[Italiancook]

Rascals, below is a link to the Amish White Bread recipe I use. I reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup, but next time, I'm going to try 2 tablespoons. In my kitchen, the rising times are much shorter than suggested in the recipe. The test I use for when it's proofed enough (first rise), is when a gentle finger-tip in the dough stays put. In my oven, the dough rises considerably during baking.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/6788/amish-white-bread/?internalSource=hub%20recipe&referringContentType=search%20results&clickId=cardslot%201

[Italiancook]

I baked 2 loaves of Amish White Bread as posted in Allrecipes. While it was baking, I made egg salad to make sandwiches with the bread for lunch today. Now, I'm waiting for the bread to cool enough to slice it. 3 halves of the bread are for the freezer.

[Italiancook]

All this talk reminds me that I've been meaning to try KAF "Onion Buns" for eons. I bought dried minced onion specifically for that recipe. If it's not expired, I'll make these over the weekend, if it's not raining. I grew up hearing that you never bake bread when it's raining. I don't know if humidity from rain really changes the amount of flour you have to use, because I've never tried it. The "Onion Buns" use both onion powder and have dried minced onions on top.

[Italiancook]

I baked "Chef Zeb's Hot Milk Cake" from KAF as a cake. I had whole milk leftover from using this recipe for cupcakes. I frosted it with a lemon glaze.

[Italiancook]

I had country-style ribs in the freezer, cooked. I made BBQ sauce to go with them for lunch. Served them with small, boiled Yukon gold potatoes. I didn't have time to make a veggie salad, but we were full with just the 2 items.

[Italiancook]

Since you brought a lime tree to the cold north, I have to ask, BakerAunt. Is it an indoor tree? I can't imagine it'd survive snow and frost outside. When I was a kid, we lost many peach seasons to frost. If it's indoors, even with heat on, can it survive the colder nights? That question is based on the premise that you turn your furnace thermostat lower at night. Just curious.

Congratulations on growing one lime! That's an accomplishment.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Italiancook.
• This reply was modified 8 years, 6 months ago by Italiancook.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, BakerAunt. I've never ordered from Penzey's, but this offer will at least send me to their website.

[Italiancook]

I had posted about making "Chef Zeb's Hot Milk Cake" as cupcakes with ganache frosting. I was disappointed in the height of the cupcakes. I had given a dozen of them away. This morning, I picked up the plate on which I had placed them for giving. The recipient effused about how delicious they are. She said the ganache icing was good and chocolatey. While I had an issue with the recipe, the height didn't matter to the recipients. They are delighted to have received them.

[Italiancook]

Rascals, I echo all the other sentiments. Sorry to hear you're suffering. Hope you can continue to come to this site for a long, long time.

[Italiancook]

As far as I know, we have no miceable holes, but the steel wool is an excellent idea, BakerAunt. Thanks for passing it along.

I'm laughing at myself: As I thought about what I posted, I remembered I had mice-proofed the house a few years ago. Or so I tell myself. My husband and I bought devices that plug into electrical outlets. The plug-ins supposedly emit a sound that only mice can hear, and the sounds sends them running back outside. Maybe they actually work and that's why I've never seen a mouse.

But I did see a frog attached to the bedroom wall once. I awoke one morning to find the critter on the wall behind the bed. I wasn't alarmed, having grown-up in the country, but I also had no intention of grabbing it.

I roused my husband from bed and told him he needed to catch the frog behind his head. He didn't believe me until he looked. The frog was probably the most scared of the three of us, but he/she was soon happily on the ground outside. We have no idea how the frog made it in the house and up the stairs without being noticed. I had someone check our house for openings and none were found. He surmised that it came in when the door was opening to bring groceries into the house.

[Italiancook]

Okay, I know I probably have mice given the close location to woods, but I quit chasing after them a decade ago. At that time, I realized the poison I put in the basement probably meant they'd die in the walls. I quit setting traps when a contractor said, "For every one you catch, there are ten that get away." I've never seen a mouse in the house, so I don't fret about uncleanliness in the kitchen from them. I have a cat who'd probably play footsie with a mouse rather than attack it. But all these posts on mice make me think I'm a negligent homeowner. I guess I'll send my husband on a trap-buying spree now that I know so much more about bait.

[Italiancook]

Thanks, Mike, for reporting what you found.

[Italiancook]

I also send my thanks. I tried to print the cookbook without success. Maybe it'll work tomorrow. I'm pleased that many of the recipes have short ingredient lists. I have to buy real brown sugar -- normally use brown sugar Splenda in all baking -- but I'm brining a turkey breast for Thanksgiving and need real brown sugar for the brine. I will make the Brown Sugar Cookies with the leftover brown sugar. Thanks for thinking of us, BakerAunt, with this link.

[Italiancook]

Aaron, offhand, do you know the brand of vanilla Costco carries. I just searched their website. I looked for "vanilla," "pure vanilla," "vanilla extract," "liquid vanilla," and "McCormick vanilla." I didn't find it under any of those terms.

[Italiancook]

Thanks for this information, Bev. I'm going to check it out.

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