[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.

[skeptic7]

I've seared roasts for a more colorful brown crust and for the flavor gotten by browning the outside. I remember doing this for rib roasts and then cooking on low 250 degrees. This was recommended years ago by Cooks Illustrated.
I've seared eye of round roasts, and then finished them in the slow cooker. A roast in a slow cooker won't get a beautiful color or the tasty brown crust.
How did you even write this article, for the last month I could only bake in the early morning because it was so hot and even then there were days it was too hot to turn on the oven at all! I ate strawberries with little ricotta pancakes because it was too hot to bake biscuits.

[skeptic7]

Oh lemons! Do you have any news about Mrs. Cindy? I haven't heard anything lately and I don't want to ask for lemons if her health has degraded.

[skeptic7]

Happy Birthday!

[skeptic7]

I live in Virginia so my rosemary has been outside for the past three years. Before that I lived in an apartment and took the rosemary inside during the winter. The last year it wasn't getting enough sun as it was such a big pot that the smaller plants were between it and the window, so when I moved into a house I planted it outside and hoped for the best.
Its on the South side of a brick house so that shelters it from the worst of the winter wind and cold. I lost a lot of branches this past winter but that was partly the cold and partly a very severe scale infestation. I tried oil sprays but couldn't get the scale under control and many of the weakened branches died.
I only have experience with one Rosemary plant in one location, but I think keeping it alive in the winter requires a lot of sunlight meaning a South or West window. It doesn't need a lot of water indoors but shouldn't be let to dry out. Possibly water it throughly once a week.

Chives are very hardy. You should be able to grow them outside in even the coldest of climates. Mine have recovered from the fungus or whatever and are now lush and green again. Have you tried washing off the aphids with soapy water? Put the whole pot in the kitchen sink before starting to reduce the mess? Or try washing it off with plain water too.

[skeptic7]

I am so glad to hear more news about Mrs. Cindy. I am sorry about the pain on her hip, and the cancerous cells on her arm.

[skeptic7]

Hi I'm back! My favorite knife is a Chinese Cleaver too. I need to sharpen it and my other knives soon. I've been using Accusharp to touch up the edges but the knives are at a point where I need to start with a Medium Grit water stone and work up to fairly fine.

[skeptic7]

The surviving chives seem to have recovered and now look green and strong. Does anyone have advice about rosemary? Any favorite recipes?

[skeptic7]

I had transplanted 10 bunches of chives last year to the other side of the garden. These are doing fine. I've have maybe 1/4 of the original chives left. The smaller plants are definitely dead but some of the larger chives survived. I think I'll leave the survivors alone and see if they will recover. I don't need to replace my chives.

[skeptic7]

Kid Pizza;
I am so glad that your operation was successful and that you had a happy birthday! I hope the rest of your recovery is easy.

[skeptic7]

I've made gluten free corn bread for friends, but I do this by going Southern style and using an all corn meal cornpone recipe or a spoon bread recipe. I've made pumpkin cornsticks which are not only gluten free, but also vegan.

Here is the Southern cornpone and them my pumpkin variant.

Buttermilk Pone bread
from Down-Home Wholesome by Danella Carter page 101
Copyright 1995, Dutton Signet, Penguin Books, New York, New York 10014

This is a no-nonsense bread made the way a lot of Southerners make it. Unlike a lot of the cornmeal breads of the North, this one is free of sugar and eggs.

2 cups cornmeal
1 cup boiling water
1 cup 1 percent fat buttermilk
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan, In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal with the boiling water. Mix the buttermilk with the baking soda and add to the cornmeal, along with the salt. Beat thoroughly and pour into the baking pan. Bake for 30 minutes, until brown on top. Cut into squares, Make 9 squares

Pumpkin cornbread variant, made in cast-iron corn stick pan

2 cups cornmeal
1 cup boiling water
1 -1/4 cup pumpkin puree
4 teaspoons baking powder
oil for corn stick pan

This variant is dairy free, egg-free, gluten-free and can be easily made low-salt.
In a large mixing bowl, combine the cornmeal with the boiling water. Mix in the pumpkin puree. Sprinkle the baking powder on top and mix in thoroughly. Add a spoonful or two more of pumpkin if the dough seems too dry.
Heat the oven to 400 degrees. The lower temperature is due to the cast iron pan that absorbs heat well. Oil the cornstalk pans generously using a brush to get oil in all the crevices. This is the only fat in the recipe so there is no reason to be stingy. Enough oil gives a fried texture to the bottom of the bread and allow for an easy release.
Spoon the dough into the cornstalk pans just to the top. This fills my cornstalk pan -- 5 decorative corn ears -- twice. Filling the indentations too generously reduces the number of ears from 10 to 9.
Bake for 30 minutes until done and pulling away from the sides. Let cool 10 minutes and then remove the corn sticks. They should be prettily brown on the bottom and come out cleanly.

[skeptic7]

I was reading Consumer Reports about arsenic levels in rice too. Basmati rice has lower levels than most other forms of rice and I am now eating mainly that type.
White rice has less arsenic than brown rice as some of the arsenic is in the bran. I've stuck to eating brown rice as its suppose to be less caloric.

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