Kitchen

[Icegoddess]

I Weigh flour for bread making even though I do use a machine for the mixing and kneading.  However, I always peek in during the first part to make sure the dough is the right consistency.  I use the dough-only cycle and remove it and do a final knead, shape, and rise before cooking in my own oven.  I don't like the shape of the bread machine bread and mine won't make a nice brown loaf no matter the setting.  

[Desertdi]

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@AuntMame.  Good information.  Thanks for posting. 

When I was majoring in home ec in college at Drexel University, they emphasized the importance of accurate measurement.

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@Kachina624 

EEE GADS...that must be "a lotta fun" at your elevation(!!!)  di

[Kachina624]

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@Desertdi wrote:

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@Kachina624 wrote:

@AuntMame.  Good information.  Thanks for posting. 

When I was majoring in home ec in college at Drexel University, they emphasized the importance of accurate measurement.

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@Kachina624 

EEE GADS...that must be "a lotta fun" at your elevation(!!!)  di

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@Desertdi. I've never made a single alteration to a recipe and I've never had a failure.  I'm at about 6,000ft,  and i think that's not high enough to make much difference.

[Desertdi]

@Kachina624 

You must have a "cooking angel" looking after you!    Even the "no humidity"  has gotten me stupified!!!!

[OneHappyHiker]

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@Sooner wrote:

@jlkz I love that story!  What is it about men and the rules for cooking?  My husband kept going "by the recipe" until one day I yelled "stop using a recipe!  Just cook it!" He did and tonight made the best beef soup I ever had--without a recipe!  

Once day a long time ago I took off work to make pasta with my new pasta roller.  I was at the center island rolling out more and out of the corner of my eye saw the pasta waving as it was drying on the pole put over two chairs.  Didn't think much about it, thought it was the hvac on blowing.

I started toward my improvised drying rack with another batch  when to my horror saw that the "waving" pasta was, in fact, caused by our Siamese cat slowly weaving back and forth under the drying rack brushing my beautiful long strips of pasta with his upturned tail.  

@Sooner NOOOOOOOO hahaha OMG That's so funny! I can't even imagine how much hair was stuck on that pasta

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[Sooner]

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@OneHappyHiker wrote:

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@Sooner wrote:

@jlkz I love that story!  What is it about men and the rules for cooking?  My husband kept going "by the recipe" until one day I yelled "stop using a recipe!  Just cook it!" He did and tonight made the best beef soup I ever had--without a recipe!  

Once day a long time ago I took off work to make pasta with my new pasta roller.  I was at the center island rolling out more and out of the corner of my eye saw the pasta waving as it was drying on the pole put over two chairs.  Didn't think much about it, thought it was the hvac on blowing.

I started toward my improvised drying rack with another batch  when to my horror saw that the "waving" pasta was, in fact, caused by our Siamese cat slowly weaving back and forth under the drying rack brushing my beautiful long strips of pasta with his upturned tail.  

@Sooner NOOOOOOOO hahaha OMG That's so funny! I can't even imagine how much hair was stuck on that pasta

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@OneHappyHiker I just cut it off above tail height.  Those first batches were just a LOT shorter and the cat was banned from the kitchen.  Good thing those were the tall high backed chairs the rod was on!  

[Sakuya]

@AuntMame - what recipe do you use for bread machine? I was gifted a machine several years ago but when I finally went to buy a bread machine mix at store realized they don't make them anymore.

[millieshops]

@AuntMame  Interesting post.  Thank you. I've known for years since I took a bread baking course that I should measure solids and liquids with different measuring devices, but I never considered my devices could be inaccurate.  

[gardenman]

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@AuntMame wrote:

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@Carmie wrote:

I use an electronic kitchen scale.  It weighs in pounds, ounces, grams, fluids ounces and mils.

I bake a lot.  This type of scale is perfection.  I have had it for years and have never changed the battery.  It gets used almost every day.

Sometimes I use a liquid measure or dry measurement cups with the scale to see how accurate they are....they are always off, by a lot.

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What is the brand of electronic scale that you use? I've been wanting to buy one but have been overwhelmed by all the reviews. 

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I don't think you can too far wrong with any that gets good reviews. Mine is a Kuluner that measures to a tenth of a gram. It's astonishingly reliable and was cheap when I bought it. (Like $12?) Most TV cooks like the Oxo digital scale (around $35-$55) with the extendable display. They can use wider bowls/dishes and still read the display that way. And Oxo stuff is almost always very good. 

[wagirl]

I have heard for many years now, how scooping out dry ingredients in a measuring cup is all wrong--that dry things should be weighed. And also that many of the measuring cups are more for liquids not dry ingredients. And most of the TV bakers/cooks also scoop. Interesting!! also--I have a bread machine and have had one since they were the newest shiny object on the market and never--in those 30+ years have I ever had bread be affected by rainy weather--until this past year---it was your textbook case of  humidity and bread--tried 2x to make that bread--and both were disasters.