KitchenSavvy

Making Cinnamon Rolls with Self-Rising Flour

I have a question about self-rising flour. I have a recipe that calls for yeast and warm water. I was wondering if I can substitute self-rising flour and avoid all the yeast and it's complications (like water at 110 degrees etc.)? The recipe is for cinnamon rolls.

Thank you so much for your help.

--Shannon

Self-rising flour is a lower protein all purpose flour with baking powder and salt added in.  The amount of salt varies by maker.

You could substitute self-rising for bread or regular all purpose flour but what you will end up with will be more like a cinnamon tea biscuit.  In bread making, proteins in the flour form glutens that trap carbon dioxide gas produced by the yeast, similar to a balloon filling with air, to make the product rise.  During baking, evaporation of alcohol also produced by fermentation of sugars by the yeast cause the bubbles to inflate further.  Because yeast produces lots of gas over a long period, the gluten structure is needed to trap the gas and make bread recipes work right.

Unlike bread, cakes, biscuits and cookies don't rely on gluten to trap gases.  Instead of releasing lots of gas over a long period, baking powder releases relatively less carbon dioxide fairly quickly, mostly as the product is baking.  Starch in the flour or proteins from other ingredients like eggs set as the gas is released.  A balance of ingredients, temperatures and timing need to work together to make the the product set.

Self-rising flour is used in cakes and biscuits, not breads, and shouldn't be kneaded like bread.  If you do knead it, any gluten that forms will work against the baking powder, resulting in less rise and a flat, tough result.  So if you replace the yeast and flour in your recipe, you shouldn't knead the dough, which in turn means that you will end up with a cake or biscuit like texture.

Beyond that, you will likely need to reduce the amount of liquid since lower protein flour absorbs less water.  The amount of water you want to use will be enough to make a dough the consistency of rolled biscuits.  You will also want to reduce the salt in the recipe if your self-rising flour contains salt.  The exact amount you need to reduce it by is not easy to predict but may be as much as 1/2 teaspoon per cup of flour.

You may find that you need to alter the amount of fat in the dough, too, to get a satisfactory texture.

Finally, you may need to increase or decrease the amount of sugar in the dough to get the right balance of flavors.

The exact amounts for all of these changes is hard to predict, since they depend on the initial recipe, as well as other factors and personal tastes.  A better starting point might be to begin with a recipe for rolled biscuits using self-risng flour and take it from there, rather than starting with a yeast recipe.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Removing Mushroom Gills

Is it necessary to remove the gills in mushrooms while cooking?

-- Sneha

There are a few reasons why you might want to remove the gills from mushrooms, but none of them is absolutely necessary.

If you are making a light colored sauce, such as a mushroom cream sauce, you might want to remove the gills from your mushrooms, particularly older mushrooms that have their gills exposed.  The reason for this, is that the gills can discolor your sauce and make it dirty brown rather than light and creamy looking.

If the mushrooms are older and the gills are already exposed, there is a chance that dirt or even insects may be caught up in the gills.  This is especially a problem if they are wild, foraged mushrooms.  To avoid having grit from the mushrooms get into your food, you might want to remove the gills.  Also, the gills of older mushrooms may have more intense flavor.   For a lightly flavored, more delicate sauce removing the gills may be desirable.

When making stuffed mushrooms, you might want to remove the gills just to make it easier to stuff them, and to make more room for the stuffing to fit.

To remove the gills, first break away the stem by bending it back and forth.  It should break off right where it joins the cap.  Then use an teaspoon, the kind you stir your tea with, not the measuring spoon, and scrape the underside of the mushroom with the edge of the spoon.  The gills should come away into the spoon.  Go back and clean up any missed spots or pieces that got left behind.  Finally, wipe the inside of the mushroom cap out with a dry cloth or paper towel.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Adjusting Cheesecake Recipes for Different Pan Sizes

I have a recipe for a lemon marble cheesecake that I am making for Easter Dinner. I have several question for you. I would like to make this in a larger size pan but have been unable to find the volumes for any cheesecake pans. Do you have any idea of the volumes on say a 9 1/2 inch, 10 inch and 12 inch springform pans? Also after adjusting the recipe quantities are there any other considerations I might need to take besides increasing the baking time?

