Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: Vita Cost Question BakerAunt #47143
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      I haven't ordered any supplements from them, but I know there are some supplements available from Azure Standard.

      in reply to: Chestnut Trees #47132
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        Had a new arborist out today, looking closely at the big chestnut, it is putting out some new leaves, so it appears it may have been heat stress and probably not enough water. So it may be OK. I need to set it up on a regular watering schedule again. (We don't have in-ground sprinklers.)

        It's always fun to see if arborists can identify our big oak. (It was big when we built the house 28 years ago.) We've been told it is a chinkapin, a burr oak, a white oak and a swamp oak and now a white swamp oak. It definitely isn't a burr oak.

        in reply to: Tips worth discussing #47113
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          My mother always kept grains of rice in table salt and onion salt. I don't recall if she had garlic salt in the pantry.

          in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of August 17, 2025? #47108
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Diane had some dental work today, so she's on a soft diet. I made her some custard and a chocolate malt.

            I had a sandwich on rye bread.

            in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of August 17, 2025? #47096
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              We had hot dogs, then I had a salad and Diane had a peach.

              in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 17, 2025? #47086
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                We've made up a care package to send to our granddaughter, who is moving into the dorms at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute this week, but there won't be any baked goods in it due to her food sensitivities. They have a staff of nutrition counselors that work with students on making sure the dining facilities can address everyone's food sensitivity issues, something that was unheard of when I went to college in the 60's, you ate what they had, even when you weren't always sure what it was. πŸ™‚

                in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of August 17, 2025? #47080
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  We had sandwiches on the Banh Mi rolls I made yesterday. The paper bag in breadbox idea seemed to work, the bread was a bit softer than last night but not as soft as they would have been in a plastic bag and not drying out, either. Still one hot dog bun left. I'll see what it is like tomorrow.

                  5 minutes in the oven and they were just about as good as last night.

                  in reply to: What are you Cooking the Week of August 17, 2025? #47071
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    I decided to wait until this morning to make the relish, because by the time I got my bread and cookies done, I would have been up to 2AM waiting for the relish to get done enough to refrigerate.

                    I wound up with about 6 1/2 pounds of tomatoes, so it's about a 2/3 batch.

                    in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 17, 2025? #47070
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      I made Banh Mi yesterday, increasing the recipe so I got 8 hot dog buns (@ 50 grams of dough) and 8 Banh Mi rolls (@ 80 grams of dough). I didn't add either rye or whole wheat flour to this batch.

                      Most of them went in the freezer. 2 of the rolls were for supper last night.

                      I'm trying an experiment I read online with some of them, I put them in a paper grocery sack and then in my bread box. That's supposed to help keep them from going soft and also from being so damp they mold in a few days. I'll let you know if it seems to work.

                      I also made a batch of oatmeal crisp cookies with M&Ms using a bit more flour and oatmeal, since the last few batches have been coming out pretty flat. These are more like the ones I make with chocolate chips, with nice air-holes in the middle, making them perfect for dunking in milk. I'm not sure why M&Ms would be that different from chocolate chips in this recipe, though.

                      in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of August 10, 2025? #47062
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        Your pork sounds good, Len.

                        in reply to: 2025 Gardens #47052
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          Today's tomato harvest, a little over 5 pounds, mostly Fourth of July still, but I am starting to get fruit from some other varieties.

                          My son gave a packet of 'purple' tomato seeds at Christmas, there are a few of those in the picture, too.

                          IMG_1647

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                          in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 10, 2025? #47043
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            Whole wheat doughs and breads are just denser, adding more water can help but higher hydration doughs pose their own challenges. Longer rise times seem to help, and IMHO pizza doughs benefit from extended rise times in general.

                            I'm sure I've mentioned it here before, but Azure Standard's 'ultrafine' flours seem to have fewer texture issues compared to more coarsely ground whole wheat flours. I went through a five pound bag of it in about a month, and I will be ordering more, possibly next month. (It takes a while for me to build up enough things I get from them to avoid the service charge.)

                            in reply to: What are you Baking the Week of August 10, 2025? #47039
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I plan to make peanut butter cookies later this evening.

                              in reply to: Is There Any Use for an Unripe Watermelon? #47025
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                There is such a thing as a white watermelon though I've never had one, so I don't know what it would taste like, but 'cucumber' probably isn't it.

                                I grew some Crenshaw melons a few years ago that were ones I'd heard about but never had, we tried one and the rest we left for the critters.

                                in reply to: What are you Cooking the week of August 10, 2025? #47016
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  Your fajitas need sauce.

                                  I had Italian Beef (from Portillo's) for supper, one sandwich on the Turano French bread they supply with their make-at-home kit (beef, gravy, peppers and bread), one sandwich on a Banh Mi roll.

                                  The Turano roll held up better when I put the gravy on, but they bake them specifically for Portillo's, and I have heard from others who've made their own Italian Beef that getting bread that doesn't completely fall apart when wet is harder than getting the beef/gravy right. (A good slicer is a must, though, the beef has to be sliced really thin.)

                                Viewing 15 posts - 136 through 150 (of 7,756 total)