High Altitude Cooking... or not (Santa Fe: employment, living in, vs)

[WasSoggyInSeattle]

Uh... so, I'm not a GREAT cook but I do know how to make a cake... at least at 100 ft above sea level... not so good at 6000+ ft above sea level.

So, here's a good employment idea for a local - give cooking classes to us newbies from lower elevations!!!

I mean really... did it HAVE to boil over??? Everywhere?? After almost two ours of cooking... it tastes great, just looks like... well you can decide.

BTW - it's supposed to be my Mom's famous carrot cake. Her's looks better. haha



Stop laughing!!

[rybert]

I've seen this before.

[lisdol]

LOL. Add 1/4 cup flour to the dry ingredients.

Check it at the lower end of the cooking time.

The air is thinner - bread and baked goods will rise faster.

My 2 cents

[TiaDalma]

Oh my Gosh Soggy! I forget about the altitude thing till I'm there. You poor girl, that clean up musta been the worse part {but the cake tasted good }.
Mmmmm...carrot cake!
But- Whoa!

Tia Dalma
You take great inside photos, I remember that centipede! LOL

[nmnita]

Originally Posted by lisdol

LOL. Add 1/4 cup flour to the dry ingredients.

Check it at the lower end of the cooking time.

The air is thinner - bread and baked goods will rise faster.

My 2 cents

and fall as well, I happen to be a good cook or so I am told, love my kitchen but spent 7 years in NM, never did my creme puffs work. At least half of every batch would sink....as well as a few other things.


I love the idea of cooking lessons...
Nita

[Towanda]

I am a pretty good cook, and I have been baking successfully for over 40 years now ... and I am having a challenging time at our 7000 feet here in Santa Fe.

Some things turn out perfectly .... others not so much but edible ... others have been total disasters.

I have used all the recommendations for high altitude baking ... and the mystery is why some things are perfect and others a complete flop.

I have had things boil over, or rise then sink, or take so long for the inside to bake that the outside is burned.

I have made the same recipe several times and had different results every time.

After 6 months of experimenting here, I have discovered no hard and fast rules that work for me.

Life in the Land of Enchantment is certainly fun!

[Trkstp Tina]

I love to bake, so baking at high-altitude was a constant source of frustration--I can totally relate! (It's very nice to be back near sea level where I don't have to worry about that.) Try the "Pie in the Sky" cookbook--some things I made from there worked very well at high-altitude, others not so much--guess it's like any cookbook--some recipes you like and some you don't. While living in ABQ, I kept meaning to get the Denver Junior league cookbooks--they are very well rated on Amazon--I thought they might have some recipes for high-altitude. The Denver newspaper's food section often has recipes adjusted for high altitude.

[WasSoggyInSeattle]

Towanda, I DO NOT want to hear that!!! There has to be a magic something to make it work, there has to be!! LOL I'll just keep playing around until it works... course then I won't remember what I did to make it work!! The cake does taste good, it just looks awful! I think I needed to let it cook a little longer but like Towanda said - the outside was starting to look crisp. I didn't think I'd ever get the inside past the soup stage. It's still a little moist but yummy... well the parts I picked out of the cake pan were anyway. mmmmm I saw another cookbook recommended online when I was frantically trying to figure out why my cake was imitating Mt Vesuvius... but I can't remember the name of it now. I'll have to find it & try it out, what's one more cookbook out of the 50 I have now? If its good, I'll let you know.

[Towanda]

I've even looked for a high altitude cookbook and haven't found one.

I made cookies the last two days to put in my freezer for Christmas. I have been making cookies for all my life and they rarely fail.

These cookies today and yesterday look awful --- they flattened right out and have no shape. My husband is being nice and telling me they taste great, but there must be a way to make them so they LOOK GOOD.

Whatever the trick is, I haven't found it yet.

Same with yeast bread. I think I have finally made some progress with that. I tried a sourdough starter and that was a disaster, so I have given up on the starter and switched over to just regular yeast bread and it's coming out good. It sure rises A LOT.

[Cathy4017]

Originally Posted by SoggyInSeattle

Uh... so, I'm not a GREAT cook but I do know how to make a cake... at least at 100 ft above sea level... not so good at 6000+ ft above sea level.

So, here's a good employment idea for a local - give cooking classes to us newbies from lower elevations!!!

I mean really... did it HAVE to boil over??? Everywhere?? After almost two ours of cooking... it tastes great, just looks like... well you can decide.

BTW - it's supposed to be my Mom's famous carrot cake. Her's looks better. haha


Stop laughing!!

Boy, you DO have a sense of humor, LOL!!!

I am not as high as you are (4500 ft vs 6000 ft)--and I haven't tried a cake yet, just biscuits, muffins and bread in a bread machine. I have found that you have to decrease the yeast if the recipe contains it, and add a tiny bit more liquid. Not only are we higher in NM, we're also a lot drier, though there was not that much difference for me, as it would be for you.

As a previous poster said, things rise higher...and fall harder. If you can reduce the yeast or leavening agent so that it doesn't rise as fast or as high, it helps.

You might find some useful tips here:

High Altitude Baking