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My wife found a recipe for black bean soup on the Bush's Beans site that was pretty good, though she left out the chili powder.
We did decide it was missing one ingredient, carrots. So I made some carrot puree and that added the missing flavor and a little sweetness. Pumpkin would probably play a similar role in building up the flavor profile.
I'm tempted to try making this but using frozen peaches instead of pears, which would be reverting to the recipe in the book, more or less.
This batter is really thick, you spoon it on and spread it around with a spatula. With a thinner batter, the sugar might start to dissolve into the cake batter. It might still work, but maybe not be as definitive a layer. Waiting until part way through the baking process might work better but be more challenging to do since you're working with a hot pan at that point.
Might be worth some experimenting.
The technique in a Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake of pouring a warm frosting onto a hot cake is not very commonly used, most recipes have you wait until a cake is totally cool before frosting it, in large part because the heat would melt the fat in the frosting. It tends to compress the cake slightly, which is what makes it a bit more brownie-like in texture, I assume, and it holds in the moisture that would normally escape as the cake cools.
If you look at the recipe link, it says 1/2 cup of sugar and 1/2 cup of hot water, which won't be a lot in a 13 x 9 pan, which is why it says to drizzle the water on.
That's also the same ratio as the standard formula for making simple syrup.
I don't think an explanation was given, but I assume it was due to concerns over food-borne illnesses or allergies, though I'm not aware of any significant problems related to either of these at UNL.
It is still possible for her to bring things we make, but it just can't be a group effort any more.
The University of Nebraska, where my wife works, has banned potlucks, defined as when more than 6 people bring homemade items, as well as on-site cooking of foods like burgers, unless it's done by a professional caterer.
So the annual baking contest, the chili contest, etc. are all finished.
My DCS ovens will go all the way down to 140 degrees. I use a low setting like that for making croutons.
It's too bad we're all so spread out, I'd love to taste test your recipes and have you taste test mine.
I've never had any trouble giving away excess bread, several of my neighbors will gladly take it. I will sometimes send in items to my wife's office for taste-testing, but I don't really get the kind of feedback I'm after, they think nearly everything I send in is great. (I'm far more observant of the differences between batches and critical of any flaws. As a thread on the old KAF BC noted, bakers don't taste the bread in a restaurant, they EVALUATE it!)
And all the 'good' baking and cooking classes seem to be on the east or west coast.
When it comes to refined sugars, it is very difficult for me to notice any difference between cane and beet sugar these days.
When I was in grad school, one of my professors told an amusing story. His father ran a cannery. He was entrusted to make a batch of canned corn once and used beet sugar instead of cane sugar. The corn came out with a red tint to it.
I don't know if that would still happen, as that happened many years ago, in the 30's. I've had no problems using beet sugar for cooked sugar candies, though all the books say not to.
I've taken to slicing the marbled rye bread I make (a minor variation from the recipe in BBA) and freezing it, so that if I need a couple of slices for a sandwich or enough for a meal I just take them out and let them sit on the counter for a few minutes.
I'm glad this site does not make the usual claim that unrefined cane sugar is better for you than refined cane sugar. Both are 'added sugars' as far as the new US nutrition label standards are concerned.
If you happen to prefer the taste of demerara sugar or how it works in cooking and baking, fine. I prefer refined sugar for most of those purposes, though I do find I'm using brown sugar more than I used to. But there was a time when I was using Golden Syrup a lot too.
Covering with oil or bacon or barding a lean cut of beef to add some of the otherwise missing fat is a way to use dry methods with a lean cut of beef, but if not done thoroughly the meat can still get dried out and become tough.
A low and slow approach is another way to use dry cooking methods with a lean meat. When I make an eye of round, for example, I often start it in a hot (500F) oven for a few minutes, but then turn the temperature way down (to 250 if not lower) to let it coast for several hours. Some recipes have you turn the oven completely off, but my oven doesn't appear to be well enough insulated for that to work.
Whenever I try a new recipe or vary an existing one, I find waiting for dough to rise seems to take forever, especially if I'm not sure exactly how much it is supposed to rise.
And that's true with old standby recipes, too. Even a few degrees of difference in the room temperature can make a half hour or more difference in how long it takes my honey wheat bread to double--and some days it just doesn't double no matter how long I let it rise.
I have an email address for her from when she signed up for MNK, but I don't think she ever actually logged in.
I've dropped her a note, I'll let you know if I get a response.
Yeah, that's the problem with a lot of breadsticks recipes, they make more than two people can possibly eat.
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