Athanasius

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	1,727 reputation	bio	website		visits	member for	4 months
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Apr 30	answered	Why does soda bread preserve less well than sourdough or yeast based bread?
Apr 26	answered	Are the bubbles in the sourdough starter caused by yeast cultures?
Apr 26	comment	Can I change the flour type of my sourdough starter? @RobertCartaino, absolutely. I didn't mean to be argumentative or to undermine anything else you said. It's a complex question. When I first began trying to make starters from scratch, I tried the method of beginning with whatever flour I planned to use it for (rye, whole wheat, white, etc.). After a few trials, I found that rye just was easier to begin, and I didn't see a major difference in performance/taste when I switched flours. I later found that others have had similar experiences. The one time recently I made a whole wheat starter, it took FOREVER to get strong (compared to rye).
Apr 25	answered	My sourdough starter is bubbling but not rising, suggestions?
Apr 25	answered	Can I change the flour type of my sourdough starter?
Apr 24	comment	Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge? @Aaronut, I wasn't at all intending a rebuttal (or even a response) to your answer. In comments here I was responding to previous comments from Joe and Brandon Thomson. As for my answer, I was just trying to provide a comprehensive answer that considered various objections I've heard/read. I definitely agree with your point that putting lots of hot food in small fridges frequently will probably overwork them, which is the reason I mention different advice for large quantities "on a regular basis." (Btw, if anything, my answer was intended to point out flaws in the couple top rated answers.)
Apr 24	comment	Is Teflon dangerous? @derobert - 500°C may be right; it depends on what is meant by "toxicity." The really nasty compounds will only occur above about 450°C (about 850°F), and they aren't generated in significant quantities until 600-700°C. Depolymerization of teflon doesn't really happen at appreciable levels until about 350°C (about 650°F), after it has already started to degrade and melt. Below 650°F, you can have off-gassing of stuff (which can also occur below 500°F). The main concern in heating teflon above 500°F specifically is that the surface can degrade and ruin the pan, not really a safety threshold.
Apr 15	awarded	Quorum
Apr 15	comment	How to make the sour cream that some restaurants serve with quesadillas? @Tor-EinarJarnbjo - I don't know what the European practice is, but this is not the case in the U.S. anymore. There is a lot of advertising and labeling about "live cultures" in many sour dairy products. I would go so far as to say that the norm for yogurt and "cultured buttermilk" in the U.S. is live cultures, which are perfectly suitable for starters. For sour cream, you may be correct -- I'm not sure I've ever seen "live culture" labels on sour cream, but I haven't looked (and I haven't tried it as a starter). Crème fraîche is rare in the U.S., so I don't know if there is a standard.
Apr 13	comment	How to make the sour cream that some restaurants serve with quesadillas? @ChrisSteinbach - I forgot about the thickening agents generally added to American sour cream. According to this source, the main difference is that crème fraîche uses cultures that produce additional aroma elements which ultimately mask the sour taste (the fat content helps too). If this is correct, I would assume that crème fraîche as a starter would produce a "less sour" sour cream.
Apr 13	comment	How to make the sour cream that some restaurants serve with quesadillas? @ChrisSteinbach - I don't know. I did a few quick searches and couldn't find specifics on the exact bacteria used in commercially produced Crème fraîche. Traditionally, as I understand it, crème fraîche was produced by the natural fermentation of fresh cream (as was sour cream, for that matter). But cultured American sour cream today has a very different flavor and is thicker than crème fraîche I've encountered. Given the higher fat content of crème fraîche, I would think that one would get a thicker product than sour cream with the same culturing bacteria, rather than a thinner one.
Apr 12	revised	How to make the sour cream that some restaurants serve with quesadillas? Cleaned up slightly, added info from comment on question.
Apr 12	answered	How to make the sour cream that some restaurants serve with quesadillas?
Apr 12	comment	What does “buttermilk” mean in an American pancake recipe? I know this is an old answer, but I think this recipe is a little high compared to many American recipes in baking powder/soda. I would tend to use about 1/3 less leavening for this amount of flour and liquid in pancakes. Also, I believe that German style baking powder is often chemically a little different from American (tends not to be "double-acting"), so you might also have to alter quantities a bit.
Apr 12	revised	What does “buttermilk” mean in an American pancake recipe? Fixed reference to homogenized milk
Apr 12	comment	What does “buttermilk” mean in an American pancake recipe? @rumtscho - Yes, I don't know exactly what Sauermilch is, and a few quick searches didn't turn up anything clear. I know that "homogenized milk" doesn't specifically say anything about fat (other than that it is mixed in). But my limited experience is that most German milk products are, by default, full fat (unless otherwise specified), so that's what I assumed here. Is that true in your experience?
Apr 11	revised	Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge? Added one more clarification to opening paragraph
Apr 11	revised	Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge? Improved formatting
Apr 11	revised	Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge? Added lots of links, some additional info
Apr 11	comment	Is it safe to put hot food in the fridge? @BrandonThomson - I will reiterate yet again that the question here says nothing about "large quantities," and I explicitly give advice for dealing with them at the end of my answer, including ice baths. In response to a separate question about my post here, I did a more detailed experiment with a gallon of boiling water in my own home fridge and found no major food temp change. Feel free to post your own data there if you have had different results.