KaffeeKlatsch

Good afternoon, Hoping for some help with a bread recipe. We're working with a white pan bread recipe from RBA for an upcoming competition. We have made many varieties of bread without issue, but keep running into problems with this recipe. We're baking it to an internal temperature of 200, but the very center is still stretchy and dough like. The outside is a golden brown and does not need any more color. During the competition, we will not be able to adjust the oven temperature so we can't in practice either. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Raw material LB OZ Bakers% Instructions Yeast - instant 0.375 (11 g) 1.66 Mix with flour Water 15.5 64 Straight dough mixing method Bread Flour 1 8.5 100 Salt 0.55 (15.5 g) 2.25 Sugar, granulated 1.25 5 Milk powder 1.25 5 Shortening, all purpose 0.75 (21.25 g) 3 TOTAL 2 12 Dough temperature: Between 75 and 80 degrees. (Watch your temperatures). Allow dough to rise, dough should double in size. Cut into proper size pieces, round the piece of dough up and let rest. DO NOT USE PROOF BOX –Keep dough at room temperature, covered Make Up: 1pan loaf, scale 16 oz to achieve finished weight of 14 oz, 1three-braided loaves – scale to 16 oz – finished weight 14 oz With remaining dough prepare 6 each, 2 ounce, single knot rolls. Proof to proper size. Egg wash(1 egg + 1 Tablespoon water) Bake: 400 degrees. Display: One standard pan loaf, one braided loaf, and six knot rolls.

Thank you all for your suggestions. I also emailed the chef in charge of this competition. He's going to give us a little leeway as long as we follow standard baking procedures. We'll be experimenting tomorrow with using the deck oven, the convection on the lowest fan setting and on the bottom shelf, tenting with aluminum foil, and parbaking the crust. I also found the source recipe and rescaled it myself. I found some math errors that may account for a few of our more minor issues.

That's exactly what we ended up doing, MelissaH.

I've been making macarons for a few years with my students. We've always used parchment. I bought silicone mats specifically for macarons. They are marked for piping. We've had problems with them on these mats. Do you find you have to bake longer?

Pies are my weakness, but I have high school students who are heading to a competition and we need to master this pie. The recipe comes from Gisslen's Professional Baking. The problem we've had is getting the crust to bake without overcooking the custard. We can't blind bake. The pie bakes for 15 minutes at 450 and then 30-40 minutes at 350. Because of the volume of competitors, the students will move their pie from one oven to another. This means they go immediately from 450 to 350 (actually lower since they're convection ovens) without the gradual lowering of the heat. This is the recipe the students are given: Pumpkin Pie Source: Professional Baking, Gisslen Dough Raw Material LB OZ Baker’s % Instruction Pastry Flour 8 100 Prepare by hand. Shortening, all purpose 5 60 Rub shortening and flour until dough forms small pieces Salt 0.15 (0.75 tsp) 1.87 Dissolve ingredients in water. Add to the above and fold over lightly until the liquid is absorbed. Water (cold) 3.5 40 TOTAL 16.5 Filling Pumpkin puree 12.25 Place the pumpkin in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the whip attachment. Sift together the flour, spices, and salt. Add the flour mixture and sugar to the pumpkin. Mix at first speed until smooth and well blended. Avoid whipping air into the mix. Add the eggs and mix in. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Turn the machine to low speed. Gradually pour in the syrup, then the milk. Mix until evenly blended. Let the filling stand for 30 – 60 minutes. Stir the filling to remix. Fill the pie shell. Bake at 450˚F for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 350˚F and bake until set, about 30 – 40 minutes more. Pastry flour 0.5 Cinnamon 0.06 (0.7 tsp) Nutmeg 0.125 tsp Ginger 0.125 tsp Cloves 0.125 tsp Salt 0.06 (0.33 tsp) Brown Sugar 5 Eggs 5 Corn syrup 1 Whole milk 10 TOTAL 2 2 Rest dough for half hour minimum. Prepare one 9” fluted pie shell from approximately 9 ounces of the pie dough Fill and bake as instructed above Any advice or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Margarita

My favorite recipe for yellow crookneck uses the same technique as Jaymes. I don't add eggs, sour cream, or cheese though. We just use lots of butter, salt, & black pepper. Serve as a side with sliced tomatoes fresh from the garden. You don't even care what else is on the plate.

I remembered the cooking time wrong. I made another last night and baked it for about 15 minutes.

I made a key lime pie the other day and will be making another today. I used the recipe on the Nellie & Joe's bottle. I have for years because it's perfect. The proportions are 1/2 c juice, 3 egg yolks, and 1 can of condensed milk per pie. To take this pie to the next level, make your own graham cracker crust adding some nuts to the mix. The salty crunch is great with the sweet filling. I also baked it for closer to 22 minutes. Magi edited to add baking time

All I know is that some days chocolate is very good for the health of those around me.

