andiesenji

Here are a couple of photos from a couple of years ago to illustrate the little holes in the bottom of the bread when just the shaft is there. One sliced cut through the little hole. Makes a much neater loaf. I'm sure I have posted these elsewhere in another thread.

I have been using bread machines since I got my first one in the mid '70s. I posted in the bread topic about the method I have been using for the past several years to take advantage of the AUTOLYSE effect which, in my opinion, allows the dough to develop so one gets a consistent result and if you want to bake the dough in an oven, it is much easier to work and shape. I add the oil and the water to the machine and then add the FLOUR, select the desired cycle, turn the machine on and allow it to go through the FIRST mix and knead cycle, that should run for at least 5 minutes, longer is better. At that point I stop the machine, cancel the cycle and allow the flour/water mixture to rest for 30 to 40 minutes - longer if using whole wheat or rye flour. At the end of that period I reset the machine to the original setting add all the remaining ingredients (salt at one end of the pan, yeast at the other) and turn it on. I know that when my machine gets to 1:55 remaining time, it will do the final quick knead - equivalent to punching down when working by hand. At this point I turn the dough out into an oiled bowl or onto a lightly floured counter and REMOVE THE PADDLES! I reshape the dough, if necessary, put the pan back into the machine, close the lid and let it finish the final rise and bake. Removing the paddles means you only have two little holes the size of a pencil eraser in the bottom of your loaf. If it doesn't fall right out when done, twist the drive flanges on the bottom of the pan, that should release the loaf.

I've had this happen rarely. I use a ladle, removed the mold colonies and the mother and discard it carefully sealed in a plastic bag, trying to disturb it as little as possible so it won't expel spores. I then pour the vinegar into a saucepan and bring it to a boil and allow it to cool. Transfer it into a clean, sterilized jar and transplant some of my backup mother, add some wine or boiled and cooled fruit juice. I have never had molds re-establish in the same batches using this method.

As a follow-up to my earlier post. This is a bit more than 1/3 the amount of dough produced that I put in an oiled plastic bag and stored in the refrigerator on Monday morning. It rested in the bag for 2 hours and then I dropped it into the bread machine pan. I left it to rise in the pan for almost an hour, tested it by pushing a couple of fingers in and when it didn't bounce back, I turned the machine on the "BAKE" cycle that is pre-set for 1 hour. It got a bit of "oven kick" and baked as I expected. This is a 3-pound machine so the pan is much deeper than on smaller machines. It has been cooling for a hour and I have to wait another hour before I can slice it.

No, this needs the milk powder to work correctly. The amount of liquid would have to be changed and the diastatic malt left out. It is NOT a substitute for liquid milk.

My apricot tree, which used to bear heavily but is now elderly and as it blooms early, often the blooms are lost to hard freezes here in the high desert. No fruit this year. Last year had a few.15 years ago it bore huge amounts of fruit. It is the "Moorpark" heirloom, large very sweet fruit usually with a rosy "blush" and is great for eating out of hand, for cooking, baking, drying and made the best apricot preserves I ever made. When I lived down below in the San Fernando Valley, I had a Blenheim and a Katy, which produce fruit very early, I would usually start picking Memorial Day weekend and as half the tree was grafted, that side ripened a bit later, finishing just at the Blenheim began maturing.

I have a "few" utensil holders for the ones that are not hanging. Mine are mostly of "collected" gadgets and odd things. I have an isolated corner counter area that is pretty much useless for anything except holding my "spooner" which prompted me to use similar containers for forks and large spoons and get them out of the "flatware" drawer which never worked correctly and which, having an iffy "stopper" from time to time exited the frame, dumping everything on the floor. Some of my containers, metal mesh, came from Staples in the office supply section and because they are a bit lightweight, the bottom contains aquarium rocks or marbles to keep them from tipping with longer, top-heavy gadgets. And the hanging gadgets. Looks confusing but I know where everything is. Also my earthquake warning system. P.S. I also have ZERO "junk drawers" in fact I got rid of all but two small drawers in my kitchen that hold only small items such as corks, bottle caps, pour spouts, my tea caddy spoons, and other small gadgets, many in little plastic bags to keep them clean. The stuff in the "cans" go into the dishwasher periodically. The metal mesh ones can go into the dishwasher with their contents and then are set on a large cooling rack over a full-size sheet pan to dry. This is fairly rapid here in the desert, today the humidity is 9%. I got rid of the drawers after opening one that held some gadgets and finding a mouse staring back at me. The little pinkish desert mice invade when it is very hot, very cold or no rain for months. I do not want to share space with them. I washed everything in the drawer and set out traps, then decided to hell with it, broke up the drawer, tossed it into the trash and emptied all the others, cleaned everything that was in them and discarded them also. All food stuff goes into Cambro containers or is stored in the freezer. I have a lot of the large Cambro containers just for this reason.

