sugarseattle
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Posts posted by sugarseattle
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i found this little book of recipes here which has a cold glaze recipe:
http://www.herbstreith-fox.de/fileadmin/tm...ge_englisch.pdf
looks like it uses a certain kind of pectin, but it would do what you want.
I've used puratos "sublimo" glaze which works fabulously; however, I can really taste the potassium sorbate, so when I reopen, I plan to make my own, even though it's going to be a little extra work.
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4.6g of sodium for a single loaf of bread is significant if you are looking to cut back. Two slices of the loaf and you are looking at consuming 400mg of sodium. As one poster pointed out, that is nearly 20% of the daily recommended sodium intake for someone WITHOUT a salt problem.
So, while I do understand where you all are coming from, my original question still stands. Is it possible to do a good low-sodium bread that doesn't taste like poo (I do love that description, K8memphis!!!)?
Like most people have said, the big sodium killer is processed foods. If he eats 2 slices per day of bread (20%) with tons of FRESH fruits and veggies throughout the day, he'll be in pretty good shape. Plus he's eating homemade bread without extenders and other stuff.
The big question is what is his target sodium intake? If a healthy adult needs between 1500 and 2400/day, that's probably what his doctor's trying to get him to target. He probably has to reduce his sodium intake because of hypertension or other vascular troubles. A good walk daily brought my blood pressure down back to normal.
If you cut the salt in half, then he only gets 200mg of sodium. And I think you could make up the flavor with other stuff. Or maybe he does the 2 tsp salt ONCE in a while, but reverts to the less salt bread on a regular basis.
Also since salt makes you retain water, what about supplementing his diet with other stuff that is a diuretic, like licorice? maybe things like that will help bring his body back in balance. but seriously, i would rather have less bread than poopy tasteless bread, just like I love my full-fat cream on the top yogurt that I eat only 1/4 cup of.
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a good patisserie test is a lemon tart...it's got a few simple ingredients so it's all technique. i can tell if they're using cheap lemon juice, and infer that they don't use quality ingredients on other products.
a good bakery test is a baguette...all technique with only 3 ingredients.
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yep i agree this is one of those topics that keeps getting all stirred up, and really, what it boils down to is YOU. do YOU think you would benefit from cooking school, or do you think you can learn on your own? in either case, as everybody has noted, some serious professional experience will put you on the right path.
I think it was telling that you are oscillating between pastry and cooking for which one might be easier. again, which is your passion? for me it was a no brainer...pastry all the way. I didn't choose it because it was easier, actually it's more difficult on some level by the very nature that less people eat dessert. i'm just saying, and don't worry about the "rules" of whether an education will get you ahead or not, don't worry about the fact you are a woman, just find the path that fits your passion, and start believing in yourself. know who you are and who you want to be.
best of luck.
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a way to dry your hands quickly so you can put a piece of tape on a bucket of stuff and have it stick and be able to write on it with a sharpie without the sharpie stopping working because it's wet.
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i cook the syrup to dark brown, just below burning, then add room temp ingredients starting with butter, then moving on to the more explosive liquids
I don't cook after adding all the "stuff", and I have this funny superstitious thing about liking to add salt a bit later so it doesn't completely dissolve...but maybe it does and I'm just being silly. -
yep, it's totally overbaking! I usually pull my cheesecake when I start to see that halo forming and there's a little jiggly action. There was one theory shooting around that cheesecake also rises and falls because of overbeating, which is easy to do b/c you're usually trying really hard to get the lumps out. good planning in the order of your ingredients will help.
i use the cooks illustrated cheesecake recipe. I love it; however, I also like the one on the philly box...it's only like 3-4 ingredients and it's pretty darned good.
when i'm cutting a full sheet, I usually try to work really fast and I can get it done before the edges start to thaw, but on hot days, I cut the whole bugger in half and work on half at a time. a little rosette of whipped cream does absolute wonders for redirecting your eye away from any slightly marred edges, and yes, I plop them into little paper cups...makes them easier to handle at parties and such.
Oh, and one more thing, a very thin cheap knife seems to work the best. I got my cheesecake cutter at goodwill for 99cents.
