Cookaholics Bulletin Board

Once upon a time, cookbooks would give the sage advice that an empty coffee can would stand in for a Panettone/Boston Brown Bread/Kulich pan. Now, alas it is the coffee can that has become a mere legend. Long story short, I need to make Kulich for Easter. I just found out yesterday that we will be Eastering rather than moving this Sunday so I joined forces with my sister to avoid having to make the whole damnthing myself. She wants "that bread with the raisins you used to make for Easter when I was in high school." I can get a panettone pan, and probably should, but not by Sunday. Any ideas on how to improvise a 6-or 7-inch diameter, 7-inch tall pan?

Have you looked for the size can you need at dollar stores? They seem to carry stuff in metal cans still. Can you use a large tomato can? Does it bake at a really high temp. or can you use round container and then build it up to the height you need with heavy duty foil?

If you can find a store that sells to restaurants you can find a large can there. You get to chose what it's filled with. I'd go for the hot fudge, myself.
There's a chain called Gordon FoodService that has mid-size stores open to the general public. Also, some grocery stores sell the big cans.

If you have a Mexican grocery nearby, they may have large cans of hominy and beans - something I see in the store near me. And Asian markets usually sell those large cans with soy, hoisin, and bean sauce (though it's been many years since I bought it in those amounts!).

No Mexican groceries here, or Asian groceries, either. I might luck out at GFS. Thanks!

In Maggie Glezer's book, Artisan Baking, she reprints the Boston Brown Bread recipe from Hi-Rise Bakery in San Francisco which doesn't steam, but bakes the bread. They bake it in loaf pans (or cans if you want the traditional shape), because "it has a better texture" and is less of a hassle. I've made it and it's great. If you'd like the recipe (which she printed with both the can and the loaf pan option), here it is:

• Butter for the coffee cans or loaf pans
• 1 1/2 cups (8 oz/230g) all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup (4 oz/115g) stone-ground cornmeal
• 2 cups (8 oz/230g) rye flour
• 1 cup (5.3 oz/150g) whole-wheat flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (0.3 oz/7g) baking powder
• 1 tablespoon (0.5 oz/15 g) baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 cup (5.7 oz/165 g) light molasses
• 2 cups (17.6 oz/500 g) milk, any kind
• 1 cup (4 oz/115 g) dried blueberries, currants, raisins, or cranberries

Instructions
1. Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Generously butter 2 clean 14-ounce coffee cans, or 2 small loaf pans.
2. Combine the dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a pitcher, combine the molasses and milk. Stir enough of the milk mixture into the dry ingredients to form a thick paste, then beat until the batter is smooth. Stir in the remaining milk mixture, then fold in the dried fruit. Spoon the batter into the prepared pans; it should fill three quarters of each can or loaf pan.
3. Bake for 1 1/2 hours, rotating them halfway. Remove from containers while still warm and let cool on a rack.

Looks good Lindsay. I'll have to try that one.

We're building a play area for Cary this year and I was out in the garage looking for stuff to go in it (found 7 milk crates!). As I'm rooting around, I came across a mini stockpot -- maybe all of 3 quarts. It's a little wide, but it's nice and heavy, plenty tall, and close enough for jazz.

Yay. I was going to suggest Costco. Lots of large cans there.

I have a Kirkland coffee can that measures 6-1/4" diameter and 7-1/2 tall.