Homecooking ~ Healthy

This was supposed to be my post yesterday but I thought all of you would rather hear what Jane had to say about Scones. For Mother's day I prepared a simple meal of ... Fried Chicken, Dumplins, White Beans and Cornbread, Turnip Greens, Okra and Tomatoes. Talk about your typical "Southern Meal" this is it! Today, we decided to eat Rabbit Food -aka- House Salad. Definitely not my specialty! I fixed it with a bed of iceberg lettuce, carrots, broccoli, eggs, tomatoes, ham, cheese, pickles, beets, cottage cheese and blue cheese dressing. Again, salads are not my specialty and the reason they call it a "House Salad" is because you put a little bit of everything from the house refrigerator in it. ~ Chef Wilkinson ~

~ Jane on the subject of Scones ~

* This is what Jane had to say about Scones in the UK. *

"We generally have sweet scones, either plain or fruit with jam and whipped cream for a traditional cream tea ... this HAS to be accompanied by a pot of tea! If you get to buy this in a cafe then you would be given 2 Scones usually per person. A cream tea in Cornwall is the best as they use Cornish clotted cream. My sister makes the best cheese scones which are wonderful eaten warm with butter on. For the plain scones it is just flour, butter and some milk, cheese or fruit added for the other scones."

Readers are you drooling too? Those sound scrumptious! Thank you so much Jane! ~ Chef Wilkinson ~

<<< Biscuits & Scones >>>

My friend Jane from "across-the-pond" in Bognor Regis will be able to provide insight on today's post. Biscuits are generally a mixture of fat, flour and milk with a leavening agent. Though the pieces of fat left in the dough make plain biscuits quite tender many bakers give the dough a turn or two to create flaky layers. Scones are slightly sweet and richer than biscuits with the addition of eggs and cream. Some recipes for scones have no cold butter or fat cut into the flour but rather are a simple combination of flour, leavening and heavy cream. These are called Cream Scones and are exceptionally tender and moist. I look forward to having Jane comment on Scones in the UK. Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's reading my blog. ~ Chef Wilkinson ~

~ The Color of Wheat ~

Color is the final determining factor in classifying wheat. A slightly bitter red pigment is present in the seed coat of red wheats, similar to the tannins in tea; this trait has been bred out of white wheats. Hard white wheats are used primarily in whole wheat products where the bitter taste is undesirable. Hard white wheat flour is also becoming popular with artisan bread bakers. Its higher mineral content makes it ideal for long fermentation periods and it has a slight natural sweetness. Red wheat generally has more gluten than white wheat. ~ Chef Wilkinson ~

~ ~ More Wheat ~ ~

Soft wheats have a high starch yield and a low protein content. They are grown in areas of high rainfall and lower soil fertility. Low-protein flours are used to their best advantage in biscuits, pies and cakes where tenderness is preferred over strength. Winter wheats are planted in the fall grow for a very short period of time and then become dormant. They resume growing in the Spring and are harvested in the Summer. Spring wheats are planted in the Spring and harvested in late Summer. Tomorrow we will discuss ... Color. ~ Chef Wilkinson ~

~ Wheat ~

There are 5 primary classifications of bread wheat grown here. They are: Hard Red Spring Wheat, Hard Red Winter Wheat, Soft Red Winter Wheat, Hard White Wheat and Soft White Wheat. The differences are determined by hardness, growing season of course and color. Hard and Soft not only refers to the actual hardness of the kernel but also to the kernel's protein content. The hardest wheats generally contain more protein and fewer starch granules. For the baker, this means that hard wheat flours produce doughs capable of the greatest gluten development. These hard or strong flours are ideal for bread. Hard wheats are grown where rainfall is low and the soil is more fertile. More tomorrow ... ~ Chef Wilkinson ~

~ Angel Food Cake ~

Egg-white based Angel Food Cake is the lightest and most tender of the sponge cakes. It has virtually no fat. Leavened with the air contained in the beaten egg white foam Angel Food Cakes get their moisture and tenderness from the egg whites and large amount of sugar. Careful beating of the egg white foam is essential to the success of the cake. Angel Food Cakes should be baked in ungreased tube pans since fat collapses the egg white foam. It should be cooled upside-down because egg proteins firm and set as they cool. If cooled upright gravity may collapse some of the air cells before the cake is set. Just one more example of the many delicious things that can result from egg white foam. ~ Chef Wilkinson ~