[Mike Nolan]

I've seen one San Marzano tomato and a few blossoms, but most of the plants are on the small side for setting fruit, and it's been a bit too hot to set fruit anyway.

I'm hoping for 3 weeks of plants growing nicely, then a cool spell in late July and a nice crop of tomatoes 3-4 weeks later.

[Mike Nolan]

Did you do anything different that make the burgers perfect?

[Mike Nolan]

We had lefovers

[Mike Nolan]

My wife asked me why anyone would do a sheet pancake, I said it probably made it easier for everyone to sit down and eat at the same time. The biggest problem with making pancakes or waffles is that the cook doesn't get to sit down to eat until the pancakes or waffles are all done.

Do you have a problem with them sticking to the pan?

[Mike Nolan]

Sounds like a lot of work. I've tried making ice cream rolls, now that's REALLY a lot of work, and never as good as the ones in the store.

If it was me, I'd probably brush the top of the cake with some simple syrup before I froze it, that should keep crumbs from coming off when you spread on the ice cream.

At Dairy Queen they have pre-made ice cream rounds to put in their cakes. If you have a springform pan or one with a removable bottom, you could put the ice cream in it, use something to smooth it, then refreeze it a little before trying to put it on the cake. I'd probably use parchment or waxed paper on the bottom to make it easier to get the bottom off. I have 8 and 9 inch parchment rounds that I would use for something like this.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 4 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[Mike Nolan]

Soritol and xylitol are both used as low-calorie sweeteners. Too much sorbitol can cause gastric distress (I think xylitol has the same issue), which may be why prunes act as a laxative.

D-Allulose (also called D-psicose or just allulose) is also sold as a low-carb sugar. it is one of the rare monosaccharide forms, found in small quantities in wheat, figs and raisins, though I believe that the D-allulose products on the market are synthesized from corn syrup. The FDA has labeled D-allulose as GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe). My son used some to make a batch of Cardinal Preserves over the weekend.

[Mike Nolan]

I was happy with it, but my wife says it might be too soft to slice very thin. I'm hoping it'll firm up a little overnight. We had about half a loaf for supper, I cut the 2nd loaf into two parts and froze them.

I put in about a third to a half more malt syrup than I intended, it was on the thick side and didn't pour easily But otherwise, I think it's a successful modification.

[Mike Nolan]

Today's semolina bread came out with a very soft interior. I used equal parts of durum, semolina and KAF AP flour, and 1 1/2 ounces of barley syrup in place of the sugar in Hamelman's recipe. It produced two loaves about 5 1/2 x 3 1/2 x 11 1/2.

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[Mike Nolan]

I'm making semolina bread today, starting with Hamelman's recipe but then tweaking it a bit to see if I can get it closer to the one we used to get in Pittsburgh.

[Mike Nolan]

How long does potato water keep? Do you refrigerate it? Can you freeze it?

[Mike Nolan]

I've heard chickpea flour is tricky to use.

[Mike Nolan]

I usually do dessert pizzas with a thin crust, but here's the basics, I often do them on the gas grill outdoors.

Roll the crust out and par-bake it. Add the toppings then bake it the rest of the way. Cut and serve.

Dessert Pizza Toppings, the peach one is our favorite:

Spread butter on the crust, add brown sugar, peaches and dust with cinnamon. The butter and brown sugar will combine to make butterscotch.

Spread peanut butter on the crust, top with banana slices. (I guess this is the Elvis Special.) If you prefer, you can use chocolate kisses instead of banana slices, or do both.

Spread chocolate shavings on the crust, sprinkle with granulated sugar. For an added dimension, put on strawberry slices.

Spread apple pie filling on the crust.

Spread honey on the crust, top with brown sugar. Bake until crisp on top.

I haven't figured out a good one with cherries yet. I've tried sour cherry jam and sliced bing cherries with butter and/or sugar, neither really ran the bell.

[Mike Nolan]

We had a small dinner party this evening (just 4 of us), with deviled eggs, salad with home-made Thousand Island dressing, popovers with strawberry jam (and other jams), burger patties on the grill (with or without a bun).

[Mike Nolan]

The only spam post I saw was from Joan, and it has been released.

[Mike Nolan]

Stanley Ginsberg uses an internal temperature in the 190-195 range for a number of his recipes, I personally find 200 to be a better target for most breads.

On recipes I'm familiar with, I go more by smell than appearance or temperature, and by the time the bread smells right the internal temperature is often in the 205 range.

I have taken to double-panning some recipes lately, that way the bottom doesn't get overbaked before the top is done.

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