Mike Nolan

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  • in reply to: Semi-flopped Cake Question #3558
    Mike Nolan
    Keymaster

      I've read that baking soda has a useful life of 15-30 minutes once it gets wet, which is why cake batters should go into the oven as soon as possible. The double-action part of baking powder is heat-activated, so it's less time-sensitive.

      There are some recipes that recommend chilling the cake batter for a few minutes after it goes in the pan, but I've never tried that, and I'm dubious that a few minutes in the refrigerator would have much impact.

      What size pan do you use? I may have to give your recipe a try, but probably not today, since it's supposed to hit 102 here.

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

        In a few weeks we'll start to see the annual southward migration of the ruby-throated hummingbirds. I'm hoping to be able to get some good photographs of them. We know from past experience that once they start arriving in mid to late August, we'll see them until late September. And they have no fear of humans (or cats), they'll come to within a few inches of us if we're sitting on the back deck.

        in reply to: The Cutting Edge or How Sharp is your Knife? #3530
        Mike Nolan
        Keymaster

          A few years back I was in a cooking store in Pittsburgh and one of the knife makers had a rep there using an electric sharpener, but I don't think they were trying to sell the sharpener, it was rather like taking a knife to a sharpening service, except that it was free. I asked the guy about using a set of whetstones, he said that they're the best way to keep a knife sharp if it doesn't really need a whole new edge.

          Not all electric sharpeners work the same way, some are little more than grinding wheels, so basically what they do is build a new edge. If you know what you're doing (and especially what the sharpener is doing) they're good, but I don't think they put as fine an edge on a knife as a series of fine grit stones can. A friend of mine has some $500 knives, I'm going to be seeing him in a few weeks and I'm going to take my digital microscope along so he can see what his knives really look like.

          My biggest concern with using them is that they can take off too much metal each time. Unless you use your knives for hours every day, they shouldn't need a serious sharpening more than once every few years.

          As I was working on my sharpening post, I spent several days sharpening various knives in my kitchen, including a good meat knife that I hadn't used much lately. Now it works very well, better than my santoku knives for trimming beef. I buy large cuts of meat (almost sub-primals) and trim them down, I get better steaks, roasts and stir fry beef that way and the trim I can't cook with goes in the freezer for the next time I make beef stock.

          • This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by htfoot.
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          • This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by htfoot.
          in reply to: Semi-flopped Cake Question #3529
          Mike Nolan
          Keymaster

            Well, the obvious question is, are you sure it was fully baked? Could be an oven temp issue, for example.

            Otherwise, there are multiple reasons for it to have a structure that won't hold, including having used too much leavening. How long was it sitting waiting for the oven to finish preheating?

            If Cass was here, he'd want to know what recipe and mixing technique you used, of course. 🙂

            in reply to: Recipes uploaded from the BC, by original poster #3471
            Mike Nolan
            Keymaster

              That was a big block of them, wasn't it! We're over 1670 recipes now.

              in reply to: What Did You Bake the Week of July 10, 2016? #3464
              Mike Nolan
              Keymaster

                I've made it in a 10 x 10 pan several times. I make a half-recipe of batter but a full recipe of frosting.
                If you made it in a 9x9 pan it'd be a bit thicker, but I think that'd be OK.

                I use this recipe: Texas Chocolate Sheet Cake but with a few modifications:

                1. I dust the greased cake pan with cocoa powder rather than flour.
                2. I use 4 tablespoons of cocoa powder instead of 3 in the frosting.
                3. I use more buttermilk in the frosting than it calls for (needed because of the extra cocoa powder.)
                4. I make sure the butter/cocoa/buttermilk mixture for the frosting gets boiled for a minute or so. (The butter will separate a bit and the buttermilk might curdle, don't worry about it.)
                5. I keep the frosting on low/simmer while mixing in the powdered sugar and until it's ready to pour on the warm cake. This also ensure that it doesn't cool down before I can pour it on the cake.
                6. The cake should be quite warm when your pour the warm frosting on it, probably in the 140F to 150F range if tested with an infrared thermometer (my constant companion in the kitchen.)

