[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi Italiancook. The only mozzarella my family likes that is readily available is Trader Joes. When I go by TJ's I grab a bunch and throw it in the freezer. I thought I had one thawing this past Sunday but I didn't so we left it on the counter for a half hour then grated it by hand (it would be easier/faster with a food processor but more cleanup and setup). We could also grate the cheese and then freeze it which, now that I write this makes more sense. We don't by grated cheese because it always has cellulose which really is fine but for some reason just creeps me out. And really, it only takes a few minutes to shred the cheese myself (it takes my kids a little longer).

So you can keep dough, sauce, and cheese all frozen which is the foundation. Then you can put whatever you want on it and whatever you have in your house. We've been using chard because we had a share of a community sponsored agriculture from a local farm and the last few Fridays we've picked up chard. That is also where the onions and sweet peppers have come from. We usually have goat cheese because my wife and oldest love it. We always have olives because everyone loves them except me.

You can absolutely make pizza in a pan. Some of my favorite pizza in the world - Giordano's stuffed - is baked in a pan (their thin crust used to be too). And the first pizza making job I had was in my college dining hall and we made pan pizzas there. The whole point of making our own pizza is to make what we like and make pizza that is a little less bad for us. So whatever floats your boat is fine.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made pizza Sunday night. It has become our pizza night. I made a cheese, a sausage, an olive, and a vegetable with sweet peppers, Swiss chard, and onions. I've been putting the chard on when the pizza first went into the oven but I should probably wait until I turn the pizza and then add the chard. It gets over cooked. Although last week I made a white pizza with chard, onions, peppers, goat cheese, and mozzarella and that worked well.

I need to make some challah and English muffins this week as well as an apple pie. I'm thinking of using macouns and macintosh.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I like the ginger on oatmeal idea, especially as oatmeal time is now (after a week of 80s and 90s we are having nights in the 40s).

We can buy caster sugar here at Whole Foods and we needed it for some recipe. Had I known that it's just an English name for super fine sugar I would never have bought because it was stupid pricey but my wife likes to follow recipes and this was one from Jamie Oliver. And now that we have it I will not throw it away because it was stupid pricey. 🙂

And while much has dropped in price since the Amazonization of Whole Foods, they've yet to touch the baking aisle ingredients.

If you've ever read any of Rick Riordan's books he has one where his heroes must fight the queen of the Amazons who is, of course, the true head of Amazon (sorry Jeff B). It is the Amazons' secret plan to have us all buy everything from them and that is how they will conquer the world!

This book is about old so Mr. Riordan was pretty prescient.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Good idea. I had some caster sugar in the cabinet and didn't think about using it. It wasn't enough anyway. I use it for adding to cold drinks. I'll add it to my list for Walmart. Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made a double batch of brownies. My recipe uses all unsweetened chocolate because that is how my mom used to make them. But the batter usually is a little gritty with sugar so I may switch to 3/4 unsweetened and 1/4 semi or bitter sweet and back on the sugar. The lecithin in the semi/bitter sweet might change the feel too.

I changed my pizza dough recipe and added a half cup of chickpea flour to increase the protein in my pizza. My pizza is one of the few things my daughter will eat besides pasta so I am trying to get some more protein in her. The chickpea flour is gluten free so in addition to cake and white whole wheat flours I added some bread flour. It was still a soft, unstretchy dough.

[aaronatthedoublef]

First, I was making a two wedding cakes - the brownie cake and an Australian style fruitcake (the groom was an Aussie). This was in the nascent days of the web and there were no recipes online so it was some trial and error with some non-baking Aussie friends acting as taste testers (and they tried some really vile cakes). I eventually got it right with a couple days to spare.

I moved onto the bride's cake. She was a dear friend of mine and I tried to convince her to allow a mutual friend who was a James Beard nominated pastry chef to make the cake but my friend wanted me to make it. The cake was fine but I could not make the buttercream without it breaking (I was not allowing it to cool before dumping in the butter). This was all happening the morning of the wedding. At the last minute my brilliant girlfriend suggested I used whipped cream and we decorate it with flowers. She saved the day.

Of course I should have waited to put the whipped cream on until AFTER we transported it. And I should have made EXTRA whipped cream to repair any damage that happened on the ride over but we made it to the wedding on time with both cakes in one piece!

The mother-of-the-bride put the cake at the end of the buffet and after the wedding the husband of the bride went through the line and cut himself a huge corner of the cake before the bride and groom cut it. I can still hear the shrieks from the bride and her mom.

