First Kentucky Butter Cake of the season (“not summer”) in the oven!
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Is your grinder a burr grinder or blade grinder?
I’m wondering if almond butter can substitute for the peanut butter and if so, it would probably need more processing to get it smoother.
I have another grinder, but I like this one better for most things and it’s the one I use for grinding nuts.
Hi, I’m a bit late here. Have you tried baking without a pot but using a band to force shape? I bake a fair bit in a Dutch oven but mine is quite small, so if I want a larger loaf I have kind of the opposite of your “too wide” problem.
I’ve gotten decent height letting a loaf rise on the back of a baking sheet (on which I also bake it), with the dough banded loosely with an oiled ring of foil about 1.25 inches tall. I cut a couple of small notches for easy grasping later. Once the dough expands enough to hit the band it gets forced to continue forming upward. Once done with the rise period I slash it and pop it in the oven, and pull the band off after about 8 minutes of bake time.
The downside is that it does leave a slightly less-browned mark, visible on the crust where the band was. But I’m okay with that for family eating bread.
I’ll admit that a couple of times with high hydration and low attention, I let it over proof and got muffin-top bread. 
Interesting! I may give it a try sometime since I don’t have a less wide pot at the moment.
Panforte.
I ended up most closely following the recipe from Marcellina In Cucina, although gleaned a lot from each of the several recipes I posted the other day on the Holiday Treats thread. Felicity Cloake’s article in the The Guardian was quite useful, and (as usual) reassured me improvisation rules the day.
I cut the sugar back by 25%, although my equal volume of honey weighed in at a whopping 275 g. I used a mix of 70% and 80% chocolate, as I had some amounts of each I wanted to use up. My fruit consisted of dried figs, glazed lemon peels and glazed orange peels (nothing fancy or expensive). I used almonds and filberts for the toasted nuts. On a clue from David Lebovitz, I added a few cranks of black pepper and a small pinch each of cayenne and ancho chili peppers. Tasting what was left on the spatula and assuming this works out, next time I’ll go a bit heavier on the peppers. It tasted very good, in any case.
I baked in two 6” spring-form pans for 25 minutes at 320. The tops were dry, the center shiny but firm, and the edges just showing signs of being done. I guess I’ll know in a week or so on tasting day whether I nailed the bake, and whether I might want to cut back on the flour a bit.
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i find all pepper flavors and heat (peppercorns, dried ground hot peppers, etc) really develop immensely over time. so maybe once christmas is here, it’ll be more peppery…?
Lol! These will never last until Christmas! It was a practice bake. If I’m happy with it, I’ll bake more as-is to give as gifts. If not, well, repetition is the mother of learning!
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Gorgeous
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Thank you!
Oh, my bad. I assumed panforte was like fruitcake, you needed to make it months in advance.
I’ve read they’ll hold up for a couple of months at room temperature, if wrapped tightly. But knowing my household and how good these look, they won’t last until Thanksgiving. 
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Kentucky Butter Cake for a church event for Mom.
I had to bake this on Sunday for an event this morning, but the cake improves dramatically with a few days’ rest. I glazed it this morning.
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Ooh… I haven’t made a Kentucky butter cake for a few years… now I am getting ideas…
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You won’t regret it.
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Been a while since I made the awesome cheesy pull-apart soda bread from Chain Baker and I had a craving.
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You need one of these:
I have an old one made of metal, and if this one is as good, it produces the lightest, fluffiest tiny nut shavings.
Honey-Flaxseed Rye Crispbread from The Rye Baker. Better than any crispbread you’ll get from that Swedish furniture store or any other purveyor. A little tangy, a little sweet, very crunchy. I modified the recipe to make it 100% sourdough with no other leaveners. Very addictive and now more fun to make, thanks to the recent acquisition of a proper kruskavel (deep notched rolling pin).
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Very inspiring!
