Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Alina,

The artisan flour is closer to gold medal than KAF AP as far as the gluten, IMO. KAF AP is in between regular AP and bread flour, and I agree with you on using GM for general baking.

The artisan requires a little less hydration, and more kneading, to get the same texture as KAF AP. The dough is more extensible, I have found, which is good for pizza dough, as it does not keep shrinking back, as high gluten doughs do. I have not used it in other baked goods yet, just the pasta, in which it had a great flavor.

I have used dried egg whites and yolks, to avoid waste in recipes calling for one or the other, and have had good success. The meringue was not quite as good as regular, but I only tried that once, and I think the whites should have had slightly less water added than the directions gave. BTW, 1 oz dried is approx 5 whites.

Dave, you are so my hero. Thanks for the very detailed explanations.

I am almost out of KAF so instead, I think I will get some of the flour as pizza is on my bucket list (as well as baking sourdough which I've not done in 20+ years) and of course for pasta, my newest accomplishment. I've noted the extra kneading needed.

My favorite dessert when I was a kid was something my mom called Viennese Cream. It calls for 9 whites, 9 TBS. sugar, 1 oz. butter, vanilla, optional nuts and a chocolate bar. The last has had me going crazy trying to figure out what size bar she used and what kind. We always had Menier chocolate which is sweet to eat, but I am not sure that is what she used. So I am use a .75 lb. semisweet. The consistency is between mousse and fudge. It is refrigerated and spooned onto a plate and eaten plain (I'd sneak a spoonful at time from the container and eat it).

That left me with 9 yolks. Not a problem for my mom since my brothers favorite was Capuchinos or Cabezotes which call for 9 yolks. (9 yolks + 1 whole, 2 tsp. sugar and 2 tsp. cornstarch) served drenched in my mom's sugar syrup. Not your lo-cal dessert. I love them too but discretion is the best part......

So, in addition to Meringues, I might try the Viennese Cream (scaled down) with the dried whites. BTW, that would be the perfect dessert to test chocolate since that is the main taste.

Alina,
The last couple of times that I made a Meringue, I used regular egg whites, but I added 2-3 tsp of the powdered egg white in the beginning. The resulting meringue was excellent.

Thanks Todd. Just put in my order.

Dave,
I just ordered a 50lb bag of this flour. I was told that it will give me a softer crust when I use it in the bread machine. I am hoping this works. The Residents at the Assisted Living like softer crusts on their bread. If it doesn't, then I guess I will be baking a lot of bread at home.

I just realized I'm almost out of the 50 lb. bag I bought of this flour. I love it. Ordering more within the week.

Amy

Be sure to check RetailMeNot for a 15 or 20% off promo code. Seems they always have one!

Thanks Dave, I will!

Amy

I need to test my new 50 lb bag of flour this way. It's from Central Milling. Apparently it's the flour ACME uses. I'm just glad I have less guilt over my sourdough discard now.

My flour came today. I am a little disappointed. There is a tear in the bag and flour all over inside the box. Makes me wonder if it happened during shipping or if it was packed this way. The box isn't damaged, so it makes me think it was packed this way.