Tue. Apr 7th, 2026

Mike Nolan

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Viewing 15 posts - 6,991 through 7,005 (of 7,915 total)
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  • in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8992
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      My wife brought me 2 tubs (around 60 pounds) of tomatoes from the UNL test gardens yesterday, so I'm making more tomato relish, I've got a triple batch (30+ pounds of tomatoes, about 10 pounds of onions, 10 large peppers) cooking down now, I'll start a second triple batch later today or tomorrow.

      in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8991
      Mike Nolan
      Keymaster

        I haven't made soba noodles, but I've made lots of wheat-based pasta and some GF (rice flour) pastas.

        Fresh pasta cooks very quickly, 2-4 minutes, because you don't have to rehydrate the flour. You can dry fresh pasta or freeze it, but both of those increase cooking times. Be sure to salt the water adequately. (Michael Ruhleman says the water should have enough salt in it to taste like a light broth. I have increased the amount of salt I add to pasta water, it makes a difference. This is one of those times when CIA--where Ruhlman trained--isn't over-salting things.)

        in reply to: Interesting article on the “oversupply of bread” #8986
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          When I was in San Diego a couple of years ago, I gave some thoughts to driving to the NY Bakers warehouse, but it isn't clear whether they support over-the-counter sales or just mail order.

          I bought 5 pounds of cake flour at a Mennonite store that had been rebagged from a larger bag. It wasn't labeled as to whose it was, it could have been Queen G, which they no longer sell in home-baker sized bags.

          I also used to get a great pumpernickel flour at that Mennonite store, which I would hit whenever I was visiting my employer's national office, but since I retired I probably won't be going there (Crossville TN) again, and I think the nearest Mennonite/Amish community is likely to be in eastern Iowa.

          in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8985
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Looking for recipes for soba noodles online made me wonder whether the soba noodles at the Mongolian grills are gluten-free.

            in reply to: Getting Seeds to Stick to Bread #8984
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              Since it was just for 2 buns, probably less than a teaspoon of honey, diluted with about 2 teaspoons of hot water. Don't see any reason why it wouldn't work with whole grains or other sizes of seeds. I've used the water method successfully to stick rolled oats to loaves, and I've seen at least one recipe that suggested sticking them down with honey diluted in water, which is where I got the idea from.

              in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8981
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                Here's a simpler soba noodle recipe that isn't GF:

                40 grams AP flour
                160 grams buckwheat flour
                80 grams water

                And here's a picture guide to making soba noodles from the LA Times:
                Soba Noodles

                in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8977
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  I can probably find other GF recipes that don't use those ingredients. Arrowroot is something I always have on hand, psyllium husk powder is not.

                  Psyllium husk is a way of adding fiber (it's the main ingredient in Metamucil), and it probably adds structure as well, which is always a bit of a challenge with gluten-free products.

                  in reply to: Biscuit Dough Problem #8976
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    To add to the confusion over the 'proper' weight of a cup of flour, the USDA says a cup of unbleached AP flour weighs 125 grams 4.4 ounces.

                    I tend to use the KAF 4.25 ounces standard, because its usually easier to add flour than to readjust everything else once you add too much flour.

                    in reply to: Interesting article on the “oversupply of bread” #8971
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      I don't see very many 25 pound bags of flour in the stores here in Lincoln, except at Sams and (presumably) Costco. But I don't know very many people who bake a lot.

                      I've said this before, but you have to keep track of prices to know if the grocery prices at WalMart are good buys or not. They tend to react to local pricing changes, but not to the weekly sales. Costco has set up tents near both Sams Club stores and probably every WalMart in town, looks like they're making a strong push for business ahead of next month's Costco opening. It'll be interesting to see what happens to pricing between that and the Amazon/Whole Foods deal.

                      in reply to: Biscuit Dough Problem #8970
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        I don't make biscuits from scratch very often (my wife actually prefers Bisquick), but this recipe uses a little more butter and a little more milk than the recipe I've used the most, so if you also under-measured the flour that would definitely explain why it was sticky. I suspect the milk was more of a problem than the butter. (I assume the butter wasn't melted.)

                        in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8969
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          Oops, fixed.

                          in reply to: What are You Cooking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8963
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            Not all soba noodle recipes are gluten free, here's a link to one that is:
                            gluten free soba noodles

                            in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8961
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              I find it harder to mis-measure an ingredient if I weigh it.

                              in reply to: What are You Baking the Week of September 3, 2017? #8960
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                Great to see you posting, Cass, hopefully the changes I made to the site made it less onerous to log in.

                                in reply to: Getting Seeds to Stick to Bread #8959
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  No, I just did an egg wash, let it sit for a minute then sprinkled poppy seeds on.

                                  I've got one or two other ideas to try, I may do a followup experiment the next time I make hot dog buns. (We've been eating a lot of hot dogs lately because I made a big batch of tomato relish last week and it is SO GOOD on hot dogs when it's fresh!)

                                  My wife agrees with me that other than the oil version, they all had the seeds stuck down fairly well.

                                  There really isn't much honey in the honey wash, I couldn't taste it on the bun I had for supper. (I had one from the honey group and one from the oil group, seeds kept falling off as I was eating the latter, so that method is a total failure.)

                                Viewing 15 posts - 6,991 through 7,005 (of 7,915 total)