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[skeptic7]

I read that story too. The airline workers ( and me ) didn't realize that a properly frosted cake would stay moist and tasty for a couple of days so ...... I didn't realize the case went missing.
I was surprised when King Arthur had an article on oil based cakes improving after a day or so. I was always trying to make a cake the same day it would be eaten so it would be as fresh as possible.

[Mike Nolan]

There was an article on the net a while back that had you spread the filling on the dough (using a paste made with softened butter, sugar and cinnamon) and cut them into strips before rolling them up. I've done that a few times, it takes longer but it does make for somewhat more consistently shaped rolls. I also prefer making a paste, its easier to spread on evenly.

I bought an adjustable 7-wheel pastry cutter, even if you only use it to score the dough into portions and cut it with a sharp knife or bench scraper it makes for more evenly sized rolls.

I've tried the dental floss method of cutting the rolls it seems too complicated to me. A good sharp bench scraper with a fast stroke works best for me.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made more bread this week. It's become very sour, some of which might be the starter (although it doesn't taste that sour) and some of which may be the length of time it is resting. I may need to shorten it all up.

I also tried making cinnamon rolls. Not sure how to ice the tops. And my shaping/forming/cutting needs some work but, as I said, it's a first attempt.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks!

Fascinating. I have carried frozen pizzas on planes (large Giordano's stuffed) but never a cake. A pastry chef friend was married to a man who built custom containers for shipping art around the world for art installations so whenever she a cake needed to travel he whipped up a custom container.

Frozen might work better if you have the time. It makes everything more solid and the refrigerator dries out cake and frosting. But she cut this REALLY close arriving a couple hours before the dinner where the cake was needed so thawing the cake might have been an issue.

The "drawbridge" and window are great ideas. Also, if you heat up duct tape with a hair dryer then let it cool, it is NEVER coming off until you cut it. I taught a networking class to a bunch of NASA engineers and they would use this technique to tape things to the outside of rockets and the stuff stayed on according to them.

The traditional English/Aussie wedding cake (according to my Aussie and English friends) used to be an English fruitcake. They go more American style these days. But the booze and the candied fruit kept very well without refrigeration. And the whole things was sealed in marzipan held in place by marmalade. It tastes better than it sounds (when made right). And they would cut up the cake, seal up some of the pieces, and then send them to invited guests who could not attend. That sounded like a nice tradition.

[chocomouse]

I made a blueberry cobbler following the recipe on onceuponachef. It was excellent! I've made many a cobbler, crisp, buckle, etc through the years, but never really liked any of them. This is perfect. I will reduce the 6 Tablespoons of sugar in the filling to 5 Tablespoons next time, as it is a little sweet. I might reduce it more later if it is still too sweet. The directions are a bit confusing - as the amount of butter (and sugar) called for in the ingredient list is to be split and used in both the filling and topping. I'm going to rewrite the instructions to clarify and make it easier and faster to follow. Now, I just need to pick berries faster!!

[Mike Nolan]

I've got a nice crop of Burpee's White Knight eggplants, I will have to start picking them soon. The Long Purple ones (Reimer seeds) should have visible fruit on them soon, they're a bit slower to mature. I don't see any cantaloupe yet, but I've got plenty of blooms. I've got multiple tomato plants with small fruit on them, the cool spell we've had in the last week should mean even more fruit setting. Nothing showing signs of ripening yet, other than the one some critter got.

[BakerAunt]

It has been three years since I last froze green beans, but we have had a bumper crop, and my husband remarked that it would be nice to have some in the freezer in the late fall, so I reviewed what I posted here, then did some additional googling. I thought this site was helpful:

How to Freeze Green Beans (a step by step tutorial)

I also looked at a couple of other sites. I decided to add 1 Tbs. coarse salt to the boiling water before adding the green beans. I also followed my procedure from last time and after blanching put the dried, individual green beans (this time without parchment) onto small baking sheets before sticking them in the freezer for an hour before sealing them in pint bags and returning to the freezer.

According to one source I read, the salt is supposed to help maintain the nutritional value during the boiling stage and may help the texture when I cook them later.

[Mike Nolan]

Until I get a baking steel, my options for the grill are:

1. Just put it directly on the grate. The gaps might be a bit wide for pizza, though. I haven't had a burger fall through the gaps yet, but I'm careful placing things on the grill.

2. Use a sheet pan, possibly my perforated half-sheet pan.

3. Use my old unglazed floor tiles. They always slid around a bit in the grill, so I didn't use them much there.

4. Use the Bakerstone pizza baker. (It won't hold more than about a 10" diameter pizza, though.)

5. I've got some grids that fit a full sheet pan (18x24), I think the bakery I bought them from (at an auction) used them as cooling or icing racks, they're 3 squares to the inch so they should hold a pizza easily. I've used them when roasting bones in the oven for stock so I'm pretty sure they're oven safe, but the grill can get really hot. They're kind of a pain to clean, so I don't use them a lot, but if I'm careful when putting a pizza on them they might not get very dirty.

