GeneralAsked Oct 27, 2020 by Samuel W.
My question is really only one question, but it seems to have a few parts that bring it to this one part. I know that a yarn is often helpful to some to better the understanding, so without further ado...
When I was younger, my family resided in a small town in South Carolina. There were few street lights, children rode horses to the local schools, and the area was not very populous or prosperous. We were happy with the things we did have, however. There was a restaurant along Main Street called Grandy's. This was mostly southern comfort and fried type foods, but one of the things they made exceptionally well was their Cinnamon Rolls. These were made fresh daily in the early morning. They were massive, light, fluffy, and delectable. Easily 4 inch square, from baking next to each other and 3 to 4 inches tall. They were made from a dough that had a soft, smoothness with a light sweetness. The inside was, I think, brown sugar with cinnamon and golden raisins. The top was glaze, much like that of a doughnut. I have been trying to replicate this softness for near 15 years, trying different recipes, flours, kneading more and less, proofing techniques... all seem to generate wonderful flavors and nice tight crumbs, but not the light fluffy softness. These were a triumph of flavor, sweetness, and delicious taste. This is a treat we would savor every morsel of. Eating it slowly to make it last longer, but wanting to eat it all and have more afterward. My family would be able to get a single dozen of them as a treat every few months. Since moving in 1990, I have not seen that restaurant ever again, nor been able to make anything close to their Cinnamon Rolls. Now, I have been complimented, and questioned for how I make my own many times, but they are not on the same level. I would say, the difference is a household cook making a familiar recipe versus a Pastry Chef with 3 decades of experience. They were not fancy to look at, no... but the taste could knock you off of your feet.
The only other places I have found a softness that could be a close match, would be the restaurant rolls at a steakhouse recently eaten at called Texas Roadhouse and the packaged dinner rolls from the King's Hawai'ian company that sells in the local grocer.
The parts are all lined up; the softness of the restaurant roll and King's roll, the touch of sweetness in a dinner roll, and the sizing. Even the part about the crumb of the finished piece. Ultimately, I am just hoping you can give me some tips in the industry I just don't know of.
Thank you for taking the time,
Samuel Wood
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Samuel - Cinnamon rolls are usually made from a rich brioche dough with a healthy amount of butter, milk, and eggs, which all contribute to the softness of the dough. In bread roll recipes I have developed over the years, I've found that using a portion of potato makes for a particularly soft, fluffy roll. This could come in the form of an actual mashed potato, dehydrated instant potato flakes, or potato starch. That’s because the starches in potatoes dilute the gluten-forming proteins, which weakens the structural network and makes it softer, moister, and more tender. I'd also recommend trying the tangzhong method. This Asian technique cooks a small percentage of the flour and liquid (water or milk) in a yeast recipe very briefly before combining the resulting thick slurry with the remaining ingredients. This pre-gelatinizes the starches in the flour, meaning they can absorb more water. The bread or rolls may rise higher, due to more water creating more internal steam (which makes bread rise in the oven — along with the carbon dioxide given off by the yeast). Additionally, having retained more water during baking, bread and rolls will be moister, and will stay soft and fresh longer. King Arthur has a great recipe for cinnamon rolls using this method which you can find here. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Oct 05, 2020 by Leanne M.
I am making homemade pudding every week for my mother in law who is on a solid restricted diet. My problem is I have about a 50/50 chance of it thickening properly. All recipes use cornstarch and it is my understanding the pudding temperature should not go above 180F. I use my trusty instant read thermometer yet I still have failure after failure. I give up. What would be wrong with using ap flour as a substitution? Still on the pudding note - When a recipe calls for whole milk could I substitute 1% or 2% milk and replace a portion with heavy (35% cream) or half and half? I almost always have creams but seldom whole milk. And yet another pudding question - I am attempting to add more protein in her diet and it seems most of the time if I add an extra egg it causes the pudding to thin again. Is this in my imagination?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Leanne - I think ideally you want to get your pudding to between 180 and 185 degrees. The cornstarch, mixed with liquid, will thicken by 180 degrees, but the egg yolks won't coagulate until between 180 to 185 degrees. So it's possible that the eggs aren't quite coagulating before you take it off the heat and, therefore, the pudding isn't thick enough. A pudding relies on both the cornstarch and the eggs to thicken. You can definitely substitute any combination of dairy you'd like. We generally use cornstarch instead of flour because flour can make the pudding a starchy taste and a cloudy instead of shiny appearance. Hope that helps! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Oct 01, 2020 by Sara N.
Can the Chocolate, Prune and Rum Cake be successfully frozen?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Sara - \Could\ the cake be frozen? Sure. \Should\ the cake be frozen? I'd say "no." Here's why: this cake is like a flourless chocolate cake that is at its best when served warm. The cake is baked only until the center is just starting to set so it stays somewhat jiggly and continues to set as it cools yielding a somewhat soft and gooey center. If you were to freeze the cake I think you would certainly lose that interior texture and the cake would potentially become dry and dense. Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Sep 25, 2020 by Jeff H.