--Karen

First, thanks for getting the question to me ahead of time.  So often I get questions right when the problem arises.  By then, its too late to answer in time to be of help.

According to Corriher, in her new book BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking, springform pans may not actually measure the same diameter as they are labeled. The Food Lover's Companion does give the volume for a 9 ½" x 2 ½" springform as 10 cups, and a 10 ½" x 2 ½" springform as 12 cups.

If you have the pans on hand, you could just fill them with water using a measuring cup and see how much it takes, but since springform pans leak, you need to line them with something to keep the water in.  To do that, just open kitchen garbage bag and put it into the pan, the same as if you were lining a pail.  Let the excess drape around the outside, and then fill the bag inside the pan with water until it comes close to the top of the pan.  The water will push the excess plastic out to the edges of the pan, so your measurement will be pretty close.  It is probably best to do this in the sink to avoid a mess.

Alternatively, you can calculate the volume of the pans using the formula:

V= H x Π x r²

where:

• H is the height of the pan, measured inside from the bottom to the height you would fill it;
• Π is the constant 3.1416
• and r² is ½ the measured diameter of the pan squared.

Thus, for a pan which measures 9 ½" diameter and 2" high inside, the volume will be:

V = 2 x 3.1416 x4.75 x 4.75

V = 141.76 cu in

Since 1 US cup = 14.4375 cubic inches, the pan would hold about 9.8 cups or say 10 cups even.

If you are using a larger pan, but plan to fill it to the same depth, then you can just square to ratio of the diameters to get the scaling factor.  A 12" pan will hold 1.6 times as much as a 9 ½" one [(12/9.5)²].  I actually recommend this, as it will cause less problems in terms of cooking time.  If the pan is filled to the same depth, then the cooking time will remain close to the same (see Scaling Recipes).

Armed with the measured or calculated volumes of various pans, you can now scale your recipe.  I recommend against scaling a recipe by more than a factor of two.

Start with the number of eggs in the recipe.  In the above example of going from a 9 ½" pan to a 12" pan, if the original recipe calls for 4 eggs, then the scaled recipe will need 6.4 eggs.  Now you have a problem, the 0.4 of an egg.  The easiest thing to do will be to use 6 eggs, and scale everything by 1.5 instead of 1.6 . Scale the rest of the ingredients accordingly and proceed.

Just one more note, though.  If you are scaling by volume, and the recipe calls for a crumb crust on the bottom of the pan, scale the ingredients for the crust by the ratio of the diameters, as above.  If you don't, the crust will be too thick.

Make and bake the cheesecake following the hints in the posting How Can You Prevent a Cheesecake from Cracking?

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Beating Egg Whites - How Cream of Tartar Helps

While you mentioned that cream of tartar, in a properly sealed container, can be kept indefinitely, I used mine last evening and the beaten egg whites did not turn out to be stiff as described in the recipe.  I suspect the culprit is my cream of tartar being too old, even though it was kept in a tightly sealed container.

-- Lucy

Cream of tartar does not affect the stiffness to which egg whites can be beat nearly as much as it helps stop beaten egg whites from collapsing. 

When you beat egg whites, proteins in the whites unfold from their natural shape and become tangled with each other.  At the same time, you are beating air into the whites, forming small bubbles.  The protein molecules become attached to each other through chemical and electrical bonds that reinforce the skin of the air bubbles.  Over time, these bonds can pull the proteins closer together, forcing out the water trapped in the surface of the bubbles.  Eventually, the proteins pull themselves together so strongly that compact, grainy protein lumps form and the liquid pools in the bottom of the bowl.

This is where the cream of tartar comes in.  It helps prevent the formation of chemical bonds between protein molecules.

