OT do you love to bake?

Have you tried using a good wooden spoon? My favorite mixing spoons are the wooden ones I purchased from specialty stores (i.e. Williams Sonoma, etc.) They just seem to have a nicer feel in my hand & they sure do hold up better than the cheap ones I bought when I first started out. Mmmmmmmm - Home baked bread. That sounds wonderful!

Well, no, Pauline, I haven't. I do have some wooden spoons but they were probably 3 for $1 about forty years ago. We certainly couldn't call them special. Polly

"Pauline" Have you tried using a good wooden spoon? My favorite mixing spoons are the

That is my thought. A really good wooden spoon is worth its weight in gold. I have one that is sort of flat that is my favorite. My grandma had a sort of 'Y' shaped wooden piece (sort of like a slingshot shape) that she used with one type of bread dough. I think grandpa carved that from a tree branch years earlier. I enjoy baking a lot too. I like doing stuff like sweet rolls and other assorted treats too. TAke a look at these:

I had no idea how many kinds of neat wooden spoons there are!I'll be interested to hear what others suggest.Taria

Paul> Have you tried using a good wooden spoon? My favorite mixing spoons are

You would have just howled if you could see me pause while reading your answer to hold up an imaginary slingshot and try to figure out how it looked like a spoon. I really did haul out Alton Brown's book to see what suggestions he had. Of all things, he suggested the right height for hefty stirring - as in, doing the last heavy stirring down on table level instead of up on counter height. Thank you, Taria. I'll go over to

and see what's there. I've read about how serious some bakers can get about the care of their wooden tools. I've never given my cheapies any particular attention but if I find a friend, you can bet your boots I'll take care of it. Polly

"Taria" That is my thought. A really good wooden spoon is worth its weight in

Yup, wooden spoon. I'm a bread baker, no machines, and I always use a wooden spoon. You need a really good one though, I've snapped my share of 3 fer a $1 spoons. My "bread spoon" is never used for anything else. Yup, gotta get yourself a good wooden spoon Miss Polly.

LOL Lord have mercy! I can't imagine you snapping a wooden spoon. On second thought, oh yes, I can. The place Taria showed us is wonderful fun - but I have no clue which one would be best for heavy bread dough. Left hand? Right hand? I have both. I am also ambifooterused. How to choose? Polly

"Val" Yup, wooden spoon. I'm a bread baker, no machines, and I always use a wooden

Here's another place to get all kinds of bread related 'stuff' -

Donna in (SW) Idaho

First you put your two feet close up tight.......hahahahahaha....

My bread spoon came from my grandmother. I have no idea where she got it or who made it. It has a slightly flattened handle and 13 inches long. I find it easier to grip than my other spoons with round handles when beating up a heavier dough. The bowl of the spoon is sort of tapered and shallow. Since it's pretty much the same on both edges, and I'd assume works equally well either in right or left hand, would that make it ambispoonerous?

Val

Took the words out of my mouth! I have several made of birch wood that are a delight to use. And a set of olive wood salad servers. And a beautiful little scoop (just bought in Seoul) that holds the right amount of rice for

2 people. Roberta in D

"Pauline" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news:LncOj.4297$ snipped-for-privacy@newssvr21.news.prodigy.net...

I'm still with my first cup of coffee and trying to recover from Val's "ambispoonerous" (groan), but am wondering why you would cook the right amount of rice for 2 people. 'How much' to cook has changed many times through our lives. The most challenging was when we had teenagers who could never be filled up. Cooked rice keeps so well and is useful in just about anything from soup to pudding that I always just go ahead and do a massive quantity. Okay. Back to spoon shopping. Polly

I agree with what the others say about a good wooden spoon, Polly. I now use a bread machine, but I used to make my bread by "hand" -- using a wonderful wooden spoon, which sadly was lost in our move. I miss my spoon!

This is all true, but I just have this prejudice against leftovers. I love starting fresh with every meal. Illogical, but there it is. Maybe because DH doesn't eat leftovers voluntarily, so it's either eat them all myself or wait for them to become science projects. Anyhow, that little wooden scoop was just too lovely to pass up! Roberta in D

"Polly Esther" schrieb im Newsbeitrag news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net...

I love to bake and make candy- and do a LOT of it for my church. Like today is 4 pineapple upside-down cakes, 6 dozen snickerdoodles and a breakfast pie casserole for the after services coffee tomorrow- I'll whip the whipping cream in the morning. (We have a couple of diabetics, so I always make something they can eat and enjoy- like the breakfast casserole.) I use wooden spoons- used to get the cheapies and I broke them- often. Now I have a big hefty wooden spoon I love! It's nothing special- just a WalMart purchase. But it makes me happy and it's much safer for my hand- those ones that snap off can stab ya!

Leslie & The Furbabies in High Calorie MO.

Polly, I love to bake too. If you are talking about yeast bread, I have never used a spoon for the last bit of flour. Before I had the KitchenAid stand mixer I would knead the last bit of flour in by hand. Especially after having a wooden spoon break while trying to stir in flour once. With the machine able to do the job, and not having enough counter space, I do most of the kneading and such with the mixer. For quick breads, I again (now) use the big mixer. But have been known to use a good wooden spoon. Those are more like batters and you want to be careful to not overmix them. The key for a good mixing spoon is a rounded handle that doesn't have sharp edges. Good luck with your search.

Pati, > One of my favorite things is baking bread. Really. I love to. Along the

So much "Bread Wisdom" here. I love it. Yes, I love to bake. When my boys were quite young, I baked every bit of bread our household ate. Muffins, loaf bread, buns .... you name it. Don't do that now. My fat behind needs no more goodies to grow on. But I agree, a good wooden spoon. When I do bake bread I use a nice wooden spoon that used to be a salad spoon. And I also do the last stirring and kneading with my Kitchen Aid mixer. It's incredible really how much I depend on that piece of equipment and how much I love it.

And now, I have found a recipe for a little loaf of bread -- just right for two people (BG) -- that is made entirely in the food processor. Yes, it does all the mixing, all the kneading and when you take that little ball of dough out of the processor, it's ready to rise.

So, Miss Polly, I think you need to bake a loaf for each of us who "advised" you and send it to us, just so you can try out each bit of wisdom given in this thread.

Sunny hungrily awaiting my bread

I'll probably be doing just that, Sunny. With all the wooden spoons I'll need to audition, we'll have to do something with a mountain of bread. This ambispoonerous competition will be quite wonderful. Toast, anyone? with honey or blackberry jam? Polly

Ditto.

Here in the north we have abundant sugar maples, and I have used convieniently sized bits of branch that have been smoothed for stirring. With bread you don't exactly need a spoon. You need something that will hold up to the in between place where it is too wet to knead and thick enough to make stirring hard. Yep, once upon a time I snapped a cheap wooden spoon right in half trying to stir bread.

Or you could use just hands. Messy, but you are neither sugar nor salt. (G)

NightMist

Cooked rice must be cooled quickly and reheated to a core temperature of

83C, 182f as Baccilus Cerrus is a rather nasty food poising bug that survive at just over refrigerator temperatures. Marion in newtongrange

I'll second (or "third" or "tenth"?) the suggestion of using a wooden spoon... I also have a bamboo "rice paddle" that I picked up in Japan some

35+ yrs ago.... flat paddle shape, 'bout 8" long... I use it for lots of food prep (including serving rice... or getting the rice out of the cooker.) It's indestructable and does a great job mixing stiff stuff. Should be able to get it at a good culinary shop.

ME-Judy