[Mike Nolan]

We have house guests this week, so we're going through bread pretty fast just at breakfast, so I'm making honey wheat bread tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

This is what Wikipedia says about biscotti:

"Biscotti" is the plural form of biscotto. The word originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-cooked."

Biscuits as a 'twice-baked' product were often made as travel food, especially travel by ship. (Hardtack. which is made from flour, water and sometimes salt, shows up in many books about sailing ships.)

Not sure how the name got applied to raised biscuits in the USA, which are a quick bread.

I'm up for trying to promote National Cake Week, maybe we can get others working on it too. I'm not sure an 'online clandestine cake club' would work, part of the fun would be seeing and tasting other people's cakes!

[Mike Nolan]

i made Vienna bread (PaddyL's Double Crusty recipe) and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies (my mother's oatmeal crisps recipe) today.

[Mike Nolan]

I think PBS is either 3 or 4 seasons back from what's been shown in Great Britain.

But that's about how far back I stopped being able to view episodes online.

[Mike Nolan]

There's a link about 'National cake Week' (Oct 2-8, 2017), but I think that's a UK event, not an USA one. Maybe we should try to promote it here and see if we can create a movement!

[Mike Nolan]

I think the link was there, but I just couldn't see it on the laptop I was using this morning, it shows up better on the big screen monitors in my office.

You're a lot closer to the nearest 'Clandestine Cake Club' location than I am.

It will be interesting to see how GBBO handles the transition from BBC to Channel 4. Losing 3 out of the 4 personalities could be more change than it can tolerate. I used to think of myself as a pretty good baker, but the weakest of the contestants on GBBO could bake rings around me.

This year will be the first year in a long time that I will be in town for the county fair. I'm not planning on entering anything this year, but I do think I'll make a trek clear across town (we're in SW Lincoln, the fairgrounds are in NE Lincoln) to see what the baking and photography entrants look like.

[Mike Nolan]

Acrylamide wasn't even discovered until 2002, so there haven't been a lot of studies on it yet.

The American Cancer Society seems to think the evidence is not yet conclusive. See https://www.cancer.org/cancer/cancer-causes/acrylamide.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrylamide

It seems to be present when potatoes are cut up and cooked or fried at a high temperature (ie, potato chips and fries.)

There are cooking benefits to pre-soaking sliced potatoes or starting them at a low temperature (130-150 for 20 minutes), it may turn out there are health benefits as well.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm not sure when the new labeling standard for maple syrup takes effect, the guy from Wisconsin who sells syrup at the local farmers markets still labels his as grade B.

This is actually one time when the labeling change might make sense, Grade B is now a lower quality syrup than Grade A, it's just from later in the season and has a darker color and (IMHO) a more complex and interesting flavor.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't see a link.

[Mike Nolan]

Molasses is an underused flavoring. Maple syrup is tricky to cook with, it can get cloyingly sweet. I have paired it with Dijon mustard a few times, that's a combination that should work well with pork. (Grade B syrup is better for cooking IMHO.)

[Mike Nolan]

Some lemon pie fillings are very mildly lemon and some are pretty strong, personally I want one that tastes lemony but doesn't scream "I AM LEMON, HEAR ME ROAR".

I've only tried a buttermilk pie crust once or twice, and I wasn't fond of the results, but if you do try it again, try cutting the buttermilk in half. When you add too much liquid, you encourage gluten to form, and once that happens it won't be flaky. If the dough was stretchy, you had developed your gluten too much.

The epicurious buttermilk pie crust recipe uses more flour and less buttermilk, FWIW.

[Mike Nolan]

Nothing fancy here today, steaks on the grill, sauteed mushrooms, a nice salad and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

Happy Fathers Day, all you fathers out there.

[Mike Nolan]

I've made salmon with dill a few times, but I've never made couscous. My wife won't eat salmon (too many really bad canned salmon patties as a child), so when I do fish for dinner I get salmon and she gets orange roughy.

[Mike Nolan]

50 years together is a feat, even these days when more people live into their 90's, so congratulations. We'll be at 45 years in September.

[Mike Nolan]

Today I made honey wheat bread.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 3 months ago by Mike Nolan.

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