[Italiancook]

Len, the ground meat looks wonderful. Is it time-consuming?

[Italiancook]

RiversideLen, your braided round looks beautiful and perfect. Thanks for the tip about the flour. I've never made a braided loaf. I don't like the way long braided loaves look like they cut with the slices not being all uniform. At least that's the way the finished product looks to me. Your braided boule has inspired me to make my next boule braided.

Yesterday, I ordered an Emile Henry ciabatta baker from their website. It's on sale. I don't know if all their bakers are on sale. It makes 2-1 lb. loaves. I don't plan on putting the risen dough into a 500 degree baker, however. I'm going to do the second rise in the baker and hope I end up with delicious ciabatta . . . somehow. I don't care if I sacrifice a little on the crust. My preferred bread for pasta is ciabatta. It's iffy to find in the store. I've never tried ciabatta-baking because of the steam. I can't work up much enthusiasm for making steam in the oven. Of course, if it's too much of a crust reduction, it won't really be ciabatta.

[Italiancook]

Deleted. The Amazon link didn't work.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, thanks: (1) For posting your Pumpkin Puree (accent missing) recipe. I'll never make it; I don't like pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread. In the recipe, you mentioned using a Kuhn-Rikon knife. At the time, I had an acorn squash that I didn't feel like tackling with my chef's knife. I searched Amazon for your knife. The first thing that popped up was a watermelon knife. There was no mention in the blurb or the reviews about using it for squash. I bought it anyhow. Summer will come again, and we like watermelon.

I continued to search for a squash knife. Still none with that label. I found the orange knife with a review mentioning acorn squash. I bought it, too. I'm going to use it on the acorn squash tomorrow.

(2) Thanks for letting us know you buy freezer containers from Lehman's. I buy several items from them but didn't know they sell freezer containers. To my pleasant surprise, they're USA-made. Immediately, I texted a niece about them. I no longer make the multi-course Italian Christmas dinner, but she does. She kept me in the loop about all her many, many preparations, including her Christmas Eve tamales -- all the WORK. After the holiday was over, I texted to her that she really needs to do most of the prep in October and freeze everything. Thanks to you, BakerAunt, she now knows where to buy the freezer containers.

[Italiancook]

I agree with you, chocomouse, I wish I had known about baked pancakes years ago. KABC has a recipe for sheet pan French Toast. Eventually I'm going to try it -- not with their custard mixture which is more work than I want to go to first thing in the morning. I'm going to use my mixture (2 eggs, 1 cup milk, lots of cinnamon & a smidgen nutmeg) and follow their instructions for the baking. I may need to adjust it somewhat, but it certainly has to be easier than standing at the stove babysitting 2 slices French Toast at a time in the skillet. Here's the KABC recipe:
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sheet-pan-french-toast-recipe

[Italiancook]

My opinion is that your opinion is 100% correct -- at least where my new slow cookers are concerned, navlys. Today, I made slow cooker Florentine Potato Soup. The recipe from old, good slow cooker era calls for it to cook 7 hours on low. In my new slow cooker, the potatoes were cooked in 5 hr. 10 min.! You called it right, navlys.

[Italiancook]

I notice Len's pepperoni is on top of the cheese and wonder why he makes it this way. I put the cheese on top of the ingredients. The reason: When I was a teen, I spent many Friday nights sleeping over at a friend's house. Her parents would go out and spring for us to order pizza and Coca-Cola's. Those pizzas always had a full covering of cheese on top of the ingredients. I never fully cover the ingredients on my pizzas, to save calories. My pizzas look nice with wisps of ingredients peeking through, but Len, your pizza looks scrumptious. And I'm wondering what the greenery is on top.

[Italiancook]

Aaron, I had to Google to find out why challah is round for Rosh Hashana. Thanks for the education!

You probably explained this question last year, but I don't recall the answer: How do you determine who receives each loaf of challah? Do you rotate so that each family eventually receives one?

