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Today I baked KAF's recipe for pull-apart buns, but used whole wheat instead of the AP flour.

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We had chicken thighs and roasted veggies - squash, potato, carrots, brussels sprouts, and onion - seasoned with Penzey's Sunny Paris, and green salad.

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Today I baked orange cinnamon buns. I used candied orange peel, which I made from oranges I had used, in the filling. They are OK - the dough is great and was very easy to work with, but the filling needs more cinnamon, nutmeg, etc. The icing is simply orange juice and powdered sugar. My inspiration was the Tick Tock Orange rolls from Dachshound Lady on the OBC, but I didn't want to use orange marmalade called for in the recipe.

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Dinner tonight was all leftovers: roast pork, broccoli, buttercup squash, and a fresh green salad. We also had peanut butter brownies topped with ganache that I had made last week.

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Mike, what a great way to contribute to a meal! Several years ago I did that for a large family gathering in the summer, a barbeque. I brought two huge basket/trays of rolls and breads - plain, sweet, savory, in all different shapes. I made things such as garlic knots, pain de epi, breadsticks, focaccia, cheese-olive, herbed, zuchinni, soft white dinner rolls, rye, whole grain, small (3 x 5") sliced breads, etc. My goal was to impress relatives with tasty and interesting shapes - to show off my baking skills! This hit the Wow! factor. And I had a blast.

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Dinner tonight was spaghetti squash stuffed with pizza sauce, ground hot Italian sausage, peppers, onions, and mushrooms, topped with cheese. We have plenty of leftovers for another meal or two.

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I made peanut butter brownies with chocolate chips and a ganache topping.

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I had fun preparing our meal tonight. I made a Dutch baby, something I've thought about doing for many years, but just never followed through. It came out perfect -- puffed right up, beautifully browned, and delicious. I filled it with breakfast sausages and sliced apples which I had precooked. I used a 14" cast iron skillet for the Dutch baby, and a 10 inch for the sausage and apples. Only thing I would change next time is to put more nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon in the batter (I used only a little nutmeg this time) and maybe add about 3 tablespoons of maple syrup to the sausage and apples (in addition to the brown sugar and cinnamon this time). Next summer I plan to fill one with fresh berries and whipped cream. And hey, why not ice cream and chocolate sauce! That would give me a good excuse to buy some of those small, 4"?, cast iron skillets!

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I, too, bought the first few issues, and then realized they are "more glitzy than useful". And -- many of the recipes, and a couple of the articles, are available on the KAF website. I'm curious to find out what they have planned for their next venture.

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I made two loaves of whole wheat bread and added a cup of KAF's Harvest Grain mix to the dough. I also made an Apple Sharlotka, which I am going to cut into very soon. It looks and smells wonderful.

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Tonight I made broccoli-cheddar soup, using the Panera Bread copy-cat recipe, which is my favorite. We had the leftover chicken-broccoli braid with it.

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I made a chicken-broccoli braid for a bookclub monthly meeting with a Halloween themed potluck. I shaped it like a mummy, with a rounded head.

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Dinner tonight was leftover pot roast.

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Thanks for your thoughts, Mike. My first instinct was to "blame" the pumpernickel. Rye bread doughs are so much more "rubbery" than doughs made with AP or bread flour (although this dough included 1.5 cups of AP too). I'm planning to try this again, but using only 1/2 cup of pumpernickel instead of 1 cup. I will also make it without the rye sour, although I suspecting that will take away some of the flavor (and I will make only one change at a time!) I think letting it relax and then rerolling would not change it; I handled it exactly the same way I always do when making thins. As for carb content, I've been buying thins for many years, and the carb count does vary from 26 to around 40. I never purchased any that had 30 or more carbs. At one point, I did calculate the carb count, but have forgotten what it was. I just know that it was a reasonable amount for me, since I am a diabetic.

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Today I made DIY Sandwich Thins. This is a flat, rolled out thin, about 5-6 inches in diameter. I wanted a rye version, instead of my usual whole wheat - AP combo. I subbed one cup of pumpernickel for one cup of the whole wheat, and used pickle juice for half of the water, added one tablespoons of Deli Rye Flavor, and added caraway, dill, and mustard seeds. These little rounds shrunk, down to about 4 inches in diameter, and rose very high, lots of oven spring, and when they came out of the oven were about an inch thick. Usually they stay the about the same diameter as after I roll them out with a rolling pin, and although they get puffy, they don't really rise. I like to use these, sliced in half horizontally, in place of a hot dog bun (we were having grilled sausage, peppers, and onions in buns for dinner). I'm wondering what made these thins behave so differently. I know that acid is a catalyst for the yeast; do you suppose I had too much yeast, in both the pickle juice and the rye sour? (the rye flavor contains acetic acid and lactic acid). Pumpernickel and whole wheat are both "strong" flours. Any thoughts? I spoke to a "master baker" when I was at KAF this afternoon (buying more pumpernickel!) and she wasn't sure what the difference might be. I think that next time I make more rye flavored thins, I will eliminate or reduce one ingredient each time time I make them, starting with the rye flavor. The flavor and texture of these were great (although at least one was almost hollow). I'd love any comments and suggestions!

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