oyceter | Random Questions

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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.

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.

#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....]

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 :-)

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!

Since my husband is lactose intolerate, I substitute soy milk every time a receipe calls for milk, light cream, cream or heavy cream. I'm pretty shameless in that regard. However, I'd use the plain soy milk not the vanilla flavoured if you intend to do this, or else your receipe may have a bizzare taste to it. I suppose soy milk is a little sweeter than regular milk, but I don't think it makes a noticable difference.

I've used it in soups, mashed potatoes, sauces, casseroles, and baking...pretty much in anything you can think of. My husband and I don't really taste a difference, (actually the only time I don't care for it is when soy is used in my latte.) However, some brands of soy milk are better than others. Try Vitasoy, Silk, or Trader Joe's brand.

2. My friends, who are the kind of people who serve ice cream cake at their birthday parties despite being lactose intolerant, swear by those Lactaid tablets you take before eating something with dairy. They say the generic brands work fine too.

But if you don't like the taste of milk, sounds like soy is the way to go.

5. Do you know Boston was once flooded by molasses (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_molasses_disaster)? The mental image really does boggle the mind.

4. My blocking kit -- for doilies, mostly -- consists of towels, straight pins, a tape measure and some sheets of styrofoam that started life as packaging on poster-sized picture frames. The dry climate here does help, except that I do have to pin quite fast before things dry out too much. I refuse to starch or iron my doilies; I just handwash them gently, rinse well, roll in a towel to remove excess water, and then pin them out to shape on the towel-covered board and leave them to dry. Knitting is a different animal, though; I remember my mother doing things with an iron and a damp cloth for wool sweaters, but don't try that with acrylic!

I can only be of assistance with #6. Cthulhu every time. It's the tentacles, it's the capacity to drive folks insane, it's (as another person said) having the Apocalypse card. Plus, as you can see from my icon, he's educated, so he would have better odds over a Bunny that might eat books instead of read them. Sorry. ;-)

Despite seeing the budget note, I have to second

telophase and advise getting the rest of Furuba. >.> (Although I suppose that's probably unsurprising. ^_^) You don't even get to *meet* my favorite until vol. 8. ;_; Are you actually reading the manga for the first time, or have you read it online or anything . . ?

*peers at your Memories to try to figure out what you haven't read* Hmm . . . I think you've read most of the other series I love. ^_^ The only one I can't find a reference to right off is Basara, so I'll recommend that in case you're not familiar with it. ^^

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As a non-cook, I can only answer #3