Italiancook

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Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 1,503 total)
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  • in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of May 26, 2024? #42818
    Italiancook
    Participant

      Your pizza looks scrumptious, Len! What cheeses did you use on it?

      in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of May 12, 2024? #42613
      Italiancook
      Participant

        Skeptic, I'm glad you brought this us. I've been baking my normal pancake recipe for quite some time. Over the weekend, I analyzed them. Not only are they too fine, compared to stand-at-the-stovetop pancakes, the syrup doesn't penetrate them as well as stand-at-the-stovetop pancakes. I found them wanting for a good syrupy taste. As you pointed out, the airy holes are missing.

        I bake mine at 425 degrees, because that's the temp recommended by Pioneer Woman recipe on Food Network. She recommends baking for 20 minutes, but in my oven, they turn out too brown to suit me. My stand-at-the-stovetop pancakes aren't solid brown or even a medium brown -- they're lightly browned & not on every spot.

        I have chocolate chip pancakes on my baking agenda. I'm going to try these at 400 degrees for 18 minutes. But I'm also going to increase my pancake recipe by 1/4. The normal recipe doesn't completely fill a quarter sheet pan. I'll let you know how the lower temp and time work . . . probably not until the weekend.

        Initially, I was so thrilled to not be standing "forever" to make pancakes, I was thrilled with baking pancakes. Now, I still want to bake; I just want a better product for syrup.

        Food Network has a 4-quadrant baked pancake recipe. It starts the oven at 500 degrees and turns it down to 400 when pancakes put in oven. I think, and may be wrong, that'd mean the pancake batter would first be exposed to 500 then around 450 degrees, which seems too high to me.

        Skeptic, if you do any experimenting, please share your results.

        in reply to: WSJ: Is Candy healthier than Spinach? #42572
        Italiancook
        Participant

          For dinner guests with children, I once served homemade Chocolate Pasta with the chocolate sauce that came with the recipe from my second best Italian cookbook. None of us could eat it. The taste was dreadful. We all agreed that if that Italian recipe was our first introduction to chocolate, we'd never want chocolate again. So I think I'll pass on a chocolate omelet.

          in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of April 21, 2024? #42456
          Italiancook
          Participant

            Thanks, Mike, for your detailed explanation. I learned from it. Next time I make these I'll go to 8 tablespoons butter and leave the recipe at that.

            in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of April 21, 2024? #42449
            Italiancook
            Participant

              https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/chewy-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars-recipe

              Calling you expert bakers: Last afternoon, I baked King Arthur's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, link above. Recipe calls for 11 tablespoons butter. Without thinking, I used only 7 tablespoons unsalted butter. I used a glass Pyrex 9x13" dish, so I heavily greased it with 1 tablespoon butter.

              The recipe recommends letting bars sit overnight, so I cooled for 3 hours then covered with foil.

              In the middle of the night I realized my butter error. I expected the bars to be too hard to cut. First thing this morning, I portioned them for the freezer. It was easy to cut them.

              I had made these once before using the 11 tablespoons butter. Both times, I used 1 cup Ghirardelli bittersweet chips, 1 cup Nestle caramel chips & 1 cup finely chopped walnuts. It was a couple of years ago, but the goofed bars seem as moist as the ones with the 11 tablespoons butter. So I don't understand what the 4 tablespoons butter I didn't use would have done for the cookie bars. I guess I don't understand the purpose of butter in batters. I always thought butter was for moisture & taste. What am I missing? Thanks! And in case butter helps the rise, I think my goofed bars rose as much as the ones with the recipe amount of butter.

              in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of April 14, 2024? #42426
              Italiancook
              Participant

                BakerAunt, your post reminded me of a Giada DeLaurentis recipe we like. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to copy and paste. It's at foodnetwork.com if you want to search for it:
                Nonna's Lemon Ricotta Biscuits.
                It calls for butter, and I have baked them that way. I've also used oil and been pleased. Either way, they are more like a biscuit than a muffin even thought baked in muffin liners.

                I also want to let you know . . . belatedly, you were correct. The packing box for my Emile Henry ciabatta baker was larger than the product box. Especially in height. Once unpacked, the box would have been manageable if I truly had room for it. I will when a niece takes a set of china. In the meantime, it's resting on top of a tall bedroom dresser. Resting is the key word. I haven't opened it yet. I'm blaming that on my small kitchen. I can't visualize what I'm going to do with it after I wash it unless I make bread and wash it in the same day. That hasn't happened yet, because it still comes down to having no where to store it once it's out of the box. Niece is making plans to pick up the china, so homemade ciabatta is in my future eventually.

                in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 24, 2024? #42304
                Italiancook
                Participant

                  RiversideLen, I also remove the skin, but I don't remove the bones. I crush the bones with my fingers. I do this because that's what my mom did when she made salmon patties. I just Googled to find out if there's any nutritional value to crushing the bones. Apparently they're a good source of calcium.

