Any Home Bakers Here?

[ronott1]

@ronott1, I have named my two starters. The white flour one is Frodo, as I believe I have mentioned. The partially whole wheat one is My Precious, lol. I will soon be using her to make a rye bread version. I already have the caraway seeds!

Nice names for the sourdough starter!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Needed some dessert, so I opted for something not needing a HOT OVEN. It has been quite warm here lately, so baking is on hold.
I did modify the Cheesecake somewhat. Used a preformed pie crust. and instead of the Strawberry jam that came with the package, I opted for Pie Blueberries from a can.
No recipe here, but I will mention how simple it was. In my stand mixer, I poured 1½ cups cold milk. Envelope packet of the Cheese cake mix. Stir on slow for 1 minute.,,, Then Stir on medium for 3 minutes,,,,, Done,, and spoon into prepared pie pan.
The box contained the Graham cracker mix in envelope. I just chose to simplify by using a premade pie crust.
Place into refrigerator, and chill. I left in refrigerator, overnight, and cut up and served next day for Dinner dessert.
View attachment 3556040
View attachment 3556044

And since this is not a recipe post, thought I would share an addition to my kitchen. Received this for Fathers Day.
It is a dish towel,,, but I will just use a décor for now.
View attachment 3556043

And ... (singing) a little bit of bread is better than no bread,
Even some bad bread is better than no bread,
Any kind of bread is better than no bread..
At aaaaalll.

Good luck getting that out of your head!

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Jared, Be grateful you are able to do. I want so badly to "play with dirt" and
NOT able. ENJOY.

 

[BigBlueHen53]

Nice names for the sourdough starter!

Thank you!

 

[BullChick]

I wanted to do an experiment. Mint chocolate chip scones.
I started making half a batch of scones. I added some (homemade) mint extract, and looked for the chocolate chips. There weren’t any! I thought I’d just try hot chocolate powder. It was instant breakfast powder. Please read that as, “these things are good for you! ” I cut them out with my smallest cutter, and hoped they would be edible.
A bit later, I removed my thin scones from the oven. I admit they were not cut as thick as I usually do, but I felt deflated myself. I suspect the weight of the chocolate powder is to blame.
I put most of the “scones” on two plates, and headed to the two neighbors that devour my food. I will keep it short, and say that while my food has been demoted to cookies, the taste testers all love them, and want more.

 

[MotherofOrpies]

I wanted to do an experiment. Mint chocolate chip scones.
I started making half a batch of scones. I added some (homemade) mint extract, and looked for the chocolate chips. There weren’t any! I thought I’d just try hot chocolate powder. It was instant breakfast powder. Please read that as, “these things are good for you! ” I cut them out with my smallest cutter, and hoped they would be edible.
A bit later, I removed my thin scones from the oven. I admit they were not cut as thick as I usually do, but I felt deflated myself. I suspect the weight of the chocolate powder is to blame.
I put most of the “scones” on two plates, and headed to the two neighbors that devour my food. I will keep it short, and say that while my food has been demoted to cookies, the taste testers all love them, and want more. View attachment 3557323

My family will devour almost anything which is sweet and edible

 

[BullChick]

My family will devour almost anything which is sweet and edible

We have good guinea pigs.
Of course, actual guinea pigs are picky eaters, so maybe I should say we have good dogs.

 

[bruceha2000]

I never cover leaves on a potato plant. They are the part gathering in the sunlight and doing the photosynthesis. They do not produce the tubers. We always dragged the dirt up to the plants so they had a soft soil to grow the tubers in. It also buried the weeds that were competing with the potato plants.

The best I did was 200 lbs. of potatoes from 2 lbs. of potatoes planted.

I think the idea is that the covered up stems produce the potatoes and by covering up the tops a couple of times there is more stem to make potatoes

what they looked like before I covered them

one week after mostly covering them

the friend that gave me the seed potatoes uses grow bags that are 18” tall. She said she keeps covering until the bag is full. The reds are on the right, she said her reds are also smaller/slower to grow like mine are.

I’ve only grown potatoes once before. Got a whopping 2 pounds of potatoes from 1/2 pound of seed potatoes. Not real impressive.

 

[Sally PB]

And ... (singing) a little bit of bread is better than no bread,
Even some bad bread is better than no bread,
Any kind of bread is better than no bread..
At aaaaalll.

Got to believe it!

 

[R2elk]

I think the idea is that the covered up stems produce the potatoes and by covering up the tops a couple of times there is more stem to make potatoes

what they looked like before I covered them
View attachment 3557347

one week after mostly covering them
View attachment 3557348
the friend that gave me the seed potatoes uses grow bags that are 18” tall. She said she keeps covering until the bag is full. The reds are on the right, she said her reds are also smaller/slower to grow like mine are.

I’ve only grown potatoes once before. Got a whopping 2 pounds of potatoes from 1/2 pound of seed potatoes. Not real impressive.

My feeling is that by covering up the leaves you are forcing the plant to spend more energy growing the plant instead of growing tubers. Planted in a garden in loose soil, the object is to keep dragging the soil up next to the plant which (a) covers up the competing weeds and (b) provides more loose soil for the tubers to form in.

I grew a potato plant in a bucket one year. It did not produce anywhere near the tubers that growing in a garden would have. The next year I grew several potatoes in a large shallow bin (6" deep) in loose garden soil. They produced much better than the one grown in a bucket. Also they produced over a much longer period of time.