Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

you must be talking about texture, because P's biscuits are so nasty with their stale shortening taste!

I'm so over the heavy, in extremis cakes of my youth. You know, Death By Chocolate, or stuffed with everything you can get the batter to hold--like Hummingbird Cake.

For the past couple years, I've been making white and yellow cakes, with whipped cream or mousse filling and the splendid perfection of impeccably ripe fruit. light, light, light. Citrus curds are yummy, too, as fillings. I usually flavor the batter to complement the filling.

When only chocolate will do, Sachertorte. I've been making it since college, but apricot isn't very popular amongst my kith & kin, so I use raspberry or cherry. Once, as a special birthday request, I filled & iced the cake with Swiss meringue, then dripped a fudgy ganache down the sides. It was an imitation of Max's Cafe "Niagara Falls Cake". It was gone very quickly and well appreciated.

Currently, I'm trying to perfect crumb cake versions: vanilla ("plain"), spice and with fruit. First, mini muffins, then muffin tops.

If you're going to sell by the slice, I would buy pieces of fruit-filled quick breads like pumpkin, persimmon, apple-walnut.

I strongly suggest you develop a killer buttercream. A good cake becomes a repeat, must-have with a well balanced, rich but not overwhelming, frosting. And, of course, you can doctor the flavoring extracts to suit the final product.
My reason for this suggestion is that while I don't make buttecream except as a special request for a special occasion,--because I feel bad about its unhealthfulness--it doesn't stop me from buying a high-end cuppie for myself!

Good luck! a homey bakery is a great idea.

Not a fan of breaded veg but for lightly dredged in seasoned flour or tempura-style batter, I like:

firm fleshy veg, like kabocha, sweet tater.
Also good are mushrooms and zucchini fingers but only if they're hot from the fryer!

LOVE OKRA! keep em crisp, not slimy and I'm all over them!

A comfort food indulgence for me is mixed shredded veg bound with egg and flour (like latkes, but with carrot, cabbage, brocc, whatever; always some kind of onion and often shredded garlic). If there's no serrano or pasilla in the veg, I like to eat them with siracha/mirin dipping sauce.

A special treat that my mother made just for me and her was tempura'd shiso flower spikes. ummm, earthy, slightly spicy, and crispy! about a million times better than fried sage leaves, which are still pretty tasty.

And, I do like chips, though I haven't eaten any in years. I have fond memories of Terra Chips, mixed bags. taro, mmmm

the cornstarch treatment of proteins is called "velveting", it does not require oil. It is often performed in hot water or stock.

and thanks engmcmuffin for the very clear info re: "marinating".

But, in my personal experience, the sides of a conventional wok are not for cooking. The shape concentrates the heat in the small area in the bottom. When cooking different ingredients together, add the longest cooking, when it's time to add the next item, push the first stuff up the sides and put the next ingredient into the "hot spot" to come to cooking temperature, then toss with prior item; push all up the sides and repeat. A new item wouldn't "hit the un-oiled sides": 1) it's kind of dangerous to toss or dump food into hot oil, and 2) there's already stuff on the cooler sides.

That's the second reason why non-stick woks are an absurd item marketed to people who shouldn't be using a wok. The most important reason is that non-stick coating gives off toxic fumes when heated to the temperatures that stir-frying requires--yes, a wok has many functions, but 99 & 44/100% of people who would buy a non-stick wok would want them for stir-frying, at least part of the time.

Apparently, the course designers base their work on the movies & merchandising: Anyone who's read the books would NOT eat anything Hagrid cooked/baked. LOL

BTW, my kids are not culinary wunderkind, but they have made stew and scones, et c for themselves (with knife work & stove/oven carefully supervised) since they were in single digits. My younger boy (12 yrs old) is a fussy eater & cooks for himself when he doesn't like what the rest of the family is served. (He has to pony up for his groceries & parents have veto power over menu selection.) Saves a lot of tension at the table.

about height:
sorry to be a negative Nellie, but maybe your powder wasn't as fresh as it could have been.
also, double-acting powder may help if you don't have the lightest touch rolling out your dough.
third, how do you cut your biscuits? if you twist, the layers pinch together and they can't rise. Ditto if your cutter is dull.

