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Random Questions

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.

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1. Wheat flour will substitute quite nicely for white in most cases. If the recipe calls for "pastry flour," however, I'd be careful--though you can get whole-wheat pastry flour that'll do quite as well.

5. Molasses is tree blood. Enjoy!

Brown flour is a lot more absorbent - so you'll need more liquid - and a lot tougher, so if you're planning to knead or roll anything you'll have to put more muscle into it. It's usually okay, though; if you have doubts, sifting it will usually get out a lot of the bigger bran. Much better for you, in any case.

Molasses is treacle - sugar halfway through the production process. Way back when you couldn't buy sugar powdered - it either came as molasses or as a huge, rock-hard block which you had to chisel lumps off.

6. Both Cthulhu and the Beast would fall before the invidious power of the tiny white overlord.

3. Saiyuki Gaiden, alas, isn't licensed yet. But it should be!

You picked up Land of the Blindfolded at the Strand, right? So I will say Moto Hagio's A, A', which I know you can get from Amazon because I did, even though it's flipped, because it's Moto Hagio; Bleach; Cantarella; Tactics; the crack that is Angel Sanctuary; and I think you would like Tramps Like Us. Of the OEL attempts, I think you might like Dramacon best; The Dreaming has exquisite art but so far the characteriation is pretty rote. Oh! And XXXholic volume 6! Everyone must love XXXholic volume 6!

1.
No.

Yes, very very bad.

2.
Depends.

Probably. If you need it for chemical reactions (baking), go for the moo. If you're using it in some kind of sauce, you can use soy milk (I always put it in my mac n' cheese -- vanilla, even!)

3.
Gah, tell me when you figure it out. Like I need another addiction, but...

4.
Take up felting! It looks so nifty.

5.
Now look what you made me do -- I highlighted "molasses" then right-clicked and chose "look up in Wikipedia" with my awesome new Firefox extension*, and found out it's "a thick, syrupy derivative of the juice of the sugarcane plant or the processing of sugar beet." AKA treacle. Who knew?

Yes, I am the queen dork of extensions. ph3ar me.

6.
Much as I love the beast, I have to admit that Cthulu strikes a little more terror into my heart. Although not so much with Mely's plushie one. *g*

1. Depends on what you're making. Whole wheat flour has more stuff that gets in the way of gluten formation, so it can make breads really heavy if you use too much. The "whole wheat" bread recipes I've seen usually have about 1/4 ww to 3/4 white flour.

2. You put milk in oatmeal? Soy milk is okay for baking but gives a weird flavor to sauces. Oatmeal, I dunno.

3. I bought Nana #1 because of you, so don't think your posts are innocent in all this. :)

5. Partially refined cane sugar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molasses).

1. It totally depends on the recipe -- like, it depends on so many factors (and on personal taste) that I can't even give a reasonable summary here.

2. You can substitute soymilk in any sort of sweet or grain-based recipe, where the sweeter, nuttier, faintly-beany taste of soy won't be a problem. For example, Cook's Illustrated just tested it in cream pie filling and a yellow cake, and it was fine. So something like oatmeal should be great. Where you can't sub it is in savory recipes -- it tastes seriously out of place. (You can, in fact, make yogurt from soymilk, BTW.)

5. Molasses is a byproduct of sugar production -- beyond that, you'll have to do actual research. ;-)

1,2. Not that I know much about cooking, but the Cooking for Engineers web page has a list of substiutions here you may like to check out. =)

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article.php?id=52

1. You want King Arthur White Wheat Flour, which Trader Joe's carries. It substitutes better for white flour than most. Even so, blend it. Pure whole wheat flour gives you heavier baked goods than normal.

2. Yes, but you'll have to mess around with them to get the quantities right.
3. No clue.
4. No clue.
5. Sugar-syrup residue left over from refining white sugar. Dark and caramell-y tasting. Adds moisture to baked goods.

6. Cthulhu always wins every fight because he can play the Apocalypse Card.

Oho, I see I have to support my soy milk contention against the exact opposite. I cite Cook's Illustrated #78 (Jan/Feb 06), page 3: "If you'd like to substitute soy milk for whole milk in baked goods and desserts, it's fine to do so; the added inherent sweetness works in these recipes. Our overall favorite was Silk Organic Plain Soy Milk, found in the refrigerated section of major supermarkets. Just keep the stuff out of savory dishes."

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.

(I always put it in my mac n' cheese -- vanilla, even!)

AUGH! :: pretending I didn't read this, pretending I didn't read this ::

:: gets queasy anyway ::

(there are different tastes on this issue, obviously!)

#2. If the problem with dairy is lactose intolerance, try lactose free milk if you are in doubt whether the soy milk will work.