[Italiancook]

After BakerAunt posted about Banana Oat Muffins, I searched for the recipe on allrecipes.com. In the process, I found a headline for "25 Ways to Bake with Olive Oil Instead of Butter." https://www.allrecipes.com/gallery/baking-with-olive-oil-recipes/

I baked their Olive Oil Bread yesterday afternoon. It took 2 hr. 10 min. Prepping the bread took 28 minutes. The remainder of the time was rising and baking for 40 minutes.

The finished product was slightly larger than a steakhouse boule served at the table. We ate half of it for penne with Rao's red sauce. The bread is delicious. I'm keeping the recipe for an "emergency" when I want bread with minimal effort at the last minute. I don't like foccacia with pasta, so this bread will work for me as a substitute for baking fresh foccacia, which also only takes a couple of hours.

BakerAunt, in this collection of recipes is one for Olive Oil Sugar Cookies.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I appreciate your previous information about KAB's Soft Wrap Bread and how you'd freeze it. I printed the recipe but haven't ordered the potato flour. I'm debating with myself. Theoretically, I'm not supposed to eat potatoes. Because of the phosphorous. I do, but never without trepidation. On the KAB website it says potato flour makes baked goods softer. If I purchased the potato flour, I know I'd also use it in KAB's recipe for onion buns. They're very good, but not as soft as I prefer bread products. So I've been debating whether I should risk have a pantry product with phosphorous AND a sack of potatoes in the larder. If this debate ever ends with a purchase, I'll post here when I make the Soft Wraps.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, the KA soft wrap bread looks interesting. Glad you told us to fold them when hot and place under a towel. Question: Do you freeze what you don't eat? I much prefer baking bread to eating it. I'll eat some when it's fresh baked and freeze the rest until needed. If I make these wraps, I'd only need 2 on baking day. I can't envision how I'd freeze the remainder. Any suggestions?

[Italiancook]

I searched through my recipes tonight, didn't find what I needed, but found this Taste of Home recipe. I've never baked it; we don't grow zucchini.

Zucchini Pineapple Bread

[Italiancook]

Our trash collection company will give racoon-resistant bungee-type cords to secure the cans . . . free. We have to call and ask for them. They mail 2 or 3 to the house at a time. No charge. The extras are because they sometimes end up in the garbage truck when trash dumped in. They're easy to install and easy to remove the hook to thrown in bags.

[Italiancook]

skeptic7, your explanation of cutting a long quick bread is helpful to me. Thank you! I never thought of doing that. I like sticks. I cut foccacia into what I call soldiers. Sticks perfect for dipping into all the Italian soups I make. That reminds me:

BakerAunt, you were helpful when I was struggling to master KAF's recipe for foccacia. I did eventually "get" it right but didn't really like the flavor. I found a different foccacia recipe from I-don't-know-where that is thinner, an attribute I like better. I also didn't like its flavor.

It finally dawned in me that it might be I don't like the olive oil I've used for decades. It's the brand my mother-in-law used. The last time my husband went to Costco, I asked him to buy a Kirkland brand olive oil. He said they offer 3 Kirkland brands of it, so he just guessed which one to buy. This week, I made "My Favorite Foccacia" with the Kirkland EVOO, and I like the oil much better.

[Italiancook]

Mike, I appreciate the link you gave us. I printed the chart. I like charts -- I keep them next to my stove so I can easily reach for them when cooking or baking. The first chart you offered at your site that I keep handy is the can number sizes. I've only needed it once, which means I think it's useful. Never know when I'll again need to know how many ounces are in a specific can number. As I type this, it occurs to me that with shrinkflation, the information may be obsolete!

Speaking of shrinkflation: Four months ago and recently, I treated a relative to a Sam's shopping spree. Mike, is this my imagination: It seemed to me on the recent trip that package sizes were smaller, i.e. 6 cans to a pkg. as compared to 8 cans four months ago. It seemed to me that nuts were in the same size container but candy bars were in a smaller package. Could I be dreaming this?

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