CanadianBakin'

It's me again with yet another question. I'm sure I've used up my quota of questions for the last couple days but I have one more... Here's a lsit of what my supplier sells: CA13 Mi-Amare (Pistols) 5kg IFF2 Callebaut - D811 5kg IFF3 Callebaut - 811 5kg IFF21 Semi-Calets (USA) Item#95842 D811 25lb LIN3652 Lindt Surfin (Dark) Chocolate 2/1kg LIN3673 Lindt Extra Bitter Chocolate 2/1kg LIN2832 Lindt 70% Excellence (Bars) Couverture Bitter 10kg KR7635 Semi Sweet Choc. Squares (GENIE) 10kg KR7636 Unsweet Dark Squares (Bakerettes) 10kg CC1 Schokinag Bitter Sweet Slab 2.5kg CC5 Schokinag 55/45/35 Chips - 1000ct 10kg BC501 Couverture Wafers - C501/J 10kg I am not sure what would best serve my purposes. I'm not clear on the difference between "pistols" & "calets" and "semi-calets". I work for a higher-end coffee house but it's not a bakery so I have to choose good products but not neccessarily the best as cost is a bit of an issue. I use chocolate melted in cheesecake, melted with margarine to top some types of squares, melted in one of my frostings and chips in cookies. Do I need to buy block chocolate or can I use calets or wafers? Are calets the same size as chocolate chips and can I use them in cookies or do I need proper chocolate chips for them to hold their shape? Or is there enough cocoa butter in the Schokinag chips that I could use them for the other purposes as well? My rep is very kind but I don't think he's a baker, just a salesman, so I'd like the opinion of someone who actually uses the products. Thanks again for all your help!

Thanks for the info. That gives me a lot more confidence in trying it.

This is a spin-off from the cocoa thread. I'd like to try using dutch process cocoa in my brownies but don't have ready access to small amounts. I think the smallest bag my supplier has is about 5 lbs. My brownies have just cocoa, no solid chocolate and a bit of instant coffee as well as 1/4 tsp of baking soda. A few people mentioned that you should use regular cocoa in recipes that contain baking soda. Is a 1/4 teaspoon enough to mess them them up? How does the dutch process cocoa effect the flavour. I seem to remember reading that the flavour will be richer and the texture a bit fudgier. Can anyone help me with their experiences? Sorry, this is a bit long. To sum up, my questions are: 1. Will 1/4 tsp baking soda affect my brownies negatively if I use dutch process cocoa? 2. Is it worth trying dutch process cocoa? Is the flavour that much better? Thanks for your input.

Yes, it is a portioning issue. I'd like to have all the slices as close to the same as possible. The magi-strips are 1-1/2". They don't say anything about adjusting the temp onthe instructions. I had them wrapped around the top of the pan. I think I'll try wrapping them around the lower half instead to see if this makes a difference. My leaveners are brand new. I'm only mixing as much as is necessary to combine. Thanks for all your thoughts adn the trouble shooting guide from school. I'd like to try baking with the oven a bit hotter but it says to not have your oven hotter than 350 which is of course the temp I'm baking at now. If I use a 350 convection oven though, that might make the difference. I'm just doing the trial and error stuff at home right now.

spyddie - I'm sure that's what they use but we are making everything from scratch, no mixes, so I have to find a way around that. Really Nice! - Most of them use the creaming method. What did you have in mind?

merstar - there is a small amount of instant coffee for depth of flavour but that's all. And they are more chewy than fudgy. Does this make a difference? I don't have easy access to small amounts of Dutch process cocoa, otherwise I would just try it. I don't want to buy 5 lbs or whatever from my supplier if it's not going to work.

I use a 4-1/2x11-3/4" loaf pan for banana bread, lemon pound cake and pumpkin loaves, etc. We will be selling slices so they need to be even, instead of peaked in the center and very short on the ends. I was able to correct this problem with those magi-strips from Wilton. Now I have an even loaf but it's not very high. I was at another coffee house this afternoon and their loaves were about 4"high, maybe even more. I have read that you should always leave 1"of space at the top when filling a loaf pan. I do this and with the magi-strips although it is even, it only rises to just over the top of the pan. I'd like a bit more height if possible. I'm concerned that if I fill it fuller it will just pour over the edges. Am I mistaken? Or if I'm not, can I get more height if I add a bit more flour to stiffen the batter? I've only got 2 weeks at the most to get this figured out. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I wanted to try a good dutch processed cocoa in my brownie recipe but it has 1/4 tsp of baking soda in it. How would they be affected if I used dutch processed rather than regular?

Joni, it's made with light corn syrup and dark brown sugar.

Thanks for your replies! You've just saved me a ton of time, not to mention my wrists.

I've always peeled carrots for carrot cake & morning glory muffins, etc. but I was wondering if it was neccessary? And for a hearty muffin is it neccessary to peel apples? I don't mind doing it, I just want to make sure I'm not wasting time by doing all this peeling if I don't need to. What do you do?

I like kakes and Buttercream Dreams. I'm really not fond of katiecakes. It's seems preschoolish to me. I can't see many men buying cakes from a place called katiecakes. Does that make sense?

If you can find a supplier for the Oreo crumbs without the filling you will find not only the texture better but the flavour as well. Ground Oreos really taste quite awful once you've used just the wafers.

