerAunt]

Mike--We are also dealing with an invasion of fruit flies, and we, too, have found that the vinegar traps are only somewhat effective. Some of the flies look larger than the usual fruit flies. I'm wondering if I need to use larger holes in the traps.

Does the Black Flag bug zapper make a noise when you use it? I ask because our dog is very sensitive to sounds such as hammering, gun shots (hunting season and people target shooting is a problem here), or even the smack of a rolled-up magazine or a fly swatter.

[BakerAunt]

CWCdesign: I recently bought Roxana Jullapat's Mother Grains. She says the following about corn flour:

"I don't recommend exchanging corn flour for corn meal in recipes, because corn flour is finer and more compact and therefore yields different results."

Alas, she does not specify what those results are.

You can order Bob's Red Mill medium cornmeal from Vitacost. They have some good deals on Bob's Red Mill products, as well as other food, and they often have discounts. It requires $49 to get free shipping, so I usually wait and stock up when I can.

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