[Mike Nolan]

Sounds like a good deal and a rather enterprising store manager. I'm not a fan of lima beans and my wife doesn't like corn except for corn-on-the-cob and cornbread.

I wonder what the local Sysco office is doing these days? I may have to give my former neighbor (he runs the office) a call next week.

The reports about milk and other items being dumped are distressing, but the problem is that the items aren't in a producer channel that normally deals with consumers, so they don't have things like packaging that meets labeling requirements and is consumer-sized. An experienced baker probably wouldn't flinch at at 50 pound bag of flour, but neophyte bakers would.

[Mike Nolan]

My second batch of sauerkraut is coming along nicely, it should be to the tasting stage by next weekend.

I've ordered a 4 gallon crock, because a one gallon crock just doesn't make enough kraut. It should be here around Wednesday, so I'm looking around for the lowest price on cabbage. Most of the time it is in the 75-80 cent per pound range, ahead of St. Patrick's Day it will often go on sale, this year I bought some for 28 cents per pound.

[Mike Nolan]

There used to be a cake supply store in Nashville near Opryland that had all sorts of pan sizes, but it changed hands (and name) and the new owners seem to be taking it in a somewhat different direction. The last time I was in Nashville it was still closed while they reorganized. (Their new name is Sweet City USA.)

There's one I've been to a number of times in the Pittsburgh area, too. (K&B Candy Supply, but I haven't been there in a few years and their web page doesn't seem to show a lot of what I've seen on their shelves in the past.)

I think the Fat Daddio pans have pretty vertical corners in their cake pans.

[Mike Nolan]

Firefox's print button has a 'simplify page' feature, but it does something really weird for this menu, it doesn't show the recipe at all, just some kind of disclaimer block.

[Mike Nolan]

I took the pan of hot cross buns over to our neighbor this morning, she had wondered yesterday if we were making them again this year.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm not sure ANY recipe site gets printing right (and my own site is currently a good example of how NOT to do it), and most seem to waste at least one page at the end, but theirs is one of the more annoying ones.

I find if I want a printed copy of a recipe I found online I often tend to do a cut and paste into a word document and only print what I want.

[Mike Nolan]

Acids in cookie doughs cause the proteins in the flour to firm up more, producing chewier cookies. The acid would also react with the baking soda, increasing rise.

I've seen some cookie doughs that use cream of tartar (or baking powder) for similar reasons, but lemon juice should also pair well with the chocolate.

[Mike Nolan]

Fat Daddio makes an 11x11 pan, either 2" or 3" deep. Not sure what stores carry them but they're available on Amazon. They're anodized aluminum. (I'm not a big fan of coatings on pans, but anodized aluminum pans aren't as bad as the 'non-stick' ones.)

I've looked for stainless steel 11 x 11 pans, haven't found any yet.

[Mike Nolan]

Back when we were in college, a local pizza place (Gullivers, on Howard Street at the north end of Chicago) made the best pizza bread I've ever had. There was nearly always a long wait for a table, and diners would put in one if not multiple pizza bread orders while waiting, and sometimes finish them before a table opened up.

The restaurant changed hands some time around 1980, and I've been told the new owners changed the pizza bread recipe to make it cheaper, and many people stopped buying it. (Evanston also went 'wet' around then, so there wasn't as much reason for Northwestern students to travel to Chicago to order alcohol.)

I like making pizza with sandwich rolls, but I've done it with baguettes as well. I haven't tried it with Challah yet.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm stumped on the no edit button problem. Try logging off and back on.

[Mike Nolan]

I, too, made Hot Cross Buns today, two 8" pans of them, 16 small rolls (1.5 ounces each) per pan. I'm going to call our neighbor and offer them one, but won't feel insulted if they decline.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm not sure if date syrup and date molasses would be identical, molasses is what's left after removing most of the sugar. You can buy date sugar, it reminds me a bit of maple sugar in that it has a much more complex flavor profile than sucrose.

[Mike Nolan]

Brandy wouldn't have the bitter orange flavor of Grand Marnier. I don't know if adding some orange juice or orange extract to brandy would be an acceptable substitute. If you had bergamot oil, that might be even better, but who has that on hand??

[Mike Nolan]

Pastrami is IMHO harder to make than corned beef, because it has to be smoked and it generally uses a spice rub, too. A former business partner of mine lived in NYC for a while and got hooked on pastrami from Katz's Deli on Houston. (That's the one in "When Harry Met Sally".) He'd order a whole pastrami from them and pig out on it for a week.

I tried making some Montreal Smoked Meat a few years back, it is kind of an offshoot of pastrami, it wasn't quite as good as the stuff we had in Ottawa, but it was pretty good. If I had a real smoker it would probably have been better, but all I've got is a wood chip tray for my gas grill. I made it from some brisket.

A friend of ours it talking about opening up a food truck in a few years to do BBQ. I've been working with him some on menu planning issues. He's got a good smoker, I might try making some more MSM and have him smoke it for me.

[Mike Nolan]

I will probably make one small batch of Hot Cross Buns, I don't plan to give any away this year.

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