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i think you're right to go in the direction of buttercream or ganache...depending on what you like flavorwise. if you do dark choco ganache, it will be a very truffley-rich cake...perhaps too grown up for the young lads at the party. however, you could do a milk choco ganache that might be just what the boys want...just be sure to adjust your cream/milk chocolate ratio for the milk chocolate.
perhaps a vanilla buttercream for the other? I wouldn't do marshmallow b/c it can be very tempermental and may not stand up to frosting in advance. it sound fabulous though...maybe you should try it on your own time
are the cakes going to be double-layer. if so, 2 will be plenty for 60 people...to double check, draw a 12" circle and roughly divide it into 24, and you'll see how big the slices will be. however, if you have two different cakes, the kids are going to want a slice of each, so you might want to have a little extra cake as backup.
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i love the feeling of beautiful wood with a light beeswax polish. it just feels good to me, and I think it makes the food taste better too. I'd rather risk the occasional water ring than give up the pure unadulterated feeling of natural wood at the dinner table.
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I thought I knew what oven I wanted, but now that I'm looking, I'm getting overwhelmed by the choices.
Here's what I'm making:
- tarts & pies
- scones
- muffins/cakes/quickbreads
- croissant & puff pastry treats
- bread(baguettes mostly, probably in 1-2 years)
Here's the features I think I want
- gas (because I have limited electricity; however I've heard electrical works better for pastry?)
- convection
- the ability to turn convection off
- 8-12 pans at a time
I'd like to spend about 5k, new or used
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I agree that our bodies change through time; through your lifetime, you've probably had several thousand (or million) generations of bacteria living in your gut. i agree that this is probably part of the issue. have you changed your diet recently? think back to when chilis weren't a problem...what were you eating differently? perhaps there are other foods that can help strengthen your resistence to chilis?
also, what about all those people who are getting gluten allergies. some seem to be getting them becuase they ate too MUCH wheat and then their bodies developed an allergy to the wheat. it's like your body is saying "enough already"
i wish you the best of luck. just last night I was eating popcorn, and since my teeth suck (even though I take great care of them), I became sad thinking of a day when I might not be able to eat popcorn.
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I have the same dislike for cake flour, I can totally taste the bleach, and it sometimes has a certain pithy texture, something like it's not quite absorbing the liquid or something. I don't find this problem as much with chocoalte cakes, where the extra tenderizing qualities of cake flour seem to help stop choco cake dry out, but I use all purpose flour other tenderizing tactics with other cakes such as a little more egg, a tad more sugar, a little less baking powder.
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that recipe sounds a lot like a simple enriched bread dough. You might consider a brioche for even more lightness and flakiness?
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Yeah, I think keeping everyone in the loop of your situation before it gets dire will totally help. I think the idea of having the servers help make the diners feel more comfortable while they wait an extra few minutes for their food is a step in the right direction.
Another thing that might help is adjusting your prep...perhaps there's a few more things you can do ahead to help speed things along...maybe assemble little omelette kits or packets of stuff that are already to go? I am sure you already have stuff like this in place, but maybe there's more?
The important thing is to know the warning signs and be proactive about trying to keep the situation under control. If you can do that, then there's no need to get that extra help and voila, the restaurant is more profitable just by everyone pulling together and helping out.
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These are trends that seem to be going mainstream
-organic is surely taking foothold, but what's interesting is people are confusing "organic" with healthy and still eating too much
- local seems to be very important, and potentially a more powerful indication of quality and political correctness than "organic"
-natural seems to be very important
-trans fats and high fructose corn syrup are definitely things you don't want in your list of ingredients
- in pastry and confectionary, it seems combining savory with sweet is going mainstream as noted above.
- I think our dear Rachel is on her way out.
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Choosing a name is a very important marketing tool for your business. Being a former web marketing designer for consumer products, I am very familiar with how a name can affect whether or not people will "buy" into your products/ideas/etc. Also, consider that you are selling to a very targeted niche market, and you need to be extra careful that your name clearly represents what you do.
Think about who you are and what you are offering.
- I think using your name is good, but only if supported with a good byline that says what you do/sell/offer.
- think about what type of consulting you plan to do and make a list of all of them such as design, menu development, etc.
- choose a flexible name. perhaps using a more neutral business name as a parent concept would allow you to grow and not have to change your name down the road. For example I started with Sugar as my name with the byline "desserts, delights & delectables." people remembered sugar when I have now changed the byline to be "bakery & cafe" to allow myself to offer savory stuff at the shop.
- keep the name as short and sweet as possible.
- design your web site to match current design trends in the kitchen marketplace. make it clean, simple, and easy to navigate. If you don't have the skillset to design a web site, make sure your designer designs it so it's easy to update and tweak as you get to know your client base.
