Mason Jar lids work (if you own mason jars, that is! If you don’t own mason jars, they probably won’t work). When our circle biscuit cutter rusted and we threw it out, we never bothered to replace it for this reason (due to a logistics issue that arose a few years back, we literally have dozens of unused mason jars and their lids)
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I didn’t. I did try fashioning one from a ring cut from a plastic bottle, but then quickly remembered that plastic melts… Ideally it needs to be hollow as it sits in the pan for the four minutes it takes to cook, as the batter is very liquid, and even when greased, a couple needed coaxing out of the mould.
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That’s tomorrow’s breakfast sorted then!
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Thanks for this - it has caused a small excited fluttering over on another board.
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Not a problem, crumpets are all kinds of good.
I baked another rye sourdough last night which we’re going to have for dinner (some of it) in a few minutes…
I also made a chocolate cake this week-end. The recipe is from “The Baking Bible” and the efforts for the recipes are usually biblical as well. After the crepe discussion here, I took care to read each step carefully before getting started and for the first time in ever I didn’t miss anything important. So I present the “Double Chocolate Oblivion”
Chocolate cake filled with something I’d call a “baked chocolate mousse” … should have been glued together with ganache as well but I opted for using some of the ready-made raspberry puree instead.
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Another day another sour dough.
This one I was actually pretty proud of.
I made a gif of it spinning on my turntable and sent it to a friend. Hence why the picture is of bread on a turntable.
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Wild Garlic Pesto, turned out a lot tastier than I expected.
Dried a whole bunch yesterday too with an experimental DIY air dryer using a steamer dish and rice cooker left on Warm for a few hours, which worked pretty well - possible potential for other drying experiments
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I’m probably cooking more than I was, but only because Blue Apron recipes make a lot less food than my usuals. Compare 2 of the most recent Blue Apron
(barley with roasted fennel and onions; arugula, sliced pears, spiced chicken; tahini/dijon/balsamic dressing)
to my other weekend effort, a Delish recipe for a cheesy chicken-broccoli bake:
Just way more substantial. Probably be eating off that for at least two to three more meals.
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Mason jar rings [1] work as cookie cutters, even if you own no mason jars. You are somewhat unlikely to own them, though. a few years ago, I got sick of not having any round cutters, or not being able to find the ones I knew I owned, and bough a tin with a nesting set. 12 sizes (3/4" to 4", I think) for about 10 bucks, quite handy. They’re also available as biscuit cutters (fluted sides), stars, squares, and probably some other shapes. Never seen christmas trees, though. Doesn’t take a lot of space, and remarkably useful.
[1] a nit: mason jars have two piece lids. The part that screws on is a ring, the part that covers the top is the lid. in pressure canning, the lid goes on, the ring is screwed on, and then backed off a bit. When the contents heat up, air is driven from the can head space. When the can cools down, the air left contracts, and the resulting vacuum holds the lid on.
The rings last pretty much forever. The lids have a rubber sealing gasket that deforms under pressure, so they’re replaced after every actual canning use. If you’re just storing dry stuff in them, the lids are reusable.
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Fascinating! No milk, no egg! I bet it won’t work with de-glutinated flour-substitute.
I have always previously tried, basically, a crêpes batter raised with yeast.
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I made crumpets once. My friends refer to it as the time I made English Muffins, and I don’t have the heart to correct them. As you might be able to tell I made something edible, but definitely not what I was trying for.
Super keen to try that recipe. If I ever do I’ll let you all know how it goes.
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I have never seen English Muffins outside North America. Which is a shame, because I rather like them.
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You mean like these?
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Huh. Shows how long it’s been since I was in Tesco. Yeah, that looks about right; thanks.
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You can find them in most supermarkets and many bakeries.
We have a recurring issue this past week or so with forgetting to get the meat out of the freezer. We’ve been having a lot of mystery meals from frozen (easily defrostable!) leftovers.
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I’ve been defrosting meat in the microwave for a long time. Is that not an option? You refer to “easily defrostable!” so it sounds as if you have a microwave . . .
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Sure, it’s an option. But it’s far preferable to let raw meat naturally defrost in the refrigerator, in my experience. Microwave defrosting is a faff and tends to partially cook the meat as well.
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Exactly - When you’ve got a whole joint of beef frozen, microwaving is a pain in the ass to defrost it.
Whereas mince already made up into a chilli or a (vaguely something like a) bolognese is the perfect microwave fodder.
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If we’re talking raw, ground beef that needs to be browned and broken up, my favorite defrosting method is to throw it on the stove on low in a lidded pot with a tight-fitting lid, and a little butter; just start browning it while it’s frozen. The butter brings some water to the mix that’ll turn to steam and accelerate thawing.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit that it won’t come out perfect, but I find ground beef that has been frozen rarely does anyway.
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