[chocomouse]

I used to pour water into a pan to make steam when I wanted a crisp crust, but about 10-15 years ago I bought a porous clay long covered bake. It is not the one that KAF sells, and I think I might have bought it from Pampered Chef, but not sure. It does produce a crisp crust, although not as crunchy as bread baked in a commercial steam oven. It is easier and safer than producing steam in the oven. I do love the bread I get from baking in it, but never made a rye in it, however I will try that soon. I agree with BakerAunt that it would not be suitable for large scale production.

I'd also like to comment on using a convection oven -- I've only rarely used the convection in my microwave, so really have no experience to speak of using convection for cooking or baking. However, what I have read about it makes me think it would not be a good choice for baking. Maybe others will weight in on that option.

[chocomouse]

I love a roasted pork tenderloin too! But tonight we had boneless pork chops on the grill, with potato salad and greens from the deck topped with leftover Greek salad.

[chocomouse]

Perfect recipe to celebrate your new range!!

[chocomouse]

Italiancook, those two recipes are very similar, and I kind of mix and match the lemon flavoring, while keeping the basic ingredients the same. The first time I made it, I used lemon peel that I had candied. In the batch I made yesterday, I used only 2 tablespoons of lemon juice powder in the dough and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice powder in the streusel. I have also made it with lemon juice, or lemon zest and/or lemon oil. In my opinion, the juice powder gives the best lemon flavor, and is easy to keep in the pantry. Also, since KAF is 10 miles down the road, it's easy for me to restock; I don't know if it is available elsewhere or online.

[chocomouse]

What a terrific new tradition, Italiancook -- I love coffeecake! Today I made a lemon blueberry coffeecake with lemon streusel. I've made it a number of times, loosely based on KAF's 2 recipes: Blueberry Coffeeake with Lemon Streusel and Lemon Streusel Coffeecake. I love, love, love the KAF lemon juice powder; it's more potent than any of the oils, emulsions, juices, etc. I also like to add fresh lemon zest, but don't always have lemons on hand. If you try it, I'd love to hear what you think of it.

Does anyone else use the tea loaf pan, a ceramic baker, sold by KAF? I like the size and shape, but always have to bake my recipes for much longer, like about 20 minutes longer. I wondering if others have this same experience?

[chocomouse]

Dinner tonight was shrimp alfredo with asparagus and a garden salad.

[chocomouse]

Yesterday I made a raspberry poke cake, with a cream cheese frosting and homemade raspberry jam. I'm a little disappointed, as I think it needs a lot more jam. I guess I'd prefer a layer cake with the jam between the layers. This was my first poke cake-- I don't know how I missed the fad back in the 70s!!

This morning I made burger buns for the freezer. And now, I have dough in the abm -- will be a pepperoni pizza for dinner tonight.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by chocomouse.

[chocomouse]

Dinner last night was grilled chicken, potatoes roasted on the grill, and asparagus from the garden.

[chocomouse]

Today I baked two loaves of rye bread. I subbed sweet gherkin pickle juice for the dill pickle juice I usually use because I didn't have any dill juice. It seems to have a good flavor (I also used caraway, dill, and mustard seed plus dried onion) and it had a lot of oven spring.

[chocomouse]

I baked two loaves of oatmeal-whole wheat bread.

[chocomouse]

We had scallops with a shrimp sauce over rice, with a green salad. We don't have this very often, maybe once a year at the most, but scallops were on sale this week. It was good, with leftovers for another night.

[chocomouse]

I hope you've had a very happy birthday, Cass!

[chocomouse]

Joan, have you ever made the "Impossible" Bisquick pies? I made those years and years ago for my Dad. Cold, creamy, quick and easy - great for summertime. His favorite was coconut, followed by lemon. You just throw ALL the ingredients into a blender, pour into a pie plate, bake -- it forms it's own crust. Lemon lush is a great name!

[chocomouse]

I just made something interesting, and not my usual style of baking. This is a layered, pudding-type dessert. It starts with a nut based crust, with flour and butter, the only part of this dish that is "home-made". Then a layer of confectioner's sugar, peanut butter, and cool whip (I used generic). Next a layer of vanilla pudding topped with a layer of chocolate pudding. I used instant, no sugar added, with 2% milk. The top layer is plain cool whip drizzled with hot fudge sauce (comes in a plastic jar to heat in the microwave). It was fun to make (well, mostly fun to think about eating it), easy, but lots of steps and over a period of time. I know I'll like it, although I'm sure it would be better if the puddings were made from scratch, the cool whip was real whipped cream, etc! I'd share with you all, unfortunately, none of you live nearby!!

[chocomouse]

I saw that too, Baker Aunt. Glad it's not near me! I got Krispy Kreme donuts in Maine last week, so I'm good until we return there at the end of July. Then I can survive until I get to Erie PA at the end of August! Then I'll have to suffer until February.

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