Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 8, 2020? #21910
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      Well, neither of my attempts at what I've been told is the 3/6 strand from Deli Man worked, after a total of 5 tries, so I unwound them and made 2 of what I call the 3/6 strand 'herringbone' pattern from Hamelman and one standard 3 strand braid, that I think I messed up at one end. But the Challah should taste good regardless. Unless the herringbone ones look pretty good after baking, I probably won't be posting any pictures.

      in reply to: Daily Quiz for March 10, 2020 #21909
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        The number that we always use in school was that a KG was 2.2 pounds (Google says it is 2.20462, to be precise), so logically a pound should be a little less than half a KG.

        in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 8, 2020? #21908
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          I'm making Challah today, in part to try Hamelman's recipe and also to try a 6 strand braid I've been practicing that Jeffrey says is the same as the one in Deli Man.

          in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of March 8, 2020? #21895
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            The steaks we had last night weren't really leftovers, they were just the second set of steaks I cut from the package of sirloin I bought. I tend to buy the bigger package of thicker cuts and then plan to make at least 2 meals from it. I gave my wife a choice of steaks, mushrooms and baked potatoes, pepper steak stir fry or Stroganoff, she chose the steaks.

            Tonight we are going to finish off the last of the onion soup.

            in reply to: Daily Quiz for March 9, 2020 #21890
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              When I was researching this question, I ran across a comment that said home cooks wouldn't know what to do with HFCS if they could get it, because fructose behaves differently than glucose or sucrose.

              in reply to: Daily Quiz for March 9, 2020 #21889
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                If you're making cooked sugar candies, like fudge, adding a little glucose will help keep it from crystallizing prematurely.

                Most corn grown in the USA is GMO, so most corn syrup will be, too. You can buy non-GMO corn syrup online, but I've not looked for it in stores, so I don't know how easy it is to find.

                However, there is no genetic material present in corn syrup, so it is not possible to tell by testing it whether it came from GMO corn or not.

                Commercial glucose can be made from other starches, such as potatoes, wheat, barley, rice, or cassava.

                in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 8, 2020? #21882
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  I'm going through rye withdrawal, so I'll probably bake something out of the Ginsberg book tomorrow, maybe one of the less complicated recipes.

                  in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of March 8, 2020? #21880
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    We had the rest of the sirloin steak with sauteed mushrooms and baked potatoes.

                    in reply to: Daily Quiz for March 8, 2020 #21876
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      There are a number of foods, like soda crackers, that expand a bit in the stomach.

                      Injera is an interesting flatbread, because it is fermented it rises a lot and is spongy on the inside, like a really light pancake. The teff flavor pairs well with the spiced meats and vegetables that are a large part of Ethiopian cooking.

                      I've seen recipes for it that use a basic sourdough starter, that's on my list for a summer meal.

                      in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of March 1, 2020? #21869
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        We had theatre tickets to see Waitress today, so we had lunch downtown. Then after watching a 3 hour musical about pies, we tried to go to our favorite pie shop, but it had already closed for the weekend. So we went to another restaurant/pie shop, had supper, but didn't actually buy any pie.

                        in reply to: Daily Quiz for March 6, 2020 #21860
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          I usually make 5-6 quart of chicken stock at a time, next time I might try all 3 methods of clarifying it (egg white, methylcellulose F50 and freezing it) and see how they compare. Just what I need---another project. πŸ™‚

                          in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of March 1, 2020? #21855
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I made a batch of spaghetti with 20% triticale today. I may have gotten the dough a bit too wet, it rolled out OK but stuck together a little when I ran it through the cutter and a lot of it broke into smaller pieces while cooking.

                            As to flavor, the triticale wasn't as noticeable in pasta covered with sauce as it is in a baked bread. Then again, triticale has a nutty flavor similar to semolina, so that might have affected things, since the other 80% was semolina. The genetics prof in my wife's department says that triticale's DNA is about 75% from durum wheat and the rest from rye.

                            I'll try it another time or two, just in case having a little too much water was a major factor in it breaking up. I'm not sure I'd want to go above 20% triticale in it.

                            We had it with oven cheese toast made with Semolina bread.

                            in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 1, 2020? #21854
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              The last time our kitchen sink backed up, the major clog was some 20 feet down the line.

                              I've never had much luck with the enzyme treatment, I use bleach because that's what our plumbers recommend. I've been tempted to try Green Gobbler, one of those 'as seen on TV' products' that always sounds too good to be true.

                              in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 1, 2020? #21846
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I've tried making flowers a couple times, they look terrible. I'm an engineer by training, and not very artistic, I used to tell people I couldn't draw a straight line without a t-square, now I tell people I couldn't draw a straight line without shift-drag.

                                in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of March 1, 2020? #21843
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  Too bad. When I had staff to supervise, I had to constantly remind myself that even though I often thought I could do it better, it was part of my job to work on improving the skills of the others.

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