I must admit that it's to the point that if I don't take home enough food for lunch the next day that I don't think I've received a good value for my money. This is limited to casual restaurants, but this is 95% of our eating out. I don't expect to take a doggie bag when I'm eating at a nicer restaurant.

I love the Foods of the World series. My mother ordered them when I was a child, and I remember poring over them as they arrived and for years afterward. Two years ago, I accepted a position as a culinary teacher at a high school tech center. Shortly afterwards, my mother gifted me with the set. There were a few missing books, which I quickly replaced, and they definitely show their age, but now rest in my classroom library. My students use them as part of their research for their end of year project. They have to research, plan, prepare, and serve a meal from a specific country or region of the U.S. They come in very handy for this project.

It's also used, for some odd reason, in high school level culinary arts competitions.

Do you happen to remember who and where this is posted? I would be interested to read this. Sorry, I just saw this question. I just deleted it from Google reader a few weeks ago since it's been inactive for a while. I don't remember her name, but it was the woman from India in the first season.

In one of the episodes, they did talk to Christine about what she could see. She's not completely blind in that everything is black. She can see shapes, shadows, light, and dark. It's still amazing how well she cooks and plates. I was very interested in this part because legally blind starts, I believe, at 20/400 non-correctable vision. My vision is 20/400 in one eye and 20/200 in the other, but I'm lucky in that it's correctable with glasses.

Years ago, I was managing a small beach cafe. I had to be a jack of all trades as I never knew for sure who'd show up for work. One day I was filling in running food and drinks to the tables. I was carrying a tray of drinks when one of the top-heavy chocolate milkshakes tipped right over and down the back of the male customer at the table. Luckily he had a good sense of humor (& was just wearing swimming trunks and an old t-shirt) as he thanked me for the great back rub he got while I wiped the chocolate ice cream off his back and apologized profusely.

In the first season one of the contestants kept a journal. She then posted the entries for each challenge the day after they aired. It was really interesting. Inbetween challenges, the contestants were put through workshops teaching them the techniques that home cooks might not have. For instance, they'd be taught how to trim and filet fish the week before a seafood challenge. They were also taught plating, if I recall correctly. The workshops were often led by one of the three judges. I don't know if they still do that because it's never mentioned on air, but I hope they do. This has become my favorite food-oriented show.

I brought a group of 20 students to Boka last May during the NRA Food Show. The service and food were fantastic. They went out of their way to make this an enjoyable experience for my high school group of budding chefs who had never eaten in a non-chain restaurant. Boka is a sister restaurant to The Girl and the Goat. TGTG was too small to accommodate our group and recommended we try there instead. It's in Lincoln Park on North Halsted.

Thanks! The Kuhn is a bit out of my price range. I was looking at the Cuisinart, too. It also has pretty decent reviews.

For years I've been hearing about the wonders of pressure cooking. I'm thinking of taking the plunge and buying one. I was looking at this one on Amazon last night. The reviews there were pretty good, but thought I'd ask here if anyone had any experience with this appliance. I'm torn between the "if it does too many things, it does none of them well" camp and the "don't have an appliance that can only do one thing" camp. http://www.amazon.co...no_cart_title_2 Thanks, Magi

Tardiness killed a friendship. I had a friend who was late to everything. I knew this about her and expected to wait. Sometimes I got really annoyed, like the time we planned to meet for a single showing of Gone With The Wind at the movie theater. I left 30 minutes after the showtime was scheduled. I think that's the only time I didn't actually wait for her. It probably didn't help that I'm a chronically early person. I usually arrive 15 minutes early. We talked about it, but she always dismissed any complaints from anyone as that's just the way she was. The final straw was my wedding. I was standing with my bridal party holding my dad's arm. The music was beginning and the doors were about to open for us to walk down the aisle when the outside door opened and my friend with her daughter came rushing in, apologizing profusely, and slipping past us to get to their seats. Our friendship never recovered. We're polite acquaintances now.

My stepmother is a notoriously slow and bad cook who takes great offense at the slightest hint she's slow or her food is bland. She doesn't use any salt or any heat. I would venture to say any any flavor. We'd be invited over for 6 and rarely eat before 10. Now that there are grandchildren in the family, we can usually get something by 7-7:30 for the kids, but the grown ups are still waiting until at least 9. She also refuses any help and rarely allows us to bring a dish. We've all learned to stop and eat on the way to their house.

I was going to make the exact same comment. My husband gave me one last summer for my birthday for my classroom. It sat unopened at home, but I brought it to school and use it every day. I buy a big jug of water to keep under the table. No muss, no fuss, and no cleanup. Perfect for the classroom.

One of my favorite breakfasts is a bowl of cheese grits topped with an over easy egg. Some bacon doesn't hurt either.

A tin of "Processed peas" is one of my secret shames. I love them, even though I know I shouldn't. I can't understand why people buy pre-sliced or pre-grated cheese. To me it always tastes like plastic. I love them, too. Only LeSeur though.

If you're talking to Freddie Mercury, I would be a little concerned.