bakergal's Profile
How Do You Make Popcorn?
If you like your Presto, then I'm sure you'd like the Nordic Ware MW popper --
http://www.target.com/p/Nordic-Ware-Popcorn-Popper/-/A-12475561#?lnk=sc_qi_detaillink
It's Teflon-, BPA, and Melamine-free, and doesn't require power cups or anything else. Just put in the popcorn (with or without oil), add lid, and MW about 3 minutes. Great popcorn every time!
Trying to make Rao's marinara sauce, close but seem to be missing something.
FWIW, the sauce has 40 calories from fat per half-cup of sauce. That's about 1 teaspoon oil, I think. So if the recipe makes 7 cups, as they say, that should be 14 teaspoons of oil, or almost 5 tablespoons.
Click on the nutrition tab --
http://www.wegmans.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?langId=-1&storeId=10052&catalogId=10002&productId=353082
Chicago Deep Dish Pizza Crust Recipe - How do I get that Buttery Goodness?
Steve, that looks good. Do you measure the flour by spooning it into the cup, or do you dip the cup into the flour, then level it off? How sticky is the dough after kneading? Gotta try this! Thanks.
KFC-style light fluffy biscuits?
The KFC website lists these ingredients: Enriched Bleached Flour, Water, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel, Soybean and Cottonseed Oil, Buttermilk, Sugar, Baking Soda, Salt, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Nonfat Milk, Sodium Caseinate, DATEM, Whey Protein Concentrate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Whey, Wheat Protein Isolate, Natural Flavor. Liquid and Hydrogenated Soybean Oil, Salt, Soybean Lecithin, Natural and Artificial Flavor, TBHO and Citric Acid Added to Protect Flavor, Beta Carotene (Color), Dimethylpolysidoxane, an Anti-foaming Agent Added.
So... no butter, both BP and soda, and the always-tasty TBHO.
Storing strawberries
I've been using Harold McGee's hot water method, and it works wonderfully well. It greatly increases the life of berries. I've had blueberries last four weeks! Maybe they'd last longer, but we ate them.
http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/651851
How come my pizza crust doesnt get puffy like it does at a good resto?
All of the above, plus. . .
Are you rolling out the crust? To get a nice, puffy edge (cornicione), the edge shouldn't be flattened. Stretch the pizza by hand, leaving the edge untouched, as in this video --
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SjYqw1CLZsA
Bakers Catalogue bread pan
Beautiful!! Okay, I'm convinced. Think I'll wait for a sale, though, or at least free shipping.
Bakers Catalogue bread pan
Thanks for the photo and for measuring the volume. Your bread looks great! I suppose the corrugations could serve as a cutting guide for even slices.
FWIW, today's Kohl's supplement featured Food Network bread pans with, yes, corrugations! And they cost even more. . .
http://www.kohls.com/kohlsStore/kitchendining/bakeware/loafpans/PRD~661861/Food+Network+Loaf+Pan.jsp
Bakers Catalogue bread pan
Thanks for posting this. I've been admiring that pan in the catalog. Do you oil the pan at all? Does the baked bread have a corrugated pattern on the crust? How much dough does the pan hold -- same as a 8.5 a 4.5-inch loaf?
UCLA Bran Muffin Recipe
Hi, a recipe for North Campus Bran Muffins was published in the LA Times in 1987. There were two variations, one with bananas and one with blueberries. Follow the usual procedure: mix wet ingredients, mix dry ingredients, add wet to dry. Put into 28 muffin cups and bake about 40 minutes at 325 degrees.
1 cup margarine, melted
1 1/4 cups honey
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil
3 1/2 cups bran flakes
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 pound blueberries or 2 pounds bananas, peeled and mashed or finely diced
Purple Focaccia Perplexity! Help!
Walnuts can turn sourdough purplish, but you aren't using them, right?
At what stage does it turn color -- during baking?
Buy a small packet of instant yeast, and try that again. You'll either prove, or disprove, that the yeast is the problem.
Recs for Indian-themed dinner party
Why Mexican lagers? Wouldn't Kingfisher be more appropriate?
Too much cream cheese frosting, what to make, besides carrot cake?
Cinnabon-style cinnamon rolls.
