It's a big day for me, today. I've been waiting a long time for this, and the day's finally come.
My mixer arrived today.
I finally decided to get a KitchenAid mixer. The penultimate kitchen tool. Or at least the penultimate kitchen mixing tool...
Anyway, I'm excited, and here's my baby. I believe enLethe and I (read: enLethe, since she's the more artistic one) will be painting blue or green or blue/green flames along the sides of this mixer. I may even have to name it.
What impact does this have on you, the non-existant blog readers, you ask? More recipes that involve bread, or other mixed items.
Huzzah!
16 February, 2008
"The Absolute Best Cinnamon Rolls in the World"
That was the title of one of the cinnamon roll recipes that I ran across on the interweb. How could I not choose that one?
So, I've made this recipe a number of times, with a couple variations. I will begin with the base recipe, which is pretty good.
1 Packet Dry Yeast
1c. Warm Milk
1/2c. Sugar
1/3c. Melted Butter
1t. Salt
2 Eggs
4c. AP or Bread Flour
--
1c. Brown Sugar
3T. Cinnamon
1/3c. Softened Butter
---
1/2c. Softened Butter
3oz. Creme Cheese
1.5c. XXX Sugar
1/2t. Vanilla
Pinch Salt
So, as you can see, the recipe has 3 parts. The dough, the filling, and the frosting. Here's the basic method.
1. Bloom yeast in warm milk, sugar, butter, eggs
2. Mix remaining dry together
3. After yeast is bloomed, combine with Dry. Mix well, knead for a couple minutes.
4. Rise to 2x size.
5. Roll out dough to ~1/4"
---
6. Preheat oven to 400 F.
7. Spread butter onto dough
8. Spread the Brown sugar and cinamon (mixed together) over the butter
9. Roll this monstrosity up, cut it into ~12 rolls and place into greased pan. I like either a cake dish, glass. Or round cake pans. So 3x4 or a 2xcircles of 5 with one in the center.
10. I havent' decided if I like letting them proof for a bit in the pan. I Think I do, but only for 15-20m.
11. Bake for ~20m.
---
12. Mix all this stuff together to get your cream cheese frosting. Mix until smooooooth.
13. Once your rolls are finished baking, spoon the frosting over them, then allow them to cool so you won't burn yourself.
Now, there are a number of acceptable variation. First, a better cream cheese frosting. I like mine cheesier, and a little less frosting than what you get with the above recipe.
---
3oz. Cream Cheese
2T. Softened Butter
1c. XXX Sugar
1/2t. Vanilla
Pinch Salt
(1oz. Ammaretto)
---
Something that I do like doing is, after putting the sugar-cinnamon mixture down, but before rolling, sprinkling about a cup of crushed nuts in the roll. I like doing this in the roll, not on top, so you get nuts with every bite.
Substituting Whole Wheat flour for the white flour is fine too. It gives a wheat-y taste (obviously) and makes the texture a bit heavier, but it's tasty. It requires a bit more kneading to encourage a fine texture, and I would definitely allow the rolls to proof in the pan. I generally sub in:
---
3.5c Whole Wheat Flour
1/2c. Wheat Gluten
---
Last but not least, I'll randomly sub in molasses for some of the white sugar, just because. Try:
---
1/4c. Molasses
1/3c. Sugar
---
Anyway, there ya go.
So, I've made this recipe a number of times, with a couple variations. I will begin with the base recipe, which is pretty good.
1 Packet Dry Yeast
1c. Warm Milk
1/2c. Sugar
1/3c. Melted Butter
1t. Salt
2 Eggs
4c. AP or Bread Flour
--
1c. Brown Sugar
3T. Cinnamon
1/3c. Softened Butter
---
1/2c. Softened Butter
3oz. Creme Cheese
1.5c. XXX Sugar
1/2t. Vanilla
Pinch Salt
So, as you can see, the recipe has 3 parts. The dough, the filling, and the frosting. Here's the basic method.
