Mary Stella, the only thing I have heard about breads caving in is that something in the dough hadn't developed enough to hold its shape. Too much yeast, flour is too heavy, etc. Cakes will do the same thing with ingredients that are too heavy. I am afraid I am not one of these technical people who can give you this in depth jargon of the "whys and where's" lol. If a recipe fails on me, it might get a second try, but after that, out it goes!!!

I have never used glass baking pans. How do you like them??? For me, King Arthur flour makes all the difference in the world. I also love, love using part pastry flour in all my cakes, cookies, muffins, pie crust, etc. because it turns out a better product for me. I also love their SAF Gold instant yeast for all sweet doughs I make. I have a friend who does a ton of baking and she has converted to that also. K A is expensive but I do love some of their products and wait for the free shipping.

Sandy, all I ever use is the parchment paper for cookie sheets so the box works fine for me. Wilton has a baking spray out called Cake Release which I can't live without now. Nothing sticks when you use that stuff!!

Mary Stella ... if you call KA they will be happy to try to help you figure out what is causing the sides to cave in. I believe they also have a forum that you might be able to get an answer from other bakers. I agree their products are a bit expensive, but everything I've ever tried from them has been great. One additional thought ... do you measure your flour by volume or weight? Weight is a lot more accurate and predictable and once I switched to weighing ingredients a lot of issues have gone away.

I've never used the KA flour or yeast myself, so I'm glad to hear the positive reviews ! I've been going through enough yeast that I've been thinking of going the "bulk" route (instead of the little packets), anyway. I like the sound of that Cake Release, too, Karen !

Mary K, good suggestion for calling the KA "Baker's Hotline" or whatever they call it -- have you ever used it? I've seen in a lot of the reviews where people have had trouble with one thing or another and someone from KA always jumps in and suggests calling them so they can help them figure out where the problem was.

I do a lot of baking and would never uase anything other than King Arthur. Well, i do use the freshly milled whole wheat my son does?

Great suggestion about sending a msg to KA. The bread itself is fine just the shape. Never had that problem before. I scoop flour into a measuring up tap it a few times then level it off. I can try weighing it. Would have to look up the weight of a cup of flour. Also I assume different flours weigh differently. I add all the flour measured out and it usually coincides with the dough pulling away from the sides of the KA mixer cleanly. I add a cup at a time til the end then just maybe 1/4 at a time. I have been baking bread for many years and this is something that has only cropped up in the last year or so. Have used glass pans for years. I do have two aluminum and will give those a try again. I also baked four loaves in one of those crockery deals that holds four small loaves. Same result. So it isn't the glass pans. When I make rustic artisan bread my recipes are by weight and I do weigh them. I have a good digital scale. I even weight the dough to figure out what is exactly 1/3 or 1/4th for each pan to keep them even depending on how many pans I am using. I have those little aluminum 'throw aways' (which of course never get thrown away ) for making smaller loaves.

Oh boy. Am I in trouble. I went to the Breadutopia site. OMG. Is it my imagination or are the prices at BU less than KA. I was looking at dough raising buckets and the one at BU was 9 something and 14 something at KA for the same item.

Has anyone every heard comments on the fancy mixer the BU sells? WonderMix from Germany? It is certainly cheaper (though it is supposed to be extremely well made with a 3 year warranty) than Kitchen aide, $549 against $299. Course anyone can get a good mixer from KA, the nice one with the 6cup bowl that raises to the mixer head for $350. I know that the motor in the KA is a 900 watt while my 40 year old DA has only about 325W. Mine seems to do just fine.

And that proofing box sounds really interesting. Oh am I in trouble.

"Oh am I in trouble."

Well, it sounds like I need to stay away from Beadutopia lol. I had never heard of it, but it sounds addicting. I don't do as much baking as I did at one time, so I haven't explored a lot of options.

