What to buy from King Arthur

[susan_foster]

Well, I have some "found" money to spend - basically I finished paying off my car this month (yay!), and I overpaid, so I got a $110 check from the finance company. My dad has convinced me to spend the money how I want - so I've been scanning around. I was reading "Chocolate and the Art of Low-Fat Desserts" last night - and it suddenly made me want to get some dutch-process cocoa. Well, I was going to spend some of the money at Penzeys, but didn't think I could find enough to spend on (I know - sounds weird - but I cook only for myself, and my spice senses are rather pedestrian, I believe). Anyway - I decided to get the cocoa from King Arthur - and I thought I'd get suggestions on what else to get. I want to get a bundt pan - I haven't baked a bundt cake yet (first try will be Eating Well's Died and Went to Heaven cake), and I love the look of the sunflower, but I have heard that it is tough to get the cake out and keep the detail. And I've heard good things about the cookbook? I love to bake - so any suggestions are freely welcomed!

Susan

[maizeyoats]

They have all kinds of chips (the chocolate chip kind) that you can't find anywhere else like cappuchino chips, lemon chips, green mint chips, cinnamon chips to name some.
Also their packages of scone mixes are really good.

[swquilts]

Susan, I didn't get mine from King Arthur, but I find that I use my 2 cup measuring cup all the time! Especially for baking! Good for flours, broths, all kinds of stuff.

Maybe invest in a nice, sturdy set of measuring cups and spoons? I have my eye on the bread proofing/rising cloth..... :)

[Vicanddi]

Susan, I have the KA measuring spoons with the long handles and square scoop, so they easily fit into spice jars. They also have increments that most measuring spoon sets don't have, so that is nice. I use them a lot. I bought a shortcake pan along with a mix for a friends birthday and she loved it, and is now hooked on shortbread! I got the pan that has butterflies on it and it makes a pretty cookie.

Have fun shopping! :)

[Arlene Leona]

Susan,

I would not worry about the sunflower bundt pan - as long as you grease and flour the pan well. Be ready to brush any extra flour off the cake when it comes out of the pan and cools off a bit. Also, be sure you do not have wet ingredient sink to bottom of the pan. The only pan I would avoid is the rose. Cakes will be too crusty; there are too many ridges.

I would definitely buy the Nielsen-Massey Vanilla - it produces marvelous baked goods. I would also buy some saffron, espresso freeze-dried powdered coffee, some wonderful chocolate and their whole selection of chips and sconce mixes. I tend to be a King A. fan and love everything in their catalog.

[Little Bit]

Definitely get the Guittard Onyx wafers, or at least the chocolate samplers, so you can 'play' a bit with high quality chocolate.

I'd also suggest the Double Dutch cocoa, which is a blend of two cocoas that make for a very wonderful/dark chocolate flavor. I forget what they call the super dark cocoa, but it's the sort of stuff bakers use when they want chocolate as deep/dark as, say, an Oreo cookie. The Double Dutch is a blend of that super dark stuff and the 'regular' natural cocoa. I use it in my standard chocolate cake, to rave reviews.

Their fruitcake fruits are lovely, as are their candied cherries.

I'm not sure I'd recommend a 'shaped' bundt pan. I have one and seldom use it. I guess I prefer the more regular slices I get from my other pan.

I, for one, would get the new-ish smaller Pullman pan, (breadpan with a lid, to make square loaves), but if you don't bake bread, you might give it a pass.

[HUNGRY!]

I love the artisan bread topping and the polenta. They also have neat sugar toppings for sugar cookies.

[bluestocking]

I second the suggestion for the double-dutch cocoa. You won't want to use anything else after trying it! Their sugar for toppings is great too- I use it all the time. Also, any scone mix I've tried is delicious.

[lisacohen]

I have tried a bunch of different mixes from them - cookies, bread machine, scones, etc. and they are all great! I am one of those people that goes through catalogs, circles things that I want and when I close it I feel like I've gone shopping and I have the following things on my holiday wish list from the catalog:

-(okay I already bought this but it comes from the catalog: King Arthur Flour's Baking Companion)

-Fiori di Scilia (I've heard great things about this and thought it would be great to add to sugar cookies or butter cookies - has anyone else ever used this?)

-the giant spatula (the one they show with a pie crust on it)

-lots of breadbaking equipment: baker's couche, long brotform, bread bags, Nordicware mini-bundt pan, 2 standard bread loaf pans, La Clouche, dough doubler bucket (uneccessary really), small and medium flour buckets, lame, proof cover.

And the super peel looks neat but I don't make intricate pie tops so this doesn't make the official "wish list".

I'll have to try the cocoa that everyone's suggesting. Sounds great.

Good luck shopping. You can't go wrong there (And Penzey's is awesome too - love their spices).

Lisa

[madpots]

I have the rose pan and the cakes come out beautifully. I made one with a strawberry cake mix and dusted it with conf. sugar, very impressive. My cousin has the sunflower pan and she says she doesnt have any trouble getting it out. We use Baker's Joy and let the cake set a few minutes before trying to take it out.

That said, if you are only going to have one bundt pan, I would suggest getting the plain one. One of my favorite recipes calls for putting nuts in before putting in the batter.

[clairea]

One of my favorite things from KA that I have not seen mentioned is the "Danish Loaf Pan." It is a long narrow pan that holds a quick bread recipe that would fit in a standard 9x5 pan. I'm sure you could do yeast bread in it too. I can get more slices from each loaf this way, and I think they look nicer than the wide short slices that come from a 9x5 pan.

The other thing I use a lot is the kneading mat. It is like a big silpat and I use it to knead bread on. No more scraping gunk off the countertop!

Claire

[alicerh]

If you are a whole grain bread baker try the Lora's Bread Enhancer and the seed mix. Both the one for topping and the one put into dough are good. I also love their course sugar sprinkled on the top of muffin batter before baking. It makes a great sugary crust on top.