Fri. Apr 24th, 2026

Mike Nolan

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Viewing 15 posts - 4,696 through 4,710 (of 7,930 total)
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  • in reply to: Washington Post on the influx of new bakers #23402
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      I've used GM unbleached AP, it isn't quite as consistent as KAF, but it works reasonably well. I like a softer flour for pastry, though.

      in reply to: Covid-19 Discussions and Stories #23384
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        The Wall Street Journal has an article that says the five stages of isolation grief are denial, anger, bargaining, depression and banana bread.

        Google says banana bread recipes are the #1 recipe search term right now, all those people who hoarded bananas are looking for things to do with those now-brown bananas.

        in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of April 26, 2020? #23372
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          I've had taco salad at a lot of restaurants, there are many different and good ways to make it. Salad greens, of course, tomatoes, onions, some seasoned beef, maybe some beans, jalapeno peppers, salsa or pico de gallio, sour cream, olives, cheese. Broken up pieces of taco shells or chips are good, too.

          When we have tacos, I often take the left over lettuce and make up a salad with the left over ingredients, less to put away.

          Darned if I know why the edit button would go away, rebooting the computer or deleting cookies or temporary files/cache might help.

          in reply to: Covid-19 Discussions and Stories #23371
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Lockdown fatigue is fairly well-documented. But since my wife and I are both in several high-risk categories, we're staying put as much as possible. I telecommuted for a quite a few years before retiring, my wife is working from home and has several online conferences every week. We both took an online class Tuesday. But online meetings aren't the same thing as face-to-face contact.

            in reply to: Covid-19 Discussions and Stories #23364
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              I long ago stopped worrying about remembering people's names. My father-in-law was one of those people who remembered everyone, I'm not.

              in reply to: Playing with bread upload pics #23363
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                I've never been a fan of no-knead recipes, either, but there's an article in the latest Bread Lines (BBGA newsletter) that talks about Prof. Calvel's 'improved mix' idea versus the old French practice of "mix a little, ferment a lot". I think no-knead recipes might come close to that old practice in spirit.

                I think one of the best set of baguettes I ever made was the time I was testing how many rises I could get out of the yeast, as there was a discussion underway that claimed you couldn't get more than 2 rises out of a lean dough without running out of sugars for the yeast to eat.

                I'd let it rise for an hour, punch it down, let it rise another hour, etc. After 6 hours of bulk-rise, it was still rising just fine, and at that point I shaped, proofed and baked them.

                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  Egg changes the texture of the bread a lot, be sure that's a change you want.

                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    I'm making a batch of semolina bread today.

                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      Skeptic, a little vital wheat gluten might help increase the amount of rise you get from the generic whole wheat flour.

                      in reply to: Covid-19 Discussions and Stories #23346
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        There was a story in the WSJ the other day about how Coronavirus is affecting the EU's agricultural/food structure. Right now it is common for pigs to be bred in Holland, sent to Poland for fattening, then shipped to Germany for processing. Produce often goes through similarly complicated channels.

                        in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #23345
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          We've got 2 iPhones, an iPad and a Macbook computer in the house (plus numerous PCs running Windows or Linux) and we can't figure out an easy way to get pictures off the iPhones, either, which is why I email them to my gmail account. When you email photos you get to pick from several resolution choices.

                          in reply to: Pizza-Making ? #23338
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            When I take pictures with my cell phone, I wind up emailing them to my gmail account so I can download them to my computer using a browser. Then I can edit them and post them here.

                            I think my Canon T6i takes better pictures most of the time, but standalone digital cameras may be an endangered species, most younger people don't want to have to fiddle with lenses and such.

                            in reply to: Kitchenaid Stand Mixer #23337
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I think that's true of all the tilt-head models. I assume there's some kind of adjustment mechanism for the bowl-lift models as well.

                              I assume if you have one of the bowl-scraper beaters (I do not), the dime is likely to move a lot more, so you probably need to set the height using the regular beater.

                              in reply to: Starter #23332
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                I measured my rye starter with my pH meter the other day, it came in around 4.7, as I recall, I think 4.0 is the target. I may measure it again the next time I feed it. (The meter works well, but cleaning it afterwards is a bit of work.)

                                in reply to: Covid-19 Discussions and Stories #23330
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  There isn't much pineapple grown in Hawaii any more. The land is too valuable. Sugar cane is also almost non-existent.

                                Viewing 15 posts - 4,696 through 4,710 (of 7,930 total)