Butter is Not Always Better

It being Mother's Day today, I was talking to my mother. She mentioned that she'd made some lemon bread that completely fell apart when she de-panned it. She'd swapped butter for the shortening and "sour cream" for the milk, since her milk is skim. What did she do wrong?

Her sour cream was actually whipped cream, that she'd made of cream and whipped--without sugar--that had gone a bit passed its date...and was, therefore, sour. I don't know if this type of sour cream has the same density as regular sour cream, but I'm not certain it would be a good substitute for milk.

Since I didn't know, I needed to figure out if butter is a good substitute for shortening. I read lots of statements that said that butter is always better...in terms of health and flavor, that is. But when it comes down to the science of it, butter is NOT always better. At least, not if you do a one-to-one substitution.

Why is that? Well, shortening is pretty much 100% fat. And butter is fat, water and sometimes salt. If your recipe requires half a cup of shortening and you put in half a cup of water...you won't have enough fat. But you will have extra liquid. So, what I've read is that you need to have 1.2 times the amount of butter as the recipe calls for shortening.

What really crushed her is that she had special butter from Trader Joes that she said is better in baking...but she didn't use it. It likely has less water and salt in it. I never did ask her why she didn't.

So...can you substitute butter for shortening? Yes, but adjust your recipe accordingly.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

It's a funny Northern California Saturday in March--cool and sunny in the morning, turning to clouds and damp mid-day. As I typed that sentence I heard the strange sound of rushing water outside only to find nickel-sized hail suddenly coming down.

This morning was the first day that all of us are whole again after a nasty stomach bug. It hits for about eight miserable hours and leaves the victim wrung up for the next 36 hours. I ate toast and bananas for three days afterwards, and still don't feel ready to face things like a big bowl of bibimbap and kimchee.

I've decided once and for all I'm changing the ways I feed my family. No more running through the drive-through because Juiceboy can't find a thing for dinner (or I'm more in the mood for a burrito than I am for soup, or salad, or a ham sandwich....). And no more cheaping out not getting the stuff that I know is best for the family because I feel it's too expensive. Take for example, milk. I know organic milk is the best way to go with two growing boys. But I see the $6/gallon price tag and choke, knowing I can get two gallons of regular milk for the same amount.

And yet, I'll spend upwards of $80 a week just getting take-out and coffee.

So, this morning, I made some muffins. Muffins?! you say, "muffins are fattening and terrible for you!" But look at this recipe. It's got low-fat yogurt, flax, and big, fat blueberries. This recipe yields 12 smaller muffins or 10 to 11 larger muffins, and results in moist, fluffy, sticky muffins that needed no butter or jam.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

2 cups minus three large tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 heaping tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground organic flax (optional)**

2 large eggs
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons warm melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon lemon zest (add more to taste)
Juice of half a lemon

1 1/2 cups frozen blueberries

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Then, in a smaller bowl, whisk the wet ingredients. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix with a few strokes until the dry ingredients are just moistened. Don't overmix--the batter will be lumpy. Gently fold in the blueberries. Spray your muffin pan or line with muffin cups, then divide out the batter. I like to make eleven slightly bigger muffins and put water in the last cup to add moisture to the oven (I don't know if this really works....).

Cook in a 400-degree oven for approximately 22 minutes. You can check for doneness by sticking a toothpick into a few of the muffins. If it's clean, they're ready. Let cool for a few minutes, but serve warm. If not serving immediately, let them cool on a rack, or they'll get soggy bottoms. And no one likes a soggy bottom.

**Costco carries organic ground flax in a nice big container with screw-top lid. It even comes with a handy scoop. Mine was under $10 and I found it in the cereal aisle.

Utter failure.

I have a lumpy, sodden mass of smelly dough in my refrigerator. It didn't rise. I'm tempted to try to bake it just so I can dispose it in a less gross way. Then again, tomorrow's garbage day. I might just scrape it into a bag tomorrow morning before I head off to work.

Sigh.

Feed the Beast...Day 3

The sourdough starter has bubbles and a decidedly SOUR aroma, just like Joy said it would. Somehow I pictured rapid bubbles, like it was boiling. I also thought it would be much more spongey, and not thick and heavy.

I've started the dough for the sourdough bread: 4 cups bread flour, 1.5 cups lukewarm water, and 2 cups sourdough starter--which was the whole thing. If this works, and it's good, I'll need to start over from scratch.

