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A couple of weeks ago I made these English Muffin breads...I couldn't find cornmeal for them since people around here have been nuts with hoarding stuff. These were quite easy to make and may gawd tasty! I found the recipe on Facebook of all places...

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Eddie, the no knead bread and was from another recipe that I found on Facebook. Its from an author named Nagi and it was super easy to make. I used my Le Creuset 3.5 qt dutch even to make the bread. The recipe calls to the dutch oven to be heated in the oven at 450F for 30 mins before I put the bread in to cook. I used bread flour, water, yeast and salt. It had a sour dough kinda flavor. The recipe suggested to make and let it rise in the fridge up to 3 days before baking...I might try that way of doing it.
 
Mike.

The Dutch Oven recipe I use also called for the Dutch Oven to pre heated in the oven for 30 mins at 450 F too.  It tastes like sourdough as well.  I just use unbleached white all purpose flour and let rise for 12 to 16 hrs.  Very easy, and probably the same as the one you use, they’re all very similar.

 

BTW, you’ve been right busy!  That Chocolate Pie looks delicious.  Its plain that you enjoy cooking and are good ate it too.  Thanks for sharing your photos.

 

Eddie
 
Happily I scored 2 lbs of active dry yeast Monday morning but I had to drive 40 mi to get it at a restaurant supply whse. I was down to 1/2 a pound and at the rate I've been experimenting , baking bread, these last two weeks I was worried.. Flour I have no problem getting, but yeast seems to be unobtainium at every grocery store. Moreso than even toilet paper which seems to have recovered back to near regular levels. I've also got a starter on the go as well.
Who'da thunk yeast would be more coveted than TP, especially when there hasn't even been a shortage of bread on the shelves.
 
Our store had plenty of yeast, but

I wanted the jar of Fleischmann's from the dairy dept. None to be had. We were really Jonez'n for pizza. Could have ordered delivery or take away, but we had all the fixin's.
 
Last night I made cubed steaks with gravy in my Dominion electric skillet. Served it with steamed buttered carrots, and a packet of knorr rice.
Dessert was peach gelatin topped with canned fruit cocktail.

Forgot to take a pic of dinner, but I captured dessert

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Too many bananas?

 

<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: 14pt;">Joe went a little overboard buying bananas so when they got too ripe guess what I made?  Ha.  Yup.  Three loaves of banana bread.  This recipe is really good and is supposed to make two loaves but over the years I've found it's gets a little dry because it has to stay in the oven for so long to cook through.  The past couple of times I've made it I have divided it among three pans and it comes out really nice and soft and moist.</span>

 

<span style="font-family: georgia, palatino; font-size: large;">I used seven bananas for these three.</span>

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Fresh yeast ?

Mike, why not regular active dry or instant for your pizza dough? I've never used fresh yeast because I haven't seen it for years around here.

I'm no pizza dough expert, far from it, being as I've rarely made it. I have a sourdough starter on the go so I figured I'd put a little of that in the pizza dough along with a bit of yeast and it was so far the best I've made.. I'd even put it up against my favorite local delivery joint.
 
I wanted the jar of Fleischmann's from the dairy dept

Hey Mike,

It's weird, but someone apparently changed the storage rules for yeast. I went nuts a few months ago looking for it after Price Chopper re-did the store plan. Turns out it's now in the non-refrigerated baking aisle. I too wanted a jar about a month ago, but they didn't have it. Now I have plenty of packets since Rich found some the same day I did and we didn't tell each other!

I found the jar at Walmart in, yep, the baking aisle with the flour. You might want to check out that area next time you venture out!

Chuck
 
Chuck- Forgot to mention that your Kung-Pao Chicken (Reply 63) looked so good I almost took a pair of chopsticks to the computer screen.

Just got back from the local Hy-Vee: The Great Toilet Paper Shortage of 2020 must be over, as shelves were full of it, as well as paper towels and Kleenex. Manager said a guy tried to return 140 rolls of paper towels he'd bought over a period of weeks. Manager told him to take a hike. Guy was sure he could sell it for big bucks online. Ha-ha!

