Cookie Baking Tips

Written by Michael Paetzold


Making better cookies is a lot easier if you understandrepparttar difference betweenrepparttar 113075 average commercial bakery andrepparttar 113076 home kitchen. These tips should allow you to make better cookies at home whether it be for a special party or your annual Christmas cookie baking session.

There are 4 major things that are done commercially that are overlooked by repparttar 113077 average home baker.

Number 1 is thatrepparttar 113078 average home baker does not have a stone oven. Most commercial bakeries have stone shelves and that dispersesrepparttar 113079 heat torepparttar 113080 pan in a much more even manner. Obviously, buying a commercial oven for this alone is not feasible for most of us. (I have considered putting a commercial pizza oven in my laundry room but my better half vetoed that idea :-(. Thus I settled for going out and buying an oven stone for our regular electric oven. This servesrepparttar 113081 same purpose with no loss of space in our laundry room and at a huge savings versusrepparttar 113082 price of a commercial pizza oven (evenrepparttar 113083 used one I wanted).

The second thing isrepparttar 113084 thickness and quality ofrepparttar 113085 cookie sheet. The average commercial facility uses a sheet pan or half sheet pan which is probably 2 to 3 times as heavy asrepparttar 113086 ones used byrepparttar 113087 average home baker. This likerepparttar 113088 oven stone dispersesrepparttar 113089 heat much better and makes it much easier forrepparttar 113090 cookies to bake evenly. I definitely recommend checking out your local restaurant supply house to get some half sheet pans which will definitely be better thanrepparttar 113091 cookie sheet available at your local supermarket or Walmart.

Understanding the Basics of Wine Tasting

Written by Nerello Glasure


The wine taster's ritual of peering into a glass, swirling it around and sniffing suspiciously at it, before taking a mouthful only to spit it out again looks highly mysterious and technical. However, as you try more and more wines, your awareness of flavors and your personal preferences will develop. It is however a sequence of events that can enhancerepparttar enjoyment of good wine. Once learned, they become almost second nature to evenrepparttar 113074 novice taster.

Wines Appearance Pour your wine into a wine glass so that it is about 40% full, you will need room for swirling. Have a good look atrepparttar 113075 wine. Is it clear, opaque, or cloudy? Does it contain sediments or other solid matter? Tiltrepparttar 113076 glass away from you at a 45-degree angle against a white background so you can enjoyrepparttar 113077 range of colors inrepparttar 113078 wine fromrepparttar 113079 center torepparttar 113080 rim. Wine changes color with age. Whites are at its palest state during their youth, gradually adding stronger color. Red wine, onrepparttar 113081 other hand, has more vivid color in its youth, slowly fading to brick red.

Smellrepparttar 113082 Wine Give your glass a vigorous swirl to help releaserepparttar 113083 aromas. Swirling takes a bit of practice. This technique can be learned by leavingrepparttar 113084 wine glass onrepparttar 113085 table, holding it byrepparttar 113086 stem, and rotating it in small circles. The object is to getrepparttar 113087 wine to move up to around 70% of sides ofrepparttar 113088 glass.

Stick your nose right intorepparttar 113089 glass and inhale steadily and gently, as if you were smelling a flower. These vital seconds of inhalation will reveal all kinds of familiar and unfamiliar smells. Try to detectrepparttar 113090 smell of fruity or floral notes. Decide what they remind you of if possible. Noterepparttar 113091 presence of spices, such as pepper, cinnamon, vanilla, tea or possibly nuts. Finally, noterepparttar 113092 presence of other aromas, such as cedar, oak, moist earth, herbs, chocolate, tobacco, toast, or smoke. Always interpret them in terms that mean something to you.

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