It also just occurred to me that I might be able to build the pizza directly on the cooling rack, then just carry it out and place it on the grill carefully.

My metal and wood peels are both about 14x14, so they'd both handle about the same size pizza.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. Ash is pretty tough. I had an ash floor in my kitchen in Seattle and I miss it. Any floor can be wrecked and if you have slippers on and step on corn meal you won't feel it and you'll grind it into the floor. We have pine now (it's a long story).

Of course I know what Cream of Wheat is. I even know the radio jingle from the 30s thanks to my dad!

[BakerAunt]

Aaron--I haven't tried using a peel for pizza except with parchment paper for the initial set, but some years ago, I was using one to bake round bread loaves on a pizza stone after letting them rise in a basket and turning it out. I think that I used cornmeal, and yes, it went all over the oven. At the time, I was in an apartment with an older oven, so I had an aluminum liner on the bottom, which helped contain the mess, although not completely.

When I began to use clay bakers, I tried semolina, but my experience is that it burns, not a taste I wanted, while I was waiting for the bread to bake completely.

These days, I use cream of wheat (farina), the regular breakfast stuff from the store. I got the tip from a King Arthur article some years ago. The farina does not burn like the semolina did; of course, a loaf of bread bakes longer than a pizza.

Thanks for the comment about the hot grains on the wood floor. We have an ash floor in the kitchen, which while it is a hard wood could be damaged. (It's also my husband's pride and joy, so I respect it.)

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone!

I may go back to wood. We're looking at an outdoor pizza oven and if we have outdoor parties wood peels are great for presentation. I may buy one to try it.

I've never tried semolina for dusting but maybe I will. It's more expensive here (I know we're close Choco) so the few times I've used it I haven't used it for dusting. Also, for some reason, my family does not like it when I have used it. They have liked it other places.

I've never tried the grill. The people I know who use their grills here use gas grills so it won't have your flavor, Rottie, and they grill the bread then build the pizza. I have experimented with par-baking crusts to shorten times and to get a crisper crust. But things don't really meld together. I make five or six pizzas at a time (sometimes more) so I would need multiple stones to do this. Here in Connecticut coal-fired pizza is typical so I wonder how it compares to charcoal. The grill's big advantage is how hot it can get but I've just learned how to adjust the heat on my ovens past the factory settings so while it would only go to 450 before I now have it at 550. With our last ovens I had one at 800.

I started with cornmeal many years ago before I used parchment. It's good but it is very messy (or I am very messy or both ;-)). We have soft, wood floors and cornmeal actually gouges them. In high heat I've had the cornmeal catch on fire.

I've been thinking about rice flour too, Mike. The last two bakers I've worked with both use it for dusting. They say 1) it sticks less than bread flour because it lacks gluten and 2) it is less likely to catch fire than wheat flour. I don't know if either of these are true but two bakers running successful bakeries swear by it. I read an article that says I can make my own using a blender and rice so that would be nice as well.

Again, thanks for all your replies.

[rottiedogs]

Pizza on the grill is divine. I build the pizza directly on my pizza stone and then pop it on the grill for 18 minutes or so. I use exclusively charcoal so the hot coals are in a circle at the outer edge of the grate with a big space in the middle with no direct heat.

Once the pizza is done it slides right off the stone with just a regular metal spatula onto a pizza pan. I don't use cornmeal or anything else on the stone. I do it this way when I make pizza in the oven too. Nothing ever sticks to it. I think the first couple of times way back when a couple of spots might have stuck but not for a very long time.

If I had an actual pizza oven (very wishful thinking) I would have to use a peel. I'd be leaning towards wood. We had friends who owned a pizza parlor business in the city and they swore by wood peels. Could just have been their personal preference though.

[Mike Nolan]

I have both, which one I use depends on the size of the pizza. Dough will stick to either type, in my experience.

Pizza on the grill is on my 'try soon' list. Obviously that's a 'no parchment' environment.

I've been looking at a baking steel and the one I'm looking at (16x20) has an option for an oversized peel. I don't know if it is metal or wood, though. We've had some unexpected expenses lately, though, and the baking steel may have to wait.'

I usually use corn meal but I've been told rice flour is best.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a batch of 14 Moomie's buns today. (We like 'em small, about 1.9 ounces each.)

[chocomouse]

Blackberries in our back yard. The stick is to hold up that branch, trying to prevent it from breaking off. This is one bush in 50 foot row. We'll start picking tomorrow (photo taken July 16). We freeze them on a tray, then bag when frozen; my husband eats them on his Frosted Flakes every morning after all the fresh berries are gone and until he runs out of them next spring.

Well, I can't upload the photo; I'll try to reduce it to less than 512 KB. Now trying again, with reduced photo.

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