The Interference Recipe thread

[angelordevil]

AOD's Homemade Lemonade©

- Squeeze one half a lemon into a large glass full of semi-crushed ice, and add one generous tablespoon of Canadian maple syrup.

- Fill concoction with water.

- Locate a room filled with sunshine.

- Repeat

 

[Carek1230]

Thanks. I have a retarded limon tree in the back yard that produces mass quantities of half lemons, half limes year-round. It makes me sad that so many of them go into the trash!

 

[Galeongirl]

Thanks. I have a retarded limon tree in the back yard that produces mass quantities of half lemons, half limes year-round. It makes me sad that so many of them go into the trash!

What the?? How can your tree produce both lemons and limes? that's awesome!

 

[Angela Harlem]

can I ask here, if any of you wanna answer, esp if you like to bake a lot!

okay, do you do everything to whats written? (from mixing to pouring, etc)
or do you do it roughly? (maybe a little less/more of something, you dont prepare it in a 'perfect' manner to the book.)


over here, we do it rough.
its better too!

i rarely follow recipes precisely, unless it is a notoriously hard thing to make, like scones. often i don't even use recipes, but throw things together. it's amazing what you can make with stock cubes and various sauces or oils - sesame oil, oyster sauce, soy sauce, golden syrup, any old combination of herbs, onion flakes, and any plant matter you have in the fridge, wine, butter/canola oil, a few spoons of cornflour.. i have a box in the kitchen now to collect recipes and write mine down in. i can never remember to write them as i go and i never, ever measure when i'm *creating*.

 

[Angela Harlem]

this is neither my recipe nor one i have ever made, but OMG it looks impressive

The Omnomicon: how to make a rainbow cake!

silver icing!!!!!!!!!! oh man.

 

[indra]

can I ask here, if any of you wanna answer, esp if you like to bake a lot!

okay, do you do everything to whats written? (from mixing to pouring, etc)
or do you do it roughly? (maybe a little less/more of something, you dont prepare it in a 'perfect' manner to the book.)


over here, we do it rough.
its better too!

For me it depends on what it is. Cakes I'm more likely to make true (or at least trueish) to the recipe because changing the wrong thing can make the whole cake flop. Cookies (aka biscuits some places) I'm much more apt to make changes (for example if I don't have or don't like an ingredient I'll substitute something else or skip it entirely) because they don't seem to flop as easily as cake. I make many cookies entirely by feel/taste with no recipe at all. They always seem to work, even if they do vary a bit each time.

Regular cooking (entrees/side dishes) -- I do that almost entirely by feel/taste.

 

[VintagePunk]

I discovered this recipe last summer, and I've made it several times since, including today. So-oooo easy, and so good! You pretty much have to start it the night before you want it. As far as actual mixing/handling of the dough, this recipe probably takes less than 5 minutes of time, all the rest is for letting it rise, and baking. I found it on a message board, but I believe it was featured in the NYT a few years ago. The outside of the loaf is crusty, and the inside is dense and chewy, with lots of air holes. Sort of reminds me of French bread. For a bread-making novice like myself, this was an excellent recipe to start with.


No-Knead Bread

Adapted from Jim Lahey, Sullivan Street Bakery
Time: About 1½ hours plus 14 to 20 hours’ rising

The Minimalist: The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work (November 8, 2006)


3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, more for dusting
¼ teaspoon instant yeast
1¼ teaspoons salt
Cornmeal or wheat bran as needed.

1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.

Yield: One 1½-pound loaf.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

Oooh, I might have to try that one. I love the smell of baking bread.

 

[VintagePunk]

arw, help!

I made these cinnamon rolls again on the weekend. It was my 3rd or 4th time. I keep getting requests for them. This time for the first time, I made a full batch instead of a half batch, because I was going to give most of them away.

When I took them out of the oven, I could see that they didn't look the same as the previous times I'd made them. The brown sugar/cinnamon/butter filling didn't get all nice and liquidy and gooey, and there wasn't hardly any leakage in the bottom of the pan, which nicely coats the bottoms of them, and allows me to spoon it out and add to the top of the rolls. After trying one, I could see what the problem was - rather than go gooey, it's like the brown sugar in them didn't really melt, it stayed granulated, sort of having the texture of wet sand.

I decided to try to "rescue" them by heating some margarine, brown sugar and cinnamon in a non-stick pan, hoping it would get to the consistency that I wanted it to. It never did, the sugar stayed granulated, and the wet sand thing happened again.

I've looked online to see what could have gone wrong, but couldn't find anything. I don't expect everything I make to turn out perfectly every time, but I at least like to know where I went wrong so I can avoid it in the future.

The only thing I can see maybe happening is this - the first few times I made them, I had both brown sugar and golden yellow sugar in my cupboard. To me, these are practically interchangeable when a recipe calls for brown sugar, one's just a bit darker than the other, and I've never had a problem with substituting one for the other. I double checked what I used in the bad batch, and it was the yellow sugar. I was completely out of the brown sugar, so I'm thinking that maybe I used that up the other times I made it?