I've had some semolina flour in my big freezer for a year as well as some white whole wheat (King Arthur) and have used up much of my bread flour, so decided to use these as I have a recipe that makes great bread for sandwiches, for TOASTING and can be baked in the bread machine (1/2 the batch), in loaf pans or as Vienna loaves. It can be baked in baguettes but as it has a medium fine crumb, one loses the real advantage of this bread which is as a sandwich bread. Semolina Bread for Bread Machine Mine is a 3 pound Machine 2 Cups Water 1/4 Cup Oil 2 Cups Semolina flour 3 Cups White Whole Wheat Flour 1/3 Cup Milk Powder, whole milk 3 TBS Diastatic Malt 3 TBS Sugar 1 TBS Salt Bread Salt 1 1/4 tsp Instant Yeast Use White Bread setting. Place Water and Oil in the Machine Pan. Add the two flours Allow to mix and knead through FIRST mix and knead process of the cycle. Turn machine off to end cycle. Set timer for 40 minutes (autolyse) Add remaining ingredients. Select White Bread setting Push START! Check your machine for the cycle times. Set timer for Last KNEAD - in my machine it shows 1:55 time remaining. Remove dough from pan, REMOVE THE BEATERS! Divide dough approximately in half. Place half in an oiled plastic bag and store in refrigerator. Reshape remaining dough so top is smooth and replace in pan. Close the top and allow to finish final RISE AND BAKE. At end of Bake cycle, remove pan from machine and invert on cooling rack. If the dough does not release after a minute, turn the wing-like things on the bottom, which should allow the loaf to release.

Welcome. You will fit right in as there are many, many members who like to experiment with various pastries, cookies, cakes, tarts and there have been some interesting discussions about macarons. I seem to recall a lively discussion in "Preserving Summer" with many references to Mes Confitures by Christine Ferber. and in the thread "Jams, Jellies, Preserves, Fruit Spreads, Butters" I am too old and infirm to do much now but I did some catering in the '80s and '90s. I spent a few years in the late '70s and early '80s developing a method of making crystalized ginger in large batches from large, mature rhizomes because the commercial stuff was expensive and often little pieces.

I make a crisp waffle with half semolina flour and half white whole wheat flour (King Arthur) it uses yeast. I set a sponge the night before, add liquid, water or milk, 1 cup, just as my bread recipe, then beat in 2 eggs, 3 tablespoons oil (or melted butter- coolec), 2 tablespoons sugar, teaspoon salt. This is a very thin liquid to which I add 2 cups of the mixed flours, 1/2 cup at a time until the batter is the right consistency. This can vary from 1 3/4 cups to 2 cups depending on the humidity. If you have a favorite waffle recipe, just substitute 1/2 the flour for semolina or durum flour.

I have a Capresso purchased in 2008 which replaced one that suffered a "fatal" accident when I pulled the plug on it, thinking it was the appliance I had in my hands and yanked it off the counter. I had purchased that one when the Infinity was first introduced. I am posting a screen shot (with permission) that shows the date of purchase in February 2008. I have used it extensively, have taken it apart for thorough cleaning several times and it continues to grind my beans - mostly Dark roast and/or French roast, Italian roast or Espresso - exactly the way I prefer. If you pro-rate the price, it was very inexpensive.

