cakewalk

There's an article in today's NY Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/dining/modernist-bread-book.html?ref=dining This link goes directly to the included recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1018955-chocolate-cherry-sourdough-bread (I do wish they had led off with bread, and not chocolate-cherry stuff.)

Well, they had a lovely texture but were seriously lacking in flavor. No hint of the honey and the raisins didn't help much. And they could have used more salt. However, they made excellent French toast for breaking the fast!

I guess we all draw our own lines. An example: there are two cookie recipes that I make frequently, they're among my favorites. I follow the list of ingredients exactly. But I change the shaping rather drastically. One was originally part of a sandwich cookie, and I made it that way the first time. I felt the filling wasn't all that good and it did nothing for the cookie itself, which I thought was excellent. So now I make only the cookie, and I roll it out thinner and bake it so it is crisp. Is that now "my" recipe? I don't know. The other one has a similar story. I use the exact list of ingredients, but the instructions for shaping it make a thick, doughy cookie. I never made it that way, not even the first time I used the recipe. Again, I roll it out very thin and bake it to a nice crisp cookie. (I love nice crisp cookies.) Neither cookie bears any resemblance to the original recipe, even though I do not change the ingredients. Are they "mine"? Well, my friends seem to think so! (And so do I.) I don't know if there's an answer to your question. But maybe if your intended end product is different than the intention of the recipe developer, you're onto something new. And it's "yours."

You're too new here for that. And you came with your hand out. Pay attention to the advice given, there's plenty of it in that post.

I dunno, but it looks like I would drop it!

Amazing stories, all of them. Here's how the city slickers did it in the early sixties: My father was a butcher and worked in a meat factory. They would get freshly slaughtered sides of beef, and my father's job was to cut them up into portions. They sold wholesale only. When I was a little kid, his factory still had fresh chickens. But when I was about 11 or 12 they stopped keeping chickens, so we got our chickens from the Chicken Lady, whose shop was across the street from our building. She got freshly slaughtered chickens from ... somewhere. Anyway, on a weekly basis this is how my mother ordered her chicken for Friday night dinner: on Thursday morning she would open a window of our third floor apartment that faced right onto the Chicken Lady's shop, and she would shout" "Sylvia!! Sylvia!" (The Chicken Lady's name was Sylvia, but she was always referred to as the Chicken Lady, except when my mother was ordering a chicken.) If the weather was nice, the Chicken Lady was usually sitting outside her shop on an upside down crate. In bad weather she'd be inside. Either way, she would eventually look up and my mother would shout, "Cut me a chicken into eighths!" And the Chicken Lady would smile and nod. Later that day I'd be sent to pick up the chicken. Without fail the Chicken Lady would say, "I know your brother likes chicken livers. Wait here a minute." And she would disappear into the back with an ax in her hand. I'd hear a "whack, whack" sound and a few minutes later she'd walk out with a fresh liver on a piece of white butcher paper. She'd wrap that up with the chicken and I'd take it and go home. I don't remember ever giving her money, I guess my mother took care of that separately. And the next thing I knew, we were eating chicken for dinner. Nowadays, I get my chickens in the supermarket. I cannot imagine killing my own chickens. I'm thoroughly impressed with everything I have read above.

They look good, they smell good, they feel good. Won't be eating them just yet, but I think they will be okay. They're big, 1.8 lbs each.

Yes, that is true. I usually let a sponge sit overnight rather than just an hour, so I didn't think of this as a sponge at all. But I guess that's what it is. Thank you.

Thank you. <sigh>

I decided to bake challah tonight and found a recipe that has the strangest instructions I've ever seen. The ingredients are pretty regular, but the order is weird. Add yeast to warm water, then add eggs, oil, honey, raisins, and half the flour. Cover and let rise for about an hour. Then add remaining flour and salt, knead lightly. Then it says, you may let the dough rise again for 1 hour if desired. Then you shape, let rise 45 min-1 hour, and bake. I've never heard of adding the 2nd half of the flour after the first rise. I was tempted to ignore it and just add all the flour at the same time, but I got curious. So it's now going through the first rise, and then I will add the rest of the flour and let it rise a bit more, then shape, proof, and bake. Anyone ever bake bread like this? This book has about 6 or 7 other challah recipes, but they're all pretty straightforward except for this one. I hope I don't end up having to trash it.