I've googled like crazy to see if I could find an answer to whether or not using the lighter yellow sugar could have been the problem, but all I've found is a description of the various kinds of sugars out there, and I know that brown sugar has a higher molasses content than yellow sugar. Could that be the problem, that it's the higher molasses content that makes it go gooey and delicious when it's heated, which the yellow sugar was lacking?

And would anyone like 10 crappy cinnamon rolls?

 

[arw]

From what I know of yellow sugar, it tastes like molasses but it's definitely not the same as brown sugar. Granulated sugar would be a better substitution for brown. Yellow sugar does not melt the same way brown and granulated do. It's used for things like the top coating on creme brule. It melts on brule when you apply a torch to it but otherwise it really isn't a sugar that melts. If it comes in slightly larger pieces, most like it would be called sugar in the raw, it would hold it's shape if you put in on top of your pastry and baked it in the oven. So yeah, I'd definitely say it was the type of sugar you used. Brown sugar is granulated sugar with molasses so granulated would give you a similar gooey effect. It just might not taste the same way. But then again it would give it a more caramelized flavor so you might not miss the molasses in the brown sugar at all.

 

[neutral]

Does anyone have a lemon cake recipe?? I looked at the sites I usually use and all the "recipes" are boxed white or yellow cake mix with some lemon flavoring added. I am not using a boxed cake mix.

 

[VintagePunk]

From what I know of yellow sugar, it tastes like molasses but it's definitely not the same as brown sugar. Granulated sugar would be a better substitution for brown. Yellow sugar does not melt the same way brown and granulated do. It's used for things like the top coating on creme brule. It melts on brule when you apply a torch to it but otherwise it really isn't a sugar that melts. If it comes in slightly larger pieces, most like it would be called sugar in the raw, it would hold it's shape if you put in on top of your pastry and baked it in the oven. So yeah, I'd definitely say it was the type of sugar you used. Brown sugar is granulated sugar with molasses so granulated would give you a similar gooey effect. It just might not taste the same way. But then again it would give it a more caramelized flavor so you might not miss the molasses in the brown sugar at all.

Thanks for the info!

I just want to verify that we're talking about the same thing. I've googled it, and it almost seems that any website I've found that talks about yellow sugar is non-American. What I'm talking about is exactly the same as brown sugar - same texture and everything - it's just lighter in colour.

Here's what I mean, the exact brand and everything:

http://www.lantic.ca/products/brown-sugar.php?lg=en

 

[misfit toys]

Does anyone have a lemon cake recipe?? I looked at the sites I usually use and all the "recipes" are boxed white or yellow cake mix with some lemon flavoring added. I am not using a boxed cake mix.

Tucson Lemon Cake

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tablespoons grated lemon rind
3 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup poppy seeds
2 tablespoons lemon juice

Lemon Glaze (recipe follows)


1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour 12 cup Bundt pan or tube pan, 10 x 4 inches.

2. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl.

3. Beat together butter, sugar and lemon rind in large mixer bowl on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk until well blended. Stir in poppy seeds and lemon juice. Spread in prepared pan.

4. Bake in preheated oven (325 degrees) for 50 to 55 minutes, or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Immediately poke holes in top of cake with long-tined fork. Pour about two-thirds of Lemon Glaze over top. Cool 20 minutes in pan. Invert onto heat-proof plate. Spread with remaining glaze. Cool to room temperature.

Lemon Glaze: Combine 2 cups confectioner's sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, 2 tablespoons grated lemon rind and 1/4 cup lemon juice in medium bowl. Stir with whisk until smooth.


I also have one for a layer cake and pound cake if you want those.

 

[neutral]

Thank you

I'd love the layer cake one if you don't mind.

 

[arw]

Thanks for the info!

I just want to verify that we're talking about the same thing. I've googled it, and it almost seems that any website I've found that talks about yellow sugar is non-American. What I'm talking about is exactly the same as brown sugar - same texture and everything - it's just lighter in colour.

Here's what I mean, the exact brand and everything:

http://www.lantic.ca/products/brown-sugar.php?lg=en

Yep we're talking about the same thing.

 

[arw]

Does anyone have a lemon cake recipe?? I looked at the sites I usually use and all the "recipes" are boxed white or yellow cake mix with some lemon flavoring added. I am not using a boxed cake mix.

you'd be surprised at how many boxed cakes we make at my work when we're in a hurry. I hate it but it's easier to just add water, which is all our mixes require, than to measure everything out when we're baking in huge quantities. But when I'm baking at home I just absolutely refuse to use a box

As much as I don't like Martha Stewart's personality, the Martha Stewart trademark has some amazing things. The recipes are written by Pastry Chefs but just have her name slapped on the book. I think you'd enjoy the book "Martha Stewarts Baking Handbook" or better yet, a book by Wayne Gisslen called "Professional Baking." That one is a Le Cordon Bleu cookbook. I learned all of the ins and outs of recipes through these two books. On top of the technical aspects of recipes and baking techniques, they include lots of recipes and variations of the recipes. The Le Cordon Bleu baking book is something I will probably use as a reference for many years to come.

