I made the Texas-size banana cupcakes from the recipe in TBB this morning. The recipe called for using a 6 well Texas muffin pan.
I used Williams-Sonoma’s jumbo-sized muffin pan which holds 7 oz.
I scooped the batter into the pan using a 3.19oz portion scoop.
The recipe calls for the well’s to be filled 3/4 full.
I saw right away I would not have enough batter for all the wells to be filled the recommended amount and had to take batter from the 3/4 filled wells to fill 5 of the wells only half full or less.
The wells would not have been 3/4 fill even if I used a muffin pan with a 6 oz capacity.
This is the first time a batter did not yield the exact amount when using one of Rose’s recipes.
It was perfectly reasonable to assume the recipe made six muffins. Who provides a recipe to make half a loaf of bread or seven cookies? I rarely look at the yield of a recipe.
Funny, when you said “TBB”, my first thought was “Baking Bible” which isn’t published yet, which is why I went Googling for the recipe. Anyway, I just moved the Bread Bible to the attic (this morning!) so it would have been ironic if I had to run up there to bring it down again. I’m seriously short of bookshelves.
I am actually thinking of starting a thread on favorite baking books. I just received several B&N gift cards and cannot decide on which books to buy.
Argh, that’s torture. I put everything I want into my WishList on Amazon, which provides at least a partial degree of satisfaction without costing me anything. I’m awaiting publication of Thomas Keller’s “Bouchon Bakery” in October.
That IS torture. You have no idea what I have been going through this weekend because I have a 30% off coupon I must use by tonight. I think I have every book I would want which has been released to date. You can’t use a coupon for a pre order.
I’ve been waiting for the Bouchon Bakery book to be released too. I also have The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook by Tom Douglas on my wish list.
Usually, I like to take books out of the library before I buy them.
I just bought Baked Elements: Our 10 Favorite Ingredients…nice!!!! I am a big fan of Baked.
I have the original Baked book, but I haven’t been motivated to make anything from it. The signature technique of that book is to throw some weird ingredient into the recipe, which tends to undermine my confidence that the recipe is otherwise anything special, which is probably unfair.
I had that book for more than a year before I tried it on Anne’s urging me to do so. Every recipe I’ve made from that book has been a show stopper, really!!
I made the Sour Cream Coffee Cake, page 38, and brought it to a function hosted by my husband’s work. Everyone at his job gets to try samples of the things I make for him on a daily basis. They LOVED this recipe and said it was the best I’ve made. So, I made it again when I traveled to see my family and they felt the same way.
The Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf, page 43, is very good and amenable to modifying for low cholesterol purposes. It is a favorite of mine.
I’m anxious to try the Peanut Butter Crispy Bars, page 133, if only I could find a good candy thermometer.
Baked Explorations has many great recipes too.
I don’t try many recipes in the books I buy. I stick to a few tried and true. I am sure there are others which I haven’t gotten a chance to make yet
I just use my Thermapen. You can also use a remote digital meat thermometer; attach to probe to the side of a pan using one of those black binder clips, threading the probe through the little wire handles. I think I got that from Alton Brown. The dedicated candy thermometers are poorly designed.
Taylor thermometer sold by Williams-Sonoma but the reviews are awful.
If you mean their digital candy thermometer, the one with the long stem and enormous head, then I have that one and it’s difficult to use. It’s top heavy, so it’s hard to stabilize in a pot. Curved lips on the pot make it even harder. And it sometimes just shuts off. I think I threw it away.
FG, sorry about the five-muffin quantity, I also would have expected six. When Rose does an odd quantity, it usually has to do with the amount of egg in a recipe- if she scaled up to six muffins, you’d be splitting eggs into fractions, and if she increased the proportion of eggs, the texture and tenderness would be compromised. So it’s her way of keeping to a whole number of eggs without compromising texture.
He also told me the weight of his cup of flour, 139g.
...pure gold… thanks for the flour weight!
And thanks, also for the book recommendations, I’m off to my library’s website next to place a few holds
You’re welcome!
Wasn’t that so nice?!! To me, it shows he cares about his customers.
Rose is always there for her customers. She is reachable on many venues. To me, that makes a big difference. That’s why I am here, on this forum, now. I think that is why many of us are here.
FG, sorry about the five-muffin quantity, I also would have expected six. When Rose does an odd quantity, it usually has to do with the amount of egg in a recipe- if she scaled up to six muffins, you’d be splitting eggs into fractions, and if she increased the proportion of eggs, the texture and tenderness would be compromised. So it’s her way of keeping to a whole number of eggs without compromising texture.
Julie, it’s my fault I didn’t read the first page. I knew it was me and not the recipe. That is why I asked what I did wrong. Rose’s recipes have always created the perfect amount of batter, to the gram, for the pan used.
In the zucchini bread recipe, which is a variation of the carrot bread recipe in TBB, Rose allows the substitution of egg whites for whole eggs. She suggests 4.5oz egg whites. The texture is perfection! This brought home a lesson for me. I’ve been modifying other author’s recipes. Some work and then there are some with a too-light texture. I think I now will be better equipped to make judgements as to the amount of egg whites to substitute after seeing I don’t have to use the entire white.
By the way, the banana cupcakes are great! My husband loved them…I never doubted he would
