Comments on Thank God It's Pie-day: High Altitude Baking

Thank you! for the high altitude section. That is ...

2010-09-16T15:33:19.568-06:00

Thank you! for the high altitude section. That is really helpful for me up in Lake Tahoe, CA. I can't believe Salt Lake isn't considered high altitude! My boyfriend and I are thinking of moving there. It's great to have found your blog.

April, I learned something recently from Melinda L...

2010-08-12T11:53:18.867-06:00

April, I learned something recently from Melinda Lee (The food News) on KNX 1070. Crisco Shortening, which I realize you don't use but others might, has been changed to not contain any trans-fats. This apparently was a bad thing, even though other shortenings that still work didn't ever contain trans-fats. Crisco now doesn't work like it used to and many cooks have stopped using it.

I just recently started using European butter in m...

2010-08-12T10:46:36.586-06:00

I just recently started using European butter in my baking--including in the failed cupcakes.

I don't taste the shortening when I've used it in cake recipes. It's a pretty small amount--the butter makes up at least 3/4 of the fat content. But maybe my tastebuds aren't that sensitive

I don't know anything about lecithin. Do you just add it to a recipe? Do you have to adjust other ingredients to compensate for that addition?

What kind of butter do you use, April? I mentione...

2010-08-12T10:40:32.920-06:00

What kind of butter do you use, April? I mentioned that my all-butter cupcakes work fine... but I usually use a high milk-fat European butter. Most European style butters have less water content than American style butters do. Maybe that's why I don't have a problem(?)

High fat butter is expensive, but I'd do anything to avoid using waxy shortning in recipes.

Just a thought: Dave uses lecithin as an emulsifier in his baking, and I'm just starting to discover the magic myself. I've even found that using lecithin in homemade Philly-style ice cream can keep the fats from separating and make it a lot smoother. Anyway, if you used a teaspoon or two of lecithin, you wouldn't need to use shortening as a fat emulsifier, and lecithin is good for you (brain food!)... not to mention completely tasteless in recipes. :)

Thanks for the link, April. That's much more h...

2010-08-11T11:36:04.377-06:00

Thanks for the link, April. That's much more helpful than any cookbook I have, all of which have something different to say about the subject. I'm always checking the cookbooks because I'm at 5,500 ft., and this is usually a very dry climate (except for summer monsoons). It really does make a difference.