Absurdly, stupidly basic pastry & baking questions

[PetarG]

So I made some macarons and had yolks leftover and thought to make creme brulee. I used Sally's recipe but the creme turned out like this - curdled in the top half and good in the bottom half. I made some mistakes, like not putting a cloth on the bottom to insulate the ceramic bowl, but I wanted to ask yall:

• should the dish be shallower (mine is 4-5 cm deep)?
• Pour hot water higher (I used ~ 2 cm deep water in the pan the porcelain bowls were in)?
• Lower temperature (recipe calls for 160 C)? As long as the eggs set I guess ...

Gotta say, it is interesting the upper part curdled, while the lower part was fine.

 

[JeanneCake]

The lower part was insulated by the water while the upper part was not protected from the heat in the oven. I would use a more shallow container, use the cloth in the bottom of the water bath if you are baking more than one ramekin (so they don't slide when you remove them from the oven) and a little lower oven temp. 

[haresfur]

How do I cut brownies?

 

I shelved my efforts to get my mom's recipe working where I live now and have made a few batches of the Washington Post's Ultimate Brownies. When I cut them, I end up with a knife full of glue and broken crust on top, and can't get decent squares. I tried increasing the flour a tiny bit and giggling with the temperature and time to no avail. Any hints?

Edited March 16, 2024 by haresfur
link added (log)

[JeanneCake]

2 minutes ago, haresfur said:

How do I cut brownies?

 

I shelved my efforts to get my mom's recipe working where I live now and have made a few batches of the Washington Post's Ultimate Brownies. When I cut them, I end up with a knife full of glue and broken crust on top, and can't get decent squares. I tried increasing the flour a tiny bit and giggling with the temperature and time to no avail. Any hints?

 

Use a plastic knife!

 

Seriously; if I have to cut a pan of freshly baked brownies (baked that morning, for example), we get neater cuts using a plastic knife (like you would get for take out/take away food).  I still use our rolling wheel to mark the top but we use the plastic knife and a ruler.  (If I chill the brownies overnight I don't have to use the plastic knife, the rolling wheel or a chef's knife is fine.)

[Fernwood]

3 hours ago, JeanneCake said:

Use a plastic knife!

 

This is indeed the secret!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Help!  Is there a way to repurpose yeast raised pancake batter?  I made the following recipe:

https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/yeast-pancakes/

 

The pancakes were good, but now I have a large bowl of batter attempting to break out of the blast chiller and strangle me in my sleep.  Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

10 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Help!  Is there a way to repurpose yeast raised pancake batter?  I made the following recipe:

https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/yeast-pancakes/

 

The pancakes were good, but now I have a large bowl of batter attempting to break out of the blast chiller and strangle me in my sleep.  Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

 

That sounds like an unpleasant reversal, were it to happen. 

 

What about crumpets? Could you make a passel of them (i.e. as much as the batter will make) and then freezer them for later consumption? In my experience crumpets toast rather well.

[ElsieD]

16 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Help!  Is there a way to repurpose yeast raised pancake batter?  I made the following recipe:

https://redstaryeast.com/recipes/yeast-pancakes/

 

The pancakes were good, but now I have a large bowl of batter attempting to break out of the blast chiller and strangle me in my sleep.  Thoughts?

 

 

 

 

Did you try making crumpets?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

15 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Did you try making crumpets?

 

Not yet, but I did have more pancakes.

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Thanks for the suggestions.  Not to leave the outcome hanging, I killed off the batter making pancakes.  Soothed my pancake itch for some while I fear.

 

One of the Amazon products I'm evaluating is a Caraway square griddle pan.  No need to wash after making pancakes.  I just wipe it with a paper towel.

(eG-friendly Amazon.com link)

 

Caraway is the most nonstick griddle I have ever used.

 

 

 

[MaryIsobel]

I want to make meringue kisses as a gluten free option for my daughter's bridal shower. My idea was to make them white with either blue sanding sugar or edible glitter. My problem is that I don't know when or how to add the sugar/glitter to the meringues. I am thinking that if I were to put the sanding sugar before baking, after an hour in the oven that the sugar might caramelize. I think the edible glitter will work on the baked cupcakes. I might buy a couple of meringues to experiment with. My other option would be to stripe the inside of the piping with blue food colouring. ince "Something blue before I do" is the shower theme."

[pastrygirl]

Do your meringues usually stay white? If you don't normally get caramelization of the regular sugar in the meringue, I don't think you'd have to worry about sanding sugar on the meringue.

 

Might want to add a drop of food color anyway.

Edited June 1 by pastrygirl (log)

[MaryIsobel]

15 hours ago, pastrygirl said:

Do your meringues usually stay white? If you don't normally get caramelization of the regular sugar in the meringue, I don't think you'd have to worry about sanding sugar on the meringue.

 

Might want to add a drop of food color anyway.

They do stay very white, so you make a good point. Thank you.

[MaryIsobel]

I made a batch of 2 dozen or so today. I broke 2 yolks while trying to separate 4 eggs but perservered. They turned out well, I did most with striping the piping bag with blue food colouring and sprinkled a few with blue sanding sugar, Note to everyone - a "blue theme" is tough to adhere to as far as food is concerned! I've asked "She Who Is To Be Obeyed" (my other daughter who is hosting the shower) which version she likes best. With my permission, my husband ate the two deformed ones and declared them "perfect." to be honest he is not very particular

[ElsieD]

@MaryIsobel I think they're lovely.

[gulfporter]

I pulled out from freezer some frozen grocery-store puff pastry sheets.  To my surprise, they are Gluten-Free, an import from Italy.  Mi esposo bought them months ago to replenish our freezer stock, unaware they weren't what I usually buy (Pepperidge Farm).  

 

My plan is to make them into turnovers (or square packets) filled with a mixture of cooked leftover chicken shreds, (well drained) spinach and cream cheese.  

 

The package shows 400 degrees baking temp; I find I have better luck with Pepperidge farm if I put (well-chilled) item into a 425 degree convection oven.  

 

Any advice on using this GF version of puff pastry versus the Pepperidge Farm brand?  

[gulfporter]

Review of the GF puff pastry.  AWFUL.   No layers, no flake whatsoever!  Can't say that was a surprise given the ingredients list.  Oy!!

 

On the plus side, I saved a lot of calories by not eating the crust.  And my filling was good.  

 

 

 

[TdeV]

Can I use the Bamix immersion blender to mix dough for flatbreads?

[DesertTinker]

26 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Can I use the Bamix immersion blender to mix dough for flatbreads?

Batter, even somewhat thick batter I would say yes. I suspect it would need to be a very soft dough.

[TdeV]

1 minute ago, DesertTinker said:

Batter, even somewhat thick batter I would say yes. I suspect it would need to be a very soft dough.

 

What defines a "soft dough" ?

[DesertTinker]

41 minutes ago, TdeV said:

 

What defines a "soft dough" ?

Here’s a Bamix video for pita bread. 
 

Edit: Just watched the entire video, looked more like a crumpet or some freakish English muffin than any pita I’ve seen. But the dough/batter texture is shown.

Edited 20 hours ago by DesertTinker
Fixed link (log)

[TdeV]

Why are there instructions to cut of the bread crusts (and discard) when making breadcrumbs?

[TdeV]

Can't edit to fix:

 

Why are there instructions to cut off the bread crusts (and discard) when making breadcrumbs?