Sobaicecream

I'm one of those weirdos who likes pumpkin, any time of the year! But I hear your misery and you have my sympathy. I can't imagine having to be so literally up to my elbows in a detested food. Poor Chefpeon. I hesitate to give my opinion because I'm not a professional baker. But as one who fits the profile of a customer flocking to you for more bloody pumpkin , I thought you would consider my thoughts. I also like cranberry. But the combination of pumpkin (with all the requisite spices, I presume) and cranberry don't really appeal. I feel that these are two strong flavors that someone who likes them would prefer to enjoy fully and separately. Although this is just my opinion. (Also, since you already loath pumpkin, I think adding one more hated ingredient would not only be cruel to but make it just that much more difficult for you to really put enthusiasm into creating something nice.) Final thought: with all that overexuberant holiday gorging occurring, why not make your pumpkin cheesecake unique by trying for something more delicate? How about playing with the concept of tiramisu (since there's marscapone, wouldn't that still make it a "cheese" cake), perhaps by taking just the zabaglione part and chilling it in a pie crust? I know some tiramisu recipes call for whipped cream, making everything a bit too fluffy and messy. But I just make the zabaglione by beating sugar and egg yolks in hot water bath until really thick. Then folding in the marscapone and stiffly whipped egg whites. When totally chilled, this custardy stuff is actually firm enough to slice, which would make it a possible pie filling.

Redsugar, I'm sold! Please would you share the recipe or the link to the recipe for those squash cresents you so temptingly described? Aren't pumpkin breads glorious? That color. Ah...

My dough recently did the same thing when I slashed it: almost immediately sealed itself back up, even after 12 hours retarding in the fridge. Is there such a thing as a dough that is too wet? When I pulled the bread out of the oven, its temperature was 210'F, but even after waiting for the loaf to completely cool before cutting into it, the bread had a very gummy, damp texture. Could the problem be that my dough was too wet? Or is this a problem with my starter? Oh, kolachi, huh? Thank you so much, Polack. Being in Japan, I'm not sure if I'll be able to find that cookbook you recommended, but now that I have a name, I'm sure I'll be able to find a recipe on the Internet. Thanks!

Anyone tried KissMint's Watering gum? I think it says on the package that it contains six ingredients that make your mouth moist. I couldn't tell when I tried it if my mouth "watered" more than when chewing regular gum. But what do you think the purpose is? For people who are nervous and get dry mouths? And does anyone have any idea what those six special ingredients are?

Oh, I see! Sorry for questioning you, andie . I know you have a lot of experience, and I'm glad you told me this before I ended up with flavorless boiled ginger! By the way, I made candied lemon and mandarin peel following your instructions. It came out beautifully. I was feeling so proud I wanted to include a little picture of my assorted peels. But I realized you must see candied peel all the time! Thanks so much again for your help.

Hi andie, I was reading your candied ginger recipe and am thinking I might have to add some to my fruitcake as well (at the rate I'm going, I'm not going to ever get around to actually making the cake). I understand that steaming the ginger is to prevent loss of flavor. But wouldn't it be okay to boil the ginger, and then use that same boiling water to make the simple syrup later? Then all that good ginger flavor would still be retained. What do you think?

Polack, just make sure your dear Irish bride doesn't start feeling like this "sourdough stuff" is stealing her husband as well as her oven! Ever since I got into sourdough bread baking, my own husband has been giving my precious starter the evil eye and complaining that I care more about it than him. I'm not sure if this answers your question, but I've left my dough to cold proof in the fridge as long as 20 hours and it was perfectly fine.

melonpan, you don't have to be a closet fruitcake eater! Who wouldn't want to eat your beautiful-looking cakes. What a perfect deep golden color. I was also pretty inspired by this post to make my own fruitcake. Right now I'm letting my dried fruit soak in rum for a couple of weeks. Can't wait to get started. I was curious though--and this question could be directed at andiesenji as well, or anyone else--about the combination of cocoa and fruitcake. I've never had it before. Is the chocolate flavor quite noticeable? Or does it sort of meld with all the other flavors? melonpan, any chance we might get a picture of the inside of one of your cakes? Or are you saving them to give away? And please send more pictures when you finish the white fruitcake!

Thank you, andiesenji, for your very clear instructions. I'm definitely going to do the first part in the microwave, as you suggested. That sounds much easier. Ludja was right that I probably want candied rind for my fruitcake rather than whole fruit. Still, the idea of an entire candied fruit is tantalizing. It's too bad it takes so many hours! I was just curious though, if the whole fruit is inevitably going to be chopped up, wouldn't it be easier simply to candy fruit that has been chopped first?

I do want to use the candied peel for a fruitcake, so I will take your advice, ludja, and leave a little pith. Thanks!

Hi albiston, Thanks for the reassurance. I wondered if something was wrong with candying mandarin oranges because there don't seem to be any recipes for it. I just read somewhere that limes shouldn't be candied because they turn brown--which doesn't seem like such a terrible thing to me if they still taste good.

