Adventures with flour
Aug. 8th, 2009 11:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ksmithSince the Palmer House Brownie Debacle of a year or so ago--I used regular all-purpose flour instead of cake flour and wound up with fudge soup that bubbled out of the pan and all over the inside of the oven--I've been on the lookout for various types of flour, and buying them Just In Case.
Problem is, I buy the flour, then forget I have it. I cleaned out cupboards today, and found half a box of cake flour, a small unopened bag of pastry flour, and some whole wheat flour. The cake flour was within expiration dating, but the whole wheat and pastry flours were past it. I didn't want to dump them, so I decided to experiment. I made my usual banana bread, but instead of 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, I used a cup of pastry flour and a half cup of whole wheat. Just to see what would happen.
It was interesting. The batter was much lighter. The bread baked in a little less time, maybe ten minutes. The crumb was much smaller and lighter, and the bread was much more like a cake. I wonder how much lighter it would have been if I had used 100% pastry flour?
I bought the Constantine DVD months ago, and finally watched it tonight. Watched the credits right to the end, and caught a final scene that has always been chopped when the movie runs on AMC. Not a vital scene, but something that was nice to know.
I also watched the outtakes with the director's commentary, in which he explained why the scenes were cut. One actress had 99% of her part excised in order to set up John Constantine's character differently. The other scenes were cut because they slowed down the story too much and the info they conveyed had already been given out in other scenes. It was...educational. A point that bears repeating. It's the story, not the scenes.
In other news, the day was hot and very muggy, and no condensation collected on the ceiling thanks to my ceiling fan. *w00t!*
Problem is, I buy the flour, then forget I have it. I cleaned out cupboards today, and found half a box of cake flour, a small unopened bag of pastry flour, and some whole wheat flour. The cake flour was within expiration dating, but the whole wheat and pastry flours were past it. I didn't want to dump them, so I decided to experiment. I made my usual banana bread, but instead of 1.5 cups all-purpose flour, I used a cup of pastry flour and a half cup of whole wheat. Just to see what would happen.
It was interesting. The batter was much lighter. The bread baked in a little less time, maybe ten minutes. The crumb was much smaller and lighter, and the bread was much more like a cake. I wonder how much lighter it would have been if I had used 100% pastry flour?
I bought the Constantine DVD months ago, and finally watched it tonight. Watched the credits right to the end, and caught a final scene that has always been chopped when the movie runs on AMC. Not a vital scene, but something that was nice to know.
I also watched the outtakes with the director's commentary, in which he explained why the scenes were cut. One actress had 99% of her part excised in order to set up John Constantine's character differently. The other scenes were cut because they slowed down the story too much and the info they conveyed had already been given out in other scenes. It was...educational. A point that bears repeating. It's the story, not the scenes.
In other news, the day was hot and very muggy, and no condensation collected on the ceiling thanks to my ceiling fan. *w00t!*