However...No yeast, no Clorox Wipes, no canned soup (???), and almost no meat. Two meat-packing plants in the area--JBS in Worthington, MN (28 miles from here) and Smithfield in Sioux Falls, SD (90 miles from here) and I think one in Iowa, as well,-- have all closed indefinitely to huge COVID-19 spikes. So meat is the current hoard du jour. Christ. Plenty of baking supplies (barring aforementioned yeast) and frozen pizzas. I read yesterday that there's been a run, nationally, on frozen pizza.

Almost all customers in the store (senior hour 7:00-8:00 a.m.) were wearing masks. About 90% of store employees were, too.

It all just keeps getting interestinger and interestinger, doesn't it?.🙃

Seriously: AW cooks have mad skills and scads of ingenuity!
 
I went to a smaller Giant Eagle yesterday, never looked at yeast or paper products as I have plenty of both.

Here in PA everyone is mandated to wear a mask in public,
There are plenty of frozen pizzas here and have been through this whole ordeal,
Most places have limits on meat, I bought some yesterday as I mostly use ground beef and wanted more to add to my stock in the freezer.
Canned soups are hard to come by here, very picked over, luckily I was able to get cheddar cheese and golden mushroom.
Canned vegetables have been hit and miss here, pastas have also been pretty picked over(I stocked up before this started as I only like certain shapes and brands, I swear they all taste different)
Rice is about unobtainable here too, luckily it’s something I rarely use.

Clorox, disinfecting wipes, hand sanitizer, and rubbing alcohol are scarce.
Luckily mom scored a 4 pack of Kirkland wipes last week at Costco for us to split.
 
Those molasses cookies look really good! I've not had any for a couple years.

The chocolate pie looks good, too. Does it get meringue? I used to make them with a recipe that was on the box of Argo corn starch. The base recipe was also used for coconut cream and butterscotch flavors.
 
I usually put just whipped cream or Cool Whip on top. This one does use corn starch and I use Saco premium cocoa powder ...it’s a chefs blend of Dutched and regular cocoa that is fantastic. I also use whole milk, because, well I can! The pie shell is from Wegmans that is prebaked before the filling gets laid into it.
 
LOL, thanks Eugene!

I'm glad to hear the Hy-Vee manager stood his ground. Locally atPrice Chopper they were discussing this among management and hoping they'd be able to do the same.

TP does seem to be in some supply here now as well. Sugar is abundant and some markets have flour. Frozen veggies are back as are broth and canned soups, though not in large quantities. Yeast was at Wegman's and Walmart, but scarce elsewhere.

It seems the hoarding may have leveled off somewhat, but they've said MA/Boston is a hotspot now, so we'll see if it stays that way.

Rich eats lightly during the week, so not much cooking-wise going on except single servings of meat/fish, salad, etc. Looking forward to the weekend when I'll raid the freezer again!

Stay safe,
Chuck
 
This afternoon I made a sauce aka gravy from scratch with meatballs for the pasta that I am making for dinner tonight...here is a pic of the sauce/gravy....
The sauce recipe is from the Rao’s cookbook and it’s my go to recipe but I also add carrots that I blitzed thru the food processor. The meatballs are from a cookbook by Rocco DeSpirito and they are called Mama’s Meatballs. They are tender and easy to make.

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The sauce and meatballs look fantastic, Mike--but I did notice it doesn't have banana sauce and hot dogs in it, LOL.

My all-time favorite meal is spaghetti and meatballs with a thick slice of garlic bread and a glass of Chianti. The same meal with rigatoni is a close second.

Our HyVee started carrying Rao's marinara sauce--at a staggering $8.00 per jar--and their pizza sauce as well. The pasta sauce was excellent, but I couldn't justify the price. I can make a pretty mean red sauce (primarily my Mom's recipe) for a fraction of the cost.
 
Eugene,

I made your Easy Fried Rice for dinner tonight, and it was great!  The seasonings were perfect, I would have never thought of using black pepper, maybe crushed red or white pepper, but the black pepper was perfect.  I used some of the left over Easter Ham, and since eggs are getting scare I didn’t use the scrambled egg, but if I were going to make it without meat definitely I would add the scrambled eggs.  I also added 3 thinly sliced green onions after I turned the heat off at the end of cooking.  We both enjoyed it very much.  I told David that it was Eugene’s recipe, he said to thank you Eugene.  And I thank you too, its a keeper.

