How kind and thoughtful you are Swirth. I did contribute to my church's Harvest Festival the Saturday before Halloween (free for the neighborhood), but instead of candy, I donated Halloween pencils and individual bags of pretzels. I figured that the kids would likely be trick or treating in a few days, and I am concerned about giving out so much sugar at one time of year.
We are unlikely to get trick-or-treaters in the area where we will live next year, because we will be year-rounders in a place that has more of a summer population, and we will not be in town. I may lay in a supply of little toys as Mike and Swirth do, in case any kids make it out that far.
I can pace myself with candy, but my husband cannot. That is why one bag of the Butterfingers are hidden to be doled out now and again. I'm hoping that my stepson and stepdaughter will take some of the candy this weekend.
We haven't given away candy in many years. We give away small toys (carnival trinkets), and my wife always buys some small books and other kid-safe items to give away to really young kids.
This started when I bought a case of colored chalk for a few dollars at an office supply auction in late summer about 25 years ago. My wife asked what I planned to do with it, and I said 'Give it away at Halloween!'. We haven't done candy since.
And whatever we don't use one year just goes back on the shelf for next year.
We got about 35 trick-or-treaters last night, which was down for us, even though we've got a number of younger families on the street these days.
I think it's because it was a weekday, and the fact that it was Monday (ie, a football night) might have been a factor as well. It wasn't as cool as had been forecast, though.
The haystacks went over well, even though my wife said there were lots of desserts on the table. I sent in a big tin of them, probably about 60 of them, just one came back.
Her scones went over well, too, though for some reason most people seem to skip the lemon curd. (That means more left over for us, oh the horrors of it all!)
Thanks.
The first time I make something I try to follow the recipe exactly. For his pizza dough in "My Bread" Leahy says to use 300 grams of bread flour and let it rise for two hours so I did that. I used a little extra water because the dough was too dry and was not coming together.
I then divided it in half per his instructions and tried to stretch it by hand to fit a half sheet. That was where I ran into trouble.
I took the second half and froze it. Then I let it thaw out for about 24 hours in the refrigerator and rolled it with a rolling pin. If I'd really wanted to test this I probably should have tried to hand stretch this but I didn't.
Now I'll try some variations on the flour. I know you suggest semolina to lower the gluten but I'll use cake flour. My family does not like semolina (at least when I use it).
Also, looking up Leahy recipes on the web Mr. Leahy and his acolytes are letting his pizza dough rest for 18-24 hours. I really like longer so I may try that too. But I like to only change one or two things at a time. All this takes time and I only make pizza once a week so it will take a while to sort all this out. I would bet some of this is covered in "My Pizza" but I do not want to shell out another $20+ for it.
Letting the dough age for 12-24 hours seems to make it a lot easier to roll out. I'm told sourdough pizza dough also rolls out easier, but I've never made a true sourdough pizza dough. The longer you let it age, the more it is going to start to behave more like a sourdough. (I learned that testing the baguette recipe in Peter Reinhart's 'artisan' book.)
The type of flour you use also affects it, a flour high in glutenin is going to be very elastic and will bounce back, so you need to let it relax frequently. A flour high in gliadin is going to be more plastic and will roll out quicker.
RottieDog, that is exactly what Jim Leahy recommends in "My Bread". I tried that a couple weeks ago with no success. It was thick (Mr. Leahy says his is cracker thin) and chewy but tasted good. I kept tearing holes in it and repairing the holes.
Some of this may have been because it needed to rest more after I cut the dough.
This week I took the second half of the dough and used my rolling pin and rolled it out and put it on a half sheet. It was thin. Perhaps it was because the dough was rested or maybe it was just the rolling pin or maybe both.
I can turn pizza on my hands, toss it, or roll it but not stretch it by hand. Maybe I just need to practice more.
My primary purpose is to give people a dough they do not need to knead in a machine or by hand.
Oliebollen With Yeast
Submitted by omaria on January 03, 2012 at 11:27 pm
DESCRIPTION
different than the 1st recipe.
SUMMARY
Yield 0 Source GJ.Groothedde, Levine and me of course with all other Dutch people who make their own ! File under New year treat
INGREDIENTS
5 lbs. flour
2 liter sparkling water
113.5 ml. milk
5 eggs
60.5 instant yeast
113 gr. butter
68 gr. sugar
34 gr. salt (plus 1 1/2 tbs. extra)
4 lemons for zesting
400 gr. raisins
200 gr.candied orange peel
200 gr. candied lemon peel
200 gr. candied citron
400 gr. dried cranberries
Mix all together and let batter rise until double. This might take 1 1/2 hr. or more. Heat deep fryer or large pan with oil to 325 F. Drop batter in hot oil.I use an ice cream scoop. Do not crowd them. Fry them for about 7 or 8 minutes.
Serve with powdered sugar.
I think that is all!