 

[neutral]

Thank you, I'll look at those books! They sound great. I got "The Professional Pastry Chef" by Bo Friberg for my birthday. It seems pretty cool so far, I haven't had time to make much from it yet though.

 

[neutral]

Please excuse the crappy camera phone pics but these are the cake balls I made today. I'm giving these out for Valentines, if I can ever finish enough of them.

 

[MooMoo!]

Cake balls. The best kind of balls.

 

[misfit toys]

Oooh, those look good! Recipe?

Here's the layer cake:

Blueberry-Lemon Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2 cups plus 6 tablespoons cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups fresh blueberries (about three 4.4 ounce packages)

1 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
Lemon peel strips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch diameter cake pans with 1 1/2 inch high sides. Line bottom of pans with parchment paper, butter paper. Dust pans with flour. Sift cake flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Transfer 1 tablespoon flour mixture to large bowl. add fresh blueberries and coat. Set remaining flour mixture and blueberries aside.

Stir whole milk, vanilla extract and grated lemon peel in small bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl until light and creamy. Gradually add sugar, beating until mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in flour mixture alternately with milk mixture in 3 additions each, just until blended. Fold in blueberries. Divide batter equally among pans.

Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on racks, 10 minutes. Run knife around pan sides to loosen. Turn cakes out onto racks to cool completely. Peel off parchment paper.

Transfer 1 cake layer to platter. Spread 3/4 cup frosting over cake layer. Top with another cake layer, spread with 3/4 cup frosting. Top with third cake layer. Spread remaning frosting over top and sides of cake. Garnish cake with lemon peel strips, if desired.


Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese and buter in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in powdered sugar. Beat in lemon peel and vanilla. Cover and refrigerate until just firm enough to spread, about 30 minutes.

 

[Turn up the AC]

Are those red and white sprinkles on the cake balls? Or are they mini candies? Those look yummy.

 

[Turn up the AC]

Not sure if it's been posted, but does anyone have a recipe for red velvet cake? I made some killer lemon zest icing, but the cake was kinda dry and flat

 

[MooMoo!]

Goddamnit, my cake volcanoed again.

WHAT am I doing wrong??!

 

[arw]

what kind of cake?

you're probably over filling the pan.

 

[MooMoo!]

Nah, it wasnt even half full.

Its something like this, just a basic sponge cake mix:

6oz (175gm) Self Raising flour
6oz Caster Sugar
6oz Margerine
1tsp baking powder
3 eggs
vanilla essence

I remember my cookery teacher saying it was to do with a certain ingredient, but I cant for the life of me remember which. People have been saying its baking powder, but I deliberately didnt put a whole teaspoon in to see if it was.

Doesnt help that my oven is shite, and even though I turn it down to compensate for fan oven settings, it STILL burns stuff. Can you microwave cake?

 

[arw]

margarine in a sponge cake? Does it call for that? Well does it even call for butter? I've never made a basic sponge cake with any fat, including egg yolks.

However, if your recipe does call butter/marg here's a huge difference between butter and margarine so that could be the problem. Margarine contains huge amounts of water and will kill just about any cake recipe that calls for butter.

 

[MooMoo!]

...Im sorta surprised at your surprise at not needing butter. Pretty much any cake mix Ive seen uses either marg/butter. (Im in the UK though, if that makes a difference to cake mix...)

It does call for margerine, but butter can be used if you dont have any. Its a victoria-sponge type sponge cake if that clears anything up.

Ill have to try and fix it cos Im expected to make another tomorrow. Damn cake-eating family.

 

[arw]

the sponge cakes that I've made do not have butter. It's a light fluffy cake with only egg whites, sugar, flour and a few other ingredients but never any fat.

I looked up Victorian sponge cakes and they all say to use butter, not margarine. That's the only thing I can come up with to cause your cake to explode.....

 

[MooMoo!]

Right, I did it again tonight, but turned the oven waaaay down to 110-120C.

It turned out really good! I was actually in disbelief that it was such a good shape and colour, I thought it mustnt have cooked in the middle.

Bet it tastes like crap now.

 

[neutral]

Not sure if it's been posted, but does anyone have a recipe for red velvet cake? I made some killer lemon zest icing, but the cake was kinda dry and flat

This might be too late (guessing you were wanting it for Valentine's Day) but i have one now. I have a coworker that makes a really wonderful and moist red velvet cake. I was lucky enough to get the recipe from him this week (been wanting to get it for awhile ) and I can send it to you if you like. I was a little shocked to see it has 3 cups of oil for the fat, though. This will definitely be a very special occasion recipe.