                  I checked my recipe for salmon loaf. I thought of it as salmon loaf, because I bake it in a loaf pan. Recipe calls it salmon casserole and calls for a 1-quart dish.

                  In addition to the 1-lb. can of salmon, it calls for celery leaves, parsley, onion, dry mustard and Tabasco, bread (I think it's soaked in milk, but don't recall for certain), and 3/4 cup milk. If I had a red pepper (or any color pepper), I'd add that this week. Sounds good.

                  in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of March 24, 2024? #42296
                  Italiancook
                  Participant

                    Len, you reminded me that I have a good recipe for salmon loaf. Thanks! I haven't had that since way before the pandemic. I'll make it this week. I don't know why it's been so long since I made it. In fact, it may have been a whole decade since I made it. The last time I had a painter working in the house. I made two salmon loaves while he worked. One for him to take home for he and his wife to bake that night. One for here.

                    in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 25, 2024? #41974
                    Italiancook
                    Participant

                      Thanks, Mike, for taking the time to explain this to me.

                      in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of February 25, 2024? #41970
                      Italiancook
                      Participant

                        Mike, I've been reading with interest your journey with the keto diet. I have a question:

                        Our son was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes back in the dark ages before blood glucose testing existed. Automatically, he had daily ketone strip tests. They were on the regular testing strips. Ketones meant dangerously high blood glucose. So if the keto diet requires you to exercise ketone caution, how can it be a safe diet? Seems to me from what you've said here is that the keto diet elevates blood sugars, and that's why you have to be ketone-concerned.

                        in reply to: Hand Mixer Woes #41938
                        Italiancook
                        Participant

                          BakerAunt, I have a Cuisinart hand mixer, also. I've also experienced the beaters falling out without "catching." I can't tell you how I learned this -- calling the company or reading the instruction booklet -- but: One of my beaters has wings, protrusions on the sides of the stem. The other beater is just straight.

                          I learned that I have to put in the winged beater first, using the hole that has openings in the sides for the wings. Then that beater will hold in place.

                          Lastly, put in the straight beater, and it will catch and stay in place.

                          in reply to: Remembering Cass Avona (Kid Pizza) #41845
                          Italiancook
                          Participant

                            I regret his passing. He was always generous with his knowledge.

                            in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of January 28, 2024? #41759
                            Italiancook
                            Participant

                              I'm glad you have the little funnels, BakerAunt. I share your frustration about the shipping being almost worth it.

                              My Emile Henry ciabatta-baker arrived. My husband was an immediate buzz-kill. "Where are you going to put it?" he asked when he saw the large cardboard box. After I thought for a moment I had to agree with him. Therefore, I haven't opened the packing box. I ponder it each day. I recruited a niece to inherit one of my china sets early, but it'll be summer before she can take them. When they're gone, I'll have room for my ciabatta-baker. Until then? I ponder the large cardboard box everyday!

                              in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of January 28, 2024? #41736
                              Italiancook
                              Participant

                                Yes, Kimbob, may your husband heal completely, quickly.

                                Mike, a few weeks ago, Sam's had the low-fat pre-grated mozzarella cheese in stock that you have mentioned. I wasn't prepared for how much 5 pounds would actually look like. It seemed massive when it was unpacked!

                                I've had it a few weeks -- long enough that I dreamed all last night about processing it before it wastes. To my surprise, after I pulled it out of the fridge, I couldn't find an expiration date on it. Is that normal? The cheese looked and tasted fine, so I put it in 5 oz. packages for the freezer. It's been so long since I made pizza that I can't remember how much mozzarella I use. So I put 10 oz. in a plastic container for the refrigerator. Before breakfast tomorrow, I'll make pizza dough to rise in the fridge. We'll have pizza on Thursday. At that time, I'll weigh how much cheese I have leftover. I'll mark the weight on the recipe.

                                Mike, is there a rhyme or reason to when Sam's carries these 5 pound bags of mozzarella. This was the first time they had it in stock at my warehouse when I've looked for it (online). I'm wondering if it's a winter-only product.

                                Thanks for telling us about this product. I like the appearance of the cheese shreds.

                                in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of January 28, 2024? #41733
                                Italiancook
                                Participant

                                  Happy Belated Birthday, BakerAunt. Your cake and meal sounded scrumptious.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 31 through 45 (of 1,503 total)