Pumpkin Bread

For your idea, here are recipes that can be used during the Thanksgiving season, Pumpkin Bread Recipes by Andrew Krause and Pumpkin Bread Pudding Recipe by Brandy SummersPumpkin Bread
Remember your ingredients should be at room temperature.

Pumpkin Bread Recipe

1-2/3 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
2 large eggs slightly beaten
1 ½ cups sugar 1 ½ cups canned solid pack pumpkin
½ cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup each walnuts and raisins
Preheat your oven to 350 degrease. Grease a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan.
In a 5 quart mixing bowl combine the first 5 ingredients then add eggs, sugar, pumpkin, oil and mix until well combined then add your nuts and raisins and mix until smooth.
Pour your mix into the prepared loaf pan and bake for 70 minutes or until a pick placed into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes then remove from pan and continue to cool on same rack.
Well now it’s time to eat it, get out the butter and coffee and “enjoy”.

Pumpkin Bread Pudding Recipe

This pumpkin bread pudding is a great alternative to the traditional pumpkin pie. Stuffed with raisins and nuts, each bite will be a wonderful experience.
1/2 loaf raisin bread, cut into cubes
1 cup canned pumpkin
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 can evaporated milk
1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Grease an 9-inch pie plate.
Place bread cubes into the prepared pie plate.
In a medium bowl, combine the pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla and ginger. Stir in the milk. Pour mixture over bread cubes; be sure to coat cubes well. Sprinkle walnuts on top.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until knife inserted in middle comes out clean.

Baking Cookware

Idea from “Cookware – What’s In It?” by Susan Daniel and Debbie Overstreet

Have you ever wanted to buy new baking cookware but didn’t know what kind to buy? There are many types of baking cookware from which to choose. The following is a summary of the different materials that are used in baking cookware.
Cast Iron – Your grandmother probably had a cast iron skillet. It is heavy an inexpensive. It also conducts heat slowly and evenly and can be used in the oven or on the stove.
Aluminum – This is inexpensive, lightweight, and responsive to heat. However, it can affect the taste of the food you eat.
Stainless Steel – It is moderately priced and is very strong. It usually is mixed with an aluminum or copper core to help conduct heat. And it too is very pretty.
Finding the right baking cookware for your baking style is very important.

Commercial Cookware Needs To Be Durable and Practical

By David Faulkner
Commercial cookware can’t be made of inferior and non-durable materials. They need to last a long time and serve the user well. Commercial-grade cookware is usually made with aluminum, which is preferred because it is non-reactive and won’t contaminate the food you are cooking. High-grade commercial cookware is made of several layers of aluminum and some other material such as copper. It can withstand a lot of banging and washing and is also great for conductivity.
It is also important for commercial cookware to be versatile. Again, due to the more sophisticated cooking procedures we have today, a dish can very likely go through several cooking processes.
It is also important that handles are ergonomic. Some commercial cookware has heatproof handles to make life easier for the professional chef. They also do a lot of “flambes” so commercial cookware must have exterior surfaces that are easy to clean.
Aside from the omnipresent pots and pans, commercial cookware also include the latest appliances and cooking gadgets, all ingeniously designed to make cooking a worthwhile experience. These include food processors, rotisseries, convection ovens, and a lot more.
Non-stick coating has also been a boon to commercial chefs because they now don’t have to worry about food sticking to the pan and ruining the whole dish. It also accounts for healthier foods because they would only need to use a very small amount of oil. Teflon, or non-stick surfaces on commercial cookware, is also great in reducing the carcinogens coming from burnt food.

Bread Machines

Bread Machines – What Makes Them So Useful?

By Lynne Birch
There is no doubt that bread making machines have become a very important part of many families daily life. Nothing like waking up in the morning to the smell of fresh bread!
Bread makers are great for large families too. When bread makers first came out years back people felt that all you could use them for was plain white bread. There are now dozens of fantastic recipes available for all kinds of bread. What you will find is that the ingredients you use in a bread machine will be a little different than if you were baking bread normally. The reason for this is that you normally put the wet ingredients in the bread machine first. Bread makers provide your family with a healthy, affordable alternative to store bought pre-made bread.

Tips on How to Use Your Bread Machine

By Robin Cassidy

Bread machines make home baking easy. What follows are some essential and good bread machine tips.
Many bread makers stand idle because the owner has tried baking one or two recipes with disastrous results. Some manufacturers state that it is perfectly okay to place the mixing paddle and the bread pan in a dishwasher. Never immerse the pan in water instead, put water into the pan and let it soak for 15 minutes, then empty and simply wipe clean with a dish cloth.
Before using, coat the paddle with margarine, olive or cooking oil. This makes removing the paddle after baking much easier. Unless, otherwise stated in the recipe, always use bread flour as it contains more gluten than regular flour – as well as helping the bread to rise, gluten gives structure to a loaf.
If you want to use honey rather than sugar remember to reduce the liquids used (milk, water etc.) by the equivalent amount.
Measuring the ingredients correctly is vital. Use measuring cups, spoons and jars. Never pour liquids into measuring cups or spoons over the bread machine pan, as some liquid will inevitable spill over in to it.
Many recipes give measurements in cups, tablespoons, teaspoons and so on, however, not all cup measures are the same. If your loaves of bread aren’t coming out of the bread maker how you would like, then don’t get despondent, instead try changing the recipe slightly.

