[Mike Nolan]

My wife's black bean soup was a good first try, she thinks it needs more carrot next time around.

I think the beans needed to soak longer (She tried the 'fast soak' method, I think an overnight soak would have been better.)

[Mike Nolan]

They had real (Italian registered and stamped) parm reg at Costco the last time I was there.

We had some hard cheese at a farmer's market when we were in Torino that wasn't parm reg (wrong region) but was incredible. I wish I knew what it was.

[Mike Nolan]

Well, the buns got a bit over-baked, I need to remember that the recipes in Hamelman's book work better for me if I lower the temperature/time a bit.

I'm not sure if the extra proof time worked or not. I'll do the hot dog buns in the morning at a lower temp.

[Mike Nolan]

To see if they'll rise more, based on a discussion in the BBGA forum about this recipe. The hot dog buns are currently in the fridge, I'll take them out and let them rise for 2 hours before they go in the oven, most likely in the morning.

[Mike Nolan]

The original alfredo sauce was just melted parmesan cheese, that's REALLY a slow process. Adding cream speeds things up quite a bit and probably lowers the cost a lot, too. (Adding garlic to an alfredo sauce should be
against the law.)

[Mike Nolan]

I'm starting a big pot of beef stock today. The bones are roasted, the stock will simmer all night. Tomorrow I'll process it and probably make vegetable beef soup on Monday.

[Mike Nolan]

We had a lavash pizza.

[Mike Nolan]

I think they'll do fine in your pan, I've been known to make them in a king sized muffin tin, too.

As to the shelf life of bakers special dry milk, it is somewhat hygroscopic, so you need to keep it well sealed. It takes me about 2 years to go through a package of it, sometimes I have to bust it up a bit if it hardens. I buy it several packages at a time and freeze them, that doesn't seem to affect it at all.

[Mike Nolan]

The standard ratio for reconstituting dry milk is 3 TB plus a cup of water to make a cup of milk.

I prefer baker's dry milk (King Arthur sells it, among others), it has been heated to make sure the protease enzymes have been disabled. You can accomplish the same thing with milk by heating it to at least 170 degrees. (I usually allow it to cool back to room temperature before using it.)

[Mike Nolan]

I think the next time I make cinnamon rolls I'm going to use a tangzhong recipe for the dough.

[Mike Nolan]

Toxic squash syndrome is, thankfully, not common, but if the squash doesn't taste good, why eat it?

The article seems to suggest that volunteers and growing edible squash near ornamental squash are where to watch for problems.

[Mike Nolan]

One of these days I'm going to make another batch of hot dog buns using Hamelman's Soft Butter Buns recipe, shape them, refrigerate them overnight, then let them rise for about 2 hours before baking, based on a recommendation in the BBGA Forum on how to make 'squishy' burger buns.

I will coat them with poppy seeds for Chicago hot dogs.

[Mike Nolan]

Here's some information about bitter squash:

Bitter Squash and Toxic Squash Syndrome

[Mike Nolan]

Regarding your solid syrup, add a little hot water and let it sit for a few days. I do this with barley syrup and molasses when they get too thick to use.

I've got a refractometer (under $20 at Amazon) that I could probably use to measure the sugar content of a syrup as I reduce it, but I sometimes do it by weight.

I've never been very good at eyeballing how much something reduces.

I put a cork pad on the scale, weigh it and the empty pan, then weigh it again after adding the liquid to be reduced. I compute what I want it reduce to (including the weight of the pan), it only takes a couple of seconds to turn on the scale, move the pan over to weigh it, and then move it back to the burner.

I use the back page of one of my cooking notebooks to write down the empty (tare) weight of pans. The only problem is if you have more than one pan in the same size, there can still be a bit of difference in their weight. I have a few pans where I've written A or B on the sides with a permanent marker so I know which one I'm using.

[Mike Nolan]

I write notes on recipes all the time. I've taken to using post-it notes in cookbooks rather than writing in the book itself, the post-it notes also act as bookmarks.

They make some smaller post-it notes where instead of a small strip of adhesive the adhesive covers most of the back. These make pretty good freezer labels as long as you don't get them damp. (Tupperware has apparently discontinued making their labels, so I'm looking for alternatives.)

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