Aaron--Here's a saved thread, where Sandra Alicante helped Mrs. Cindy with a baking project:
One More a Time, Please, Sandra Alicante!!
Sandra had a site called bakeinspain where she chronicled her baking and taught people how to bake her recipes. Mrs. Cindy was particularly complimentary about her croissants. Sandra needed to back off of the baking for health reasons (I can certainly understand that!) and was not checking in as frequently on the KAF Baking Circle as frequently, even before it closed. However, she was leaving the site up; I don't know if it is still there. She went on to create a new site craftinspain or maybe it was createinspain.
At least several people stopped coming to the Baking Circle because they felt it was too tempting when they were trying to change their diets for various reasons. After I learned about my cholesterol issues, I was determined not to be one of those who disappear from a baking site, but to 1)enjoy vicariously the kind of baking I can no longer do, and 2)explore and experiment with altering some recipes to make them accord with my new way of eating, and to share them with others who may be in the same situation.
True or false: The Maillard reaction will only occur at temperatures of 140 C (285F) or higher.
[See the full post at: Daily Quiz for January 30, 2020]
I got 8 pounds of triticale berries from the UNL wheat breeder this week. I'm working on cleaning it and probably won't start doing any testing with it until next week.
I'll start a separate thread for that, which will have some pictures of what the grain looks like (and compare it with wheat and rye) before and after grinding.
We have a Benriner which appears to be about $20 on Amazon. The guard was never very good and it appears to have a couple of blades which have been lost along the way too. But the blade we have is STILL sharp and this is something my wife brought with her when we were engaged and moved in together so that is 19 years ago (I proposed in March of 2001). We also had a fancy one from William Sonoma that someone gave us as a wedding gift that was dull the day we received it. That one is floating around somewhere but it was pretty dangerous precisely because it was so dull...
I went out and bought a cheap Sharper Image mandoline just to get the guard. I actually like that guard more than the one that goes with my much more expensive Matfer Bourgeat mandoline. The Matfer is kind of complicated to set up but works well for large volume slicing. But in some ways, the old Vegematic from the early 60's was hard to beat.
I'm pretty careful around mandolines, the only one I ever cut myself on was a Progressive one that had three separate blades that would snap in, but they wouldn't stay put and it would fall apart like a house of cards. I threw that one away. (I've been satisfied with most of the Progressive tools I have, I've got a potato slicer that works very well.)
I actually did that the other night. The guard for our mandolin is long gone. I do have a cut glove, however (should be called a "no-cut glove") and I should have used that.
I'm glad to hear the government had some common sense for a change on the nutrition label.
I agree with some of the changes they made, especially to serving sizes. A candy bar that was labeled as 1 1/2 servings wasn't likely to be only 2/3 eaten in a single sitting.
But much of the information is still relatively useless for cooking. A serving of flour is 1/4 cup (around 29 grams) which generally has 3, 4, or 5 grams of protein. You can differentiate between really soft flours, like a cake flour, and really hard ones with that information (which you probably already knew), but that's about all.
Happy Birthday BakerAunt! Nice that you have a delicious cake (with chocolate chips!) to help you celebrate.
I'm very pleased with the Bishofsbrot. It's still a very firm cake (bring out the serrated knife to saw through the crust on the sides and bottom). The fruit stayed in place, as I thought it would given that the batter to fruit, nuts, and chocolate proportions are so high in relationship to the flour. While replacing the currants with the golden raisins changes the overall flavor slightly, I can happily eat it this way as well. The bittersweet chocolate chips are great in this recipe, as it sets off the fruits and nuts nicely.
My post disappeared after I edited it, so here it is again:
On Monday I baked Bischofsbrot. The recipe is posted here at Nebraska Kitchen. I began a thread about substituting oil for melted butter, read the responses from Mike and Aaron, then did a tweak. I also substituted 3/4 barley flour for that much of the AP. My experience is that barley flour gives a bit softer texture, rather like cake flour or whole wheat pastry flour. I had no currents, so I used golden raisins in their place. The cake--which is what it is--baked well, and came out of the pan easily. (I used a fresh batch of the Grease, which seems to me to work best when its freshest, although I always stir it up when it has been sitting.) I'll slice it on Tuesday and report back on the other thread.
On Monday evening, as we were out of bread, I baked two loaves of my Buttermilk Sunflower Oat Wheat Bread, substituting in an extra 1/2 cup whole wheat flour for that much bread flour. the bread rose and baked well. These are 9x5 pan loaves. I'll freeze one.
True or false: In the USA raisins and sultanas (golden raisins) are made from two different varieties of grapes.
[See the full post at: Daily Quiz for January 28, 2020]
On Monday afternoon, I baked Bischofsbrot (recipe here at Nebraska Kitchen), replacing the 6 Tbs. of melted butter with 4 Tbs. oil whisked with 2 Tbs. buttermilk. I used one cup of bittersweet chocolate chips that I bought from KAF before the high cholesterol was diagnosed. I’m allowing myself the chocolate splurge since I replaced the butter in this cake. I didn’t have currents, so I used half golden raisins and half regular raisins. The regular ones were a bit dry, so I put a little hot water over them and let them sit, then blotted them dry with paper towels. I had about eighteen maraschino cherries left in a jar, so I used all of them. I replaced ¾ of the AP flour with barley flour.
After making a fresh batch of the Grease, I used it to coat the pan, and once baked the cake released beautifully. I accidentally had the oven on convection for the first 30 minutes, but changed it back to regular baking, rotating the loaf pan at that time. The cake tested done at 90 minutes. I really like using the stand mixer for this recipe as the eggs must be beaten for a while at high speed, then the sugar added 2 Tbs. at a time, then continue until the mixture is thick. When I first started baking this recipe, I used a hand mixer, and even then, it was hard on my arm, not to mention having to stop to add the sugar.
I also am baking two loaves of my Buttermilk Sunflower Oat Wheat Bread, with an additional ½ cup of whole wheat flour replacing that much bread flour. I reduced the sunflower seeds to 2/3 cup. The bread is on its first rise, so it will be a late evening.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by
BakerAunt.
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This reply was modified 6 years, 3 months ago by BakerAunt.
Kenji Lopez-Alt says he doesn't trust anyone who doesn't like American cheese!
Also, when making quick mac and cheese or a quick cheese sauce American cheese or Velveeta or Cheez Whiz or something else (I use something called Pub Cheese) that has some starch in it helps emulsify the sauce.
Julia Child was great and from a different time. Her shows with Jacque Pepin were fantastic.
I do watch the kids competitions because my daughter loves them. It's interesting to go back and watch the earlier ones. Duff was much more involved and making sure things like mis-measuring butter didn't happen. Now he and Valerie stand off and the show is much colder. Last week a kid's pot of caramel caught on fire and they just stood there commenting on the big fire. The people with the camera kept filming and finally someone ran in and dropped a sheet pan on the pot but it took way too long for the adults to react.
We used to eat a lot of Velveeta years ago. I opened one package and it was a dark brown color. I contacted Kraft and they assured us it was OK and sent us some coupons.
But after we moved to Lincoln and I started grad school, I think our food preferences drifted away from using it.
As I understand it, anything called "American Cheese" is a processed cheese food and not pure cheese. (I did like the way Velveeta melted, though..)
Celebrity does strange things to many people. I can't say I've ever heard any bad stories about Julia Child, though. (She was known to be a practical joker.)