Sushi in a bowl
I guess I wasn't clear... I meant that OP could take some of the ingredients Katzen uses (carrot/yellow-squash/zucchini/snowpeas/greenbeans/cuke) and add them to the 101 Cookbooks salad for color, to replace the avocado. The tofu would stay (although there are a lot of tofu haters in the world).
Sushi in a bowl
Or save yourself some worry, and skip the avocado entirely! This Mollie Katzen recipe is more like real sushi, and will give you ideas for other colorful stuff to add:
http://www.molliekatzen.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipe=sushi_salad
homemade yogurt
That sounds good! I don't like the flavor of dry milk, so I'd use skim milk heated to 190, and then cooled to 110, I think.
Tribe's Cracked Red Pepper Hummus
On their website, they list the ingredients as chickpeas, lemon juice, water, tahini, canola oil, spices, salt, citric acid,sodium citrate, natural flavor. And they show a drawing of a long, red pepper, that looks like this:
http://www.tribehummus.com/hummus.html
XP: On a Kugel Hunt
This was on a bag of Manischewitz noodles MANY years ago. It's about as basic as you can get. I made it for a while (adding extra cinnamon), but then I fell under the spell of cream cheese, sour cream, raisins, fancy toppings, etc.
1/2 lb broad noodles, cooked according to pkg instructions, and drained
2 eggs
3 Tbl sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
4 Tbl melted butter
Beat eggs with sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Stir into noodles. Mix in melted butter. Transfer to baking dish. Bake at 400 degrees about 45 minutes.
Fermenting a sourdough starter + kitchen moths = ???
That can happen after day 3 or 4. If you haven't seen this, you might find it helpful.
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/233
Fermenting a sourdough starter + kitchen moths = ???
No need to cover it with cheesecloth. That will only dry it out. Jeffrey Hamelman says to use plastic wrap, even when you start it new from scratch. The yeast you want is on the grain (flour). I keep mine in a jar with the plastic lid on loosely. No worry about moths that way.
Toppings for grilled brats
Cook in beer, and serve on bun with mustard, sauerkraut, and grilled onions.
Charnushka: What to do?
You could make the Bengali spice mix Panch Phoran. It's equal parts nigella seeds, cumin seeds, black mustard seeds, fenugreek seeds, and fennel seeds, all left whole. It's very nice for seasoning vegetables like cauliflower or zucchini. Saute the seeds in a little oil with turmeric , then add the vegetable, cover, and cook until tender.
Everyone can do this but me!!!!!!
Soak beans overnight, drain, cook in unsalted water until the "skins blow off" and the beans are tender. That's key. Once you add the seasonings, the beans won't get any more tender. And the longer you bake them, the better. I used to bake them overnight, but that's wasteful, so now I'm down to about 4 hours. They should be just covered with liquid. Toward the end, remove the lid and let the water evaporate to your liking, and until the sugars caramelize a little. Mmmmm.
ISO Cinnamon Buns
Those DO sound good! Do you make a stiff dough as the recipe says?
Halvah Yogurt
Chopped pistachios are sometimes added to halvah, and they'd add some color and crunch to your yogurt.
Cooking Basmati Rice Question
I always cook basmati in the microwave. It's easy, and leaves the stove for other cooking. Rinse rice several times, soak in cold water 15 mins, drain well. One part rice/two parts water (by WEIGHT). Cover. Use "rice" cycle on MW.
What's the Best Baking Powder?
I very much dislike the taste of Calumet. Rumsford is much better.
Bread bakers: do you weigh your ingredients?
I think you'll find that an American pint is 16 fl oz, whilst a British pint is 20 fl oz.
Tried to make rice noodles...
I used to make chow fun noodles with a recipe like this (omitting boric acid) --
http://www.fooddownunder.com/cgi-bin/recipe.cgi?r=213885
I wouldn't have tried it, but the "rice" noodles I purchased listed only wheat flour, and no rice flour at all. They came out very good. The hardest part was keeping the pie pan absolutely level so the noodles wouldn't have thick and thin spots.
Attention Wise Experienced Bakers! :)
Condensed milk is much denser than liquids like water or milk. According to the label, a 14 oz can contains only about 1+1/4 cups. I've never seen a home recipe that didn't call for measuring condensed milk by cups. Forget the fact that the can says 14 oz, unless you need an entire 14 oz can for your recipe. Just pour the required amount into measuring cups. If you prefer to weigh it because it's so messy, then every 2 tablespoons of condensed milk is 39 grams.