Hope this helps. biscuits are truly serious eats. enjoy!

Get a pocket watch to keep Mrs. Child's picture. With your kind of healthful self-awareness, you'll soon want people to see your waistline when they glimpse your cool fob & chain. GJ

Before they went bust, Sharper Image had a model that would page you (the idea was you didn't have to stay in the same room to hear the beep).

PS. ATK tested the Polder mentioned above: Thumbs down because it needed a line from the probe to the beeper outside the oven or grill and the beep was too quiet.

Hi - I have tempered glass plates--no 'feet' or rim--, so when I press things, I just put the stuff between two of the dinner plates, place upside down in the sink with a bag of rice or beans on top for weight.
There's no ridge to interfere with the pressing or to puddle the liquid, which flows off by itself.
Of course, if I want to collect the liquid (like whey from farmer's cheese), I place the set up in a clean roasting pan.
If you prefer other tableware for eating, it's still worthwhile to pick up open stock; they're only a couple$ each.
Hope this is helpful.

PS to hoff_83: did u skip a step? I mean: 1/2" pressed cubes, browned, strong gravy, ~50% aromatic veg. It's pretty close to impossible to taste "bland" tofu through all that's going on. Then again, I did meet someone who thought being able to taste tofu at all was evidence of a faulty recipe.

Well, the idea is understandable and I sympathize, especially with the small business owner. But one wonders how "Joe Restaurant Owner" would implement the policy, if his/her place is not hot-hot-hot. If reservation is made on-line it's easy to get a credit card #, but how many people would give the number over the phone? and where is it kept? in the reservation book? How late is "no-show"? Farallon takes reservations in 15 minutes increments; if my party is 15 minutes late should I expect "seating if available" AND be charged a "no-show" fee? Especially at a less chi-chi place, I can see people coming in to complain about charges; that may be too high a price for a small biz owner.

I'm was raised in L.A.
"Jimmies" are tubular and firm, but not hard. They're most commonly chocolatey and brown, but are also available in other flavors and corresponding colors.
"Sprinkles" are hard, spherical sugar pellets; each pellet is a solid color, but generally sprinkles are sold in multicolor packages. You'd have to go to a specialty store to get single color packages. They don't have "flavors". I've heard East Coasters call them, "hundreds and thousands".
I've since moved to NoCal and it's mostly the same here, except for all the ECers who migrated.

1st thought: those tv ads for giant m&ms and the disasters when people tried to eat them.
2nd thought: can you slice them in half and make pulled pork/cheeto sliders?
[sorry, sliders on the brain: going to the store after I finish my 'net-ing to buy King's Hawaiian rolls and make sliders with pork tenderloin and slaw with honey mustard]

If you have a lot of carnivorous co-workers, the following is a little labor intensive, but will make you a hero. I made this for my boss' Secret Santa gift (she's an Atkins fanatic) and she was so thrilled, she gave me an Xmas gift AND more importantly, an extra paid long weekend! (She never gave even a birthday card to her asst mgr in 7 years!)
Stack:
LARGE BASIL LEAF (avoid Thai basil, its flavor clashes with the salami and the leaves are a little too small)
SLICE OF SALAMI (I get Columbo, pre-sliced packet)
CUBE OF BRIE OR CAMEMBERT (underripe in case people don't like strong odor), not big--you want the pile to be one bite, but not Dagwood-like.
1/3 OF A CHERRY TOMATO (half a grape tomato slides all over)

Pull the basil around the other ingredients; secure with a pretty pick or at least not a cheap splintery pick.

Once you get a rhythm going, you can wrap 2 or 3 dozen pretty quick.
It's relatively inexpensive, considering how many people will get a serving (just 3 is enough for a mini meal itself). Not smelly, not greasy, easy to transport, all the ingredients are familiar and it's a delight that "feeds the eyes". Green, white and red.
The salami provides plenty of seasoning; the basil and tomato balance the richness. The brie--well, it tastes good!
I guess you could sub diet jack or colby or a fresh mozzarella, if brie is too dear or too fatty. That's not a concern in our office.

For my parties, I've used chevre, and also seasoned cream cheese. Both were gobbled up pronto.