[Mike Nolan]

Having the center thinner than the outside edges is a common recommendation, I think it helps to keep the burger from swelling up and getting really thick in the middle, which then helps when trying to get the entire patty done but not overdone.

Another trick I've read but never tried it to put a small ice cube in the center of the patty. I don't think our ice maker would do well for that, it makes top-hat shaped ice cubes.

I usually make 3 ounce patties these days using a slider press. I cook them 6 minutes on the first side and 5 1/2 minutes on the second side, as we like them well done (at least 168 degrees in the center.)

Our grill is about 24 years old and needs to be replaced, but I'm not eager to spend the money on a new one, certainly not one of the $2500 and up Napoleon grills.

[Mike Nolan]

You guys must eat supper really early, we seldom have it before 6:30, in part because if my wife is at the office she doesn't leave until 5:30. Since March that hasn't been much of a factor.

She's thinking of cutting back to 32 hours in the fall, a shorter work day Mon-Thu and Fridays off. UNL has guaranteed full benefits to hourly staff who cut back to 32 hours.

[Mike Nolan]

I rely on my infrared gun to check oven temperature, more precise and you can check a half dozen spots in the oven in under 30 seconds rather than just one.

I buy baking soda in large bags at Sams, it takes me a couple of years to go through a bag, I've never noticed a problem with old baking soda as long as it stays dry and powdery. Old double-acting baking soda is a different matter.

My money would be on over-beating, some types of recipes are more sensitive than others to that.

[Mike Nolan]

The usual reasons for a cake collapsing in the middle:

Old baking powder/soda
Too much baking powder/soda
Overbeating
Wrong oven temperature
Letting the batter sit too long before it goes in the oven

[Mike Nolan]

That's a lot of margarine just to keep the dough moist, though there are a lot of recipes that have you put a little oil in the bowl and roll the dough around to coat it before the bulk rise.

[Mike Nolan]

Two restaurants near us, Zoup and Jummy's Egg, weren't able to stay open after the shutdowns, and now have closed permanently. Won't be the last, I fear. Although Zoup did take-out, they had a model that was probably geared more to dining in, especially giving small samples of their 12 soups of the day.

[Mike Nolan]

We're having BLT's tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

Len, the ganache on your cake almost looks like a mirror glaze. I hope it tastes as good as it looks.

[Mike Nolan]

I've never baked a braided loaf in a pan, the top almost looks like a brioche.

I've been having pretty good luck with Jeffrey Hamelman's semolina bread (the 'sponge' one, not the sourdough one), most recently I used equal parts durum, semolina and KAF AP flour and barley malt syrup instead of sugar. (If you have the first edition of his book, the home recipe has the right weight but the wrong dry measure amount for the sugar.)

I wound up with too much barley malt because it was pretty thick and a big glop of it came out, which may have impacted how much it rose and the color, but otherwise it is a good bread.

I used a mixture of honey and water to help glue the sesame seeds on, it seems to be working fairly well. I did it at the start of the final proof. Several people in BBGA recommend putting the shaped bread on a wet towel then dipping it in seeds, but I think that works better if you're making lots of loaves, not just one or two.

Semolina and durum seem to have a lower glycemic index than other wheat flours, which works well for type II diabetics.

[Mike Nolan]

Whole wheat flours go rancid faster than ones that are mostly endosperm, and I think semolina is a mostly-endosperm flour, because they have more oil in them.

But a good flour smells good an a bad flour smells 'off'.

[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 6 years ago by Mike Nolan.

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