[My mother and brother are lactose intolerant -- the Lactaid milk works for them, and tastes good. Fortunately I am not lactose intolerant, because I'm allergic to soy....]

My daughter's allergic to both soy and dairy. We use oat milk (it has a slightly better nutritional profile than rice milk. Very slightly better). There's also almond milk, and I've heard good things about it. We just haven't tried it because my daughter's too young to have nuts yet.

1. Wheat flour does not rise nearly as well as white, so don't just go substituting willy nilly. In bread recipes, you're never suppposed to substitute more than 1/3 to 1/2 of the white flour with wheat.

Bread-shaped rocks are a tragedy. I can testify.

5. Molasses is not tree blood; that is maple syrup. Molasses is a byproduct of the sugar-refinement process, so it is generally made from sugar cane, or sugar beets. Basically, they spin the raw sugar-vegetable in a really fast spinner, and take the stuff they want (to make table sugar) and then the rest is molasses. Since they do the process a number of times, the molasses may be anything from good (Grade A) to total crap full of random chemicals (some lower grade).

Molasses is also the chief ingredient in rum.

Okay, I know my soy milk advice is just repetitive at this point, but so far it's succeeded as a substitute in everything I've baked for the last year-plus-- cookies, pies, etc. Oatmeal should be just fine. Plus, I mean, hey, it's worth a try. Let us know how it goes. :)

Thanks for asking these questions--the answers (thanks to all who answered!) have been most instructive. Adding them to my list of things I didn't know I wanted to know, until I learned them :-)

Hah. I will bow to your actual, you know, referencing and all. I'm just super-careful with baking because whenever I've attempted to substitute items or change baking temps/times and it backfires. Cooking depends less on mysterious-to-me chemistry. *g*

LOL. I make Annie's Organic White Cheddar and Shells, and add maybe a tablespoon of milk, just enough to get it wet. The cheddar is so sharp you can't taste anything anyhow, and soy milk is very watery. I actually had much worse results trying to add a similar amount of evaporated milk, so it's not as bad as it might sound.

Oh, okay! I was picturing homemade mac 'n'cheese with, like, 2 cups of vanilla soymilk in the cheese sauce, and just... ewww.

I second the lactose-free milk rec, if it's lactose intolerance. You can get it in whole, part-skim, and skim, (er, whole, reduced-fat, and fat-free, that is) and it works just like regular milk in recipes. The milk itself is slightly sweeter than regular, because the lactose has basically been pre-digested - broken down into glucose and galactose - but if you're not drinking it straight, you really shouldn't be able to tell.

Lactose-free pumpkin pie recipe: make the recipe on the back of the can of pumpkin, using whole lactose-free milk instead of the condensed/evaporated/whatever milk, and increase the eggs by 1. Cook as normal. :D

Re: manga. Give up now and order the rest of Fruits Basket. Also: Qwan! Read Qwan! It is my mission in life to convert as many people as I can to the quirky glory that is Qwan!

Bread-shaped rocks are a tragedy. I can testify.

Oh dear. I'm guessing this comes from experience? That's how I learn stuff too...

Yeah, I'm thinking of switching or at least trying to use it more for the whole health thing. Figure it can't hurt...

And hey, wheat bread! I must learn how to make bread!

6. Too true! (I've got a Dogbert in my cube who is labeled Evil White Overlord, but he is probably an imposter who will suffer the wrath of the true tiny white overlord later.)

3. Gaiden isn't licensed?? ARGH! I mean, I read the scanlations, but still!

I can't remember if I picked up Land of the Blindfolded... I picked up Qwan and something that may very well be that.

I do need to get Moto Hagio. And Cantarella, because it is its own reason. And vols. 4-infinity of Angel Sanctuary.

That's funny,

rachelmanija just recced Dramacon to me last night! Clearly it is A Sign.

And the last XXXholix I read was vol. 5! Wah!

What's Tactics?

*snork* Maybe the correct question should be if plushie Beast or plushie Cthulu would win. Or if the two of them fighting would simply strike the world dead out of teh cute.

I love your Firefox extensions. I use SuperDragAndGo alllll the time now and I love it!

I plan on attempting felting after figuring out blocking, more lace, seamless sweaters, and socks (I still have your measurements! Nyaha!). I think the added machinery of the washer frightens me ;).

3. I bought Nana #1 because of you, so don't think your posts are innocent in all this. :)

Nyaha! My ~~evil plans for world domination~~ ~~brainwashing~~ recs are succeeding!

I put milk and buttermilk in my oatmeal per Alton Brown... it tastes pretty good! Do most people just sort of boil the oats and let them soak or something?

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