To understand this, first a little chemistry.  Protein molecules have, along their length, sulfur atoms that in turn may have a hydrogen atom attached.  If the sulfur atoms release their attached hydrogen into the surrounding liquid, then they can attach to something else.  Sometimes, that something else is a sulfur atom on another protein molecule.   If too many sulfur - sulfur bonds occur, the proteins pull together too strongly and the foam collapses, as above.

Because it is acidic, the cream of tartar increases the number of free hydrogen atoms in the liquid.  These extra hydrogen atoms either stop the sulfur atoms from releasing their attached hydrogen, or else provide another hydrogen atom to quickly take its place.  Because of this, the rate at which sulfur - sulfur bonds can be created is slowed down enough to help keep the egg whites stiff long enough to be used.

Any acid can be used for this purpose, although cream of tartar and lemon juice are the most common.  The amounts needed are 1/8 teaspoon per egg white for cream of tartar and 1/4 teaspoon per egg white for lemon juice.

If you are having trouble beating egg whites to stiff peaks, there may be one of three causes.  If you got any of the yolk from the eggs into the whites while separating them, this can lessen the ability of the eggs to form stiff peaks, as can contamination from oil, fat or detergent on the utensils.  You should never use a plastic bowl to beat egg whites, since fat molecules are attracted to some plastics and may leave a film on the inside of the bowl.

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If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com

If you have food or cooking questions, send them to Questions@KitchenSavvy.com

Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Caramelized Onion, Chevre and Fig Tart

I love cooking with caramelized onions. They have a rich, complex flavor which is suited to many applications. They are the basis of dishes like classic French Onion Soup and and Pissaladiere. Caramelized onion can also be used stews and braises, in making bread and as a complement to meat. 

On a recent trip to France, we discovered a natural affinity for chevre cheese and figs so, bringing these flavors together, I invented the following recipe.

Caramelized Onion, Chevre and Fig Tart

Amount		Measure	Ingredient
2		Med	Onions
1	1/2	Tsp	Olive Oil
	1/2	Tsp	Salt
3	1/2	Oz	Chevre Cheese, unripened
3		Tbsp	Fig Jam
18			Mini Tart Shells

1. Peel onions, halve and slice into 1/8th inch slices. Place in a bowl, sprinkle with salt and let sit for 5 - 10 minutes.
2. Heat a sauté pan to medium heat and add the olive oil. Add the sliced onions. Sprinkle on the salt.  Toss. Cover and allow to steam down, 10 - 15 minutes, being careful to reduce the heat if they start to brown.
3. Remove the cover, and continue to cook the onions down, stirring frequently and progressively reducing the heat as they brown, until they are evenly softened and browned to a mahogany color. The volume will be greatly reduced. Allow to cool.
4. Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C)
5. Place tart shells onto a cookie sheet. Give the caramelized onions a rough chop just to remove any long pieces and then divide evenly among the tart shells. Divide the chevre evenly among the tarts, spreading it, if possible, to cover the onions. Top each tart with 1/2 teaspoon of the fig jam.
6. Bake tarts for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges of the tart shells are lightly browned and the jam is bubbling. Remove from oven and allow to cool before serving.

In place of the second step above, you can toss the onions with the salt and then microwave on high for about 15 minutes until they soften and reduce to about three quarters their original volume.  Place the onions and any liquid into the oiled pan and proceed as in step 3.

As they caramelize, the onions will reduce down a much smaller volume, as shown in the following pictures.

Raw Onions		The Same Onions After Being Caramelized

In these pictures, eight large yellow onions, about 5.3 pounds (2.8 Kg) were caramelized, resulting in about 2 1/4 cups (300 ml) of finished product.  The two onions in the recipe should yield about 9 tablespoons, or about 1/2 tablespoon per tart.

Don't spend extra to buy sweet onions for caramelization.  By the time you are done, the sharp sulfur compounds will have cooked off completely, so use the least expensive onions you can find.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Substitute for Gruyère Cheese

What can I substitute for Gruyère cheese?

-- D

To some extent, that depends on what you are using it for.  In fondue, Ememental would be the standard substitution.  If you can't find Emmental, look for generic Swiss Cheese.   The Food Substitutions Bible suggests you can also use Comté or Beaufort as a general substitute for Gruyère.

