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Dennis R Weaver - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Dennis Weaver is the founder of The Prepared Pantry. The Prepared Pantry sells bread, cookie, dessert mixes as well as baking supplies. They also publish "Bake it Better", a weekly online magazine featuring baking tips, techniques, and recipes. Visit The Prepared Pantry to subscribe or to find more articles.
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- What's a Pan Dowdy?
[Food-and-Drink] Cobblers and dowdies, crisps and crumbles, buckles and betties-what are all these desserts? With a little help from American Desserts by Wayne Brachman, we thought we would give you the answers-since you're just dying to know. Cobblers: Cobblers are desserts with a syrupy fruit filling topped with biscuits or cake.
- Baking Bread and Your Freezer
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] The secret for quality bread from your freezer is starting with the freshest loaves possible. If you freeze the bread as soon as it is completely cooled, it will taste as if it came from the oven when thawed.
- Picnic Checklist
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] In the previous article, we suggested that you start a picnic checklist, improve it over time, and keep it handy for picnic prep. Here's a list to get you started. Scratch out the items you don't need and add others until you have the perfect list for your family. If you keep the list on your computer, you can print out a new copy whenever you need it.
- Picnic Tips and Tricks
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] The most difficult task of a picnic is remembering everything. Make a list on the computer of everything you might need for a picnic. Then as you pack, check off the items that you really need. Save the list for the next picnic or camping trip. When you return, add items that you wished you had taken. Eventually, you'll have the perfect list for your family.
- Campfire Cooking (Some Yummy Recipes)
[Travel-and-Leisure:Camping] It's almost picnic and camping time across most of North America. For that next trip into the woods or at the park, consider these treats-especially for the kids.
- Bread in the Woods
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] We really like fresh bread while we're camping. There is something about bread products that just seems especially good in the woods. Maybe it's the fresh air; maybe it's the appetites that we work up in the woods.
- Baking Bread in a Dutch Oven
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Dutch ovens were made for baking. In the hands of a practiced baker, a Dutch oven will create beautiful breads and desserts. (Though some of us tend to burn breads in a Dutch oven.) You can always bake bread in a well-oiled Dutch oven but instead of baking directly in the oven, consider this method: Put the dough in a baking pan and the pan in the Dutch oven.
- Save Time with No-Bake Cookies
[Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Whether you don't want to heat up the kitchen or the demands of getting the kids out the door are upon you, it's nice to have a few no-bake cookie recipes on hand. We thought we would share some of our favorites with you.
- Better Baking Technique - Is it Done Yet?
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] The ability to tell when products are baked seems to cause more consternation than almost any other phase of baking. And of course, it is important. Over baked cookies are dry and hard; under baked bread is soggy. But you can get it right. In this article, we will give you the techniques and pointers for baking your goods to perfection.
- Troubleshooting Machine Bread
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Bread machines-wonderful inventions that they are-don't think very well. You and I, when we have a loaf of bread percolating on the counter, can look and say, "My bread is rising a little slowly today. I think I will let it be for another fifteen minutes." Our bread machines go ahead and start the bake cycle anyway. The result is a dense loaf of bread that didn't rise enough.
- The Perfect Scone - Keys to Make Your Scone Just Right
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Scone recipe - Ah, there's nothing like a tender, steaming scone in the morning. (Pronounced "skawn" like "fawn" or "scone" like "tone" -Webster says either is okay.) They're quick, they're easy, and with a few tips, they are absolutely delectable.
- How to Bake - Muffins (With Recipes)
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Muffins are a mainstay around our house. They are as nourishing as they are good to eat. They are quicker and easier to make than cookies and usually contain much less sugar and fat. We usually eat them for breakfast but like them with any meal. (For Easter, we served cranberry nut muffins with a ham dinner.) They work well for snacks and desserts as well. Extras can be frozen and heated in the microwave for hot muffins anytime.
- How to Make Kaiser Rolls
[Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Want to impress your family and friends at the next gathering? Serve sandwiches on Kaiser Rolls. They'll look so professional--like they came from the bakery. You don't have to tell them how easy they were. If you can make dinner rolls, you can make Kaiser Rolls.
- The World of Cornbread
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] We're partial to cornbread. We like its rustic texture and chewy goodness. We like its versatility-it works for breakfast, lunch or dinner. It complements eggs in the morning, a hearty soup for lunch, or a dinner meal such as pork chops or chicken. Cornbread always reminds us of the South and some of the best is the result of wonderful Southern cooking.
- Picture Perfect Bread
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] The secret-at least most of it-is in the rise. The most common mistake that we see in bread making is not letting the dough rise enough.
- Secrets of Great Breads
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Often we field questions about making great bread. Great bread is a matter of using the right ingredients and the right techniques-there's no single secret that will make perfect bread. But really great bread is readily attainable. We've compiled our list of what goes into great bread.
- Make-up or Mixing Methods for Muffins
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] When muffins aren't perfect, the first reaction is to change the ingredients in the recipe. Rather than changing the recipe, try a different mixing method.
- All About Baking - Quick Breads
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] It's no wonder quick breads are so popular. They are easy, fast-as the name implies, nearly foolproof, versatile, and oh, so good. We commonly know them as sweetened loaves with fruit or nuts, somewhere between yeast breads and cakes in texture and sweetness. They are leavened with baking powder and baking soda. Banana bread and date nut bread are typical though some books list recipes for savory varieties.
- Steamed Bread - Apricot-Date Nut Bread with Caramel Sauce
[Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Steamed breads are so versatile. We love the outdoors and are always looking for interesting and different foods that we can cook while camping and steamed breads can be cooked as you lounge around the campfire. They make wonderful treats at home. And they make great emergency fare since you don't need an oven or even a range to cook these breads.