Is there any reason why mandarin oranges (or their peel) should not be candied? Is the flavor not as intense as that of an orange? I thought that with its soft, thin skin, it might work nicely. Sorry, I actually have two other candying questions: 1) I've been reading various candying recipes, and although most say to get rid of any pith, Waitrose.com claims that leaving the pith actually results in a more "succelent" peel. Any opinions? 2) Why do some recipes ask you to steam/boil citrus fruit in water before the sugar syrup part? Won't a lot of the flavor be lost?

Oooh, been meaning to make fruitcake, but couldn't decide on which recipe. A saffron fruitcake sounds excellent. If you can find it, would you share it with us, curlywurly? Would truly appreciate it!

Thank you so much for the clarification, Jackal! I'm actually waiting for my starter to reach its peak right now so that I can bake up another batch of bread. Your detailed instructions came just in time. Yay.

Oh, I just thought it would work really nicely in a challah or brioche recipe.

Please don't kill me if I'm wrong, chromedome, but might that comment have something to do with your user name? Well, lucky you!... Er, with the saffron, I mean. Have you heard of lussekatt? It's a Swedish bread that's usually eaten around December in honor of Saint Lucia (so I read). But heck, if you've got this gorgeous saffron now, why wait for Saint Lucia Day? I first came across this recipe on the blog A Spoonful of Sugar. Check out the picture--it looks absolutely gorgeous. The bread is very good--light and almost silky--and the saffron adds both wonderful color and aroma. You don't have to follow this particular recipe though. I think if you just add 1/2 a teaspoon or so of saffron (soaked overnight in melted butter to bring out the flavor) to any delicate bun/bread recipe (don't know about the heartier, rustic loaves; saffron might be overpowered), it should work fine. From past saffron bread experiences, I personally think honey complements it beautifully.

Suvir, thanks so much for this excellent post! I'm a big fan of time-consuming recipes, and if you include candying and steeping your own fruit, this one's going to take forever! Before even starting the cake! I love it. Thanks to you, I'm going out shopping right now to start early preparations!

andiesenji, that's absolutely incredible that you possess these journals and old records. I hope I'm not being silly but it gives me goosebumps to think that you have such a direct connection with your ancestors--and in the wonderful form of recipes! The oldest relative I am aware of is my great-grandmother. I don't even know where my ancestors came from! There have been so many appealing recipes on this post, I can't make up my mind which one to try. But the idea of following a recipe that was written so long ago... very exciting!

Oh, hi, Jackal! Quickly just wanted to let you know that I've been happily following your sourdough lesson to practice my breadmaking--thanks so much for it! Sorry but just to reconfirm: the first rise is also the bulk fermentation? I thought it went first rise (don't touch), then bulk fermentation (turn dough).

Hey Seth, I've been following Jack Lang's instructions for sourdough bread on e-gullet and his recipe says to let the dough have a first rise for about two hours and then start turning. Does it make a difference whether you start turning during or after the first rise?

Hi Mr. Reinhart. Thank you for your reply. I'm sorry, but I have a few follow-up questions. I follow the sourdough bread recipe on e-gullet, and the method goes: 1st rise, 2 hours; shape; retard in fridge for roughly 16 hours. When you say that I should give the dough more time, would this apply to the first rise or the long retardation? Aha! I forgot to mention this previously, but another problem I have is that regardless of how well I oil the bowl that my dough is resting in, when I try to gently turn the dough out onto the counter for shaping, it is often *very* firmly stuck. I'm then forced to scoop the dough out, invariably over-deflating--and even tearing--it. Would a dough with milk in it count as one that has sugar? Thank you for your help!

Yikes! Feeling nervous and presumptuous to be asking my amateur-home-baker questions of you, Mr. Reinhart. Thank you so much for sharing your time with us! When making a sourdough boule, for example, I've read that you should heat your oven up as high as it will go before sliding in your bread. But I've read elsewhere that if the oven is overly hot, a crust will form too quickly and prevent oven spring. Which is correct? Although I know there are many factors involved, my problem in a nutshell: a flattish bread with a quickly burnt crust and a damp interior--which, to me, sounds like the work of a too-hot oven. However, I don't use quarry tiles or anything of that sort. All I have is a small electric oven turned to 240 degrees celcius. Could it really be producing *that* much heat? Or is my problem something else entirely?

It's funny because in my very first post, actually, I mention (maybe whine) that even Alton Brown's recipe didn't work for me. And in fact, what originally prompted this post was me trying AB's chewy cookie recipe and still producing puffy cakes. Of course, early on, I was quickly corrected that I had NOT technically used AB's recipe, since I'd completely changed the amount of sugar that was required.

I have to admit that although I don't dislike persimmons, I've always found them rather sweet and bland. I wonder if this is because I've never eaten a really good persimmon. So my first question is: does an extraordinary-tasting type of persimmon really exist or is the persimmon really just the mild, unassuming fruit I believe it to be? Second, I've only eaten raw persimmons. Does cooking them enhance the flavor...or perhaps even bring out new notes that are not ordinarily discernable?

Interesting. I've never seen pastry flour, but I've always been curious about it. I don't think they sell it in Japan. At least I've never seen it. Please excuse my ignorance but I just assumed the only thing that distinguished pastry flour from other types was the protein percentage--is this not true? What else is different? Sorry for all the questions, but I'm wondering what would be the next closest thing in a Japanese store.