For melting on top of one of my all time favorite potato dishes, Potato Flan with Caramelized Onions, I really like Jarlsberg, since its slightly stronger, nutty flavor stands up well to the complexity of the dish.  The original recipe called for Gruyère.  For grilling or melting onto potatoes or vegetables, you could also use Raclette from France or Switzerland.

And for eating out of hand, try any of the above as well as Maasdam or Edam.

If you live somewhere that has a good, knowledgeable cheese store, like the Bulk Cheese Warehouse in Saskatoon, go in and tell them what you are making.  They may have many more interesting suggestions.  If you are looking for a cheese to go with a particular food, say maybe to serve alongside a Peach Cobbler, tell them.  They may be able to suggest an interesting pairing.  If you aren't sure of a recommendation, most cheesemongers will be happy to give you a taste of any cheese they suggest.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Adding Eggs and Dry Ingredients in Baking

Why do you have to add eggs one at a time, or add liquid and dry ingredients alternately in baking?

--Mark & Nancy

Many cake and cookie recipes start by creaming together a solid fat, usually butter, and sugar.  After this they say to add the required number of eggs one at a time, incorporating each one before the next is added.  Then, the dry ingredients and other liquid ingredients are blended in, alternating dry and wet ingredients.   This is probably the most common procedure in home baking.

If you add the eggs one at a time and blend each of them in well, the fat will emulsify with the eggs, similar to making mayonnaise, only in this case you are adding the eggs to the fat rather than the other way around. 

And just like making mayonnaise, if you were to dump all of the eggs into the bowl at once and try to beat them together, it is much harder, if not impossible to get a smooth result.  Try that some time, and you may have the butter turn into grains that don't blend in.  This isn't fatal to making a cake, but could result in some larger pockets of fat that melt during cooking creating an uneven texture in the finished product.  Also, according to Shirley Corriher in BakeWise: The Hows and Whys of Successful Baking with Over 200 Magnificent Recipes if you over-beat the batter once the eggs are added, you may get a hard, shiny crust on top of your baking that separates from the rest of the food.  This is because the eggs have been beaten to a partial meringue.  If you add all of the eggs at once, you may blend the batter too long trying to get it smooth, resulting in this crust effect.

Once the eggs are incorporated, the instructions say to add some of the dry ingredients, which have already been blended together in a separate bowl, and then some of the other liquid ingredients.  Usually they say to alternate one third of the dry ingredients, one third of the liquid, and so on.  Sometimes it is by halves.

In baking, you want to avoid as much as possible the formation of gluten, which result from the combination of certain wheat flour proteins with water.  Because gluten is elastic, and because chemical leaveners are not very strong, any gluten that is formed will inhibit the rise of the baked product.  Gluten in cookies will make them tough and leathery.  Gluten is desirable in bread making, but not baking.

If you follow the typical instructions to alternate dry and wet, the first batch of dry ingredients you add gets coated with the fat, both from the butter or other fat, and the fat in the egg yolks.  The fat interferes with the formation of gluten.  From there you want to add liquids and dry ingredients mixing as little as possible while still getting everything evenly blended.  Too much mixing will cause more gluten to form, resulting in a denser, more bread-like loaf. 

If you dumped all of the dry ingredients in at once, the batter at that point would be very stiff and may be lumpy.  In an effort to get a smooth batter, you will likely mix enough to form lots of gluten.  On the other hand, if you added all of the liquid ingredients first, you wouldn't get the benefit of the fat interfering with gluten formation.  The balance is found in between, neither adding all of the dry ingredients first nor adding all of the wet ingredients first, but rather in alternating them according to the recipe.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Adjusting Baking Powder in Pumpkin Muffins

I am making low cal pumpkin muffins using a box of spice cake mix combined with a can of pumpkin. Can I add a little baking powder to make them rise up and be a little bigger?

--Judy

You can certainly try adding more baking powder, but there are a few things you might want to consider before you try that. 

