[Italiancook]

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.

[Italiancook]

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

[Italiancook]

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.

[Italiancook]

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.

[Italiancook]

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

[Italiancook]

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!

[Italiancook]

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.

[Italiancook]

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

[Italiancook]

chocomouse, I also put potatoes in my corn chowder. I agree with you about the carbs. That's why I froze most of it. If we eat a bowlful of the chowder occasionally, the carbs don't add up, or so I tell myself. Plus, I add 2 ribs of celery to the chowder. With a healthful veg in the pot, some of the carbs are canceled out, or so I tell myself.

[Italiancook]

chocomouse, I made corn chowder for the freezer Friday. I saw a recipe that added broken chicken ramen noodles to corn chowder. I tried that, and we really liked having the ramen in it. The recipe said to use the full seasoning packet, but that's way too much salt for my taste. I added just a little of it.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, I appreciate your expertise on Emile Henry's products. I'll take your advice and use Crisco and farina. I have to wait until the weather breaks to do a store-run to buy the Cream of Wheat. I had planned on using semolina, which I stock. I'm glad you warned me it burns. I've printed Henry's ciabatta recipe, so once I have the farina, I'm headed to the kitchen. I brought a container of homemade tomato sauce from the garage freezer to the kitchen freezer compartment. So I'm anticipating a meal of penne with tomato sauce and ciabatta. I'm so eager for this meal that I hope I don't have a ciabatta-baking flop.

[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.

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