Any Home Bakers Here?

[Blooie]

Ok, proof that I'm not totally off my rocker (hush @Sally PB )
See how the twist of the chalaza goes all the way to each end of the egg? It's the white stringy thing you see when you crack open an egg and it holds the yolk in proper suspension. That's really important when incubating eggs, which I learned a few years ago.

I suspect the spirals were the expression of the ends of the chalaza, which are not visible when the albumen is in it's normal clearish state. That's my theory anyway. Although dancing chickens is way cooler.

View attachment 3034991 View attachment 3034992

But…but…if the chickens hadn’t been spinning so fast the chaleza wouldn’t have gotten caught up in the whirlpools of the spinning eggs!

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Sourdough updates:

Bonny Sour- I am ready to throw her out. She's offensively sharp smelling losing volume, drying up, and zero activity. It's day 6 for her.

Lad (and now little Lad) - Day 5 and actively bubbling. According to the recipe I divided Lad in half for the discard and now begin to build Lad's volume with feedings.

Little Lad is what I removed and I decided to treat it just like Big Lad. Since I don't have a recipe end goal yet, I'll build it too. I can freeze it, dry it, or use it.

Both are smelling pleasantly sour and supposedly I should have something fluffy and really bubbly by tonight, and can plan to bake a GF sourdough bread on day 7 or 8. Apparently lemon juice on day one was the trick.

Quincy the Quinoa cheater starter- or Friendship Bread starter, doing fine as far as I can tell.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Kendra’s IEP is today. Jenny hates them…says it feels like every sentence is telling her that Kendra is somehow “less than…..” Jenny beats herself up after every one, knowing that her seizure medication is the precise cause of it all, and I hate to see that happen every few months.

“Kendra can’t do this or that yet, and Kendra still isn’t speaking, and Kendra still can’t grasp the simplest math concepts, and Kendra’s social skills are stalled, and..,and…and.” She says instead of giving birth to and raising a delightful, smart, loving little girl, she feels instead like she gave birth to a burden to the state. Having only 2 kids, and having both of them on the Autism spectrum and with some disabilities, is draining. Katie has beaten her Autism back. Kendra’s is far worse so the fight is a lot harder.

I think I’ll make up some of their favorite sloppy joes and take that and the Brioche buns left over from last night to them so she doesn’t have to cook tonight. What do you guys think? Take the time to bake up a cake or something too? It’s just that a cake seems celebratory.

Do the cake without a fancy frosting. Or cookies/cookie bars/brownies.
I know all about IEP meetings, and how exhausting they are. Any kind of pick me up works, trust me.

 

[Sally PB]

@SnapdragonQ, I'm poking around on this site, and she has a lot of info on various GF flours and how they work and what they're good for. She doesn't like the brand of flour I can get (reasonably) cheaply at Costco, Namaste, and says it won't work in her recipes. Like a bagel recipe...

https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-recipes/

 

[BullChick]

Kendra’s IEP is today. Jenny hates them…says it feels like every sentence is telling her that Kendra is somehow “less than…..” Jenny beats herself up after every one, knowing that her seizure medication is the precise cause of it all, and I hate to see that happen every few months.

“Kendra can’t do this or that yet, and Kendra still isn’t speaking, and Kendra still can’t grasp the simplest math concepts, and Kendra’s social skills are stalled, and..,and…and.” She says instead of giving birth to and raising a delightful, smart, loving little girl, she feels instead like she gave birth to a burden to the state. Having only 2 kids, and having both of them on the Autism spectrum and with some disabilities, is draining. Katie has beaten her Autism back. Kendra’s is far worse so the fight is a lot harder.

I think I’ll make up some of their favorite sloppy joes and take that and the Brioche buns left over from last night to them so she doesn’t have to cook tonight. What do you guys think? Take the time to bake up a cake or something too? It’s just that a cake seems celebratory.

I’m thinking a pie.

 

[Blooie]

I’m thinking a pie.

Oh, oh!! I just bought a box of Puff Pastry sheets!!! I can bake one of those up, spread some lemon curd over it, and with a little meringue toasted on top, bring them a lemon tart! They all love that! Thanks, BullChick!

 

[SnapdragonQ]

@SnapdragonQ, I'm poking around on this site, and she has a lot of info on various GF flours and how they work and what they're good for. She doesn't like the brand of flour I can get (reasonably) cheaply at Costco, Namaste, and says it won't work in her recipes. Like a bagel recipe...

https://glutenfreeonashoestring.com/all-purpose-gluten-free-flour-recipes/

Yeah, I'm familiar with her. Along with quite a few online people who insist only their blends will work for recipes X, Y, or Z.
Take it with a grain of salt.

See where she splits things down into the 60% /40% ratio I mentioned? I would use that as a good start for a ratio. The problem with purchased blends like Namaste, or Bob's Red Mill, is you don't exactly know what those ratios are. And the ones formulated for things like pancakes or muffins tend to be far more starchy and will not work for anything with yeasts.

It would probably be very easy to take Namaste and add some of your own whole grains to make a mixture with the proteins and oomph to make a yeasted item, or bagels.

For example, I like Bob's Red Mill GF 1:1 because it's made in a dedicated factory safe for kiddo. (all their GF stuff is) But, it has it's limitations.
In one of my best home constructed bread recipes yet, I converted a recipe that called for 3 cups plus 3 tablespoons of the author's super special flour mix X and split it up like this:
2 cups + 3 TBSP Bob's 1:1
1 cup GF wholegrain mix (quinoa, amaranth, flax, buckwheat)
The remainder of the recipe exactly the same.

Guuuurl... that bread nearly brought tears to my eyes! Almost as domed as a gluteny bread, perfect texture, terrific crumb, and so satisfying I nearly wet my pants. It is now our go to everyday bread. (smack yer momma good if'n y'all be from the south!)

I have learned that yes, mostly starchy mixes may be fine for cookies, but are terrible for anything with substance. Those books we talked about in the PM cover some of this and is what set me to be able to experiment with confidence and create my own recipes now that I understand how things work.

Let me do some digging on Namaste's ingredients, and I can send you some Bagel and Pretzels that might work, if you want. I know my page pictures are not the greatest.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

...Sorry, I mean to say see how the Mock Better Batter is more like 60/40

And the Mock Cup4Cup is more in reverse? About 40% rice flours and the rest fluff.

 

[Sally PB]

1 cup GF wholegrain mix (quinoa, amaranth, flax, buckwheat)

Something you mix up, or is this something you buy? Can you smell the cogs in my brain working? I have a bag of quinoa, and can buy flaxseed easily enough, so I could grind my own of those. Not sure about the other two.

I have heard very good things about Bob's, as far as dedicated GF facilities.

 

[SnapdragonQ]

Something you mix up, or is this something you buy? Can you smell the cogs in my brain working? I have a bag of quinoa, and can buy flaxseed easily enough, so I could grind my own of those. Not sure about the other two.

I have heard very good things about Bob's, as far as dedicated GF facilities.

Kinda both. I'll hit ya in the PM.
I think Bob's 1 :1 and Namaste are very similar, give me a few minutes...