                I have made this cake using a gluten-free flour and although I could tell the difference, both were good. (The frosting's the real star, IMHO.) I add a little xanthan gum, because I'm never sure how much there is in a GF flour.

                • This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by htfoot.
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                • This reply was modified 8 years, 8 months ago by htfoot.
                in reply to: computer #3412
                Mike Nolan
                Keymaster

                  I don't think there's a way in WordPress for members to delete their logins, so I suggest you just not worry about it. We all hope she gets better enough to be able to get back online.

                  in reply to: computer #3342
                  Mike Nolan
                  Keymaster

                    Considering I've had a 40 year career in designing and building computerized information storage and retrieval systems, I prefer to keep my recipes on paper.

                    What I've learned from building this site is that the hard part about storing recipes on a computer is an indexing and searching system that makes it easy to find the specific recipe you're looking for. With nearly 1600 recipes uploaded here in our first two months, finding a given recipe is sometimes a bit challenging.

                    I wouldn't say either my site or Zen's is thriving, but between the two of them we do seem to be keeping at least a portion of the KAF BC community together. I need to spend more time promoting this site and building traffic, both things I hope to be able to spend more time on after I retire around the end of the year.

                    in reply to: Hudson Cream AP Flour, Bleached #3337
                    Mike Nolan
                    Keymaster

                      I was at a grocery store here in Lincoln NE that I don't normally shop at today, and they have White Lily AP flour. I haven't seen that outside of the South before, I wonder if they're expanding their market?

                      in reply to: What Did You Cook the Week of July 10, 2016? #3336
                      Mike Nolan
                      Keymaster

                        I tried a new recipe for tilapia with capers and parsley, it was disappointing.

                        We've been eating a lot of fish lately, I usually have salmon poached in butter and my wife has orange roughy in lemon-butter sauce. But we've got a big bag of frozen tilapia to use up, too. Tilapia is often done blackened, covered with a fruit compote or breaded, but I'm trying to avoid adding carbs.

                        in reply to: I think the egg crisis is over #3331
                        Mike Nolan
                        Keymaster

                          I definitely shop based on what's on sale where. Fortunately, I have two of the major regional grocery chains plus a WalMart nearby with a Sams a bit further away.

                          I find WalMart almost never has the low price on either butter or eggs, and they don't tend to go on sale there, either. Butter was $2.99 the other day at HyVee, but it was $1.99 on sale a couple of weeks ago, and this week they had eggs on sale.

                          in reply to: Hudson Cream AP Flour, Bleached #3262
                          Mike Nolan
                          Keymaster

                            I didn't see Cass's comments about bleached flour in the cake/kate flour thread. I remember him talking about recipes that have fat in them, like cookies.

                            in reply to: Wonky’s Raisin Bread #3257
                            Mike Nolan
                            Keymaster

                              Almost any bread makes a good French toast! I've even seen it made with a chocolate zucchini bread.

                              in reply to: Hudson Cream AP Flour, Bleached #3256
                              Mike Nolan
                              Keymaster

                                Check the expiration date carefully. The problem I have with buying foodstuffs from BigLots is that they buy surplus inventory from other companies, so it may be towards the end of its shelf life. You also don't know how it has been handled. (Of course you don't really know that with stuff you buy at the grocery store, either.)

                                I've used Hudson Cream unbleached flour, it's a decent patent flour. I've not used their bleached flour, but I don't use a lot of bleached flour anyway.

                                Did someone save Cass's thread on when to use unbleached flour?

                                • This reply was modified 8 years, 9 months ago by Mike Nolan.
                                in reply to: Recipes uploaded from the BC, by original poster #3252
                                Mike Nolan
                                Keymaster

                                  Thanks again for your efforts, and safe travels.

                                  We should try to get David Lee's biscuit recipe in the recipes area here, it was never in the 'recipes' section on the KAF BC. It was in a thread that I think Sarah Wirth has.

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