Sandy, I've never personally used that feature at KA either ... just like you I've seen reviews where people experience a problem and KA wants them to call them so they can help figure out what went wrong. I think I did email them once with a question and got a prompt response ... just can't recall right now what that was.

I have a spreadsheet I set up in Excel with different ingredients and their weights. Allrecipes has a link on their site with a lot of this information. I'm sure this has to be very frustrating to you, Mary Stella, since it has only recently started being a problem. I hope you can figure out what is causing it.

I use the help thing from KA quite often, and I do appreciate the help. I can't wait to look at that site, Mary Stella, because K A I really high priced.

I saw the cutest idea for gifts using bread instead of something sweet. They did cute white coffee mugs ( the taller shaped ones) and baked savory breads in them. They looked so cute wrapped in cello bags with a ribbon. Lots of people would enjoy that probably more than cakes.

I had the best Scandinavian almond cake the other day. She served it with fruit and whipped cream. If anyone really wants the recipe, I willpost it.

I just submitted my question on KA. I noticed on the other site that the mixer is a new style just released by a company that makes very good grain grinders. They are having a special sale to introduce it. I don't really want to beta test such an expensive item. My old Kitchen Aid works just fine. Gets a little warm on top when kneading bread but doesn't seem to hurt it.

Oh, that is something else. I always used to knead my bread by hand - 8 minutes. Just can't do it any more so started using my machine. No. That can't be it. I have been using it for years now. Maybe I am letting it knead too long. The old "if some is good, more is better." It always raises wonderfully well, both the initial raise and the one in the pans. And the 'double in bulk' think I more or less follow. I guess I should order one of those bread raising containers with measurements on the side. That way I wouldn't over raise it. Seems like bread didn't seem so touchy years ago. Also using bread flour where I used to use plain old bleached flour. Too many variables.

Does anyone have a really good recipe for shiny, dark chocolate frosting?? I have tried several now, and they never look like the beautiful picture in the recipe. They turn out to be a light brown and often not very workable either. HELP!!!

Karen, does it need to have enough body to use a piping bag? I'm wondering if a ganache would be too loose? A bit of corn syrup added to ganache gives it a nice shine.

I wonder if I added some corn syrup to my chocolate frosting if it would shine nicely. It is a pretty old recipe, not as dark as you might like Karen. Basically butter, powdered sugar, vanilla. I would think you would need a very dark chocolate to achieve the shade you want. Perhaps at a specialty chocolate store. We have one here and they have every type and kind of chocolate known to man. Wonder what keeps them in business.

I was thinking of ganache as well, but it would have to be chilled to keep it's shape I'd think.

I make a boiled chocolate frosting that is shiny. Would that type work? It's almost like fudge.

Arlene, my mother used to make that boiled chocolate frosting, you reminded me of a fond and delicious memory!

My paternal grandmother made it and passed the recipe to my mother who made it my entire childhood, and still today. I'm not a frosting person, except the boiled chocolate frosting!

Well, darn. I posted an answer to all your wonderful help earlier today and it's not here!! I do use ganache but was hoping for an actual frosting recipe. I would love to try the boiled frosting if it can be piped and it sounds like it could be.
Thanks so much for all your suggestions.

Does anyone make a good homemade pizza? I've been experimenting and getting closer, but not quite there yet... I've found that cooking in my oven at 500-550 degrees (F) is one key element (I previously was using 425F), but would love to hear any and all suggestions! Any thoughts about using the "convection" setting on the oven?

Piping is so so. It's one of those too thin or too thick and sometimes just right. But here's the recipe. You can always just eat the frosting if it doesn't work out.

1 1/2 c. Sugar
7 T. Cocoa
1/2 c. Milk

Stir sugar and cocoa togethe in heavy, medium pan. Add milk and stir until mixed. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until it comes to a boil (gentle). Reduce heat and don't stir until soft ball stage. Remove from heat and cool about 1/2 hour. Stir in

1/2 c. Butter
1 t. Vanilla

Cool until firm enough to spread (pipe)