Congratulations Corrie! Please email me @ detzelpretzel[at]gmail.com to claim your prize.
Your name reminds me of a great woman named Corrie ten Boom.
Corrie ten Boom was a Holocaust survivor who helped many people escape the Nazis during World War II. She experienced persecution more than most could imagine, but still taught the Gospel of Jesus and what it means to forgive to those she was helping.
From Wikipedia:
“In May 1942, a well dressed woman came to the Ten Boom door with a suitcase in hand. Nervously, she told Ten Boom that she was a Jew and that her husband had been arrested several months before, and her son had gone into hiding. Occupation authorities had recently visited her, and she was too fearful to return home. After hearing about how the Ten Booms had helped their Jewish neighbors, the Weils, she asked if she might stay with them, and Corrie ten Boom’s father readily agreed. A devoted reader of the Old Testament, Casper ten Boom believed Jews were indeed “the chosen,” and told the woman, “In this household, God’s people are always welcome.”
Corrie had been quoted as saying,
“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”
“Forgiveness is an act of the will, and the will can function regardless of the temperature of the heart.”
Volume measurements work well for some things. It would make far more sense to measure out a 1/2 cup of chopped basil than 1 ounce of basil. But for other things, such as flour or sugar…you’ll need more accuracy if you want to get consistently good results in the kitchen.
Flour can weigh anywhere from 4oz. to 6oz. per cup.
What makes the difference? Moisture, age, type of flour, etc..
Consider this:
Let’s say you are making a recipe that calls for 4 cups of all-purpose flour. Knowing that flour can vary between 4oz. and 6oz. per cup makes that 4 cups of all-purpose flour weigh anywhere from 1lb to 1.5lbs. That’s a half-pound variable in just 4 cups of flour! You can start to see why it’s easy to get inconsistent results when baking things.
More and more great cookbooks and recipe guides are listing ingredients by weight rather than volume and that’s because it’s so much more accurate. It makes your life so much easier too.
When I am making bread, I simply put my mixing bowl right onto the scale and zero out the weight of the bowl. Then I add in my flour. The bread I often make requires 20 ounces of flour and 12 ounces of water. These measurements couldn’t be easier on the digital scale.
There are so many applications where a digital scale is so useful, I’m confused as to how I managed without one for so long. These digital scales are especially useful if you are implementing ratios into your cooking rather than just recipes. I use 20 ounces of flour and 12 ounces of water for bread because the recipe is a 5:3 ratio. 5 parts flour // 3 parts liquid. (5oz. flour : 3 oz. water) – or – (10oz. flour : 6oz. water) – or – (15 oz. flour : 9 oz. water) – or – (20 oz. flour : 12 oz water)
Are you picking up what I’m putting down?
Again, the book RATIO helps tremendously with this. Michael Ruhlman is going to owe me some serious commission for all the attention I’ve been giving this book…it’s just that good.
I actually own a Taylor food scale and it’s pretty decent. There are a couple of things I don’t like about it though and this one from is highly reviewed and loved.
To enter this contest, simply leave a comment below listing the person or people who have most greatly influenced your cooking ability. This could be an author, your grandma, or even a Food Network personality. Who has taught you to cook better?
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I will randomly choose a winner tomorrow morning and post the results shortly after. Good luck!
This photo has nothing to do with anything. I just want to go camping at Red River Gorge soon.
So.
I happened to notice yesterday that I got a couple more comments than I normally do. That must mean there are more people behind little screens looking at things on this blog.
Well.
Who are you?
Come on.
Tell us.
We want to know.
* Who are you?
* Where are you from?
* Do you have a blog?
* Are you a meteorologist?
* Is your shoe-size a 10?
* Anything else?
