5794 replies to this topic

[flourgirl]

That would be wonderful, thank you !!

There must be nothing like fresh-churned butter. My husband comes from a region where they also made their own butter when he was a little boy. He tells me they never kept it in the refrigerator but in the pantry! He tried to do that with our store bought butter but straight into the refrigerator it went.

Does the fat content differ from commercially available butter? I would think that would impact your baking.

Are you a professional baker?

[Mette]

Elderbushes in full bloom now, so elderflower cordial.

The easiest ting in the world: 30 elderflower heads, 1-2 lemons cut up, 1 kg sugar, 25 g citric acid. Mix with 1 l. boiling water, leave to steep 3-4 days. Strain. Bottle. Dilute w 3-4 parts water and ice cubes. Ahhhhhh.

Note: Must be either kept in the fridge and used within a couple of weeks, or add a bit of conervation stuff to the bottles

Note 2: always make double or triple batch. It dissapears really quickly

[Kerry Beal]

Elderbushes in full bloom now, so elderflower cordial.

The easiest ting in the world: 30 elderflower heads, 1-2 lemons cut up, 1 kg sugar, 25 g citric acid. Mix with 1 l. boiling water, leave to steep 3-4 days. Strain. Bottle. Dilute w 3-4 parts water and ice cubes. Ahhhhhh.

Note: Must be either kept in the fridge and used within a couple of weeks, or add a bit of conervation stuff to the bottles

Note 2: always make double or triple batch. It dissapears really quickly

Wonder if hubby would notice if I cut the heads off the elderberry bush out back? It's pretty small!

[Panaderia Canadiense]

That would be wonderful, thank you !!

There must be nothing like fresh-churned butter. My husband comes from a region where they also made their own butter when he was a little boy. He tells me they never kept it in the refrigerator but in the pantry! He tried to do that with our store bought butter but straight into the refrigerator it went.

Does the fat content differ from commercially available butter? I would think that would impact your baking.

Are you a professional baker?

I suspect that the fat content varies greatly simply because the farmer I buy from has a herd of Guernsey x Brown Swiss cows. They're notorious for producing higher-fat milk than the Holstein / Jersey herds that are standard in Canada. They're also grass-fed year-round, which makes a huge difference in the flavour of the milk and cream. Mmmm, grass-fed Guernsey cream.... I can, and often do, eat that by the spoonful. Coming back to the fat content issue, I did have to rejig many of my recipes for lower amounts of butter largely due to this exact issue (altitude also plays an important part, but not as much as the actual fat content.)

I am indeed a professional baker; my screen name is actually the name of my catering bakery. I'll RecipeGullet the olive-oil cinnamon buns for you in a moment; my recipe calls for quinua flour, but that might not be findable in your area: spelt is a reasonably good substitute, and if you can find amaranth flour, that's even better.

Speaking of the which - I made a batch of them the other day, and this is what they come out looking like (please ignore the corner of my exopat - my countertop is small and frequently quite crowded).

[flourgirl]

WOW! That is so beautiful! It looks amazing!!

I thought you must be a professional as your baking is exquisite.

I found the recipe you posted. Thank you VERY much!

I am actually following a low cholesterol plan which includes olive oil. And your recipe has no eggs, which makes it even better!

I've only used yeast once time but your recipe seems do-able for me.

We have a local health food store which carries uncommon flours. I think I have seen Spelt there before.

Thank you very much. I really appreciate that you posted the recipe.

[janeer]

Panaderia Canadiense: those look lovely. Is there a sub for ishpingo? What is it similar to?

[Kim Shook]

Dessert tonight was PIE! I made a white peach and blueberry pie:

I was very happy with the results - except for the unexceptional store bought crust:

I was too busy to mess with making my own and, as always, I regretted that I didn’t take the time.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Panaderia Canadiense: those look lovely. Is there a sub for ishpingo? What is it similar to?

Ishpingo is the flower of the Pastaza Cinnamon tree (Ocotea quixos). Think of it as a darker, more earthy cinnamon flavour; I think you could get away with blending about 1/4 tsp of ground cloves or perhaps allspice into 3/4 tsp of cinnamon to get the bass note while retaining the cinnamon taste, but I've never actually found a true substitute. It's very difficult to even describe the flavour of the spice - cinnamon buns is one of the few applications ishpingo has in sweet cooking; I would normally consider it to belong squarely to salt cookery, since I use it quite a bit with beef and lamb, and goat when I can get it.