1. Bloom yeast in warm milk, sugar, butter, eggs
2. Mix remaining dry together
3. After yeast is bloomed, combine with Dry. Mix well, knead for a couple minutes.
4. Rise to 2x size.
5. Roll out dough to ~1/4"
---
6. Preheat oven to 400 F.
7. Spread butter onto dough
8. Spread the Brown sugar and cinamon (mixed together) over the butter
9. Roll this monstrosity up, cut it into ~12 rolls and place into greased pan. I like either a cake dish, glass. Or round cake pans. So 3x4 or a 2xcircles of 5 with one in the center.
10. I havent' decided if I like letting them proof for a bit in the pan. I Think I do, but only for 15-20m.
11. Bake for ~20m.
---
12. Mix all this stuff together to get your cream cheese frosting. Mix until smooooooth.
13. Once your rolls are finished baking, spoon the frosting over them, then allow them to cool so you won't burn yourself.
Now, there are a number of acceptable variation. First, a better cream cheese frosting. I like mine cheesier, and a little less frosting than what you get with the above recipe.
---
3oz. Cream Cheese
2T. Softened Butter
1c. XXX Sugar
1/2t. Vanilla
Pinch Salt
(1oz. Ammaretto)
---
Something that I do like doing is, after putting the sugar-cinnamon mixture down, but before rolling, sprinkling about a cup of crushed nuts in the roll. I like doing this in the roll, not on top, so you get nuts with every bite.
Substituting Whole Wheat flour for the white flour is fine too. It gives a wheat-y taste (obviously) and makes the texture a bit heavier, but it's tasty. It requires a bit more kneading to encourage a fine texture, and I would definitely allow the rolls to proof in the pan. I generally sub in:
---
3.5c Whole Wheat Flour
1/2c. Wheat Gluten
---
Last but not least, I'll randomly sub in molasses for some of the white sugar, just because. Try:
---
1/4c. Molasses
1/3c. Sugar
---
Anyway, there ya go.
Countertops and pretty stone
So, I'm taking Geology this term. It's interesting. the first day of class involved a "I am X, I'm studying Y, and I'm taking this class because Z." Well, my Z is "because this is a restrictive elective that I need to graduate, and I like shiny rocks.
Now, segue into another area of my, our, life. enLethe and I are very fond of stone, especially the idea of stone countertops in our kitched. It's pretty, durable, etc. Now, there are a lot of cool stones that can be used for this purpose, most of it isn't actually granite, I've found out. Anyway, what is below is a bit of a summary of a conversation we had regarding this.
First, a single type of stone is not necessary in the kitchen. Countertops and island top can be different. Having more than 2-4 major types of stone may be an issue, due to clashing colours.
What if, instead of large slabs of stone for counter tops, we instead bought a number of small boulders, 1-3 cubic feet at a time, cut and polished them ourselves, then set them into some sort of matrix to act as our counter tops? The matrix itself would have to fit a couple prereqs. It would need to be pretty in and of itself. It would need to be durable. We would also have to be able do this ourselves. This fits nicely. That's right, concrete counter tops. A lot more beautiful than you thought, eh? I'm not sure what else would work as a matrix, though. Resin would be too soft, I think. I can't readily think of any other materials.
The next idea we can up with was two part. First, we posit that we are using slab stone for our countertops, though this is not necessary, we could just as well be using the idea described above. Now, this idea is focusing on the area between the backsplash of the countertops, and the bottom of the cabinets. I'll term this area the "extended backsplash." Anyway, if we decided that, for some reason, the above-method was unfeasable for countertops, we could do something similar for the extended backsplash. A lot of the area I'm speaking of is either tiled or made of painted cement board. In this case, we have three options. Either use the above option of larger pices of polished, pretty stone, though this has the issue of large spaces between them, or we could get the 4"x4" countertop samples, cut, polish, and bevel them, and use them as tiles, insead of plain old ceramic. Finally, the third option could be a combination of the two- using large pieces of stone embedded in the stone sample tile work, in a mosaic-esque fashion.
So, the main problems that I see are as follows. First, these projects will involve a significant outlay of funds for the proper tools for the job. That's ok, because both enLethe and I feel that it's much better to get our own tools, and build/make most of what we want, rather than buying a finished, possibly shabby and/or exorbitant product. Second, and a much greater issue, involves technical issues with the matrix that the stone would be set in. Shrinkage and sealing at the stone-matrix boundary could cause quite a headache. Additionally, making sure that none of the matrix material ends up obscuring the pretty stone that's being embedded may be a challenge as well. Then there's the variable hardnesses that maybe cause unequal erosion of the surface over time, or the ability of the finished product to stand up to a regriding/polishing while in place.
