Welcome to the November Issue of Betterbaking.com.

Boo! It’s goodbye Halloween and hello daylights saving time. No worries – it’s all warm and cosy in the BB kitchen. As you’d expect, I’ve been quite squirrely of late, creating the finest and most imaginative, seasonal recipes. If it was me giving me a review, I’d say this is a definite 5-star issue. I hope you’re as generous. Seriously, there’s something for everyone this month which is saying a lot considering Thanksiving is around the corner and all that sumptuous holiday baking begins around now. Culling things down to just four amazing recipes is a feat in itself.  We’ll get to that soon but I have a confession.

Speaking of squirrels….

Despite being casually fastidious about an uncluttered house, I’m somewhat of a hoarder. Conversely and oddly, I’m also somewhat of a purge-er and I figure if you combine both traits, I’m normal. How is this possible? Well, I start collecting things in an idle and innocent way. Let’s just say I become devoted to Body Shop butters. I like the Vanilla Body Butter and it’s so nice I decide pick up a peach one on sale. I mean, why not? One for the house and one to take to the pool. Besides which, Body Shop Body Butters are nice (I mean, just the name!), the store might run out or discontinue the product and it is after all on sale. Then there’s a new scent launch or it’s Black Friday and before you know it I now have 4-5 body butters and not enough body real estate to use them up in one lifetime. The pretty jars also take up precious space (and consciousness); I store them in plain view so I don’t forget I have this cache of body butters. It becomes my new day job.

And then it’s purge time because I get overwhelmed. Stockpiling is both stressful and it’s also a mis-allocation of finances. What was a treat becomes a guilty pleasure. To remedy this, I suddenly go totally the other way and either divest or return things, which of course is more time squandered. More for ‘moreness’ seems to come from an obscure needy place. We all know less is more and with less stuff I usually get a sense of serenity. When I divest I also tend to also clear the decks anywhere in my house where I feel there’s a build-up of too much or things I haven’t used for years. I’m so/too efficient that weeks later when I look for something and can’t find it, I realize, ‘oh yes, I got rid of that in the last clean-up’. Still, I feel lighter. Where there was a surfeit, there’s now space just to be, to think, and create. Marie Kondo    https://www.amazon.com/Life-Changing-Magic-Tidying-Decluttering-Organizing/dp/1607747308/ref=sr_1_1?crid=2025TOJZEPYJO&keywords=marie+kondo&qid=1572524425&sprefix=marie+%2Caps%2C150&sr=8-1      would be proud.

This Spartan mood lasts for a few months or until the next impulse.  I’m suddenly into grainy breads and the body butter routine is now replicated in another currency: bags of sprouted wheat, amaranth flour, and organic, stone-ground whole-wheat now dominate the pantry. In short time, the kitchen resembles an old-time general store. Sure, I bake a lot but let’s face it; no one bakes a variety of breads all in one day in the same hour. I come to accept I’ll either never get it all baked or I can (and this is a really novel thought each time) I can bake sequentially and stock up on more flour as I need it. The flour largesse pressures me (as does a fridge overflowing with eggplants or apples) silently reprimanding me because the presence of all this stuff implies a whole lot of doing to be done in not-so-much time. And so the ritual continues. I stock up on one thing or anothe to sate some passion or new hobby and then I purge (give away), take a breath until some new fever takes hold.

It’s this rhythm of cling and release that’s almost as innate and natural as breathing. But here’s the thing: lately I’ve found I can elongate the ‘between’ part. I can stall accruing stuff which is not quite the same as stocking up. I use up what I have on hand until I actually need to purchase a replacement. I’m learning to stay still and enjoy craving. I’ve traded the compulsion of wanting-ness, the impatience to have stuff for breathing slower and seeing what prevails. Having lots around me used to be some sort of comfort for some other impoverishment, real or imagined and omst likely now a phantom hunger. Finding what’s enough (and in context of so many people needing things the planet over) is interesting. In waiting and/or in that craving space, some cravings disappear altogether. The life of bread dough is similar to my clutch and release behavior. Bread builds, expands and you let it collapse. You shape it, there’s another rise and then it gets baked. Rising, falling, breathing in, breathing out – and giving each inhalation its due. Of course, bread is far wiser than I am. And now, this all said, I do feel good because the air is getting nippier and there’s a bag of fresh yeast, new bread and all-purpose flour, an unopened bottle of vanilla and I’ve replaced all my baking spices. Laying in baking stock in a moderate way is grounding and I just take care not to overdo it. There might be a snow storm and I’ll run out of vanilla! So what - I can use orange oil or almond extract. I can wait and let the compulsion to have pass through me. I can look at the beauty of the harvest, breathe it in and out and not want to tote it all home. I am just as safe with enough as I thought I would be with too much. Enough is, as it turns out, plenty.

https://reformjudaism.org/jewish-life/food-recipes/grandmas-roly-poly

https://app.1000cookbooks.com/people/marcy-goldman

http://greenapron.com/cookbooklove/episode-60-l-interview-with-collector-author-marcy-goldman-2/

https://cakerswarehouse.com.au/products/softfondantwhite1kg

Pumpkin Eruption Cheesecake https://medium.com/@marcygoldman/pumpkin-eruption-cheesecake-a-new-thanksgiving-tradition-72a2bffd2a1e – a bonus free recipe for you on Medium Medium is where I offer extra free recipes and interesting product profiles and stories to (hopefully) warm your heart.

Free Recipe of the Month
Black Bottom Pecan Pie https://www.betterbaking.com/free-recipe/
This has everything most of us love: shortbread, pecans, chocolate and that ooey gooey pecan pie filling that’s worth every calorie.

Chunky Cheese Bread https://www.betterbaking.com/recipe-items/sourdough-cheddar-cheese-bread-no-knead/.

Pumpkin Tollhouse Cookies https://www.betterbaking.com/recipe-items/pumpkin-pie-spice-tollhouse-cookies/
I love Pumpkin Spice and Tollhouse had me at chocolate chips. Marrying the two together is as natural as apples and pie. Fantastic cookies with a PSL twist.

Lasagna Bread https://www.betterbaking.com/recipe-items/lasagna-bread/
This is so good it’s almost silly. Why Lasagna Bread in the Thanksgiving Issue? Sometimes sweet is good but savory is better.

Apple Cider Bundt Cake https://www.betterbaking.com/recipe-items/apple-cider-harvest-cake/
This is more aptly Drunken Apple Cake, what with its golden crumb, perk of fresh apples and a deep-flavored apple cider glaze. No one has one serving of this cake!