- protect your name. Search your direct area and any areas you might do business with and MAKE SURE nobody out there has a similar name. then go trademark your name ASAP. If you even remotely suspect someone might take your name and tweak it to become their own, register THAT name too! For example, with my name, I was the only bakery in Seattle (and most of the US for that matter) with the word "sugar" in my name. Now there are 3 more sugars, sugar rush baking company, sugar shack baking company, sugar cake studio. These new companies don't think it's a problem, but I can't tell you how many times people confuse us. it's a disservice to the marketplace, but there's nothing I can do about it. So protect your name the best you can.
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there doesn't seem to be any restrictions on paint color, only that surfaces need to be easy to clean.
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There are some good wraparound styles that seem to make boobs look good (not like the normal chef coats make women look like the "uni-boober"), but yes, these are more than 3x the price of mens coats. (same thing with work gloves at home depot...womens are 2x more spendy than mens goves)
i keep trying to get my friends and family that have budding interests in fashion to design a line of chefwear that makes women look feminine, sexy even, in the kitchen.
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Getting ready to paint our bakery space and considering colors.
The space is about 900sf and will have an open kitchen. The ceilings are 15' tall. Nice old building.
The walls will be subtle pink on pink stripes similar to my logo. To counteract that girliness, I'm considering gloss black ceilings. I like the idea of the ceilings almost being reflective, but I'm concerned about flour dust.
Do you think I should put some sort of texture to mask any flour dust?
I will have a couple of ceiling fans, which I'll also paint black.
White could work, but I also hate when white gets dingy, plus it might be too girly.
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honey nut cheerios and maple syrup
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Often when I switch from big cakes to cupcakes, I need a little more structure (aka flour) to help get a nice dome on the little guy. but yes, the smaller the cake, the shorter the window for proper doneness.
i sometimes have trouble when I'm switching up pan sizes willy nilly...like my recipe makes 6-10" cakes and I want to make 3" cakes, how many 3" cakes will my recipe make? For that kind of thing, the cake bible has that handy chart which shows pan volumes which help; however it's in "cups" I think and it's difficult to look at a recipe and determine how many cups it will make. You could do it by weight, and do a general "sponge" type cakes are 2oz/3" ring, and "butter" cakes are 3 oz/3" ring and so on...
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Isn't there also something about letting a cake soak overnite to ensure the liquid "spreads" out?
I think that's interesting that a genoise can take 5-6 oz of syrup, when most of the recipes I've ever seen for syrup to soak a genoise usually only call for 2-3 Tablespoons!
That bottle gadget looks cool.
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There are two basic factors to prevent breakage in shipping...allowing proper cushioning to absorb the shock of dropping, banging, etc., and preventing movement which would increase the impact of whatever shock the box gets.
You're right to put the cookies in smaller boxes. Perhaps bubble wrap between the cookie layers would add extra security. Having 3 inner boxes shouldn't be a problem, provided you have adequate cushioning BETWEEN the boxes. I think some moisture protection would be helpful, and that sealer would be a good investment, especially since some of your clients will need their products to be sealed to prevent tampering if they put them on their shelves. The foot pedal ones are nice and save time, so consider that when you make that investment. Time=$
Since you're considering this on a larger scale, I would definitely consider doing a few test packages... pack a box of your "uglies" how you want to. Then just take your box and treat it the way you think your shipping company would...hold it waist high and drop it, etc. Then open it and see the results.
Don't forget to factor in the cost of shipping materials in your price...those boxes can be spendy!
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I'm doing a major recipe re-organization and I'm finding lots of similarities between my recipes.
For one thing, my Swiss Buttercream preparation (I mistakingly called it Italian in the title...the Horror!) looks suspiciously like seven minute frosting, minus the butter.
I also have a recipe for safe meringue, which follows almost the same procedure as my swiss meringue.
Do you think I could sort of average out all my meringue recipes and get one basic one that I can use for different applications.
1. 7 minute frosting
2. safe meringue, torch it baby
3. buttercream, with the addition of butter
Seems like that would really simplify things? Anybody got a versatile recipe?
Marble Top Work Station
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted
you might try going to granite/marble stone shops. they usually have a "boneyard" with random sized pieces, that are leftover from a job and you can get them for cheap.
also, we have a recycled builders materials exchange here in seattle with tons of scrap you can get from people taking apart their houses.