Random Questions

[oyceter]

Happy solstice! I don't celebrate in any religious way, but I really should get the sticky rice and sesame or peanut paste balls that you eat on winter solstice. Tasty. And I am just happy because today is the absolute shortest day of the year, so I can finally look forward to the days getting (slightly) longer! Oh sun, how I miss you!

I have become a completely lazy person and stopped researching because everyone here is so helpful. I am so lazy, in fact, that I attempt to blame my shortcomings on the lovely volunteer spirit of people -_-;;.

And so... random questions!

1. Is is possible to substitute wheat flour for white flour? Does it do horrible, horrible things?

2. Is it possible to substitue soy milk for milk in recipes? Does it chemically react to things and utterly mess them up? I do sort of realize that one cannot make cheese or yogurt or clotted cream from soy milk, but in oatmeal, I think it should be ok... on the other hand, my cooking exploits should teach me to follow the recipe. Also also, my stomach is really, really unhappy with the amount of dairy I am currently consuming, and I want more oatmeal.

3. I have decided to use the Amazon gift certificates that I get from my credit card to acquire manga. Indeed, I have finally fallen prey to the darned things, despite swearing up and down (and left and right) not to, due to the enormous price difference between English-translated manga and Chinese-translated manga. Like my laziness, I blame everyone on LJ for this ;).

So... what should I get? I currently have random volumes of Saiyuki and have decided that I need to get all of Saiyuki, Saiyuki Gaiden and Saiyuki Reload. I am also planning on buying all of Nana to support my favorite mangaka and manga ever (so far...). And I just ordered the first three vols. of Fruits Basket. I will probably also start getting Kare Kano instead of snitching them from the library.

4. I plan to embark on adventures in blocking soon. Any advice? I don't have a blocking board and don't plan on buying one (I figure I will use my bed or something)... what else should I get?

5. What is molasses anyway? I had some for the first time on Monday when I was baking gingerbread. It is dark and sticky and has a really nifty rich, malty flavor. I like. I also felt very Little House on the Prairie.

6. If Cthulu and the Beast were to duke it out, who would win? Discuss.

Comments

[heresluck]

1. Yes, and the results will not be horrible, but they will be... different. Baked goods made with wheat flour won't rise as much, and thus will be heavier and more dense; they'll also have a wheatier, nuttier taste. If this is an emergency substitution, just do it and don't worry about it. If it's an effort to eat more whole grains (a good plan), half-and-half white/wheat works well. Using high-gluten flour (i.e. bread flour) will also help with yeasted breads, although it tends to make baking-powder breads (like biscuits) rather tough.

2. Yes, although some brands work better than others. I have a list at home and will look up details for you later. Also, if you're making something sweet, Rice Dream apparently works very well, although I can't vouch for it personally.

5. Molasses is a byproduct of refining sugar to make it white and granular. It's a key ingredient in many traditional American (especially German-American) baked goods. Brown sugar, incidentally, is refined white sugar with molasses added back in, which is why it's a) brown, b) sticky, and c) so extremely yummy.

[oyceter]

1. Yeah, it's mostly an effort to eat more whole grains.

I need to learn how to make bread. Maybe that will be my next thing to learn how to cook! Maybe I can convince my mom to get me a pink KitchenAid stand mixer for Christmas! (they are so cute and pink and have dough hooks and eeeeeee!!) Oooo. I wonder if you can make whole wheat pizza dough? Mmmm, pizza dough.

2. Wow, you have a list of soy milk? That is so cool!

5. I have a newfound and deep love for molasses now! I actually like brown sugar better than white (it's more interesting), and molasses is... wow!

[heresluck]

1. Okay, so a couple of recommendations: a) look for recipes for whole-wheat breads rather than just randomly subbing in wheat for white flour; b) start with 1/8 wheat flour 7/8 white, and adjust incrementally until you hit half and half or hit a point of satisfaction; c) try adding other grains as well, like wheat berries or oats. I have a couple of oatmeal bread recipes that you might like; say the word if you want them.

2. I've mostly used WestSoy, but Cook's Illustrated (the best of the many cooking magazines out there, IMO) recently rated soymilks for use in cooking and ranked Silk Organic Plain Soymilk the best option, with Edensoy the worst and WestSoy and 365 Organic in the middle. As others have pointed out, soy milk is sweeter than real milk, which affects what you can do with it, but that part's pretty obvious. Less obvious is the fact that it's thinner and more watery than milk, because it doesn't have as much fat in it; so if the recipe calls for water, reduce the amount of water just a bit (a tablespoon or so) and keep an eye on the overall consistency.

5. Try molasses in granola; it's especially good with apple granola. Yum.

[oyceter]

Eeeee, thank you so much!!!