Date: Sat, 27 Dec 2008 08:47:24 GMT -------------- BEGIN bread-bakers.v108.n047 -------------- 001 - Corina Gaffney Subject: Re: Secrets for Authentic Dresdner Christstollen Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:04:02 -0800 (PST) >While I am not willing to part with all of my secrets for an >authentic German Christstollen >>I had a great aunt who felt the same way about her fruit cake, >>unfortunately the recipe died with her. Now no one in the family >>can remember her fondly for it every holiday season as we could >>have kept her memory alive through continuing this family tradition. I didn't say I wasn't willing to part with all my secrets to ANYONE, just not everyone on this list. The secrets are safe with my family... ;-) --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.2 --------------- From: "Joan and the Butterfly Dogs" Subject: Re: recipe secrets Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 16:42:24 -0500 To the statement at the end below: my feeling is why bother to even post that, as such statements are so frustrating to many of us. But I hope you will continue the tradition ( pass on recipe ) in your family! It's nice to pass down family traditions. As another poster wrote about lost recipes: I too, know many families whose relatives took their recipes to the grave and their families have only fond memories but not the recipe to carry on a family tradition. We had an Aunt who made the most phenomenal home made cherry strudel for the holidays. Mom could never get the dough recipe right. I remember my mother trying to replicate it dozens of times and it never came out the same. The aunt give bits and pieces of advice to mom on how to improve it but it was just never the correct recipe! I remember my mom saying to us how ugly and selfish this was on her aunt's part. It seemed like the aunt got pleasure from my mom's frustration and not getting the recipe right! Anyway, my mom never did get the correct recipe and her aunt died along with her cherry cream cheese strudel recipe . So sometimes I think to myself, how silly and sad that was all because of a recipe! Happy Holidays to all Joan >While I am not willing to part with all of my secrets for an >authentic German Christstollen --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.3 --------------- From: reevastuart@aol.com Subject: sourdough questions Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 11:10:25 EST Hello to all the Breadbakers-- my name is Reeva and I'm a passionate baker and usually just a reader of the threads here. I'm embarking on sourdoughs for the first time, and bought a bunch of the great books on the subject, including Nancy Silverton's La Brea, etc... Wondering if you all could impart your wisdom and shed any insights, great books, how-to's, for someone tackling sourdoughs and creating and working with starters. Thank you so much and happy holidays to all, Reeva Hunter Mandelbaum --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.4 --------------- From: "Diane Purkiss" Subject: Mixers Date: Mon, 22 Dec 2008 10:42:58 -0000 No-one has yet mentioned the Kenwood Major with the 1500 w motor. I've had one for five years, and until a few months ago it was perfect, but now the safety shutoff has become overactive because stiff dough lifts up the beater head - the 'smooth action' headlift has been damaged. It still works fine if I lean on it! However, the motor is still going and has mixed many a double batch of bagel dough. It's much better than my Kitchen Aid, which is a useless fashion item. It's been back to the shop six times. Smokes whenever it mixes anything tougher than cake. Do bread machines actually mix stiff doughs any better? Oh, and merry Christmas, joyeux noel, froliches weinachten etc. I just made a big batch of stollen for all my relations. I use Daniel Boulud's recipe in east of Paris nowadays - it starts with a spongecake mix, beating eggs and sugar till they form the ribbon. Tomorrow, the brioches and pandoros... --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.5 --------------- From: jweissmn@his.com Subject: Viking Mixers - just another anecdote Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 06:24:54 -0500 And my experience has been the opposite of Leigh's. My Viking mixer, also bought from King Arthur, has worked fine on bread recipes with up to 6 or so cups of flour. It wasn't quite the mixer of my feverish mixer dreams, but it works fine. No way to tell whether Leigh got two from a bad factory run or I'm just lucky, or what. - Jessica --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.6 --------------- From: "Allen Cohn" Subject: RE: Viking Mixer Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 08:01:24 -0800 I have a Viking 7 quart. I haven't had any of these troubles...although it is very, very noisy. In retrospect, I might have gotten a KitchenAid Pro 6 (I used one once for bread and it *seemed* to do a better job) for a general purpose mixer. Or I might get a DLX ($500?) or a specialized spiral dough mixer (the kind with the revolving bowl, $1,000?) if I just wanted to focus on bread. Allen San Francisco --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.7 --------------- From: Laura Locklin Subject: A question for gonzow Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 13:55:47 -0800 (PST) I was in Cuernavaca, Mexico a couple of years ago. My hostess served a wonderful bread/puff that was all crisp crust and nothing but air inside. Round, not like a popover because there was literally nothing but a thin crust that would shatter. She said it was a "Jewish bread" --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.8 --------------- From: sblumm@comcast.net Subject: Stand Mixers Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 22:55:00 +0000 I have a KA stand mixer - when I bought it seven or eight years ago it was the largest they made for home use - about 5+ quarts I think. I use it two or three times a week for dough, usually enough for a three or four pound loaf. The KA works fine, no problems in mixing, but it did break after about 3 years of use. I think KA had changed their mixers and did not have the part needed for repair, so they sent me a new mixer. They also sent me their new style dough hook a bit later. KA's service reps are very helpful. (Though I have also had good experience with Viking service in relation to a blender.) So, I've had two KA mixers over the past seven or eight years, use it to make breads with a pre-ferment twice a week, occasionally make a challah or a sweet bread, bagels once every few months, and the KA mixer has been fine for my uses. Hope this is of some help. Stephen Blumm --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v108.n047.9 --------------- From: "Norbert or Jeanette Jacobs" Subject: Food processor question Date: Sun, 21 Dec 2008 21:54:23 -0600 Merry Christmas, Ya'll!!! This week's post mentioned a Cuisinart 1000 watt mixer that does great bread dough. Not necessarily wanting to "fry" my new 14 cup Wolfgang Puck 900 watt food processor...I'm wondering if anyone has ever had good luck mixing bread dough in a food processor? I know the recipes are out there; if I recall, some mentioned that you can't mix the dough too long because it gets too hot and kills the yeast. Suggestions / recipes will be welcomed. Another comment: I wholeheartedly agree with "Northstarkennels" about sharing family recipes. I just spent an afternoon with first cousins, and we agreed to share some of our moms' most famous recipes. Seems like some folks forget about the joy we receive in giving, not to mention the fantastic memories we are able to revive and treasure. I'm so fortunate to live in a generous family whose love for recipes, cooking, and baking far outweighs our pride. But our Mamas would surely be proud of us! I don't know of a single recipe that "they took with them to their grave." My own kids will face a different challenge: if I haven't already given them a certain recipe before I die, they will have to dig through my darn recipe box or tons of cookbooks to find it! eeeho! JJ in South Texas --------------- END bread-bakers.v108.n047 --------------- Copyright (c) 1996-2008 Regina Dwork and Jeffrey Dwork All Rights Reserved