But the brownie cake was completely consumed (I should have but did not make a topper -doh!) and the fruit cake was about half gone. And it was heavy. So it was a success and I will retire with my streak intact.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hmmm... Perhaps I'll try it this year. Our Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins are usually attacked by squirrels although last year we coated them with some WD40 and that kept the squirrels at bay long enough to have the pumpkins for Halloween. I would have used them so thanks for the tip on pie pumpkins. Right now my daughter wants an apple pie so I may have to make one of those. Then I can try making my own pumpkin puree.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I love that book. I've made a modified version of Rosie's orgasms numerous times. I made them into a wedding cake once. It is the first and only wedding cake I have ever made and given the stress I don't know that I would ever make another.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Back, many, many years ago when I was in college the dining hall would serve something called "New England Squash Pie". When I asked the cooks what it was like they would say "pumpkin pie" and, indeed, it tasted much like pumpkin pie.

Looking online for recipes it appears "squash pie" is made with butternut squash instead of pumpkins but has the same trio of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg that is in everything come fall. I've always been too lazy to roast my own pumpkins which is, perhaps, why I did not think there would be much difference between varieties of pumpkins (or other squash) when you start adding sugar, eggs, and the trio.

One such recipe can be found at this link.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Sorry about that. I originally inserted the full link but it did not show up so I stuck it in with "book" but it is hard to see. I'll endeavor to do better in the future.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'm looking for a version of it online but I cannot find a link. It's in this book which Rosie still sells. It's also available on Amazon. Having spent most of my adult life building and selling IP I don't like to give away someone else's.

I will say this is one of my favorite cookbooks. You can tell from the pages that I've used it a lot. It was on a remainder table in a Barnes & Noble in Seattle after I had just moved there from Boston. I was a little said about the move and this reminded me of Boston and a bakery I'd loved since I started college so I picked it up.

I did find a recipe for her Soho Globs which were another favorite. I modified this recipe too. I increased the chocolate and the butter. I use

12 ounces of semi sweet chocolate
8 ounces of unsweetened chocolate
1.5 sticks of butter

Rosie melts all the butter with the chocolate and I melt half the butter and cream the other half.

Then I chill the dough before baking.

I'll keep looking for a legal version of the cake recipe to post.

Sorry

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made a chocolate cake for a neighborhood gathering. It's a sour cream chocolate cake and I made a simple chocolate frosting. I used to make this all the time but since I married and had kids I don't think I've made this since. My family 1) tends to prefer white cake (no they cannot even be satisfied with yellow cake so I have to separate the eggs) and 2) the like cupcakes and since my wife does not want a dozen cupcakes she tends to buy them. So I probably have not baked a cake in over ten years.

I think the last time I made this particular cake was for the 30th birthday of two friends who not only introduced me to my wife but insisted that I was a decent guy and she should go out with me. We will have been married 16 years next month so it's been a while.

It's a hard cake to mess up. I boosted the chocolate by a ounce and added a tbl of cocoa. I forgot to let the frosting set so it was a little more runny than usual but it firmed up on the cake.

I did not taste it myself but the neighbors seemed to like it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'll check on the KAF at Costco.

Maybe I have bad luck with flour shipments or rougher-than-normal UPS folks.

NY Bakers is in San Diego but I ordered it. I will see if the wholesaler carries First Clear but right now I have about eight pounds of it so that will last me for another month or so.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hmmm.... Tried fixing the link myself but it's not working. Might be a browser issue. I'll try a different one.

Costco sells 25 lb. bags of KAF AP flour by me. I do not know the price. NY Bakers sells five pound bags of first clear here http://nybakers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=113 for $8.95 for a 5 lb. bag. Same price as the KAF 2 lb. bag and no one has noticed the difference yet. It also comes in a poly bag which, so far, has faired better when shipped. With KAF I lose a bag every couple of shipments (they always replace it right away). Walmart shipped me flour and literally just dumped the flour bags into a box and two of five bags split open.

Walmart used to ship free to a store and you could come pick it up there. I don't know if they still do it but it might be worth a check.

Also, they are teaming up with Google to battle Amazon and Kroger is supposed to be making massive changes and infusions in tech as well. We'll see how those go.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Our kitchen has a butcher block so I use that for rolling things out when I'm in the house. I have a big cutting board that I use as a cutting board and for rolling out dough when I am using our outdoor oven outside. It was inexpensive from Bed, Bath, & Beyond and it's big. It sits on top of our refrigerator when not in use.

I had not thought about using silpats for kneading dough but at this point I do that in the big bowl I mix it in. I don't use my stand mixer because at 5 quarts, it is not big enough for most of the dough recipes I make. I like the bowl because I make less of a mess and there is less cleanup. I use a bowl scraper to fold the dough over on itself.

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