 

Eddie

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Got a batch of bialy rising now, looked interesting a cousin sent me the recipe. Hope they turn  out as well as those in the picture.

 

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https://www.msn.com/en-us/foodanddr...en-better-than-a-bagel/ar-BB130kGC?li=BBnb7Kw
 
Made Some Hot Dog and Hamburger Buns

David asked me yesterday of we were going to have Cheeseburgers on Saturday.  I said I hadn’t planned on it, but we could have them next week.  Well I got to thinking, I have ground round in the freezer, but no buns.  I didn’t want to go into a store for just buns, and then find out they didn’t have any, so I decided to make some.

 

I just took them out of the oven.  I made two big hamburger buns for our Cheeseburgers tomorrow and four hot dog buns for tonight and we’ll have hot dogs with carrot and celery sticks.  

 

I made the dough at 11:30 am using:

 

3 cups of flour

1 1/2 cups of hottest tap water

1/2 tsp rapid rise yeast

1 tbs. sugar

1 tbs. oil

1 tsp salt

Let it rise until 2 pm, formed the rolls and let them rise for 1 hr. after brushing the tops with oil to help keep the crust tender.  Baked the on parchment paper at 375 F for 20 mins.  They look pretty good.  Next time I think I’ll make the hot dog buns just a tad bit smaller.

 

Eddie

[this post was last edited: 4/24/2020-19:41]

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Eddie- Glad you and David enjoyed the fried rice! Scallions are the the best choice for such a dish, but I’m keeping only yellow onions in the house for the time being. They’re more amenable to extended storage. Your hamburger and hot dog buns look great. I’ve been making sandwich/hamburger buns, as well.

Matt- Having never hear of bialys, I watched a video about them on YouTube. They look delicious with their indentations of a spoonful of onion or other savory filling. Lacking the step of boiling, as with bagels, they are a bit simpler to make, too. Thanks for introducing me to this Polish-Jewish goodie!

Freezing Fresh Eggs: Since eggs can be scarce, I’ve accumulated three dozen of them and am going to freeze a dozen in standard, slightly flexible white ice cube trays. Online suggestions included freezing some of them already separated, for recipes that call for whipping whites separately. Has anyone tried this and did it work well?
 
Thanks Eugene

As for freezing eggs, I’ve frozen egg whites many times and used them for various things and they always worked fine however I used them.  Yolks however haven’t been very successful for use after freezing them, they seemed to dehydrate and become kind of gummy.  I did see someone of TV recently that advised to beat the eggs first then freeze them.  You can choose containers for only one egg, or multiple eggs, just be sure to label the contents so you know what the amount is in each container.

 

Another alternative to fresh eggs for baking anyway, are Egg Beaters, but I’ll bet this product is also in short supply too.  I’ve used them in the past for baking, Bread Pudding, even Frittata and they weren’t bad.

 

Eddie
 
Well I made my Bialy's, My baking stone only held 6 so I popped them in the oven, had to bake them a bit longer than suggested, not sure why my oven is carefully calibrated.  Turned out just OK.  Decided to turn the other 6 into bagels, they were great.  Might try it again, but now I have a dozed bagel/bialys  to eat, well make that 10...

 

Had a chuckle, today in my news feed was an article by a person who obviously has not baked much,  She decided to make New York style bagels.  She said it was the hardest involved things she ever did.  Got to say I thought it was one of the simplest easy to make resipe I have ever made.  It bothered her that the dough had to rest so many times.
 
Bagels

Our cousin just reported to me that her daughter found bread flour, so I'll be able to make some tomorrow or Monday! The recipe I had for using AP flour was barely acceptable. MattL, I have a couple of recipes but where yours was recently tested, can you share it?

Chuck
 
Finally drained the limoncello base, mixed it with the simple syrup, and bottled it. Not like I haven't had time! The lemon peels were actually beige from sitting in the grain alcohol so long, but the color did nicely for the finished product!

Chuck

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Chuck,

I used the recipe that I linked in the bialy post.  It's very similar to a number of bagel recipes I looked up.  I boiled for 30 seconds, turned and boiled for30 seconds then a minute more each side as I wanted a more chewy bagel.  baked at 425 for about 20 minutes.
 

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