Two cooking questions.

[TNDemo]

I am making some rye bread and it calls for two teaspoons of instant coffee. I don't have instant but I have plenty of the other kind. Could I use it or should I just leave it out?

Also I found in my digging for instant coffee a couple of bags. One was bulgar wheat and one was barley. They were plastic bags with a twist tie that I had gotten from a bulk foods place at some point. I have no idea how old they are - couldn't even tell you what year I got them. They don't appear to be buggy and look okay. Would they be okay to use?

[radwriter0555]

1. I have boiled down a bit of regular coffee making a strong concentration

to achieve the sought after flavor. Only takes a moment.

Throw the old grains out.

[patrice]

2. Don't use the regular coffee. It won't disolve.

and old flour is okay.

[jilln]

3. weird

I never saw a recipe for rye bread with instant coffee. It must be to make the bread brown in this case. I think you can safely leave it out. If you choose to substitute the "other kind" I hope you mean in a liquid format. You could probably replace a couple tablespoons of whatever liquid ingredient goes in that with brewed coffee. But if you don't care about the color, you can probably just leave it out.

Those grains are probably OK if you've examined them well and don't see anything unusual, but on the other hand why take a chance on something that's pretty darn cheap to replace?

[Fridays Child]

4. Add a cup of brewed coffee in lieu of a cup of water on the recipe

As for the barley and wheat, I'd toss or compost them, if they're older than six months.

[Hoping4Change]

5. The problem is that the essential oils go rancid. Better to toss.

Bulgar Wheat Shelf Life: Six month minimum shelf-life at room temperature (75° F, 65% relative humidity).

http://www.sunnylandmills.com/uses.html



Barley shelf Life: 9 months http://www.dvo.com/newsletter/monthly/2004/february/0204tabletalk2.html

[TNDemo]

6. Thanks everyone.

I just brewed some coffee and used it instead of the water because I needed to get the bread going. I was wondering about the barley because I had soup going but I guess I will toss it. I know wheat berries last forever so I wasn't sure about other grains.

[neweurope]

7. You can always substitute real coffee if you grind it fine enough.

For anything. Ppphhhhhhhh, who's got instant coffee in their home? The name alone indicates that there really cannot be such a thing. Instant coffee might be anything but it's no coffee. *grumble*

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Remember Fallujah

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[TNDemo]

8. That's interesting.

Would the "fine" setting on a coffee grinder get it fine enough for that?

[neweurope]

9. Yes. If it's anything like mine. I've even grounded the beans in a mortar

and it worked. Might have been too gritty for some (which I would not have understood) - but with a grinder it'll be ok. After all - humans have teeth... Try it.

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Remember Fallujah

Bush to The Hague!

[DS1]

10. mmm caffienated sandwiches.. BRILLIANT!