- About Baking - Eight Tips for Perfect Pancakes
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Get the griddle hot enough. Set the griddle on high or medium-high heat. When the griddle is hot enough, water droplets will dance on the surface. After putting batter on the griddle, turn the heat to medium.
- Fancy Up Your Muffins
[Food-and-Drink:Recipes] We introduced muffins to you last week and many of you bought our new Apple Oat Muffin Mix. Now we're going to tell you how to "fancy up" your muffins. We'll show you how to add a touch of orange to your muffins, put a fancy graham crumb topping on them, or top them with cream cheese. You can do this with your Apple Oat Muffins or a recipe of your choice.
- Making Pancake Batter the Night Before (With Recipe)
[Food-and-Drink:Recipes] Mornings are hectic. If you make your pancake batter the night before, that will save you precious minutes. Some pancake batter can be made the night before and stored in the refrigerator and some cannot. Here's how to tell the difference...
- How to Bake Quick Bread - Apricot-Orange Nut
[Food-and-Drink:Recipes] We love moist, fruity quick breads--and this is one of our favorites. It's nutty, flavorful, and full of wholesome ingredients. We would like to share this recipe with you and demonstrate the baking principles for wonderful quick breads.
- Baking Perfect Breads, Cookies, and Desserts
[Food-and-Drink:Desserts] We're all looking for that perfect pie, or cookies, or loaf of bread. It doesn't always happen. In our experience, there are four reasons that account for most of the less than perfect products.
- How to Bake - Easy Sourdough Bread
[Food-and-Drink:Recipes] A customer emailed us and said that her mother loved sourdough bread but had trouble making it work right. We shared the following recipe with her, which is our easiest, most foolproof recipe for sourdough bread.
- What is Gluten and Why Does It Matter?
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Gluten is a substance made up of the proteins found in wheat flour that gives bread its structure, strength, and texture. Without these marvelous little proteins, bread would not be bread. It also explains why it is so hard to make bread from rice, potato, or oat flour and why wheat flour has to be added to rye flour to make bread-only wheat has enough protein. The gluten makes the bread.
- How to Bake - How Long Should My Bread Rise?
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] The best way to tell if the dough has risen enough is not by time-though it helps to set the timer so you don't forget about your dough-but by look and feel. It will look soft and bloated. When you touch the dough, it will be soft and your finger will leave an indentation when lightly pressed against the dough. If it is not ripe, the dough will tend to slowly spring back.
- How to Make Sandwich Rolls With Your Bread Machine
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] For that next picnic or family outing, consider making sandwich rolls with your bread machine. They are quick and easy and so much better than what you buy from the stores.
- How to Bake - Bread on the Grill
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] One of the slickest tricks we know is baking bread on the grill. Once you get to know your grill, it's easy-like baking your favorite recipe in the oven.
- Why Do We Need to Knead?
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Bread dough needs to be elastic in order to capture the gases created by the yeast, stretch as bubbles form in the dough, expand, and rise. Without that elasticity, bread would not have the open texture we enjoy nor would bread be chewy. But what creates that elasticity?
- Better Breakfasts Ideas
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Nutritionists tell us that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. With breakfast, we are replenishing our bodies from the night before and charging them for the day ahead. How we will perform during the day is affected by what we eat in the morning. Yet, breakfast tends to be rushed and routine--more so than any other meal. Here are dozens of ideas to help you build better breakfasts.
- All About Strawberry Shortcakes
[Food-and-Drink:Desserts] Today strawberry shortcakes are made from every recipe from biscuits to white cake and even angel food cakes but the original recipes always called for biscuits. Usually these biscuits are made richer with dairy products and sugar. This is an original biscuit-like shortcake. It is rich and tender and flaky and very, very good. What follows are a strawberry shortcake recipe, a blueberry cream cheese shortcake recipe, and a chocolate caramel raspberry shortcake recipe.
- Using Bread Machine Mixes in Your Oven
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] You don't have to own a bread machine to enjoy the variety of bread machine mixes. And you don't have to make blocky, square loaves with holes in the bottom. You can make wonderful rolls, traditional sandwich loaves, and artisan loaves with or without the aid of a bread machine. In this article, we will tell you how to convert any bread machine mix into great breads by hand, with your stand-type mixer, or with your bread machine.
- Fine Tuning Bread Machine Mixes
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Sometimes bread machines can be tricky. We were trying to help a customer whose bread did not rise enough. It seemed that he did everything right.
- Emergency Bread - Can You Bake Bread Without an Oven?
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] What would you eat if you were stranded without power? It could happen; it does happen. A natural disaster, a breakdown in the delivery system as the Northeast experienced recently, or a terrorist strike against the infrastructure could leave you without power.
- Storing Fats and Oils
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] The human body requires the intake of six types of substances for survival: Fats, carbohydrates, proteins, water, vitamins, and minerals. Certain fatty acids are essential to our health and fats and oils are important components of our food and their preparation. Fat is responsible for much of the texture, appearance, and taste of our baked goods.
- Troubleshooting Cookies
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] If your cookies are too tough you may have used too much flour or a flour with too high of a protein content. Unless you want a chewy cookie, do not use bread flour. Check your measurements--the cookies may not have enough fat or the amount of sugar may be wrong.
- Understanding Baking - How Yeast Works
[Food-and-Drink:Cooking-Tips] Did you ever wonder why flour tastes like sawdust but a French or Italian bread made with that same flour and little else has a pleasant, sweet taste? Bread wouldn't be bread without yeast and yeast can't work without sugars. Yeast is alive-living organisms-and living organisms need food for fuel, in this case, simple sugars.
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