Julia Gilbert asks about figuring out the intended loaf size of a
recipe. The rule of thumb that I follow is that a cup of flour
represents about half a pound of finished bread. (My machine actually
calls for about 2-1/3 cups for a one-pound loaf.) Many recipes call
for three cups of flour, so I just multiply everything by two-thirds
and fudge a little.
On a completely different topic, I've recently experimented with
substituting honey for table sugar. For my first attempt, I replaced
two tablespoons of sugar with two level tablespoons of honey, and
counted the honey as part of the liquid for the loaf. It came out a
bit on the dense side, but edible. Not sure if I was low on sugar or
on water, I tried again with two generous tablespoons of honey and a
full measure of water, not subtracting the volume of honey. This works
much better. There's a little scorching on the outside of the loaf,
but all-in-all, it's delicious.
Anybody tried this with maple syrup instead of honey? I'd appreciate
any advice.
LoisCon mentioned storing Red Star bulk yeast for a year in the
freezer. A friend sent me three vacuum-packed one-pound packages of
Fleischmann's yeast about a year and a half ago, and it's still
working fine. I keep the unopened packages in the freezer. When I open
one, I divide it into tight-sealing plastic containers and return all
but a few weeks' worth to the freezer. It seems to be keeping
perfectly.
Ephraim Vishniac ephraim@world.std.com http://www.think.com/users/ephraim
Allergic to corn? See http://www.think.com/users/ephraim/corn.html