[skeptic7]

I went to a neighborhood parade and gave out my candy there. A lot of it went to the Band Kids from the local high school who came to provide live music during the costume judging contest. This is the first time in years that I wasn't trying to give out candy. I normally don't get too many people, maybe 5 or 6 groups of a couple kids.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse -- I now have three quarts of your maple syrup! Will it keep indefinitely unopened? Should I keep it in the basement which is relatively cooler than upstairs. I'm looking forward to trying more recipes using maple syrup now that I have plenty. I was saving my maple syrup for oatmeal and pancakes and frosting where the flavor would stand out.

[skeptic7]

I like the idea of the "spianatoia" and am so glad that you found a use for yours instead of just leaving it in storage. I didn't get one for myself because it looked like it would be hard to wash and store. I normally knead on my largest plastic cutting board for a loaf of bread, and on the plastic sheets made for rolling out pie crust for larger amounts. This gives me a clean surface to knead but they do tend to move around the counter top.

[skeptic7]

The Rosetta rolls look lovely! I love the way that you move them from one container to another to monitor the rise.

I did whole wheat pumpkin yeast bread on Saturday/Sunday. I started with the recipe I used last year at this and started playing around with it. I started out wanting to use up one cup of pumpkin puree, and about 4 cups of whole wheat flour. I had a tiny preferment -- 1/4 cup water and flour and some yeast, I did a tangzhong 1/2 cup water and 3 tablespoons flour. I also had one cup pumpkin puree and one egg as the liquid. I mixed 1 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon ginger two tablespoons of potato flour into 1 cup of whole wheat flour and beated it in. Then I just kept on mixing in flour until it was a reasonable consistency. I let this sit a while and then started kneading it on an oiled board. I put more oil until I had 2 tablespoons in the dough. I let it rise and then rolled it out, sprinkled 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/2 teaspoon of allspice on the dough and rolled it up. I put this in my large loaf pan. I let this rise overnight and but it in the dutch oven and baked 1t 350 degrees for 50 minutes until it reached 190 degrees.
I sent half the bread off to a diabetic friend -- which is why there is no added sweetener.
The bread had a pretty subtle spiral and a good texture. Its all right but I wished I had made pumpkin cream cheese to go with it. It lacks pizzaz. But it was nice making a loaf of bread without following a strict recipe.

[skeptic7]

Hi Dachshundlady; Its been a while. I LOVE walnuts ben tend not to use them in dishes for a group as tree nuts are one of the most common allergies. I've done raisins in apple scones and apple pie and liked it.
How are the little doggies coming along? Do you still have them?

[skeptic7]

The Tuscan Coffee Cake is excellent! There is a sugar glaze and its full of dried fruit so its sweet without being over powering. Its great eating alone or with butter. I think Jelly might be gilding the lily becaused of all the dried fruit. I liked a little butter spread on it. It sliced very nicely and the fruit was well distributed instead of migrating to the bottom as might have happened with a weaker dough.
I left the butter out of the dough to start with, and then used it on the kneading board as I kneaded the dough. This prevented the dough from sticking without needing to add more flour. The recipe warned that the slack dough would be hard to handled but I didn't have any trouble. I did use disposable plastic gloves just in case.
I don't think this dough would work well as written with all whole wheat flour because of the dried fruits and nuts. I'd like to try it with all whole wheat and just 1 cup apricots and make it into a braid like a round challah, or like a chopped challah. The sugar glaze turned out well but a little messy. I had a pan underneath to catch the spills. The glaze is more elegant than putting on an icing after baking.

[skeptic7]

I baked my Tuscan coffee cake. It is rather uneven, I patted the dough into the pan as best I could but it was too soft to form into a smooth ball. The sugar glaze is very interesting and flakey. I am letting it completely cool before cutting.

[skeptic7]

The Tuscan Coffee Cake recipe looked so interesting that I am making it now. I did the overnight starter only I used 1/2 tsp of yeast instead of 1/16 tsp. Is there a reason for such a small amount of yeast for the starter? I also left out the extra 2 tsp of yeast that the recipe asked for in the dough. I am making several other minor changes like 2/3 cup milk instead of water.

[skeptic7]

Aaron;
what would happen if you baked the bread in some sort of covered container? Like a turkey roaster that wouldn't have enough thermal mass to make a difference but would keep the hot air from blowing directly across the bread. I'm too lazy to do that experiment on my own and I don't have convection oven. I've had good luck with cloches and dutch ovens but I haven't tried anything like a relatively light weight roasting pan.

[skeptic7]

Its cold here today and yesterday. Mid 60's just perfect for baking. I did pumpkin scones on Sunday. They were okay but a little boring since I didn't put cranberries or dates or any other fruit in them. I was thinking that I might want to eat them as an accompaniment for chili or soup so went on the plain side. It isn't bad but would be improved by lots of cream cheese.

[skeptic7]

I tried to do pumpkin risotto with pureed pumpkin on Sunday. It didn't turn out too well. Rather mushy. I'll have to try it again later.

[skeptic7]

The supermarkets are back to normal, but I am feeling the need to stock up for the winter. Particularly with staples like dried beans, and maple syrup. I already have chicken legs and thighs and roast beef and KAF flour and dried milk and cocoa in the freezer. I have enough toilet paper but am thinking of getting some kleenex too. Would I be excessively hoarding if I got a couple more pumpkins as well as half a bushel of apples? The apples are something I normally buy.

[skeptic7]

Thanks for this recipe. If I could visit you, the crackers would disappear very fast indeed. They probably taste very good with apples, or pears, or chili. 🙂

[skeptic7]

I have seem the normal displays of baking goods in Grocery stores for Thanksgiving. I hope your voting goes succesfully. I voted several weeks ago, depositing my mail in ballot in a drop box at City Hall. Virginia changed the rules so I didn't need a witness to watch me open the ballot and fill it in. I despise the states that still want witnesses.
I like going in to vote on election day, and feeling part of a process thats been going on for more than 200 years, but it seemed too dangerous to me and the poll workers and the other voters.

[skeptic7]

Len;
Your pie looks great! Did you eat it with ice cream?

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