I can't imagine who smelled that mess and one day said, "Aw, forget about it--let's just bake it and tell the customers it's SUPPOSED to taste like that!"

The way that food evolves just amazes me.

Very Excited!

I'm so very excited! Okay, I know by writing the word "excited" into a blog with the title "Food Fetish" is going to result in even *more* frustrated people in Moscow, Poland, and other European countries coming to my blog. For some reason, I have a lot of misguided people from "over there" who come looking for food fetishism. I love food, but just not in that way.

So why am I so excited? Because my flour mix is starting to show signs of LIFE!!! There are a few bubbles forming on top of the mixture. Tonight I mix in another half cup of bread flour and quarter cup of room-temp water, then cover with new, un-perforated plastic wrap. I continue feeding the mess every twelve hours and eventually it's supposed to be a spongey, bubbling mess. And sour smelling.

Doesn't that sound like something YOU'd like to eat?

The starter

So the recipe for sourdough starter is so simple, there's no way I can mess it up. 1/2 Cup bread flour mixed with 1/4 cup room temp water every 12 hours. Easy, right?

So how was I able to mix in REGULAR flour instead of the bread flour?? I was so concerned about getting it in the right time period; getting the right amount of air holes in the plastic wrap--but couldn't get the FLOUR right?

We'll see if it's right.

Since I don't know if it's okay, I thought I wouldn't post the boring flour picture. Instead, here is a picture of our GIANT baby, who is 7 months, but in 18-month clothing. He is OFF the charts!

Sourdough Starter

I had the most delicious bread in Washington DC. It was at a little bistro near my hotel (read more about the dinner here) and that bread was the highlight of my stay. Well, outside of seeing an old friend, but the two don't really compare, now would they...?

This bread had a hard, chewy crust. Sweet, thick center, with bite and resistance. It was lovely. And I've been craving it ever since.

I took a luxurious nap this afternoon (sleep when the baby sleeps, and all that). During my nap, I dreamed of bread. So when I awoke, I decided I should bake bread. But the stuff I make in the bread maker has disappointed me lately. The crust is okay, but the heart of the stuff was like Wonder Bread--all air holes and flavorless.

I remembered the year I spent making simple loaves of bread by scratch. They weren't pretty, but they tasted good.

So out came the good old Joy of Cooking. Did I really want standard white bread? No. I wanted that bistro bread. What was it that separated great bread from standard bread? Is great, bistro bread made with a sponge or a starter? Maybe. Maybe.

So I've started a sourdough starter. I can't help remember Jeffrey Steingarten's tales of woe in making starter in Manhatten. Will the fact that I live two stone's thows from a vineyard help? Will all the grape yeast be flying around the air, even if it's winter?

We'll see. It's day one. I'll post as things progress (or don't!).

Do Baking Products Go Stale?

Lots of you are finding this blog because you're trying to find out if your baking products (sugar, baking powder, molasses, etc.) go stale. It's the night before Thanksgiving and there's a lot of baking going on.

Here's my post on that: http://fleagirlsfleas.blogspot.com/2006/10/can-sugar-go-bad.html

Can Sugar Go Bad?

Someone wanted to know if sugar can go bad. According to the October issue of Real Simple sugar can keep up to two years (and sometimes more)--if kept in an airtight, moistureproof container. And brown sugar can be softened by microwaving for 15 seconds, but, because of the molasses in it, it should be used up within a year.

Flour is more of a problem. If you're like me, you use plenty of flour in cooking and baking. Again, use the airtight container in a cool, dry spot. I have my grandmother's tins for flour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and the third tin used to hold cookies but now holds sticky rice (uncooked, of course). Are you using whole-wheat flour or other whole-grains? Keep those in a big freezer bag and in the freezer--inside a Tupperware container to keep the bag from getting punctured.

What about baking powder and baking soda? I hate to say when I was young I was known to user the baking soda out of the box in the fridge. Good lordy, learn from my mistakes! That box is there to absorb bad odors--and whatever you're baking will taste like bad smells. Ieew. Use one for the fridge and one in the cupboard. And what about odors in the cupboard? I put my box in a zip-lock baggie to keep it fresh. Real Simple says Baking Soda is good for two years unopened, one year if opened. And baking powder is easy--it has a use-by date printed on the can. Why didn't I ever know that?

They didn't address powdered sugar, which for me always tastes like gym socks and I have to get a new bag if ever I need it. So of course, I never make anything that requires it.

What are your tips for storing powdered sugar?