Forum Replies Created
-
The fall-off in posts is a little disappointing but not surprising. I'm sure lots of folks missed seeing the relatively abrupt discontinuance by KAF. We also don't have the benefit of casual viewers from other parts of the KAF site wandering into the forums. I know I don't bake as much in the summertime, I assume others may be similarly inclined.
I had assumed all along as I was drawing up plans for my own site that it could take a year or longer to build up traffic to the point where it looked like it was worth the effort. Getting a decent base of recipes up should help jump start that process, but getting a library of instructional blog posts and a reputation for well-written instructive articles may help even more, by drawing folks in looking for help and by moving us up the list in the search engines.
With over 1200 recipes on the site, the need for a better recipe search process is becoming apparent.
Aside from ordering it from King Arthur Flour, I've never found a supplier for first clear flour here in Nebraska, and neither could my neighbor, who supplies local restaurants and bakeries. Apparently it is seldom used outside of the northeast, where it is a key component of a New York deli-style rye bread.
As to what it is, here's a better definition than one I could write:
http://www.theartisan.net/flour_descriptions_and_definitions.htm
I don't make dessert souffles very often, but I make cheese souffles about once a month except in summertime, and aside from the base the instructions are fairly similar.
I'd change it to 1/2 teaspoon of cream of tartar, and mix in 1/4 of the egg whites before folding in the rest. (This is called 'lightening' in egg white/souffle recipes, it helps make the folding in part easier because the souffle base is less thick.)
They had a big tub planter out at Sams that was kind of tempting. We wound up putting just 5 tomato plants in this year (2 brandywine, 2 roma and 1 that I think was either early girl or better boy) rather than my usual 25. I see a few tiny tomatoes on them, but I don't expect any ripe ones for another month. The farmer's market tomatoes have been pretty good though.
We did get the cover crop (buckwheat and alfalfa) seeded in the tomato garden bed last week, we've got lots of tiny plants coming up. The plan is to let them grow until they bloom, then till it under and possibly put in a second buckwheat planting in September. Alfalfa is a perennial, but farmers have been rotating grain crops with alfalfa for years, so I don't expect major carryover problems if we do it right.
The birds got most of our black raspberry crop this year, it wasn't going to be a bumper crop anyway, though.
For me the main challenge with rye breads is to keep the dough from becoming gummy from over-kneading.
Rising times for home recipes are ALWAYS approximations, local temperature and humidity conditions and even minor variances in moisture level (like a teaspoon more water) can have a BIG impact in how much it rises. On a really warm day, rising times are about half of what they are on a cool day for me.
I understand the vacation part, I had last week off and was at a seminar in Crete NE all week, though I actually did more baking at home than normal because I was baking for the group. My wife will be heading to London later this month and I'll be going to Indianapolis in August for my company's annual meetings, so my cooking/baking schedule will be totally out of kilter.
Lots of good ideas, but I can't eat shrimp and my wife won't eat lamb and can't eat anything with garlic, curry, cilantro, red raspberries or saffron in it. (The cilantro isn't an allergy issue, but she has the genetic trait that makes cilantro taste like soap.)
Neither of us will eat liver or most other organ meats, though I will eat chicken hearts and beef tongue, though I've never cooked tongue. We both like liver sausage, strangely enough.
Fruits are OK in moderation. One medium strawberry is about 1 carb.
Peter Reinhardt says rye breads should have an internal temperature of 190F. I've always used 195, because I find at 190 a rye bread can be a little gummy until it has cooled for an hour or longer, and our patience usually doesn't last that long.
However, I very seldom take internal temperatures on breads these days myself, if it looks done and smells done, I take it out. Many's the time my nose tells me my bread is done, and the timer I set for it goes off while I'm walking to the kitchen to check it. Sometimes I do the 'thump' test, but that doesn't work as well for some types of bread.
Some sources claim that sourdough breads don't have to be baked to as high an internal temperature as non-sourdough breads, but I don't know of any scientific study of that.
I've never had a rye loaf 'sing' for me, I've always thought that's more characteristic of a baguette which is being baked in a hotter oven, say 450 or 500. The singing is caused by rapid contraction of the crisp outer crust as it hits the cooler air.
Here's an updated list of 882 recipes uploaded from the KAF BC grouped by the original poster. This does not include 139 recipes that don't have 'by xxx' in the title, I think most of those are the individual's own recipes. (About 40 of those are mine, for example.)
4paws2go 10
Altardee 4
ancameni 23
anna 15
anndyer 1
annee 8
annie9235 2
beabaker 9
Beach Dee 1
Beachdee 34
Bellesaz 3
bettina 49
bettina and naug 1
biglakejudy 14
bivs99 17
bmwat1 9
bocca 39
booca 1
Calico 17
Carla 16
Cindy Leigh 15
Cyndiok 39
Dachshundlady 33
franciepad 27
francipad 1
frick 2
GinaG 8
Granny 1
Janiebakes 4
jej 96
Karen Noll 24
Kathyd 9
kathyfromkansas 5
Kimbob 58
knead2quilt 3
lahotfoot 1
Livingwell (Pene 1
Lorraine 1
macy 14
mike nolan and r 1
Mrs. Cindy 5
Mumpy 12
naughtysquirrel 3
nloxford 23
omaria 5
PaddyL 31
pammyowl 3
pat88 13
patsacookn 6
Petra (OBC) 4
Pmiker 3
psycnrs1 22
Reagan 29
Reagan and lorra 1
sandi81 1
sue/theviewfrom. 1
Teachingcotton 6
Twin2 27
Uninvited Guest 17
Virginislander 27
wendyb964 1
Wingboy 25
wonky 1I understand the heat issue. I spent last week at Doane University in Crete NE, where it was in the 90's and I kept moving from one air-conditioned building to another. Sunday I came down with a 101.6 fever, which I attribute to the many rapid changes in temperature. I'm OK now, but I felt lousy for about 48 hours.
I'll see what I can do about posting an updated count of recipes by original poster tonight.
How many more BC recipes do folks have waiting to be uploaded? Do I need to run another summary report?
I think Sarah said that Zen had saved them all, over 4000 recipes, but if she's been posting them to her site, I haven't figured out where.
I may need to start looking around for better search tools, especially for the recipe area.
I need to get a couple of blog articles finished and posted, I'm working on what will likely become a two or three part series on knives and how to sharpen them, but getting the photomicrography done right is taking a while.
We have over 50 threads captured from the BC now, too. Lots of good stuff in them.