What spring?

Stella Parks takes on one of my favorite cookies: http://www.seriouseats.com/2017/09/how-to-make-ginger-lemon-sandwich-cookies.html

That is interesting. In the US, I think the major problem is not corn syrup per se, but the fact that food manufacturers put it in just about everything. (High-fructose corn syrup, which seems to be a different animal than the corn syrup an individual consumer might buy.) I'm sure there are others that can give you more detailed information. In any case, I did not know that it was banned in other countries. (Good move, IMO.)

Not a big Guy Fieri fan, but that was funny. In truth I never knew about the stuff he does. I don't hate him, I hate his image. All the "good works" are not really part of his image. And in a foxhole, he's right, I'd want Fieri. Bourdain would save only himself. (I hate Bourdain. Or at least I hate his image.)

Plenty of it, and long may it prosper. But it can't be eaten at a meat meal if one keeps kosher.

Did you make them with the toasted sugar? Do you think it made a difference in the flavor? I think they look great. I've never made Kouign Aman, it's certainly time to give it a go. (A little later.) And I love that teapot!

Yes, angel food cake is an excellent application for the toasted sugar, for the very reason you mention. Have you stored the toasted sugar for any length of time? I'm wondering if it stores well so that it can be at-hand when needed for something like that.

It's that time of year again. Marcie Goldman's Moist and Majestic Honey Cake.

Thank you! It was good, if I may say so myself. It's from a recipe I found on the internet ages ago, I forgot about it and then it turned up so I tried it again. There's just something about cranberries ... Let me know if you want the recipe, I'll PM it to you.

Cranberry Upside Down cake. I haven't baked in ages. This was my last bag of cranberries from last year. Need to make room for the new crop.

I had a somewhat similar experience many years ago in southern Spain. Haven't thought about it in a long time, but @Tropicalsenior's story reminded me of it. I was in Jerez de la Frontera and went into a bar/restaurant for an early evening meal. From behind the bar, the bartender was serving people plates of what looked like a casserole of some sort. He asked me if I would like some (I do not speak Spanish, but we managed) and I said yes. It was delicious, and I was given a second helping. When I was ready to leave and started to pay the bartender refused to take money. It turns out that one of the customers had made the dish at home and brought it to the restaurant to share with the patrons, most of whom were probably regulars and friends. I remember I was somewhat embarrassed but in truth they were so willing to share that, as you mentioned, it was an honor to have been included.

Yes, in general it seems that it takes a lot of time (whether two hours or six) without much of a payoff. PLAP also mentions that the toasted sugar is less sweet. I think Stella Parks mentions it too. I loved her blog BraveTart, I thought it was wonderful and really missed it when she stopped, but I am less taken with her posts on Serious Eats. I'm glad to hear that you like her book.

A while ago on Serious Eats Stella Parks did a whole thing about toasted sugar. Here's the link: http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/05/how-to-make-caramel-without-melting-sugar.html I remember I thought it sounded great and wanted to try it, but (of course) I never got around to it and then forgot about it entirely. Today i was reading through some baking blogs and found the following post on Pastries Like a Pro. (I'm so glad she did the work and posted about it.) It is interesting. Has anyone tried this? https://pastrieslikeapro.com/2017/09/toasted-sugar-or-not/#more-15136

Do wasps and yellow-jackets also make honey? (I'm trying to learn the differences.) You're right, I always considered them to be bees, or a type of bee. A bit off-topic, but did you see the Sherlock Holmes movie with Ian McKellan? A large part of the plot revolves around this very issue. (Holmes is a beekeeper.)

What happened to her??! I'm all for bees and bats (although I do like to keep my distance), but I can't help thinking about that poor woman!