sally h

Ellsie, there is a form of self raising flour called cake and baking....don't be tempted to use it! It has an enourmous amount of added salt, and my dumplings tasted like I'd simmered them in the atlantic!!!
Thanks Trish for the amounts, you've saved me looking it up!
Sally

iaink

Dont forget the salt!

sally h

LOL
For such a health conscious country, I am surprised by the amount of salt added to almost everything....the only thing I like a touch of salt in is OXO cubes, and you can't even get them here, just those silly little sachets. My friendly dollar store stocks (bad pun I know,) English chocolate, jam, tea, etc...in fact almost everything I might, but haven't really missed, ( other than self raising and OXO cubes.) Apparently, he gets asked for them frequently, but isn't allowed to import them because of the food colouring....makes me wonder what I have been putting in my stews for years, and there I was worrying about too much salt!!!
Sally

iaink

OXO cubes are readily available in the supermarkets around here.

I've a feeling the salt in needed in the home made self raising to counter the ammonia that the baking powder breaks down to...or something like that? Anyway, every home made self raising recipe Ive seen has had salt along with the baking powder.

Calgal

You're right, NON-hydrogenated is the way to go! Any fat that is 'hydrogenated', even if vegetable based, is a 'trans fat' and has been proven far more dangerous to our health than pure animal fats such as lard. So when you see "vegetable oil shortening" on the label, don't be fooled - lard is BETTER.

As the "Mrs" of a high blood pressure/high cholesterol, and finally a heart attack victim, I've done my homework. Trans fat is EVIL; avoid it at all costs. It's in almost all fast food, frozen pizza, pastries, cakes, packaged cookies, breads, crackers, donuts, baked goods, and even some cereals (mostly kids stuff ).

The good news is; there has been a major push to ban, or at least reduce levels of trans fats in manufacturing in Canada since about 2004 - the bad news is, it hasn't happened yet - It's bad for business!

The "Voortman" company gets my vote, they have voluntarily begun removing trans fats from their products. So karma to them

TrishP

Don't take my measurements as gospel!! Only a rough guide. It will also depend on whether you're baking in a gas oven or electric. I switched from gas in the UK to electric here (I hate electric!!) and have had to do much trial and error cooking/baking with new ingredients and cooking times, etc.

One thing I've noted here too is that mascarpone cheese tastes really awful in Canada - so long to my lovely gooey sweet tiramisu puds!

iaink

Trans fats may be evil, but BHT is a suspected carcinogen :scared:, banned in Japan as long ago as the 1950s.

Lard quite often is sold with BHT as an added preservative(E321), and its way high in cholesterol too.

Oh well, you cant win. Gotta die of something!

Calgal

Oh I know lard is bad - but I meant in terms of versus trans fat veg shortening, it's 'better'.

I know about BHT, too - but had no idea they put it in lard (though doesn't matter to me as I don't buy lard either)

BHT is very commonly used here, too, even tough it's banned in many other countries. It's in most cereal packaging, among other things.

BGH didn't make it into the Canadian milk supply, unlike the US, thank god (again banned almost worldwide, and with good reason).

Souvenir

You must be a delight to go clothes shopping with.

TrishP

Ohhhhh, don't go there!!!!!!! 5ft tall, UK shoe size 3/Canadian size 5. Finding shoes to fit is a nightmare! Haven't even tried shopping for clothes yet - I'm too scared .......

Calgal

That's weird - I see loads of size 5 shoes on the shelf here! Us Albertans must have big feet!

TrishP

?big feet???? Mmmm, I'm talking about Youth's size 5!!!!!

Calgal

Blimey that's really tiny!!

I meant size 5 (womens) are left on the shelf and the bigger ones are gone, hence we must have big feet out here

Piff Poff

In my cupboard I have Brodie xxx Self.Raising cake and pastry flour. Bought from Save on Foods in Red Deer. I have heard that if you live in a high altitude area you need to add more flour - but I don't know bit worried about baking and making my new oven all yucky - bound to make a mess/set the smoke alarm off or something

Daedra

Neat trick I learned to save endless hours of oven cleaning, buy/put an extra baking tray or cookie sheet (as they call them there) thats big enough to just snuggly fit into your oven on the bottom (and often unused) rack of the oven, catches all the drips & splatters and a heck of alot easier to clean off after baking then the entire oven.

Dunno 'bout you but something terrifyingly suicidal about spending a day with my head popping into an oven... maybe I need to cut back on the horror films now