[Italiancook]

Blanche, Welcome!

I use SAF (I think) instant yeast sold by KAF. I keep it in a plastic container in the freezer. Blanche, I wonder if the yeast you're using is perfect for KAF recipes. The reason is because of a recent call I had with KAF Baker's Hotline. I needed to know how to convert some type of packaged yeast to the instant yeast for a recipe not from their website. It was not an exact conversion. You may want to call their Baker's Hotline (Phone: 1-855-371-2253) and ask them whether the type of yeast you use equally converts to their recipes calling for instant yeast.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, thanks for the yeast/salt info. I think you're right that recipes are written for rising speed. We live in a fast food society. Thanks, also, for the Penzey's seasoning mixes. I'm going to buy all 3. Plus, I'm going to buy them for a relative who has a health condition that precludes all salt. She complained before Christmas about the lack of taste in no-salt cooking.

Mike, I didn't know nutmeg was used as a preservative. I knew it was a hallucinogic, but the preservation is interesting. I've also never put nutmeg on meat. I use it in butternut squash some Italian dishes. Nutmeg is good in ricotta cheese-based foods.

[Italiancook]

Your star looks gorgeous, cwcdesign. Thanks for persevering to post the picture. I wonder: When you bite into the bread, is it hard or soft?

[Italiancook]

I made Chicken Fried Rice for the freezer this morning, with one lunch held in the fridge. In a few minutes I'm going to make The Neely's (Food Network) Broccoli Soup for the freezer and dinner.

[Italiancook]

Mike, as you experiment with herbs and spices in place of salt, please post what and how much your substitutions are. I need to limit salt, but don't know enough about herbs and spices to know which substitutions to make to replace some or all of the salt. With most savory recipes, I reduce salt by half. I'm afraid to do that with dinner rolls and breads. I don't know if salt is critical for yeast to work. I think most of the breads and rolls I make are too salty for my health, but if you don't have salt, there's little flavor to breads. But my main issue is that I don't know if yeast depends on salt to do its work.

[Italiancook]

So sorry to hear about your heart, Mike. Glad no stent or bypass required. Will you be okay on a restricted diet reading about good food you can't eat?

Exercise is a good thing. Once you get into a routine, you'll enjoy the regimen.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, thanks for this tip. I took advantage of it. I'm curious: How did you know about it. Before I read your post, I had checked the KAF website looking for a shipping special and didn't see it at the top of their home page. At any rate, I appreciate you letting us know.

[Italiancook]

This morning I made cinnamon pancakes substituting cream of tartar and baking soda for baking powder. I felt like a chemist measuring out the substitutions! Yes, the tartar/soda combo work good as a leavening. Even the last batch of pancakes rose satisfactorily. Normally, I make one skillet of pancakes & put the remainder of the batter into the refrig for another day. I don't think I could do this with tartar/soda. The batter developed bubbles while I was waiting for pancakes to cook. I think that if I refrigerated the batter, the soda would have lost it's potency overnight. I didn't want to experiment to find out for fear of losing the batter. It's just a guess.

Now that I know this works, I'm going to order cream of tartar in bulk. Thanks, again,, for the online tip, Mike.

[Italiancook]

BakerAunt, when I read your post about not having a family baking student, I immediately thought of the Boys & Girls Club (Big Brothers/Big Sisters). If you want to search for baking/cooking prodigies, you may want to see if there's a Boys and Girls Club in your area, or a nearby city. If they have a kitchen, they may be interested in having you teach the children with their Big Brother or Big Sister. Probably don't have money to pay you, so think volunteer work. You'd probably have to carry your own pans, and maybe the ingredients. But the Club may be willing to pay you for the ingredients.

Another thought that came to mind is The Salvation Army. They have programs for children after school and in the summers. The one I'm familiar with has a full kitchen.

RiversideLen, your Stollen looks beautiful. I'm curious: Is that real powdered sugar or KAF's non-melting powdered sugar? Whichever, it looks scrumptious!

[Italiancook]

For the first time, I made pizza. Since I didn't have semolina for Mike's dough recipe, I used a KAF recipe, "The Easiest Pizza You'll Ever Make." It made dough for 3 or 4 pizzas, depending on crust thickness. I made 4 for medium-thick crusts. I froze 3 of them and made one 12" pizza (ok, approximately 12").

I used Valerie Bertonelli's (Food Network) Marinara that's in her deep-dish sausage pizza recipe. I put on too much sauce, which made the finished product runny, but not soggy. I added cooked sausage & sautéed mushroom. Probably the oil in the mushrooms added to the runniness. Next time, I'll use fresh, uncooked mushrooms.

I'll buy semolina to try Mike's recipe, because I'd like a better tasting crust. I'm also thinking I'll try the KAF thin crust that BakerAunt likes. I told a 6-year-old niece that I'd teach her how to make pizza when her family comes for a visit. So I'm under pressure to perfect my pizza-making.

[Italiancook]

My husband's favorite pie is Lemon Meringue. I baked one for him this morning to thank him for mowing the grass all season and the leaves in the fall. I didn't bake it from scratch, but I don't believe that saved me any time! I used a lemon pudding mix. I added half a cup of fresh lemon juice in place of that amount of water. That makes it taste homemade. Of course, the meringue is fresh. I read the ingredient list on the pudding mix while I was stirring. I told my husband this is the last lemon meringue pie I'd ever make. He thinks I make it from scratch, so I didn't tell him an ingredient list brought his pie to an end.

[Italiancook]

Before breakfast, I made a pot of The Neely's (Food Network) Broccoli Soup. It's for the freezer & lunch. Sirloin steak with veggies (no potato) is on dinner menu.

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

I made Cherry Yeast Coffee Cake from "Taste of Home" online. Tastes good, but next time, I'll divide the glaze in half. The full recipe of glaze made it too sweet for me.

[Italiancook]

Happy Belated Birthday, Mrs. Nolan.

[Italiancook]

My printer is the culprit in my recipe addiction. I own only 11 cookbooks that I use and 2 I don't use. Someday, I may toss the latter 2. My problem is that I check Foodnetwork's site everyday and frequently check KAF blog and site. I print everything that looks good, which are way too many to use.

I started the year with the resolution to make one new recipe each week. I didn't keep that resolution. I think I've made a new one every 4-6 weeks, on average. So I'm not making a dent in my pile of recipes, because I keep printing off more.

Then there are the tangents. I went on a path of wanting a sweet treat for breakfast once a week. Because I have a health issue with baking powder, I went in search of yeast coffee cakes. Turns out there are a lot of them online, and they've all been added to my pile. But I keep the ones I've baked or cooked separate, so I have 2 piles. I'm sure when I die, someone will pitch them all and wonder, "What was she thinking!?"

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