Hi Ananstee! I'm guessing you saw the Robin Hood Baker's flour at Costco. I use it all the time and it works quite well. I wasn't sure what it was either so I e-mailed Robin Hood and here's their response: Hope this helps. By the way, Wendy (Sinclair) says to never apologize for asking questions or think they're silly. Everyone is here to help.

This isn't a baked suggestion but I bet you could add it to some form of beef stroganoff.

Thank you for all your suggestions. It gives me some ideas for planning ahead. An additional flavour question; do you use fresh or dried cranberries at all and if you do, do you save them for Christmas time or use them year round?

Many of you bake higher end desserts where I will be doing simpler fare at a high-end coffee house but your input will still be valuable. I'm wondering which flavours you focus on for the different seasons. For starters, I was speaking with the owners about pumpkin and we were wondering if that is a flavour that runs throughout the fall and winter or is it more for Thanksgiving. As we are Canadian it confuses things a bit since our Thanksgiving is mid-October so it's more than 2 months from then till Christmas. I was reading this thread begun by FlourPower... ...which gave me a start. Can anyone else help with more specifics? Thanks.

I have found that if I mix margarine into the semi-sweet and vegetable oil into the white chocolate it cuts quite well. I still get a bit of breakage but not nearly as much. There may be a downside to this since it will melt easier and it takes longer to set up but so far I haven't run into any problems. I don't live in a hot climate though and I've only used this method for home. I'll be using it commercially soon (when the coffee house I will be baking for opens) so then I'll know if it works for this setting. I'm glad to hear how you do it. If my method doesn't work, I'll use yours.

It might be just me but it seems to "stick" better to the bar. I'd love to hear your opinion though.

achevres - what was the texture of your cake? I tried this recipe the other night and it had a very poor rise and is VERY dense. Is that the way it's supposed to be or should I try again?

Wendy, thanks so much for starting this thread. First, in regards to this quote: Is it ok to call items that have been previously frozen "fresh baked" if they were baked in the store and frozen a week earlier? Second, my question is in regards to getting squares out of an 18x13 pan. Brownies, no big deal unless they have a rocky road or icing topping. I guess the freezing would work but my nanaimo bars are topped with a chocolate/butter combination that is shiny and shows fingerprints. If I flipped this out frozen would it show marks where it touched the board? Is there a way to repair that or would it be minimal enough to not worry about? I make a coconut square with a shortbread base that I drizzle with white and semi-sweet chocolate while it is still warm. I'm worried that if I froze it and turned it out the chocolate would all crack and fall off. Is there a better way? At home in smaller pans I use a parchment sling but I think in the larger pan the squares might fold in half, again, unless it was frozen. It seems like a sling would waste a lot of parchment as I would have to use 2 sheets each time. And that brings me to parchment. My suppliers sell it slightly smaller than 18x26 and slightly larger. He says the larger size is more popular. At home, for cookies I always make sure my parchment is slightly smaller otherwise they curl up a bit if they're near the edge of the pan. I can see the slightly larger size working for squares but I don't have room to stock both. What's been your experience? andiesenji - I love your idea with the radial pattern cutting mat. I don't need one for rounds but I think I'll pick-up a plastic mat that quilters use for cutting squares and I can use that for cutting brownies etc. to the right size. I was wondering how I was going to get them even every time.

Here's something I use that I'm sure you could play with to get the Cheerios in. 1/2 c brown sugar 1/2 c corn syrup 1/4 c butter Melt together & boil one minute 1/4 c peanut butter 1 tsp vanilla Stir into hot mixture until smooth. 2-1/2 c rice krispies 2-1/2 c quick oats Stir into mixture until combined. I use this as a base for a peanut butter square in a 13x9"pan but if using alone you would probably want to press it into an 8x8"pan.

Wendy, here's the ingredients list for you: 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus 1 tablespoon, softened, for greasing pan 1 ½ cups (6 ounces) cake flour, plus 1 tablespoon for dusting pan 1 teaspoon baking powder ½ teaspoon salt 1 ¼ cups (8 ¾ ounces) sugar 2 tablespoons grated zest plus 2 teaspoons juice from 2 medium lemons 4 large eggs 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

I'm sorry I can't answer your question although I had the same thing happen to me once when making Pannetone (?). Anyways, I am also looking for a killer lemon pound cake. I have already set that recipe aside to try although I haven't yet. I was wondering if the glaze stayed gooey or did it dry and get crisp on top? I saw some lemon loaves at a market whose glaze was dry and it gave a really nice look. Just wondering. :)

I have a great recipe for English Toffee from the kitchen of one of our large Universities. However I read through the User Agreement on posting recipes and since I like the recipe just the way it is I'm not sure how to print it here so I'll just give you the ingredients list and a vague description and if you'd like the instructions maybe you could e-mail me. 8 oz ground almonds 16 oz milk chocolate, grated 2-1/2 cups white sugar 2 cups butter 1/4 cup light corn syrup 5-1/2 oz almonds, finely chopped 1 cup water Basically, in 2-9x9 pans you layer half the ground nuts, half the grated chocolate, the cooked toffee which includes the chopped nuts, then the remaining chocolate and the remaining ground nuts. You let it sit for 5 hours and then break into bite-sized pieces. It's absolutely delicious and I'm in big trouble if there isn't any in the house come Christmas time. They also suggest using walnuts in place of the almonds but I'm not interested in trying that variation. I've also made it with dark chocolate and that's delicious too.