I've never made a sourdough bread without some yeast. My schedule does not allow me to sit around and wait for long rises. That would be a project for when I am retired. I do use less yeast in breads that include my starter, and some of those recipes require an initial sponge that sits for 8 hours or so. My favorite bread recipe is the Marilyn's Sourdough Oatmeal Bread from an older Baking Sheet issue. (It's also excellent with 5-grain cereal substituted for the oats.) My husband does not like my white sourdough loaf, so I only bake it if other people are around to help me eat it.
I can't prove that my sourdough has a more complex taste than when I started baking with it, but I certainly think that it does. It must be about 25 years old. I've given starter to anyone who asks for it, but I'm pretty sure that most of those people eventually tossed it. I'd like to think that my starter would live on with someone after I'm gone, but I think that unlikely.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by
BakerAunt.
That recipe sounds great, Italian Cook. Is it on a website or in one of Ina Garten's cookbooks?
I often reduce salt in some quick breads, especially when a recipe calls for baking soda, which is in itself salty. I've thus reduced the salt in both my cornbread and in David Lee's biscuits. It was unusual for me to increase salt in the cookie recipe, but I always thought that they were a bit flat, and then I accidentally put too much salt in them and noted that while a bit too salty, they were tastier. So, this time I increased the salt in my sugar cookies a bit. I remember Cass (where is he?) telling us that shortbread is better with a bit more salt, and I increased the salt in my shortbread for that reason. I don't know if that thread was transferred here or not.
I find a lot of restaurant food too salty, and I consider that when ordering. It's good that we do most of our eating at home.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt.
I'm not aware of any significant chemical reactions between baking powder and salt. Leavening is caused by the interaction of an acid and a base. Baking soda is the base (alkali), but a solution of salt in water is pretty much pH neutral, so you still need some acid. (With double-acting baking powder, there are two acids involved, one of them requires heat to begin reacting with the base.)
I've tried far too many recipes that were WAY too salty for my taste. Graduates of certain cooking schools (I'd put CIA at the top of that list) seem especially prone to develop and prefer recipes that are heavy on salt.
I made Ina Garten's Buttermilk Cheddar Biscuits. This time I remembered to put in the butter! Some of the reviews said they were too salty, so I left out 1/2 teaspoon salt and thought they were too salty. Next time, I'll reduce salt to 3/4 teaspoon, but I think there's some science to needing a certain amount of salt for the baking powder to act. I'm uncertain. Is there a science reason behind adding salt with baking powder?
The biscuits are good. I froze all of them but the taste test. Later in the week, I microwaved one to go with a bowl of chili. That released more of the cheddar flavor. I'll make these again.
I also baked plain ole muffin tin dinner rolls. I gave 8 to a person from church who is shut-it (along with frozen soups). The remaining 4 I froze.
On Tuesday I baked cornbread to go with soup. On Thursday, I baked a carrot cake (recipe from Wilton) and frosted it with cream cheese frosting (from Susan Purdy's The Perfect Cake) for a birthday party at work. On Friday. I finally had time to roll out the sourdough-cheddar cracker dough I had made twelve (!) days ago and bake the crackers. The flavor is excellent; this dough really does improve by being allowed to rest, although I don't plan to leave it this long again. Saturday afternoon, I baked Grandma A's Ranch Hand Bread (recipe on this site), using 3 1/4 cups of buttermilk and 3/4 C water for the liquid. I also added 1/3 cup of flax meal and used 3 Tbs. honey in place of the sugar. That evening, I baked my adaptation of the pumpkin scones from the KAF website--being sure to sprinkle them with a coarser grain mix of white, black, and orange sugars, Finally, I baked Halloween sugar cookies, using a half recipe of the No Fail Sugar Cookie recipe from the Fancy Flours website, but I increased the salt from 1/2 to 3/4 tsp.
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This topic was modified 9 years, 5 months ago by BakerAunt. Reason: added detail
On Monday I made my adaptation of my Mom's hamburger stroganoff, which I serve over brown rice. I don't know if it qualifies as cooking, but I also have continued my quest to make a good salsa from canned tomatoes. I need to keep salt low, so I used no-salt added petite diced tomatoes, then added chopped onion and garlic. The problem has been finding good canned medium heat chili peppers. I found a jar of Hatch Valley Flame Roasted chilies that are medium heat. That let me save the leftovers for my next batch. This is very good indeed. (Now, if I can just keep my husband from eating up all the tortilla chips!) I also made turkey-vegetable-bean soup, using the mix of beans and barley that Bob's Red Mill produces as Vegi-Soup Mix. I seasoned it with Penzey's Bouquet Garni and dried chives, as well as adding a bit of tomato paste.
I know a lot of sourdough fanatics who would dispute that a new starter tastes 'just like' an old one.
Chad Robertson (Tartine Bakery) talks about 'mature' versus 'young' starters, and the methods he describes in his book produce a starter that is always 'young'.
There are also 'cold storage' starters and 'warm storage' starters, and the cold ones are more sour than the warm ones, because cold encourages a different type of bacteria than warm.
IMHO a reasonably well-established starter is a pretty hardy beast, folks have left one sitting in the back of the fridge for months and it bounced right back.
