[Mike Nolan]

I think I'm going to make a small potatoes au gratin to go with tonight's ham and pineapple. I know what my wife will say: carbs, more carbs, and even more carbs!

[Mike Nolan]

I am starting on the Ginsberg Westphalian Pumpernickel recipe, using freshly ground coarse rye meal. Today I make the scald, tomorrow it goes in the oven for 24 hours, then it gets wrapped to age until Saturday.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm always happy to hear from Cass, directly or indirectly, and I can't fault Cass's chemical thoughts and recommendations, but they don't really explain why didn't overflow last time but did this time, unless I'm missing the significance of the changes you made since then.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a 10x10 Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake, a half-recipe of batter and a full recipe of frosting. 🙂

[Mike Nolan]

We're having ham steak tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

Maybe you mis-measured something? How full was the pan? Did the batter seem different?

[Mike Nolan]

Today's rolls came out a little strange, I used osmotolerant yeast, but I think maybe it's too old, because the bulk rise wasn't as high as I usually get and the final rise was REALLY slow, normally they go in the oven at about 45 minutes, today it was more like 90-120 minutes.

Because they sat so long in final rise, some of the sugar in the filling turned into a liquid (probably exposure to the water in the dough and butter) and leaked out the bottom. I took them off the parchment quickly and put them on two platters, even then some of them were already sticking.

They still taste pretty good, though. The bottom is almost crunchy and has a butterscotch flavor, not surprising since the filling has brown sugar and butter. The stuff that was left in the pan hardened quickly and can be peeled off the parchment. It is very tasty.

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[Mike Nolan]

I've got cinnamon rolls rising, I made them bigger than the last few batches because I was experimenting with some techniques to try to keep the rolled up dough more uniform in diameter so the rolls are about the same weight, and then marked them for 2 inch thicknesses like a batch I made last fall, I've been doing 1 or 1 1/2 inches recently. By the time I realized that, I was over half way done cutting.

I wound up with 18 rolls instead of the planned 35.

[Mike Nolan]

I do have the chili on, but it's for tomorrow, tonight we'll probably have more of the chicken salad I made yesterday.

[Mike Nolan]

My wife doesn't like key lime pie, but I do, I've got a bottle of key lime juice but no plans as to when to use it.

[Mike Nolan]

There have been some stories on what restaurants have to go through to get on Fieri's show. Some of his demands make rock star demands look reasonable. And to be honest, I haven't seen many places he's featured that I'd be willing to eat at. I don't really need a 3 pound burger--nobody does!

A local cupcake place was on Cupcake Wars, she wouldn't talk much about it, but she got eliminated in the first round. (The store has since closed, I think the cupcake craze is over.)

I think that was the show where they gave them tobacco as an ingredient. UGH!!

[Mike Nolan]

I think I'm going to tackle the Westphalian Pumpernickel from Ginsberg's book next week, 2 days to make it, including 24 hours in the oven, and then it ages for another 2 days before you cut into it.

[Mike Nolan]

I did put a chocolate kiss on 4 of the cookies after they were baked, Diane thinks that makes them too sweet.

[Mike Nolan]

I've been thinking about making the Katherine Hepburn brownies, they're almost flourless. (My guess is you could make them with gluten-free flour and nobody'd notice a difference.)

[Mike Nolan]

He didn't start out that way, but Alton got a bit too preachy for me, as if he could say nothing wrong. Kind of reminds me of Chris Kimball. The ONLY way to do it is HIS way.

Alton brought his show to Lincoln a few weeks ago, it was one of the highest priced tickets of the year at the Lied Center, in the same price range as tickets to cellist Yo Yo Ma and the musical Hamilton. We didn't go to Alton. We went to Yo Yo Ma a few years ago. Hamilton is part of our Broadway package for this season, but it doesn't play here until August.

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