[skeptic7]

I wish I was baking. I'm spending my spare time sealing holes in my attic prior to filling it with insulation. This was all suppose to be done on the first week in April. I had the insulation removed and called the Electrician in to install a new bathroom fan and secure the junction boxes. However we quarrelled about how to vent the fan so I had to look for someone else to do that, and I decided I didnt trust the insulation people to seal all the holes in the attic prior to putting in new insulation so I am doing that myself.
I have made a couple of pizzas but that isn't the same as Easter baking. I make those to eat not to give away and not as part of a long tradition. I did make a cheese bread that I will mention in a seperate thread.

[skeptic7]

BakerAunt; The chocolate sounds wonderful. Its a gift, that shouldn't count right?

I was too busy to do much cooking but I did a cheese pizza on Friday. Had three types of cheese, mozarella, provolone, and cheddar.
I haven't made any Hot Cross Buns yet, it doesn't seem like I have any time. None of the quicker versions taste acceptable so its going to be the full time consuming long rising and kneading version or nothing.

[skeptic7]

I did a lot of coooking that week but have just gotten around to mentioning it.
Whole wheat focaccio with rosemary -- I had to buy the rosemary my inside plants are all small and I didn't want to cut them -- on Monday as a gift. A double batch of gingerbread on Tuesday, and sugarless carrot bread on Friday.

[skeptic7]

I have been doing some baking for the last month but didn't have time to write a message.

I also have been doing experiments on bao -- steamed Chinese buns. Does this count as baking? Its a yeast bread but steamed not baked.

[skeptic7]

Lead Free solder didn't come into use until fairly late like 1960's. I had two manual bread buckets of 1930's vintage that I had to stop using. You can get kits to test for lead in the paint section of a hardware store.
I handed my bread buckets over to the thrift store and they sold them as antiques.

Copper is lined with tin to prevent the food from being in contact with the copper. Pewter might have appreciable lead content. I think modern pewter is lead free but antiques might be dangerous. I don't think anyone uses brass or bronze for cooking

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse;
Congratulations on a sucessful English muffin. My English muffins never had big holes but I always baked them. Laurel's Kitchen cookbook claimed that the big holes could be produced by kneading so much the gluten was weakened and then the normal holes would combine to be extra large. I never kneaded that much so I can support this idea. I don't think big holes are very important, just put more butter and jelly on top.
Its possible that English muffins originally were suppose to come out slightly gummy and undercooked since they are almost always supposed to be toasted again before eating.

[skeptic7]

I baked a whole wheat pizza, my normal medium crust recipe. but since I had been looking at Serious Eats Philadelphia Tomato pie, I used only tomato sauce on the crust and no cheese. It was ok but I think I prefer cheese without tomato sauce to tomato Sauce without cheese. This was on Tuesday night. I ate half that night and 1/4 for breakfast with ham.

Philadelphia Tomato Pie

I cheated and used jarred pizza sauce with a little extra garlic and cooked it down until thick.

[skeptic7]

This looks good. I especially like the triangular paper pockets as a method of keeping everything neat. I wonder how sturdy this is for sandwiches. Pita pockets look cute but tend to tear.

[skeptic7]

The whole batch of 9 English muffins will fit on a cookie sheet and can be baked in the oven in 15 minutes not counting preheating. I don't put a cover on top and mine turn out looking like little mushrooms. I guess if you wanted flat English muffins it would take more work. When I first tried 100% whole wheat all I would do was English muffins, it didn't matter as much if the English muffin was flat or didn't rise very much and it was easier to get something as thin as an English muffin to rise rather than a whole heavy loaf.

[skeptic7]

Is a food processor very useful? I've never owned one. I hate recipes that assume I have appliances and that the recipe is unworkable without one. Ex. KAF thinks that there Easter Pomona bread needs a mixer since its a very soft sticky dough -- my work around for that was to knead with plastic gloves on so the dough doesn't stick to my fingers and keep on kneading until the dough stops being a sticky mess about half an hour.

[skeptic7]

Chocomouse; Good luck with your English Muffins! I bake mine, I don't have the patience to stand over several patches watching them cook on the frying pan. I've done white flour and whole wheat and the white flour ones are easier.

[skeptic7]

I baked a double batch of raspberry quick bread -- tasty but not spectacular. I took it to a Martial arts event Sunday and brought a lot of it back -- will be eating it for breakfast and snacks for awhile.

[skeptic7]

The days are starting to blend together in my mind but I did the KAF breakfast cookies on Sunday or Monday.
King Arthur Flour Breakfast cookies
I had oatmeal, coconut flakes and dried cranberries in it. This is so different from Baker Aunt's Italian cookies.
I don't like these as much as I did the last time I made them. My tastes are changing, they are too sweet and too rich. They are filling enough for a breakfast as designed but I'd prefer a couple of muffins. I see recipes for baked oatmeal all the time. How does this work as a breakfast food -- can you eat it with your fingers?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 11 months ago by skeptic7.

[skeptic7]

I wouldn't like to leave the oven on overnight unattended but this seems like recipes for low temperature turkey.
I have deboned chickens and cooked the resulting chicken flat on rack without any stuffing. It is much easier to carve and cooks faster than a chicken with bones. Most of the time I cook it at 350 degrees until cooked and the skin is nice and crisp, and the fat drains off the chicken and under the rack.

My last deboned chicken was cooked for 2 hours at 250 degrees. The chicken meat was tasty and juicy but the skin was soft and fatty. For 1/4 of the breast I removed the skin entirely and then refried the skin, skin side down on a cast iron frying pan. The skin was very tasty and crisp this way and most of the fat melted off.

[skeptic7]

Sunday I made my chocolate cherry scones and took it to a neighborhood party to celebrate our mailman's retirement after 20 years. There were so much cake and cookies and other nibblies that I had to beg friends to try it and took half of it home. I ate a slice for breakfast this morning and it was as good as I ever made it.
I made chocolote- coconut -almond flour biscotti also on Sunday. These came out very well and I cut them with my best bread knife with very little crumbling. This is just like the chocolate-almond biscotti I made last week but with 1 cup of toasted coconut flakes added in.

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