You may interesting on bread maker or breadman articles.

Baking Cake

The Right Tools – The Key to Baking a Cake

Summarized from articles written by Helen Zee
Cake pans come in many varieties, and materials, ranging from simple disposable aluminum to clay bake ware. You may want to consider cake pans with nonstick coatings as your choice of cake baking tools. Nonstick coatings will make for cake pans that easily release the cake and clean up rather simply also. You will thus be able to remove the cake from the cake pan without spoiling the top.
Another innovative type of cake pans has removable bottoms. Like all cake pans, these cake baking tools are available in a variety of sizes and shapes. You should have a few basic sizes of cake pans you will need 8 inch and 9 inch cake pans in your collection of cake baking tools, as well as an 8 x 8 x 2 inch baking dish.
Measuring cups and measuring spoons are another essential element of your collection of cake baking tools. No set of cake baking tools is complete without a rolling pin. If you opt to add an aluminum rolling pin to your cake baking tools, choose one that is small and thin so it will fit in the refrigerator easily.
What set of cake baking tools would be compete without an adequate selection of spatulas? You will also want a selection of other cake baking tools, including a hand held mixer; at least two wire cake racks, and toothpicks for testing to see if your cake is done.

Baking Cakes Tips

Idea from Joseph Devine and Mick Reade
However, to help make your cake be the most successful it can be, here are some important tips to keep in mind and things to avoid:
– Air Bubbles: This is a baker’s worst nightmare. Air bubbles in a cake are the sure sign of an amateur, but really they can happen to anyone. There is a simple way to help prevent this unsightly flaw. When you have your batter all mixed you need to run a knife through it, this releases any trapped air that might have snuck in while you were mixing.
– Shiny Crust: A shiny crust is what all good bakers’ desire. A shiny crust means that when you start icing it will be perfectly smooth. It also means that the inside is well encased so it will be fresher and keep for a longer period of time. To get this amazing crust here is an old trick. Mix one egg and a bit of milk and paint the top of your cake with it before you bake. This will seal in your batter and give you a shiny crust.
– Cracks on Top: Another sign of the beginning baker are cracks on the top of the cake. This usually occurs during the cooling process. So to prevent this you need to do something before you even put that cake in the oven. Add a small package of gelatin when mixing the dry ingredients together, this helps keep all the ingredients sticking together and prevents drying out. But don’t worry adding these will not change how your cake tastes.
– Lumps: One of the best ways to prevent lumps is to sift all your dry ingredients before adding them to the wet ingredient. This will make sure that everything is completely mixed and you will not get chunks of flour, egg or sugar that can detract and taste funny to the eater.

Cooking and Baking Guidelines

1. Good aeration of the sugar, butter and egg batter mixture is essential. For this reason the mixture must not curdle or break. Curdling or breaking is most likely to happen if the eggs are too cold. If this does happen, a small amount of flour should be added before all the eggs are incorporated.
2. All the ingredients should be at the same temperature, about 18C (65F).
3. The shortening must not be melted. If it is, the volume and texture will be below standard.
4. A basic mixture consists of equal weights of shortening, sugar, egg and flour. This may be varied by the introduction of milk and baking powder, which allow an increase in the amount of flour.
5. In all cases the weight of shortening should be more than the weight of either the egg or the sugar. The weight of sugar should not be more than the weight of all liquids.

Baking Pans

How to Choose Your Baking Pans

By Benni Jenyfari

The pans that you buy for baking are just as crucial to your success as the pans that you buy for cooking, so be sure to choose them carefully. Baking pans or bake ware comes in a variety of materials and shapes. If you are trying to decide whether to buy silicon or glass baking pans, here is a quick breakdown of the most common types of materials: 

• Aluminum – Aluminum baking pans are inexpensive and lightweight, and therefore popular. However, they do not brown baked items well, and they may react with acidic foods. The cheaper aluminum pans also tend to warp and stain quickly, meaning they must be frequently replaced. Nonstick and anodized aluminum may reduce some of the disadvantages of the less expensive aluminum pans.
• Glass – Glass is a favorite material to use with baking pans because it is non-reactive, easy to clean, browns food nicely, and bakes evenly. It tends to last a long time without visible signs of wear. However, it tends to be on the pricey side, and it can shatter if cooled too quickly.
• Stainless steel – Although stainless steel looks beautiful and has a highly reflective shine, it is a poor choice for bake ware because it does not transmit heat well. This will cause burning when you bake.
• Stoneware – Stone is an excellent material for baking pans, because it transmits and retains heat beautifully. It helps to keep your baking warm long after removal from the oven. However, stone bake ware can be very expensive.
• Silicone – Silicon baking pans are new on the market, and they work very well. They are flexible, inexpensive, can be frozen or micro waved, and they can be easily folded to take up less room in your cabinets. Furthermore, they do not retain any heat at all, meaning that baking will not burn when it is left in the pan.

Good baking pan or baking equipment is a huge help in creating beautiful cakes, cookies, pies, and more.

You may check also related articles about cake pans.