[skeptic7]

I made my pie. The filling and the meringue were quite tasty, the pie crust was a disaster. It was heavy and solid instead of flakey and light. I think I had too much liquid. It was a little dry when I first mixed it ( 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup buttermilk ) so I added a little more buttermilk and placed it in the refrigerator. When I got the pie crust dough out of the refrigerator it was a little too moist and rather stretchy. I rolled it out but it got sticky and hard to handle so I refrigerated it again as a rolled out pie crust between two sheets of wax paper. When I got it out I rolled it some more but then found the wax paper would tear off and had to be carefully removed from the dough in pieces. I formed a nice high pie crust with a rim and baked it at about 375. When I took it out it had slumped into a disk at the bottom of the pie pan and the butter was oozing out the crust and bubbling.
I'm not sure whether to give up on the recipe or try again. I've some ideas to try like putting baking powder in the pie crust to keep it from the heavy flatness. Try baking a little longer or at a higher temperature. Push the pie crust over the rim so it can't just collapse when the butter melts. On the other hand it uses a lot of butter.
The filling was made in a double boiler, and started with cold water. I think its less likely to scorch than a filling made in a sauce pan, but it also seems to take longer. It came out a nice yellow color and was a nice bright lemon flavor. It used 1/3 cup lemon juice, 1 cup sugar and 6 tablespoons cornstarch and 3 egg yolks. I was surprized it didn't take more lemon juice, and I have enough lemon juice left I could try this recipe again and again and again.

[skeptic7]

I haven't had time and its been very hot but I hope to be able to bake a pie this weekend. I'm going to try a buttermilk pie crust but with all butter as found in KA 200 anniversary cookbook and the recipe from "As easy as Pie" by Susan G. Purdy. This seems a reasonable recipe with 3 eggs and no milk.
My memories of Lemon Meringue pie date from my childhood making it with a lemon pie mix. So dairy seems a strange ingredient, as does recipes using boiling water. So this will be the first time I've tried this from scratch.
I found a recipe that called for boiling water, and another one for using a double boiler both of which seems complicated. Why would these techniques be used?

[skeptic7]

Thank you. I wish I had kept up my correspondence with Mrs. Cindy but I hadn't written to her at all this year. I kept telling myself I would send her something lemony when I had more time but I never got around to it.

[skeptic7]

I find that its possible to overferment a whole wheat dough so that it doesn't have a final rise but just sorts of sits limply in a pan.
Are you keeping the dough in the refrigerator or at room temperature? I've kept doughs refrigerated for 24 hours, but at room temperature it will rise too much and tear the gluten, or use up all the sugar so it doesn't have energy for the final rise.

[skeptic7]

This is the first time I had logged in for months and months -- possibly this year. I am so very sorry to hear about Mrs. Cindy. If I wanted to send a very late condolence card, whom should I address it to? I know she had a husband but I don't know his name.

[skeptic7]

OOPS I was wrong, iodine is found naturally in some soils so there are foods which are rich in iodine without being connected with the sea.

[skeptic7]

I did cheese biscuits last week, and my recipe made 16 smallish biscuit out of 2 cups of flour and 1 cup of cheddar cheese. These seemed to be a good size. People who liked cheese could always grab a second biscuit. Biscuit is stretching it slightly. I made this in a brownie pan and cut it up after baking.

I've always made an effort to use iodized salt. I think iodine is only found naturally in food from the sea like seaweed, and ocean fish; not in trout or catfish or other fresh water creatures. Goiter used to be very common in the Midwest

[skeptic7]

Here is the recipe I used, Richard Sax's from Best Home Deserts

Election Cake

[skeptic7]

I think it would freeze well. Sorry the reply is still incoherent I meant that the two loaf pans were simpler than a tube angel food type pan or a bundt pan. Me and Bundt pans don't get on well. I find it hard to pry the cake out, I prefer Tube cake pans with the removable bottoms and sloping sides.
I think I've made only a couple of other yeast raised cake recipes and they were more like bread then this recipe. I wonder if I did something wrong especially in not beating this more to strengthen the gluten or in not adding more flour.

[skeptic7]

Its that cake. I was surprised by the texture and taste but liked it well enough. It was softer than a batter bread and sweeter. Its not very much like anything else, it has a looser texture than a pound or butter cake, its denser than a sponge cake and with bigger holes. Its more moist and sweeter than a raisin bread. It has much of the same ingredients as a hot cross bun; currants and fruit peel and spices but the texture is its own. Its made in two bread loaf pans which was easier to deal with than a loaf plan. I didn't glaze or frost it as it was sweet enough in its own right.
I'd like to try this again, but mix the sponge part to develop the gluten before adding in butter and sugar and eggs.

My initial posting is a little disjointed as the quick breads inserted themselves into the middle of the election cake posting instead of being their own paragraph.

[skeptic7]

I did Election Cake this week, using the Recipe from Richard Sax, "Best Home Desserts". I started the sponge on Sunday, made up the batter on Monday night, and let it rise. It was a wet batter and I made it in a stand mixer. It was too thin to knead and definitely too thick to stir so I am glad I didn't have to do this by hand. By Tuesday morning it had risen to half the pan, but I didn't have time to bake it until Tuesday night and it had risen to the top. It was a very interesting cake and came election results, that I didn't want to keep the poor cake around.
I also made some whole wheat bread on Sunday the 6th. Sugarless apple bread for a diabetic friend and currant orange for an martial arts practice.in two loaf pans. I am glad I didn't try a tube pan as it was easy to remove from the pan and easy to slice. I gave it away save for a couple of slices on Wednesday. I was so disappointed in the

[skeptic7]

The best books I have found for whole wheat bread is "Laurel's Kitchen Bread book" and the Peter Reinhart book.
What is a lot easier than a loaf of whole wheat bread is quick breads. I bake my low and flat like cornbread and don't have to worry about whether it was kneaded sufficiently or would rise high enough. WWW and WW flour both work fine in these recipes. You can use buttermilk to mellow the flavor, or add honey or sugar if you are not avoiding sugars.

I like the Reinhart method of a soaker and a sponge which seems to avoid a problem of the dough fermenting too much and softening the gluten.

Another trick is to make English Muffins or Focaccio since they are more flexible in terms of height. I use more or less the same recipe for pizza dough and Focaccio would you like them?

[skeptic7]

What I hate is getting 14oz for a package of cookies, it looks like a full pound but it isn't. It makes it hard to compare prices when some cookies come in 10oz and 12 oz and the last 14oz. I like gingersnaps because they can still be bought in 1 lb packages

Also jelly and jam come in different size containers. Trader Joe's has 16 oz jars but to be truly accurate the price of heavy glass should be considered

[skeptic7]

I live in a quiet subdivision and had perhaps 20 trick or treaters. I gave out several miniature Hershey bars to each one.
I was rooting for Cleveland since it was so long since they had won a series, but I was glad that after more than a century the Cubs won. This was a very hard fought game and I am so glad for the Cubs.

[skeptic7]

I haven't written in any site for a while. I did do a chocolate buttermilk cake at the beginning of August and two double patches of my absolutely perfect brownies this month. I know the brownies are absolutely perfect and I hit anyone who disagrees. I am still feeling peeved at King Arthur Flour and tired of their advertisements and special offers.

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