Hmmmmmm.
Now, segue into another area of my, our, life. enLethe and I are very fond of stone, especially the idea of stone countertops in our kitched. It's pretty, durable, etc. Now, there are a lot of cool stones that can be used for this purpose, most of it isn't actually granite, I've found out. Anyway, what is below is a bit of a summary of a conversation we had regarding this.
First, a single type of stone is not necessary in the kitchen. Countertops and island top can be different. Having more than 2-4 major types of stone may be an issue, due to clashing colours.
What if, instead of large slabs of stone for counter tops, we instead bought a number of small boulders, 1-3 cubic feet at a time, cut and polished them ourselves, then set them into some sort of matrix to act as our counter tops? The matrix itself would have to fit a couple prereqs. It would need to be pretty in and of itself. It would need to be durable. We would also have to be able do this ourselves. This fits nicely. That's right, concrete counter tops. A lot more beautiful than you thought, eh? I'm not sure what else would work as a matrix, though. Resin would be too soft, I think. I can't readily think of any other materials.
The next idea we can up with was two part. First, we posit that we are using slab stone for our countertops, though this is not necessary, we could just as well be using the idea described above. Now, this idea is focusing on the area between the backsplash of the countertops, and the bottom of the cabinets. I'll term this area the "extended backsplash." Anyway, if we decided that, for some reason, the above-method was unfeasable for countertops, we could do something similar for the extended backsplash. A lot of the area I'm speaking of is either tiled or made of painted cement board. In this case, we have three options. Either use the above option of larger pices of polished, pretty stone, though this has the issue of large spaces between them, or we could get the 4"x4" countertop samples, cut, polish, and bevel them, and use them as tiles, insead of plain old ceramic. Finally, the third option could be a combination of the two- using large pieces of stone embedded in the stone sample tile work, in a mosaic-esque fashion.
So, the main problems that I see are as follows. First, these projects will involve a significant outlay of funds for the proper tools for the job. That's ok, because both enLethe and I feel that it's much better to get our own tools, and build/make most of what we want, rather than buying a finished, possibly shabby and/or exorbitant product. Second, and a much greater issue, involves technical issues with the matrix that the stone would be set in. Shrinkage and sealing at the stone-matrix boundary could cause quite a headache. Additionally, making sure that none of the matrix material ends up obscuring the pretty stone that's being embedded may be a challenge as well. Then there's the variable hardnesses that maybe cause unequal erosion of the surface over time, or the ability of the finished product to stand up to a regriding/polishing while in place.
Hmmmmmm.
13 February, 2008
Voting and the CAP
Howdy folks.
I should be doing homework right now, so I'm going to make a quick post.
First, CAP = Collective Action Problem. This is a phenomena where a single person's incentive to take some sort of action is so small, they don't do it.
Voting is a prime example of this. Any single person's vote is, basically, irrelevant. The problem is, if no one votes, things break.
I know this, but I still don't feel the need to vote, even though I know I should.
Alas.
I should be doing homework right now, so I'm going to make a quick post.
First, CAP = Collective Action Problem. This is a phenomena where a single person's incentive to take some sort of action is so small, they don't do it.
Voting is a prime example of this. Any single person's vote is, basically, irrelevant. The problem is, if no one votes, things break.
I know this, but I still don't feel the need to vote, even though I know I should.
Alas.
30 January, 2008
more Star Wars!
I found out about these Lego Stormtroopers in December. I've been very good and not bought any despite having a weakness for SW stuff. But I figure that if I'm going to collect anything it has to be really neat- you know, like SW stuff. >.> Now if only people would get the hint and get me stuff like that instead of things a-la-girly-bath-and-body-products.
maybe it's just a phase... again
I'm having another stage of Star Wars obsession- they do tend to come and go- and it's not really helping me get things done for real life.
There are 3D puzzles. Over break I built the Imperial Star Destroyer, and I'm still working on the Millennium Falcon at home. Now I find that there's an R2D2 and a model an Anakin's Jedi Fighter that I'd never even seen before I found them online tonight. You know, while I should have been working.