[janeer]

Panaderia Canadiense: those look lovely. Is there a sub for ishpingo? What is it similar to?

Ishpingo is the flower of the Pastaza Cinnamon tree (Ocotea quixos). Think of it as a darker, more earthy cinnamon flavour; I think you could get away with blending about 1/4 tsp of ground cloves or perhaps allspice into 3/4 tsp of cinnamon to get the bass note while retaining the cinnamon taste, but I've never actually found a true substitute. It's very difficult to even describe the flavour of the spice - cinnamon buns is one of the few applications ishpingo has in sweet cooking; I would normally consider it to belong squarely to salt cookery, since I use it quite a bit with beef and lamb, and goat when I can get it.

Thanks. It seems like you use it the way I often use cardamom.

[flourgirl]

Nothin' says lovin' like dog bones from the oven.

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[Kouign Aman]

Not up to the spectacular results reported on this thread, but I was content with how they came out:

Chocolate dipped strawberries - gift for teacher. They got shinier after an hour or so, as the chocolate got happy again. I think it was right on the edge of dis-temper.



The afore-described spicy candies, blackberry flavored this time. Bottle cap for scale. They were a prettier purple than my photograph shows. Lots of airbubbles. There is work to be done if these were to be a repeat event, but I suspect I'll never make them again.

[flourgirl]

Gorgeous Kouign Aman! Absolutely gorgeous!

[Kouign Aman]

Thank you, flour girl!
I'm thinking the same of your dog biscuits - I've got a hound at home that wants to meet you!

[flourgirl]

We've got plenty here. Send him on over.

I made 54 so I am good for almost a month

Edited by flourgirl, 13 June 2012 - 04:08 PM.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

Yoghurt-Chocolate Chip Cake with Mocha Buttercream fill/frost. I'm actually not responsible for the baking itself (it's bad luck to bake your own birthday cake) but I was certainly responsible for cutting it and sharing it, and for gobbling down my own nice large chunk. This is probably my favourite cake ever.





Yoghurt-Chocolate Chip Cake. It's what's for breakfast!

[Darienne]

Beautiful cake and Happy Birthday to Beth

From PanaCan:
I'm actually not responsible for the baking itself (it's bad luck to bake your own birthday cake) ....

Who says it's bad luck? I always have to bake my own cake. Who else is going to do it?

Edited by Darienne, 16 June 2012 - 10:21 AM.

[Panaderia Canadiense]

In a family of bakers? It's always been considered bad luck in my family - it means you're so far from your relatives that there's nobody who cares to bake for you.

[flourgirl]

That cake looks so good! Happy birthday to you! I hope your day is very special

[Kim Shook]

Happy Birthday, Elizabeth!

[curls]

Finally, a weekend with time for me to bake!

[Kerry Beal]

Damn that looks good Donna!

[curls]

Thank you Kerry. Got hubby to photograph it for me! It is quite tasty.

[flourgirl]

Oh lovely pie Curls. It's perfect!

[flourgirl]

I baked David Lebovitz' Maple Walnut Pear Upside-Down Cake for my husband's special day. The glaze is amazing. Toasted walnuts in a maple-brown sugar glaze. Really delicious.

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[curls]

flourgirl that Maple Walnut Pear Upside-Down cake looks wonderful! Bet it is one of those cakes that is even better the 2nd or 3rd day. Will need to print out that recipe and add it to my files.

[flourgirl]

Thank you Curls. It is wonderful. Mr. Lebovitz suggests left-over cake should be reheated in the oven or micro. He is so right; it gets that maple syrup to drip into the cake and makes it like the first time all over again.

Although I have the book for years, this is the first David Lebovitz recipe I have made. I now have a whole list of recipes I can't wait to try.

[jrshaul]

I made my father an almond bread pudding with brandy-soaked montmorency cherries for Father's Day. Good stuff.


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[janeer]

jrshaul, that looks great; are those fresh sour cherries or last year's?

[Darienne]

jrshaul, that looks great; are those fresh sour cherries or last year's?

Ditto for me. And that photo looks near enough to get a taste.

[flourgirl]

Oh Wow! jrshaul, do you use yeast to make that? It looks delicious.