Oh, a note ... in the US "shortening" may be butter, margarine, or Crisco Vegetable Shortening. I prefer to use butter.

They each add their own flavor and character to a recipe. My position is that butter comes out of a cow and the other two come from factories. Although, if you want chewy chocolate chip cookies, Crisco is the way to go.

I was wondering.
I think Crisco is similar to lard.

I've only come across it in reference to fisting... :eek:

Lard is made out of rendered pigparts.

Crisco is made out of vegetables.

Lard is clearly superior, but needs a better press agent.

As far as I'm aware it's not often used in baking, unless the result is a savory.

If you're using your Crisco for fisting, I strongly suggest reserving a separate container for that purpose and never accidentally leaving it in the kitchen. Never.

Not being into fisting myself, I have no worries about storage.
I didn't realise Crisco was veg friendly.
I guess marge would be better suited as a replacement here.

Lard is still occasionally used for certain pastry items.
Mostly traditional dishes. I admit it's not been seen in this house for about 20 years.

Gotta say that slice of cake you posted to me was delish.

Would ghee be a good alternative to Crisco?

Or, I believe you can buy vegetable shortening over here.

Over here, vegetable shortening is marketed under the brand name 'Fairy'. Marg or butter should be fine though.

As well as making carrot cake (I've found nothing online to suggest I can liquidise rather than grate :() I've also committed to trying to bake challah this weekend.

This is practice for an RE lesson in the next two weeks, where we will have a shabbat experience. If my attempt fails horribly it's okay - the children will already be plaiting salt dough to represent it. It would just be nice if they actually get to taste challah.

We're using red grape juice for wine.
And making prayer shawls and kippurs. And mezuzahs.

As Mrs I says, we're doing the Jews for another few weeks.

Waiting for the challah to rise.
Big FAIL on the six thread plait, even with instructions.
So I used a three thread plait on the second one (in the freezer - apparently they freeze besy before the third rise. That's the one for the childer.

Haven't started on the carrot cake yet. It's too early in the day to have orange stained fingers and grater-injuries... I am not looking forward to the prep for this cake. Unless it it praised to the skies I doubt this will be a repeated exercise.

I thought plaiting was only possible with an odd number. Anyone?

Dear Brits, Crisco is White Flora.

Google shows lots of people asking if they've stopped making it, so don't know if you can still get it.... but that's the translation, anyway.

With an even number you have to follow a different pattern with the strands, but the visual result is the same. (I made way too many friendship bracelets as a kid...) This video explains the even-numbered way to do it better than I could:

Gotcha:)

NICE!

Thanks Clodfobble. I just finished a six strand round braid around a core with a leather project I'm working on. I followed a different pattern and it's great to see a new pattern.

Our class Shabbat is on Monday, so my three-plaited loaf will be left for five hours to defrost and rise and then cooked tomorrow.
This time I WILL take a photo (can't believe I was so lax last week).

The carrot cake was gone by the end of lunch. Fastest moving cake I have ever made.
Yes, making it was a faff, but I was complimented so much it was worth it. Although the icing was what people seemed to enjoy the most. Easiest part of the cake. It was moist though, and had a good flavour.

Turns out I did not overcook the challah.
It was eaten, which I did not expect (I scoffed most of my beer bread for example).
On Tuesday morning I was running late and went into work without breakfast. I figured I'd have challah - perhaps even toasted. It was gone!

Also, although I thought I'd overcooked it, all photos in our reference material showed it at the same colour I had achieved, and it was lovely inside. My recipe suggested it should be golden brown. No. It should be nut-brown. The colour of conkers. Done.

Coffee and walnut cake this week.
Another fave of the staffroom apparently
Weird - I thought they were all chocolate mad. They descend on it quickly enough. But they almost swooned over the carrot cake and are anticipating the coffee one with unseemly glee.

Makes me happy though.