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Provides more nutrients for the little yeasties. Gives a darker, redder crust. Should not affect the flavor.

Yes, thanks! It's a small electric deep fryer, with no temperature adjustment. I'll post photos. I'm rather embarrassed to admit that it's fitting the bill for this purpose. We had set it aside for our cooking and health purposes, and forgotten its existence.

Lovely haul! Any word about tariff fees or customs?

By request, some photos of the cookie binge. First, here's an overview of the spread. ...and some of the decorated cookies. Closeups of a couple of 'em (note the food-colouring stains on the fingers...). Last pic is cookies monogrammed for three grandkids out west (initials S, M, and L, because the yellow icing gooped a bit and they're not entirely as pretty as I'd have liked). Glad to have it all done with for another year; they're all packed up and ready for mailing/hand delivery. For the curious, if you scroll back to the panoramic view, we have (clockwise from top right): snowman sugar cookies, Christmas tree sugar cookies and gingerbread cookies, the three big personalized sugar cookies, some zimmtsternen, vanillekipfeln (not sure of the spelling on that, there may be an 'r' in there somewhere toward the end), a shortbread-ish ball cookie known to us as "Russian tea cakes" but which is also known as "Pecan meltaways" and many other things, linzers with raspberry and apricot filling, the "faux linzers" I spoke of earlier, gingerbread snowflakes and gingerbread people, and finally snowflake sugar cookies. I had tubs with additional quantities of several of these, but this was enough to give you the idea. Not pictured were ginger crinkles, which are much like gingersnaps except soft and chewy (I'd parked those on top of the fridge and forgotten them until after the pics were taken), and chocolate-filled sandwich cookies because I realized while setting up the photo that I hadn't actually made the ganache or filled them yet.

I’m guessing Fry Baby is a deep fryer, either stove top or electric?? Nice save !

Try setting up an ebay alert and a google alert

Last on our odyssey.... ETA this was last night but I was too exhausted to post it. 1 hour flight on a budget airline.... Sweet roll filled with chocolate.

I have continued to hope for a chance to pick up the extra pans for this. But checking today, it looks like the end I feared has come. https://afourbox.com/ is now a dead site. I do not think anything more will be forthcoming.

Green salad and what I may as well call potato fritters. The fritters are the real victory, of the snatch-the-bacon-from-the-fire variety. Sometime a week or two ago I made a huge batch of mashed potatoes with greens, cream, garlic, and possible some cheese, from some of the Russet potatoes I received back in October. This mashed potato dish was intended to mimic something wonderful I'd eaten last July in Kenya, but it failed miserably. I've been pecking away at it despondently, wondering whether I could salvage it or should simply give it to the local wildlife. Sometime ago I rediscovered my darling's "Fry Baby" from a hidey hole atop a shelf in the hall closet. He used it a lot before we were married. We haven't used it much since then, but hadn't given it away. Hmm. Maybe I could put it to good use. I did. I made little balls of the mashed potato mix, rolled them in a mix of Italian-seasoned bread crumbs and corn flake crumbs, and fried them. Success! Is it worth writing down and trying to reproduce what I did? No. But I'll be able to use the rest of those potatoes, and the Fry Baby.

Good luck and let us know how it goes. I definitely put off an oil change too long in my Minipack, but fortunately I got away with it! I could not believe how gross the oil was...

That was a joyous laugh, @blue_dolphin !

@AlaMoi, King Arthur Bakers Hotline just told me NOT to use Diastatic Malt Powder in place of Malted Milk powder. She said that it would not convey the same malty taste. Talking with her, I wasn't at all clear what the Diastatic Malt Powder was supposed to do.

Et voilá! Edited to say merci beaucoup a Goûter!

Note to self: change the oil much more frequently. My wife went to seal something the other day. She said it sounded weird, and then turned off. Inspection revealed there's a fuse holder in the power socket, complete with a blown fuse. And a spare, yay. I put the spare in, turned it on. It sounded as if the motor or pump were seized. As I was reaching to turn it off, it blew the fuse. (They're 15A AL250 fast blow fuses, 5mmx20mm, which, of course, isn't a fuse I keep on hand.) Today I started to take it apart to see what's going on. First I drained the oil, which was pretty cloudy. Then I pulled the pump out. The pump is coupled to the motor with a Lovejoy style coupler. The pump is attached to the motor with four bolts, which you can see and touch. You can't get a tool on them, at least not easily. I ended up using a 10mm crowsfoot to get them out. A longer than normal one would make it easier, as the pump body is in the way. AT some point, I realized if you take the four screws on the top of the sides out, the whole chamber piece hinges up, and there's a stay to hold it it the service position. This makes it somewhat easier to get at things, but it's still a pain to work on. The pump is a pretty standard eccentric rotary vane pump. Back cover covers the oil reservoir and air seperator bits, it's bolted on. the pump proper is bolted together, and further secured with pins that pull out pretty easily. Three vanes made of aluminum, in a steel rotor, no tensioning, just centrifiugal force to keep the sealed. The pump side of the Lovejoy is keyed to the shaft on the rotor. And welded in place, presumably because that's cheaper. Also means I can't separate the shaft from the front cover, where there's a bearing or bushing (the other end is a brass bushing, I suspect this one is too). There's a lot of play in the rotor shaft there, both end float and side to side. Before I took it apart, it initially wouldn't turn. a little bit of rocking got it turn freely. I didn't see anything that would have caused it to stick, but there's a lot of rust staining on the vanes, so one could have been stuck. The resevoir was full of sludge and built up crud on the bottom, where it would have settled out of the oil. I've cleaned everything up, and when I get replacemet fuses, I'll put it all back together, and see if it works, or if I need to figure out a pump transplant. That'll be a week or two, though....

Four days ago, my cousin shared this on Facebook: Wise words but I can’t stop tracking! My order is now “out for delivery” 🥳 Very pleased as it says a signature is required and I have to be out for some commitments tomorrow so 🤞for today! I have a friends gathering on Sunday and am hoping to share my bounty!

@Shelby me, too. I'm a real sourpuss!!

Back to things in bowls here. A little leftover duck, thick noodles, lots of green veggies, herbs and chicken broth. The bean sprouts countdown is on.

my no-knead uses 430g bread flour - I use a heaped tablespoon. dunno about "should" - that's just my practice.

@AlaMoi, thanks. The Malted Milk concrete never softened, so I tossed it. I may need more bread early next week. I have 506 grams of bread flour, white whole wheat and semolina flours. How much Diastatic Malt Powder should I use?

I regularly use the dia malt powder in breads - no-knead to full blown knead forever stuff . . . among other 'things' - it adds that "fresh German Broetchen" aroma....

Please report how freeze dried ice cream balls taste, @Smithy !

Been very happy with the Hestan pans. Easy to clean and care for.

Pastrami scrambled eggs from Alon Shayla’s book Shaya: A while back, I spied an NYT article touting the pastrami egg & cheese as the best breakfast. I picked up some pastrami from ZEF BBQ to try it but decided to start here.

It was veal. One of my elderly relatives was mentioning how they used to eat veal a lot when they were young, so I splurged on a mail order veal roast and made the cutlets. Veal is not something found in supermarkets around here.

My neighbor got herself a freeze-dryer earlier this year, and presented me with this Christmas gift: Freeze-dried ice cream balls (strawberry, vanilla, one or two chocolate). I'm told that they can make good bombs to plop into one's hot chocolate or coffee! But she provided me also with homemade chocolate sauce. My sister sent me a dozen Harry and David Royal Riviera pears! Oh, joy!