Nicolai, this is just lovely, your photos are evocative of how delightful Afternoon Tea can be in a lovely setting. Thank YOU! I LOVE Afternoon tea and I wish I had some photos of "Tea" in my grandparents home when I was a child. Presided over by my great grandmother, until her death in 1949, it was memorable. Although at the time I had no idea how "different" it was compared to how other families conducted their lives. Most had "dinner" at midday and supper in the early evening. There were two large round tables in the sitting room, one with the tea pots and tableware and the other laden with every kind of food one would find on a British tea table. My great grandmother had spent a lot of time in GB and one of my great aunts was born there. I was five when I was allowed to attend "tea" with the grownups, having a cup of "cambric" tea with my plate of goodies. My grandmother kept a starched, white pinafore in a cupboard to cover my regular clothes which might be a bit grubby. Or a bit horsey as I had a pony and often had to be forcibly peeled off it at meal times. During the latter half of the '40s although my uncles and aunts and their children had moved out of the big house, they still showed up for tea so there were usually twenty or more people to serve. I have some of the "receipts" for tea cakes and tea breads, scones and biscuits from my grandparent's cook.

Sorry. Try now.

I haven't purchased anything from Kerekes/Bake Deco for a few years but still get periodic emails with specials. I know that some members use molds and etc. I have always been very satisfied with their products. This special runs till August 1. You just have to sign up for their email which arrive about every three months. to get a valid Promo Code.  

Sorry, I do not. I mentioned that I had the book on a discussion group and the company contacted me, paid me to scan the book, sent me a hard drive to copy the scanned images to. I took my high resolution scanner (for artwork) to the office and connected the HD to my office PC so the scans would be saved directly to the HD. When finished I sent the HD back to the company. I only used Macs at home so the format wouldn't work for me anyway. I remember the company was in Lakewood, NJ but haven't a clue about the name.

I have Eliza Acton's English Bread Book for Domestic Use (and by "Domestic" she means a cook, a servant) first edition from 1857. I also have a facsimile copy for use that I got from Acanthus Books probably 25 years ago. I scanned the Henri Charpentier book, First Edition from the 1940s, ("Food and Finesse a Bride's Bible") for an onlne service years ago. I was still working but my boss was away for a month, all the nurses were on vacations and I was bored. He was the "inventor" of Crepes Suzette and the book has some interesting recipes. Charpentier moved to Redondo Beach in the late 1940s and my ex-husband's mother met him around 1950, they had owned a summer home there since the '20s and lived two houses from his home and restaurant. My ex, then just a friend, took me there for my birthday in 1961 and it was a memorable meal for an amazing price - I think it was less than $10. each and we had lobster, medallions of veal, small portions but several courses. It was a tiny place, probably a total of 10 tables and full and I was told it took two years to get a reservation. Sadly he died a few months later. I had never heard of him before that, had no idea that the funny, talkative, friendly old man was world famous. I found a copy of the book he had written about 15 years earlier at a used book store and that was part of the beginning of my collecting cookbooks.

I have one section of granite for pastry, fondant, etc. The rest of my countertops are butcher block, now exactly 30 years old. They have taken a beating at times and been bleached and sanded, "boned," oiled and ironed and etc. And in my opinion they still look good. Perhaps it is because I grew up in a house with a HUGE kitchen work table in a very large kitchen run by my grandparent's cook and her helpers. In fact, if you saw Downton Abbey, that was the kind of table and just about the same size. Then I worked in my mom's bakery and loved the feel of working on the "bench" and in the late '60s I bought a free-standing butcher block for that kitchen and I still have it, though it now lives in my studio. A couple of days ago one of my good crystal water goblets tipped over as I set it down after drying it (washed only by hand) and it didn't break. If it had been on a ceramic tile, granite, quartz or any stone-like surface, it would have shattered. And I like the warmth. I keep my kitchen quite cool in the winter and I can actually feel the cold when I stand near the granite piece. The rest of the counters feel warmer.

Thanks for the suggestions. I asked on a Twitter site and was advised by several people to check out the recipes for "veggie tempura" on Eat Plant-Based I used to make a lot of tempura vegetables in a regular deep fryer but haven't for twenty years or so. If the photos and the numerous comments are anything to go by, the recipes sound terrific.

I'm getting a new type of combination air fryer, rotisserie, oven to test and review. I need suggestions of what to make to really put it through its paces. What are things that are tricky to get right. I had one of the early air fryers when they first came out, was not impressed, gave it away and I can't even recall what I cooked in it. This is quite different and considerably larger. I would really appreciate suggestions and advice from those who have been using air fryers for a while.

