[skeptic7]

Thanks for writing so much about your mixer. Do you think the Ankarsrum does a better job of mixing dough than your old machine? Do you like using it better? I found using a mixer gives me a moister bread dough as I don't need to add flour when kneading.
Have you tried to make quick bread or cookies with it?

[skeptic7]

I had pancakes for breakfast slathered with maple syrup and a little butter. Also a piece of ham. I ate all the pancakes ( 1/4 recipe ) instead of saving some for tomorrow.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
I scald milk before using it to deactivate the enzymes. This does make a difference for whole wheat bread, and makes less of a difference when using white flour. The enzymes in normal powdered milk haven't been deactivated so I reconstitute and scald it. KAF special baker's powdered milk has been treated to deactivate the enzymes so it doesn't need to be scalded and can be added with the dry ingredients.
Milk powder doesn't need to be treated for cookies and quick breads.

[skeptic7]

I made potato rolls with raisins. This has come to be my default roll recipe with lots of butter and eggs and of course potato flakes. I made a point of getting enough milk to be able to bake this before the last storm. I don't have powdered milk here at my father's house, at my home I make sure that I always have some for baking emergencies. This is regular powdered milk and I have to reconstitute it and scald it before using it in bread. I have had KAF special baker's powdered milk before but stopped stocking it because I could only use it for baking. Regular powdered milk could be used in soup or for hot chocolate.

[skeptic7]

Thanks for writing this up!! How much bread dough have you kneaded at one time? What do you think are the upper and lower limits?
Mincemeat sounds wonderful. I haven't seen any in the grocery stores for awhile.

[skeptic7]

I did basic scones with dried cranberries yesterday. These are the basic scones with white flour and sugar, very tasty. I made 16 small scones instead of the 8 the recipe called for. These were very good and I only have one small scone left today,

Baker Aunt; I notice you use Barley Flour in many of your recipes. What advantage do you get from doing this? Is it just the taste?

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt; Happy Birthday

Aaron, I did think your daughter was younger. A toque is much more elegant than a hair net; but you can ask her if she has any ideas. Perhaps a turban or a tignon or a French knit cap?

[skeptic7]

Was the work triangle suppose to be range -- refrigerator -- sink? I think that utensil/silverware drawer needs to be handy for almost everything. Mix -- get a new spoon, fry -- get different spatula, while refrigerator and sink doesn't need to be as often available.

[skeptic7]

Aaron;
Buy a white chef hat so she can stick her hair up and under it. She might think it more fun and use it. These are very amusing and I wish I had gotten one earlier. I've baked bread in a dutch oven too, and that works like a cloche in keeping the moisture in and having the heat evenly around the bread.

[skeptic7]

Looks great! I'm glad that you are using the cloche top and working with a cold oven. Hot ovens are just so scary as your vulnerable hands try to move the bread and bread bowl and cloche top around, I'm impressed that you can slash the dough successfully. My bread normally tears when I try to cut it with my sharpest knife and I haven't got a special knife for that.

[skeptic7]

It was so cold Sunday that I was looking for an excuse to run the oven all day. I laid plans for beef and barley soup made in the oven. I put beef, onions, carrots, celery, barley and a can of tomatoes in a magnalite cooker which had been my mother's, at 1:30 and cooked it at 290 for the next 4 hours or 5 hours. After a couple of hours the soup was at a gentle boil, and stayed that way. The snow didn't start till Saturday afternoon so I had time for a trip to the grocery store and got the barley. It was Quaker quick pearled barley which was not as good as regular pearled barley but much better than nothing.
The store had a run on sugar and Nabisco crackers of all things. I would have bought some crackers. The trip to the store Friday showed a distinct shortage of milk and bread and toilet paper as expected.

[skeptic7]

When I canned this year's maple syrup last month, I tried my best to get all the maple syrup out of the plastic jugs. Then I put some water in the jugs to get the last bit of goodness and used it in a hot lemon and maple syrup drink instead of honey. This turned out amazingly good even if it didn't have the soothing affect on my throat that hot lemon and honey would have.

[skeptic7]

I haven't looked at food pyramids for a decade or so, but went to the internet to see the new one. I plan to ignore this one completely. Its seems to imply that you should eat as much or more meat than whole grains. I don't think it even tries to graph how much of each food group should make up a balanced diet. I like the "My Plate" illustration better. Has a new version of this been released?

[skeptic7]

I heated the maple syrup for hours on low heat and eventually the large sugar crystals broke apart and dissolved. Thanks for the advice. I poured most of the syrup into a glass jug which is more convenient for pouring. There are still some sugar crystals in the pint jar of maple syrup but they are no longer stuck to the bottom and I can scoop them out with a spoon. Very tasty.

[skeptic7]

Thanks for the advice. I was afraid that just heating the maple syrup would concentrate it and make the sugar crystals more abundant rather than less. I don't know if I have a rack small enough here but might improvise something with aluminum foil. I will add a tiny bit of water to the syrup.

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