Sweet Kitchen Tips 20

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I learn this one recently, I usually weigh my baking ingredients in different bowls or pieces of parchment paper.. but then I have to clean up those bowls.  I found this tip genius!  Use a small brown paper bag (you can score a couple of them for free at your local supermarket) to hold the flour while measuring it on the scale. The bag stands open the scale, is deep enough to hold a lot with no overflow.  And the best part? Pours neatly into your mixer.

How about when you need to dust the cake pan (if you are not using spray) or the work surface… I store my flour in a big 5 gallon container, so hauling it out just to use a little is a pain in the you know what.  Instead I use a salt shaker that I got on the cheap at the dollar store and use to to fill it with flour (mine hols about 1/2 cup) store it in my pantry and when I need a little it’s great to have at hand without needed heavy lifting.

Another great tip is when you need to add flour to your food processor in small increments. You need to unlock and lock the lid a couple of time again loosing time if you ask me.  So before adding any flour (or other dry ingredient), I shape a double piece of parchment or waxed paper into a funnel and slide it into the feed tube of the food processor.  Now your dry ingredients can be added as needed to the funnel and it will flow slowly, evenly and steadily into the work bowl.

Fondant 101

So now that I was able to sort of conquer my fear of the piping bag with my decorating class that I took last month - or better yet, last year.  I now have move on to tackle Fondant.

My class for this took place at the beginning of the week.  To say that I was excited to take this course is in understatement.  I was giddy.  I mean come on it’s fondant and as any baker slick their salt knows, you need to know how to work with this medium.  This way you can make pretty cakes that will ohh and ahh people.

The class was pretty much the same as the piping class, except this time it was only 10 of us.  Apparently you need a lot of arm space to work with fondant.

The goal here was to cover a cake with a crumb coat of buttercream, then covered it with marbleized white fondant - in this case we use the color blue and then make an elaborate bow on top.  All this would yield a cake looking like a nicely wrapped present.

Want to take a peek at my end product?  Here you go:

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ABC: Evie Lieb's Processor Challah

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I think I may be ready to cross out “conquer anything with yeast” off my kitchen bucket list.

Uh, maybe.

This month’s choice for Avid Baker’s Challenge called to make Challah bread.  I have to note that I love French bread, because I tend to like breads that are super “crusty” and then light and airy inside.  But, Challah is one of my favorite soft breads (the other is brioche) plus I use it all the time to make the best EVER, SUPER DUPPER EASY French Toast Casserole.  It also holds a special place in the Jewish tradition of the three Sabbath and two holiday meals, which begins with two complete loaves of Challah bread being blessed by the head of the household. On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, the challah may be rolled into a circular shape (sometimes referred to as a “Turban Challah”), symbolizing the cycle of the year, and baked with raisins in the dough. Sometimes the top is brushed with honey in honor of the “sweet new year.”

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