Baking quick questions

rosie383

I have to say I disagree. I hated the muffin one my sil bought me, until I realised that you have to put it on a baking tray first before filling it and putting it in the oven. I also thought it was difficult to get the baking out without using paper cases, until I found out here that you have to leave the stuff to cool completely before turning it out then they just pop out so easily.Now I don't even ever grease the moulds.
As for them being expensive, I bought my last one from Poundland. Fine once it's sitting on a baking tray. I never have to buy paper caes any more, so it will pay for itself in the end.

Oh, and Primrose, thank you so much for the tip about putting a wee bit of oil in the pastry. I have just made some this morning, and it is soooooo much easier to handle.

KSH 123 :rofl: that's what you get for getting the munchies at an unearthly hour of the morning!!!! I did the same once too, and I can still taste them now all these years later. Yeugh!

Primrose

rosie383 wrote: »

Oh, and Primrose, thank you so much for the tip about putting a wee bit of oil in the pastry. I have just made some this morning, and it is soooooo much easier to handle.

Glad you found it worked. I only came up with the idea of trying it in desperation after getting fed up with all the cracked pastry I ended with and the "patchwork quilting" I had to do when lifting the rolled-out pastry into flan cases. Normal advice is to chill the pastry before using, but I find that tends to harden the fat contents in it which makes the pastry less pliable.

rosie383

That's exactly what I was finding too. It looked ok before I would put it in the fridge, then almost impossible to roll out. Just about to go and roll out today's ones, so here's hoping!!
BTW, I'm using up minced beef ( browned with onions), the last wee bit of gravy granules to thicken it up, a few frozen carrots, and I cut spuds into tiny wee cubes. Looks ok for a filling. How hot do I cook them and for how long? I want them to be like cornish pasty shaped things, so thickish dough to fill everyone up!

Primrose

rosie - I would guess about 20 - 25 minutes in a hot (180 degree) oven, until the pastry is turning brown. If the meat has already been browned it should be slightly cooked already. The hardest thing to cook might be the potatoes but if they really are mini cubes they should be OK. I've not cooked a great many pasty-type dishes but if you Google "cooking time for Cornish Pasties" that should give you an idea although I think the meat in traditional Cornish Pasties is cooked from raw.

rosie383

I actually put the potatoes in boiling water for about 5 mins and they are only about 1cm square so they should cook ok. I never normally cook these either, but I am literally running out of food, so am using up whatever I find that I think everyone will enjoy. Need to get and do them now.

rosie383

Primrose.... a huuuuge thank you! The pasties are out of the oven, DD1 on her second one and loving them! And the pastry was soooo much easier to work with. You do realise, that from now on, every time I make pastry it'll be Primrose pastry!

Primrose

Rosie - I'm so glad this has worked for you with your pasties. I used to think that I was really awful at making pastry because it usually seemed to crack up on me and all the professionals when demonstrating making pastry on TV seem to get it right 100% of the time It's amazing was a difference a tiny little bit of oil makes, isn't it? I'm just kicking myself that I went for so long without thinking of this as a solution. What really made me think of it was my mum, years ago, shortly after the war when beauty products weren't really available, rubbing olive oil onto her hands to make them softer after immersing her hands for ages in water to do the laundry.

Primrose

Forgot to add - my Mum's name was Rosie too, so a happy coincidence !

rosie383

Just saw your post Primrose. I will give you another coincidence...... Years ago I knew a girl with quite severe learning difficulties who would love nothing more than to come and sit having a cuppa and a chat, and she called me primrose!!!!!!

Anyhoo, on with a baking question. I was baking yesterday and was happily using my 'plain' flour which I had ordered from Approved foods. Only to discover after I was finished that the 4 bags are actually SR flour!!!!! I use plain flour for a lot of my recipes, and was thinking that I could just add baking powder to my plain, and I wouldn't need any flour for ages. So, now I have 6 kg of SR flour.
Can I use it to make pastry? On the menu today are the mince pasties as they were such a big hit. So, can I use it?

puddy

as above really, ive got pin head oat meal and want to get rid of it