NhumiSD

Ive been trying to figure out the same banh mi recipe. Will also try this with you guys. Cant wait. -Nhumi

Thanks for the link. I was quoted about ~80/each, this is including the metal frame and the silicone sheet. Does this price seem right? Are there any other sources that we can buy. Any other manufactures of these for a better price? I am definitely on a budget. Found another site but can be used on top of sheet pans, thus cutting price in half. http://www.jbprince.com/index.asp?PageActi...ROD&ProdID=1305 -Nhumi

Iam looking for baugette pans, but these are the perforated silicone ones that suspend between metal frames. Any ideas would be helpful. Thanks. -Nhumi

Hi all, I was initially thinking of big equipments, but anything handy is a must. IT would be for a bakery. Regarding some of the bigger equipments, any particular brands you've used and love? I cant live without the immersion blender, for all the ganaches that was on the verge of separating . Another equipment I love is a juicer, the heavy duty ones. You can juice anything for sorbets. I have to agree with silicone molds and silpats, and an induction burners. A nice oven, what brands so far are your favorites? Ive only used Blodgetts, so I dont have alot to compare to. For value, what is a good brand but affordable ? A sheeter, I will definitely have to buy. Any recommendations of what brand and type? At the hotel, Ive never got to use one. -Nhumi

Iam making a list of equipment and wanted to know what has been your best highly used equipment in your job/bakery. Or if not so good, which you have regretted in buying? Which brands has lived up to its reputation? -Nhumi

Hi, Iam in San Diego too. We wrap the containers up a few times for air tight. -NhumiSD

Hi Irwin, Would you have the ratios of the ingredients for such a baked sponge cake that I can try? Some of these sponge cakes are baked like giant muffins like 3 inches deep X 2 inches wide, and baked in a liner. Thanks. -NhumiSD

Hi, I know exactly what you are talking about. It is a light sponge cake, sometimes sold like little large cupcakes. It is also the base sponge cake for most cakes in these chinese bakeries. I believe it is baked, I can see that it is golden brown all over, which steaming will not do. These sponge cakes I believe, are whole eggs, just whipped up for at least 10-15min. before the dry are added. I wouldnt be surprised if it uses baking powder along with the whipped eggs as a leavening. -Nhumi

Any suggestions on how to improve this would be helpful. Thanks all. I know you guys are pros at making them. :) ← Check my URL posted above, post # 75. It's a pictorial of how I made my joong. Your process is not clear. It sounds like you were making nor mai gai. You said you cooked everything together? And, how long did you cook them AFTER you wrapped them? Did you boil them or steamed them? I used raw peanuts that you find in Asian stores. These must be soaked over night or they will stay crunchy. ← Hi Dejah, I boiled them after they were wrapped. Cooking time is less if i cook the rice a little upfront, and the fillings are sauteed. -NhumiSD

Hi, This photos looks so good. Can you throw together steps in how you make yours? I just made some this weekend, for my mom and grandma. Iam not chinese but we love it enough for me to attempt it. Here is what I made, not sure if its right. I just have an idea whats in it from eating them. Soaked the sweet rice along with dried mushrooms and dried shrimp ( was hoping the flavors would be soaked in the rice. Sauteed some shallots and star anise in oil, addedsome chicken stock, and soy sauce and the rice, with salt and rock sugar. Removed the shrimp and mushrooms before I added rice. Cooked till its a little translucent. Filling : Sauteed garlic and shallots, added some sliced chinese sausages, the dried shrimp I soaked, shitake mushrooms, chestnut paste ( had some chestnut paste in hand, next time i will buy the chestnuts sold as a snack), toasted peanuts, Chinese white wine, 5-spice powder, and some star anise, salt, pepper, sugar. Cooled and wrapped. I wrapped with banana leaves. I havent found any bamboo leaves yet. Maybe I will try the Ranch 99 supermarket here. I found my toasted peanuts didnt cook through. Iam also confused of what shape it should be? Pyramid or a 3-D triabgle or square like? I tied it with just these pink wires which worked. My rice wasnt all one piece when I cut it open, it was very soft. Any suggestions on how to improve this would be helpful. Thanks all. I know you guys are pros at making them. :)

Yes, CPKelco is the producers of Gellan. Can I ask what you are doing with the fruit purees? Are you trying to use it in place of gelatin? Just out of curiousiy, would there be a need for a pectin that would not require such high solids? Maybe a pectin that sets at 20% BRIX, so there wouldnt be a need for so much sugar to get high solids? What would you used with such a pectin ? -NhumiSD

The alginates, you can heat up to help it dissolve. Take this solution and a dropper and place small droplets into a solution of Calcium Chloride at around 0.25% Calcium Chloride should be good. The calcium solution will gel up the alginates. If you take it out right away, the inside will still be a liquid since Calcium will diffuse in. Leave it longer in the solution, it will be a gelled bead. You can try suspending this alginate beads in a solution of Gellan at about 0.03% Gellan. Gellan is heat reversible. You can heat it pass its gelling temperature. This depends on the low acyl which has a lower gelling temp. ~75C then high acyl gellan, at ~80C. The low acyl will have a more brittle texture then high acyl which has a more rubbery texture. Hope this helps. -NhumiSD

