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Tag: Baking

Practice Now for the Fair!

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Whether or not county fairs happen this summer, take advantage of this time to practice baking for the fair!

While there are millions of recipes to try, not all recipes are safe for the fair. Research now so it is not a last minute decision. Practice recipes to learn how they bake with your equipment and in your home oven.

That practice can also help improve measuring, mixing and shaping skills. Take notes to help you remember what worked well, along with what didn’t work. Another idea is to video yourself so you can see your progress.

Use fresh ingredients. Leavening agents, such as baking powder, baking soda, and yeast, can expire and loose their leavening action. Whole grain flour and fats can become rancid if not stored properly. Old spices will not produce optimum flavors.

If you made a great product, freeze it! Cool it completely, double wrap and freeze. This works best up to four weeks prior to the fair.

Source: Home Baking Association

 

Virtual Baking Instruction

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

It seems that flour is flying off of grocery store shelves these days! Baking is a great way to incorporate STEM education during these days of online education and school at home.

To help in this endeavor, the Home Baking Association has a vast list of resources at the click of your computer mouse. Resources are grouped by age category including Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary ages.

The Home Baking Association strives to teach essential living skills while connecting with agricultural and food science, retail baking, milling and baking engineering and technology.

Learn more at www.homebaking.org/distance-learning/.

Many recipes can be found at www.homebaking.org/recipes/

2020 HBA Educator Award Contest

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Do you teach baking in a classroom or community program?  Enter a baking lesson or baking activity to be eligible to win $1,000 and a trip for two to the 2020 Home Baking Association Annual Meeting.   Whether you teach in the classroom, community programs, organizations, or at home, anyone teaching baking to others is encouraged to enter. All entrants will receive teaching resources.

Entry deadline is March 31, 2020!

Learn more and how to apply for this award at www.homebaking.org/educator-award/.

 

Feeding Your Future

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Do you know a high school student interested in grain science education in college?

Sign up now for a FREE, hands-on Feeding Your Future Discovery Day to learn about different areas of grain science including baking, feed and milling science.

This event will be held Saturday, February 8, 2020 on the K-State campus. Current students will lead you through the program with the help of faculty and staff. Explore labs, milling facilities, and compete in a judging competition.

Register now! Contact Brenda Heptig for more information at bheptig@ksu.edu or 785-532-4051.

 

Hudson Cream Flour Festival

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Like to bake? Like to enter a fun competition? Then this event is for you!

The Hudson Cream Flour Festival is set for Saturday, March 28, 2020 in Hudson, KS. There will be a baking contest, other contests, kids activities, tasty food, and more all centered around wheat.

The baking contest will have adult and youth divisions. This is a great event to start trying recipes to enter into your local county fair.

Follow updates on the Hudson Cream Flour Facebook page.

The Stafford County Flour Mill in Hudson, KS has been milling flour for over 100 years!

 

Apples and Baking

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

Apples are a popular fruit for baking tasty treats. But not all apples a suitable for baking. Some are better for a healthy snack. With so many varieties, which ones are best for baking?

Tart, firm flesh varieties are best for baking. Some examples include Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Honey Crisp, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Haralson and Newtown Pippin. Mix together different varieties for a well rounded flavor and texture.

When baking a double crust pie with fresh apples, it is best to slightly pre-cook the apples before putting them in the pie crust. This helps the apples cook completely and helps the top crust to stick with the apples when they shrink. This prevents a large gap between the top crust and apples.

For more information about different apple varieties, see https://extension.wsu.edu/maritimefruit/apple-varieties-for-cooking-baking-cider/ and https://bestapples.com/varieties-information/varieties/

 

Holiday Baking Webinar

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee
It’s not just the raw eggs that cause food safety problems. All kinds of flour are raw and must be baked for safe consumption.

‘Tis the season! Time to bring out the mixing bowls and warm up the ovens for holiday baking.

To help you make your baked goods safe, the Partnership for Food Safety Education is hosting “Holiday Baking for BAC Fighters: Promoting Home Safe Handling of Ingredients” on Tuesday, November 19 at Noon to 1:00pm CST.

The webinar will cover risks of consuming unbaked (raw) ingredients, dough or batter and discuss recent foodborne illness outbreaks linked to raw flour. They will also share behavioral health messages and downloadable resources to promote safe baking practices at home.

Guest speakers are Donald Kautter, senior advisor/consumer safety officer with the FDA, and Sharon Davis, family and consumer sciences educator with the Home Baking Association.

Register online now!

Tricks for Flaky Biscuits

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee
Be gentile handling biscuit dough. Too much mixing, kneading, or rolling will make tough biscuits.

For some, making homemade biscuits is scary. But, they are really quite simple. One key component is solid fat and how it is handled. Biscuits need small pieces of cold fat to create flaky layers and tender biscuits. That keeps the flour from absorbing the fat and the flour actually coats the fat. This also reduces gluten development so biscuits won’t be tough.

Whatever solid fat you use, it needs to be cold, or even frozen. Fat that is frozen can be grated into small pieces. Refrigerated sticks of butter or shortening can be sliced with an egg slicer, a knife or two, a pastry cutter, or even a fork. Work quickly so the fat doesn’t warm up too much.

When cutting the biscuit shapes, resist the urge to turn the cutter. This motion causes the dough to twist instead of being straight up and down. Therefore, the biscuits will be lower in volume. Just press down and up!

 

November is National Raisin Bread Month!

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee
Glazed Raisin Loaf http://nationalfestivalofbreads.com/recipes/glazed-raisin-loaf

Now this is a celebration I can wrap my head around! I consider raisin bread comfort food and have made it often to give as gifts. The aroma of this bread just says comfort!

There are many variations of raisin bread, which typically has cinnamon as an added punch of flavor. Some recipes have raisins in the dough, some have the raisins just in the swirl. The cinnamon can also be used either way. But to truly get that punch of flavor, the spiral with the cinnamon and raisins can hit the spot.

Raisins are little sponges. When baked in bread, they tend to soak up moisture from the dough, making the finished bread dough dry. Soak the raisins in water first to make them plump and juicy, but not mushy.

A cinnamon filling can make a pretty swirl when shaping the loaves. Resist using too much butter as that can cause the swirl to separate and then the bread slices will lose their shape. Add a tablespoon of flour to help prevent this from happening.

However you make this bread, enjoy!

 

New Yeast for Bakers

Posted on by Karen Blakeslee

If you like the flavor of sourdough bread but don’t want to wait for a sourdough starter to develop, there’s good news!

Red Star® has made a new Instant Sourdough yeast to replace regular yeast in any recipe to give it sourdough flavor. The yeast actually contains a starter culture (Lactobacillus) and rye flour to take the place of a sourdough starter. Simply blend the yeast with the dry ingredients and use liquids at a temperature of 120-130°F. Bread recipes with four cups of flour can use one packet of this yeast.

For more information, including how to request a free sample of this new yeast, go to https://redstaryeast.com/red-star-platinum-instant-sourdough-yeast/.

 

Reference to any specific commercial products, process, service, manufacturer, or company does not constitute its endorsement or recommendation. Paid for by Kansas State University