When you cook larger quantities of rice (say, more than three cups dry rice), you need proportionally less water. Can you provide a rule of thumb or a chart? I cook both white and brown rice.-- Marcia I can find no detailed reference for the amount of water needed to cook larger quantities of rice but I notice that the instructions for... Read more →

I have a Christmas pudding recipe that calls for suet. This year, I can't find it anywhere. Can I use butter, or something else instead? --Ruth Christmas pudding is a cake-like dessert made with flour, eggs, suet, molasses or treacle, spices and dried fruits. The word pudding in this context may mean dessert, which is common usage for... Read more →

In your post on Seasoning Stainless Steel, you say to "wash in warm water with a small amount of dish soap and dry immediately." I thought that soap would dissolve the fat, so you would damage the coating if you use it. - Comment* Seasoning in this sense involves heating oil in a frying pan, or other cooking surface, to form a non-stick... Read more →

Why do pie crust recipes tell you to refrigerate the dough before rolling it out?--Linda Refrigerating the dough after mixing has two main benefits. First, it cools down the fat, usually butter and/or shortening, making it firm again. If the fat becomes too soft, it will mix too completely with the flour. To get a good crust, you need... Read more →

How do you measure flour after it is sifted? I can only figure out how to measure it before. I'm sifting into a big bowl and it would be so messy to then put it back into the measuring cup! -- Amy Use two approximately square pieces of waxed paper. Fold them both across their width to form a crease, and then lay them out flat beside... Read more →

When a recipe calls for scalded milk, can you use skim milk or do you need to use whole milk? The kind of milk depends on the recipe more than on whether or not you are scalding it. In most cases, if not all, you should be able to substitute skim milk for whole, although it may give a slightly different mouthfeel to the finished dish... Read more →

As frequent readers will know, I went to the King Arthur Flour "Artisan Baking at Home" class this past fall. Since then I have been working to make the best baguette possible in a home oven. After tweaking the KA method, and adjusting the recipe for Robin Hood unbleached white flour, I think I have gone about as far as possible in the... Read more →

I have used self rising flour instead of all purpose flour for a pizzelle recipe that uses rum, orange extract, grated orange peel, unsalted butter, eggs, vanilla extract, sugar, flour and baking powder. Not knowing I was using self rising flour, I added 2 tablespoons of baking powder to 3 1/2 cups of flour as per recipe. The batter... Read more →

I understand how the gluten in wheat flour works to capture the gas formed by either yeast or baking powder or soda, but what makes the non gluten containing flours rise? --Lynn In normal baking, the proteins glutenin and gliadin in flour bond with the water and with each other to form long strands and sheets of what we know as gluten.... Read more →

Lots of recipes for stews and braises say to brown the meat "being careful to not overcrowd the pan." What does this mean and why does it matter? --Lisbeth The basic idea of searing meat is to create a nice brown crust on the meat that adds flavor to the dish through a process called the Maillard Reaction. Note that searing... Read more →