The Convenience Of Refrigerator Bran Muffins

•The Joys Of Refrigerator Cookies
Baking cookies seems to fill the house with a sense of well being and peace. Perhaps it is the smell of butter, vanilla, and spices emanating from the hot oven. Maybe it is the love and caring attention that is evident in cookies. Home, love, and cookies seem to go together. Consider refrigerator, or icebox, cookies. They are the most convenient cookie. Drop cookies are quick cookies; refrigerator cookies are convenient cookies. Refrigerator cookies can be made up ahead of time--even months...

•Don t Know What Flour To Buy
Confused at the array of flour available online or in the grocery store? Don’t know what to buy? We can help. Buy bread flour for breads. If you want tender muffins or cookies, buy pastry flour. It’s the gluten content that makes breads chewy and the reduced amount of gluten that makes muffins crumbly. All-purpose flour is a compromise. (Many recipes call for all-purpose, not because it will make the best muffins but because the formulators know that all-purpose flour is what most people...

•The Marvelous Egg
Eggs are marvelous. They are used in so many products and in so many ways. They provide structure and mouth feel; they provide moisture and nutritional value. Baking would be dramatically different without the egg. There are three parts to the egg: The shell is fragile and porous. It is important to remember that eggs will absorb flavors and odors through the shell and therefore must be protected from strong smelling substances and unsanitary surfaces. A tainted egg will spoil your product....

•How To Buy And Store Baking Ingredients
Fresher is nearly always better Food deteriorates over time. Sometimes it does so very slowly but it does deteriorate. Expiration dates and “best by” dates are misleading. Food does not stay magically fresh up until the expiration date and then it’s suddenly bad. Think of it as straight-line event. The fresher, the better. Generally, expiration dates and “best by” dates are not governed by regulations. They are set by the processor who has its own agenda, are subject to judgments, and...

•How Long Should I Let My Bread Rise
It depends. The best way to tell if the dough has risen enough is not by time—though it helps to set the timer so you don’t forget about your dough—but by look and feel. It will look soft and bloated. When you touch the dough, it will be soft and your finger will leave an indentation when lightly pressed against the dough. If it is not ripe, the dough will tend to slowly spring back. If you want light, fluffy bread, the dough should rise until it is puffy. The more gas incorporated in...

•How To Bake Multi grain Bread
A quick perusal of your baker’s shelves will tell you how popular multi-grain bread is. But it’s not hard to bake—you can make your own. You can use any recipe and add the cracked grain mixture though traditionally, a whole wheat recipe is used. The following instructions and recipe will tell you how. With most cereal mixes, 1/3 cup to 6 tablespoons of cereal per loaf is about the right ratio. If you want soft cereal bits in your bread, soak the cereal for an hour in hot water before...

•What Not To Freeze
Freezers are wonderful inventions. They save us time and money. How many times do we head for the freezer when it's time to think about a meal? And for many of us, the freezer houses much of our emergency supply of food. But some things freeze better than others. We thought we would give you a partial listing of things that don't freeze well. • Fried foods (especially deep fried foods): They taste stale • Gravies and sauces with wheat in them: They tend to separate. • High water...

•Selecting And Baking Your Holiday Ham
Use this guide to help you select and prepare your baked ham for that special meal. With this guide, you will be able to identify and understand the various types of hams and select the best ham for your family. We’ll even tell you how to bake your ham. This guide is organized in a question-and-answer format for easy reference. What are the different types of hams that I should consider? A ham is cured pork, specifically the entire back leg of a hog. But ham is very different than uncured...

•How To Make Easy Sourdough Bread
Sourdough simply uses wild yeast in place of commercial yeast to leaven the bread. It relies on the wild yeasts that are in the air all around us and cultures those yeasts in a warm, wet environment created with water, flour, and sometimes other components. When creating a sourdough starter, we always felt like we were on an expedition trying to trap invisible yeastie beasties with our flour and water concoctions. Because we couldn’t see the beasties, we were never sure what we had...