I can report that the 50/50 rye has great flavor plain - is even better toasted. Decades ago Van de Kamp's sold Rye Melba Toast with Caraway in their restaurants and in some grocery stores. Hughe's market, where I shopped regularly, carried it. One got a whole pound of melba toast cheaper than the hard stuff in the smaller boxes. This bread/toast has that rather elusive flavor that I could never before duplicate. The Bay State medium Rye Meal is from New York Bakers who, oddly enough, are located in San Diego, CA. I use several of their products but this is the first time I have done this particular combination. I like the Giusto's unbleached artisan flour for certain breads and rolls - it produces a thin but very crisp/brittle crust on German hard rolls or water rolls. If you have questions, you can actually phone them and get pertinent information. (619) 508-7720

I set another sponge last evening at six. I got up this morning at 4 a.m. by 4:30 I had the sponge, liquid, flour and yeast in the big bread machine (3 pound) on the dough cycle. This time I used half bread flour, half rye MEAL - and let the machine torture it for about 20 minutes then turned it off and let it rest and rise for 40 minutes (rye usually needs a bit more rise) then reset the machine, added the salt (bread salt) and 4 tablespoons of caraway seeds. I let the machine work it for two kneading cycles then turned it off and left it to rise for an hour - less time because it is very warm in the house as my swamp cooler is not working. This time I cut the dough in half - one half into the fridge. I shaped half into a long loaf, let it rise for 30 minutes (I had something else I needed to do) brushed the top with half and half and into 375 oven for 35 minutes. This time I remembered to slash the top.

I got an assortment of 48 single serve Kellogg's cereals - regular price $15.34 - Prime day price $9.97. 3 16 ounce jars of Jif creamy peanut butter - I guess the regular price is $6.66 ! Not a prime deal but there was a "Honey coupon" on checkout that reduced the cost to $4.81 Just after midnight I ordered my regular tummy med. Famotidine 200 count. $9.98 and was surprised to find on checkout "Prime Savings: $2.96 so the total was 6.92 and then .66¢ tax. The other item, 10 pounds Domino sugar $6.46 was not discounted but I need it and it is cheaper than locally, when I can find it. Walmart's store brand sugar is cheaper but it is also not as fine. This is not quite "superfine" but it dissolves much faster.

I could have made two smaller loaves or 2 large loaves in 9 x 5 loaf pans or a baguette and a boule. However I wanted large slices for sandwiches so made it this way. I probably kneaded in another 1/4 cup of bread flour while working the dough. I have to confess that I don't always measure exactly because I have been baking bread for so long that I go by "feel" and "adjust" recipes on the fly so to speak. I substituted milk for the water because I wanted a nice crust but not a super hard crust and using milk give me exactly the type and thickness of crust I want and also bread made with milk does not stale as rapidly.

Bread loaf based loosely on pane Francese. Sponge made at 7:00 p.m. yesterday. I was up at 5 this morning to add liquid to the sponge (decided to use milk instead of water). 2 3/4 cups bread flour 1 cup white whole wheat. I used a bread machine on the dough cycle to do all the mixing and kneading and rising. Turned it out on bench photo #1, shape of the bread machine pan, and did stretching and folding and flattening and rolling to create structure. Shaped it into a log, used egg wash and applied sesame seeds and straight into the oven - forgot to slash the top. This does not require a rise after shaping because there is a LOT of oven spring.

I've had that happen a few times. They usually send an email telling you to discard the damaged item and keep the replacement with their compliments. In fact that happened recently with an inexpensive order of saltines, the package lost in the mail. I got the replacement and a couple of days later the original showed up. "H ello Andrea, I'm sorry to hear about the problem you've had with your Amazon Brand - Solimo Saltine Crackers, 16 ounce. I've created a replacement for you at no additional charge. The estimated delivery date for your replacement order is Friday, June 28, 2019. To see the order details of the replacement order, visit Your Account at the top of any page on our website or use the following link On this occasion we don't require you to return the original. You're welcome to keep, donate or dispose of it - whichever option is most appropriate and convenient for you. I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon. We'd appreciate your feedback. Please use the buttons below to vote about your experience today."