First, you don't say whether you are making the cake mix according to the instructions on the box, or modifying it in any way.  According to the USDA nutritional analysis for canned pumpkin, one cup of pumpkin contains around 7.5 fluid ounces of water.  By weight, canned pumpkin is over 91% water.  If you are using canned pumpkin pie mix, things are slightly better.  A cup of that contains only 6.5 fluid ounces of water.  That is still 71.5% water by weight, though.

For cakes or muffins, if the batter is too thin, then the bubbles released by the baking powder, or other leavening, may rise to the surface and escape before the batter starts to set and is able to trap the bubbles.  If you are not compensating for the water in the canned pumpkin, that may make your batter too thin.  Since the water is trapped inside the pumpkin, the batter may look good going into the oven, but still be too wet.

To remove some of the excess water from canned pumpkin, the folks at America's Test Kitchen line a rimmed baking sheet with a few layers of paper towel, spread the pumpkin evenly over that and then cover with another layer of towel.  Pat lightly to press the top layer of paper towel into contact with the pumpkin.  Peel off the top layer of paper towel and then roll the pumpkin off the bottom paper towel as if you were making a jelly roll.  This technique will remove over a quarter cup, or about 1/3 of the water.

You could also correct  the cake recipe by reducing the other liquids used.

On the other hand, if the batter is too thick, then it is more difficult for the leavener to work, so if you are only using the mix and canned pumpkin, you may need to add a bit more liquid.  Either way, you will likely need to experiment a bit to get the desired result.

So, back to the original question, yes, you can try adding more baking powder, too.  Start with maybe 1/2 teaspoon or so, and see what happens.  Too much baking pwder, though can cause your muffins to rise too quickly, resulting in them splitting open or collapsing.  If that happens, reduce the amount of added baking powder and try again.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Coriander and Cilantro

What is the difference between coriander and cilantro?

--Alexis

Coriander and cilantro are the same plant, coriandrum sativum.  Typically, the seeds are called coriander.  The leaves may be called coriander, cilantro, or Chinese parsley.  Both parts are used in cooking.

The coriander seed is small, about 1/8 inch (3 mm) and is light brown or tan in color.  It has a sweet, slightly anise flavor.  It is used in foods from a number of different ethnic origins, showing up in curry blends, pickling spices and corned beef recipes to name a few.  As a child you might remember eating those small black jawbreakers with a seed in the center.  The seed was coriander.

Cilantro is used in Mexican and oriental cooking.  It looks somewhat like Italian parsley, although the leaves are a slightly lighter shad of green and not quite as thick or rigid as parsley.  Cilantro has a musty flavor that some people find objectionable.  Personally, I found that I had to taste cilantro three or four times before I became accustomed to the taste and actually started using it in my cooking.  Like parsley and arugula, cilantro is sometimes used as a salad green also.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward

Freezing Soaked Beans

I soaked a three of cups of dried navy beans overnight to use in a baked bean recipe, and now I see that the recipe only needs two cups of dried beans.  Can I freeze the ones I don't need for some future use?

--Josh

Dried beans that have been soaked can be drained and frozen as is, or they can be boiled first and then frozen.  You may find after freezing that some of the beans have broken open.  Depending on what you end up using them for, this may not be be desirable.  They will probably be alright for a future batch of baked beans, though.

If you chose to boil them before freezing, you need to decide whether you want to then drain them, or freeze them in the boiling liquid.  Either way will work, and largely depends on whether you want to use the boiling liquid in the final recipe.  You also should under cook them a bit, so that they are a little firmer than el dente.

If you use the quick soak method, where you boil the beans for a few minutes and then allow then to stand off heat for an hour, you can still freeze the beans at that point.  Just remember to allow them to cool down to room temperature before putting them into the freezer.

You can also freeze lima beans, chickpeas and other dried beans or peas that require pre-soaking before use.

In any case, you should probably use the beans or peas within a month or two after freezing.

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Due to the volume of questions received, not all can be answered.
© Lost Hobbit Enterprises 2004 onward