Hope Iam not too off track, but Iam curious as to doing it under vacuum. Is to just prevent any Oxygen from oxidizing the ganache? Could you degas a warm solution of ganache? In my work, I always have to degas things and we just have a chamber with an 0-ring for a good seal, and a pump hooked up. It will degas and remove the air bubbles trapped in your ganache, especially when its a warm ganache, the viscosity would be low. Iam guessing you wouldnt want to add any natural preservatives or an oxidizing agent of any kind? -NhumiSD

Baking soda is a browning agent in addition to a leavener. I'm guessing it helps with the color of the finished product. ← Hi all, This is what I believe happened if it turned a brown color. Baking soda will cause it to be alkaline, high pH, and there are reactions that causes browning of proteins (quite possibly the milk proteins) at a high pH. Or, the browning color can be due to just the sugars browning under heat and pressure. Be careful since anything being pressurized and cooled too fast can cause it to explode, though Iam not sure how much heat is applied. I dont see how evaporation could be a cause, though its more of the changes in the proteins, such as in the graininess could be the proteins and proteins interactions. -Nhumi

Hi Duc, Shearing implies mixing. It is usually done to easily hydrate the gum in a solution. Higher shear would be compared to a blender and low shear is just mixing with a spoon. The blade in the blender and the spoon are both cutting up the gum/water (shearing it up). Hope this helps. -Nhumi

AKWA, Will this ice cream be for consumption? If it is, then Iam thinking texture will be very important. Have you experimented with Gellan? What kind of Gellan are you working with right now? If you checked out the website at www.cpkelco.com it lists a few types of Gellan, low and high acyl content. This will give different textures when used. They also have different sensitivity to Calcium ions, which would be alot in ice creams. You would have to initially hydrate the Gellan, then mayb dipping your frozen ice cream into the Gellan solution. Hydrating Gellan is tricky, and differed between the two Gellans. Both will require some amount of shear, probably in the kitchen setting, a blender might do. -Nhumi

Hello AKWA, At the moment, I have my hands full and wont have outside time to do hands on work. I could keep in touch as to what you are trying to do, and help if I can. What is it that you are trying to encapsulate, with the use of Gellan? Like I have mentioned to others, please check out our website at www.CPkelco.com. You can request for literature on various Gellan products we have. -NhumiSD

Hi, I actually work for CP Kelco who makes Gellan, and working on Gellan project right now. Gellan and agaragar is both heatable, it can be reheated. There are many 'grades' of gellan which will have different gelling temperatures. Agar is derived from kelp, whereas Gellan is from a bacterial fermentation. and is a hydrocolloid. If you have specific questions, please let me know. -NhumiSD

You are welcome. You soak it one at a time. Wait until it softens, and place lettuce and mint and whatever u like on it, and roll it up. You dont really have to roll them up, it can just be eaten dipped in the dipping sauce and eaten with the vegies separately. -Nhumi

The way to make the sides of the banh beo go up is to make sure your steamer is on high. have alot of water boiling under when you are steaming. Another trick is to use muffin pans, which can hasten the production of these banh beo. You can make like 12 at a time. I would use a big steamer ( chinese stores usually carry them ). If not, you can take a big wide pot, fill it with water and place a cup or small bowl into the water. Place the muffin pans inside. Oil the muffin pan slightly for the first few trials. Cover and steam on high for a few minutues, then ladle in your banh beo mixture into the muffin pans. It should cook fast. Ive even been able to place a few muffin pans on top of each other to crank out more. Hope this helps. -NhumiSD

Glad to help. Enjoy! -Nhumi

Glad to help. Enjoy! -Nhumi

What I think is that, we start with a baguette recipe we already know how its texture is, and that uses AP flour. Then we can substitute some AP flour for rice flour. This should lessen the amount of gluten. Iam thinking the texture would be less tough since rice flour is mainly starch. Using the same baking and fermentation process, we should be able to compare the baguettes purely based upon its AP flour :: rice flour ratios. Iam sure there will be a ratio where the amount of rice flour will be too much so that it makes the loaf dense, as the CO2 produced cant be trapped due to not enough gluten. Since we started with AP flour which has less gluten then bread flour, we may not need to substitute so much rice flour in the recipe. I wonder if we can try this using even less gluten flour like pastry flour??? Has anyone ever worked with wheat startch, tapioca flour?? -Nhumi

Ive also read up on this recipe and have heard that it doesnt work. I would think that too much rice flour would not give enough gluten in a bread recipe. Thanks for posting. I will probably have to just try increments of rice flour in a already good baguette recipe. -Yumi

Hi all, Iam in love with the baguette. But this version that I want to make is a Vietnamese version, that Ive heard uses part rice flour??? The crust is crispy and light. The bread is not at all dense. The vietnamese baguette is supposedly taken from the French Baguettes. Any help is greatly appreciated. -Nhumi