Banik went and got me playing the SW Pocket Model TCG (trading card game, for those like me who had no reason to know that). First it was a pack so that I could build the little ships in it; they are SW after all. Then it was another pack because the ships were neat. Then it was 4 more because when he talked me into trying to play with only 2 packs we really didn't have enough ships and cards to do much. Now he's hoping that this is the gateway drug into me actually taking up miniature gaming, and I'm hoping that I don't just keep buying and building these neat little starships. Oh, and they have a ground assault version. Guess how many packs you have to buy to get yourself an AT-AT model.
Banik also has this book that I've been reading about the behind-the-scenes stuff. Because what I really need is even more esoteric SW trivia knowledge. And he's been mentioning all the SW novels; since I read a few years ago it's rather piqued my interest in them again.
I've watched all the movies in the last week or so, and if I'd had time I probably would've watched all the extras as well. I've also been poking around on a few of my more preferred SW webpages, but I shouldn't talk about that now. I think I'm in enough trouble as it is. Maybe I'll go photoshop something.
There are 3D puzzles. Over break I built the Imperial Star Destroyer, and I'm still working on the Millennium Falcon at home. Now I find that there's an R2D2 and a model an Anakin's Jedi Fighter that I'd never even seen before I found them online tonight. You know, while I should have been working.
Banik went and got me playing the SW Pocket Model TCG (trading card game, for those like me who had no reason to know that). First it was a pack so that I could build the little ships in it; they are SW after all. Then it was another pack because the ships were neat. Then it was 4 more because when he talked me into trying to play with only 2 packs we really didn't have enough ships and cards to do much. Now he's hoping that this is the gateway drug into me actually taking up miniature gaming, and I'm hoping that I don't just keep buying and building these neat little starships. Oh, and they have a ground assault version. Guess how many packs you have to buy to get yourself an AT-AT model.
Banik also has this book that I've been reading about the behind-the-scenes stuff. Because what I really need is even more esoteric SW trivia knowledge. And he's been mentioning all the SW novels; since I read a few years ago it's rather piqued my interest in them again.
I've watched all the movies in the last week or so, and if I'd had time I probably would've watched all the extras as well. I've also been poking around on a few of my more preferred SW webpages, but I shouldn't talk about that now. I think I'm in enough trouble as it is. Maybe I'll go photoshop something.
24 January, 2008
Coming Soon!
We will get our respective acts together and post something.
We've been... busy. And we have a lot to talk about if only we can remember what it is that we should be posting about. Coming Attractions include:
Restaurants!
Shaharazade's in Shep
The Anvil in Harpers Ferry
Thai Hut in Martinsburg
Asian Garden in Martinsburg
The Three Birds in Corning
Wegmans in Corning
Empire China in Martinsburg (which is probably the wrong place, but I never remember the name >.>)
Viva Mexico in Inwood
Cyros in .... wherever it is
Actual Cooking!
Adventures with Wheat Bread
Fun with Pizza Stones
Milkshake Machines and Disappointment
Sweet Potato Fries, Mandolins (not the kind you play), and Learning Curves
Other Things We Frantically Try to Cook Before Returning to School
And Also!
The Corning Museum of Glass
The Hillcrest Manor
Dr. Frank's Vineyards
Bully Hill Vineyards
We've been... busy. And we have a lot to talk about if only we can remember what it is that we should be posting about. Coming Attractions include:
Restaurants!
Shaharazade's in Shep
The Anvil in Harpers Ferry
Thai Hut in Martinsburg
Asian Garden in Martinsburg
The Three Birds in Corning
Wegmans in Corning
Empire China in Martinsburg (which is probably the wrong place, but I never remember the name >.>)
Viva Mexico in Inwood
Cyros in .... wherever it is
Actual Cooking!
Adventures with Wheat Bread
Fun with Pizza Stones
Milkshake Machines and Disappointment
Sweet Potato Fries, Mandolins (not the kind you play), and Learning Curves
Other Things We Frantically Try to Cook Before Returning to School
And Also!
The Corning Museum of Glass
The Hillcrest Manor
Dr. Frank's Vineyards
Bully Hill Vineyards
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