I was wondering why when I read recipes using grated cheese, frequently the weight specified doesn't equal the volume specified. Recently I made one that said 2 ounces of parmigiano reggiano equaled 1 cup. When I weighed the cup of grated cheese it was between 4 and 5 ounces. Rather puzzling.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Jeff - Generally, when we refer to a weight of cheese we are referring to the amount \before\ grating. So when we write, "2 ounces cheddar cheese, grated," we mean 2 ounces of ungrated cheese that is then grated. We do this because it's easier to buy cheese by a weight than volume measurement. You can easily cut an 8-ounce block of cheddar in half and then half again, grate it, and not have to measure in a measuring cup. Hope that helps explain it! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Sep 21, 2020 by Jenise V.
Hello! I would like to specifically bake cakes from scratch for 1, 6'' baking pan. How do I calculate the ingredients for this sized pan and any other sized pan or pie dish that's not 9"? Thank you!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Jenise - Stella Parks over at Serious Eats did a great article on scaling recipes here. You will need to divide the total weight of ingredients in the recipe by the total amount of batter needed (for a 6" pan she says you will need 12 ounces of batter) to yield the multiplier. I would recommend using a scale to weigh ingredients rather than try to figure out volume measurements. This may prove tricky when breaking up eggs. To figure out weights of eggs it's easiest to whisk together a whole egg and weigh it and then remove or add to get the weight you need. See Stella's linked article for more helpful tips and clarification. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Sep 16, 2020 by Walt G.
When I was growing up my grandmother, of Czeck descent, used to make a unique dessert for the holidays. The dessert is called dolecky (go to google translate for pronunciation). I have looked, but have not found any reference to this dessert. The dessert consists of the following. It starts with a raised sweet bread biscuit (about 3/4" thick) made with golden raisins. On this goes first, cottage cheese, followed by whipped prunes with unsweetened whipped cream on top. Most people hear these combinations and are not too impressed, however we were always excited when we had this dessert and enjoyed it very much-sometimes too much!!
I'm curious in your experience or travels if you have come across this dessert or something similar.
Thank you,
Walt Gessler
Watson, MN
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Walt - We've never come across anything called dolecky in our travels, but we have seen kolaches. These are sweet, raised buns - sometimes with raisins, sometimes not - that are filled/topped with cream cheese and fruit. Prunes are a popular filling in these, so I'm wondering if your dessert might be your grandmother's version of kolaches? If you do an internet search for kolaches you will find dozens of versions and recipes to determine if this is similar to your grandmother's dessert. Good luck and let us know if this is the same dessert! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Sep 14, 2020 by ann B.
I'm sitting in a smoke filled house in Seattle. I put a pot of your chili con carne on as a kind of aroma therapy. It's working a little too well. My veg husband now wants the chili, but with beans and veg crumble. The seasonings in this smell gorgeous, so I can't blame him. Can I add two or three cans of black beans or kidney beans and use the same method? Or I could soak some dried beans? I wouldn't want them to become mush, but I'm out of my depth here.
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Ann - Although I think you could \definitely\ adapt this to a vegetarian chili, we haven't tested it so I can't offer a quick modification. If I were testing this recipe, I'd probably try to combine this recipe for Indian Spiced Kidney Bean Stew with the recipe for Chili con Carne to create a vegetarian chili in the Instant Pot. It may require some tweaking, but that would be my recommendation for where to start. So sorry I can't give you a quick fix! Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Sep 04, 2020 by Mei T.
I was curious about the water to rice ratio in the coconut rice with beans recipe in the Fast and Slow cookbook. Usually the water to rice ratio in the Instant Pot is 1 to 1. In this recipe, it asks for 1.5 cups rice to 2.5 cups coconut water. It’s not clear why this ratio is different in this case so I just wanted to make sure this is correct before proceeding with the recipe. Thank you!
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Mei - Yes, this amount is correct because we are not only cooking rice in water. In addition to the rice and the coconut water, we've got scallions, garlic, bell peppers, and cilantro stems, all of which contain some amount of water too. After testing the recipe multiple times we've tried to anticipate how much water those vegetables will release and adjusted the amount of coconut water accordingly. Hope that helps explain the difference. Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 31, 2020 by beth S.
In the mexican cornbread recipe that was on the recent podcast, should I cook the corn prior to removing from the cob? Or does this recipe call for raw corn kernels?
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Beth- The recipe calls for cutting raw kernels off the cob. No need to cook it! Good luck and enjoy. Best, Lynn C.
Read MoreAsked Aug 28, 2020 by Kate R.
I've been cooking a lot less meat, and have been stretching to boost flavors, and one of the things I've found that can work is adding tea in the background. However, as I've moved from meat to more meat substitutes or alternative protiens (eggs or cheese instead of meat or meat-subs, for example,) I've begun to have difficulty balancing the flavors, ie I use a green and everything gets too vegetal and a bit metallic, I use a smoked black and the tannins become very apparent. Do you have any tips I can use to fix this? It's also generally when I do Asian-style noodle dishes, and I would like to branch out in ways that are not well...really obvious (making a barbecue sauce for a bean and nut "meat"loaf with a lapsang souchong base, or a mushroom sauce with an addition of a pu-erh, for example.)
Answered by Lynn Clark
Hi Kate - My advice would be to continue to use the tea, but just use less. Start by cutting back by 1/2 and work your way up until you find a flavor balance that works for you. Good luck! Best, Lynn C.
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