I just baked a yummy loaf of bread in my Zojirushi bread machine. My house smells WONDERFUL and my dog is looking at me like I baked it just for him.

While I was putting the ingredients into the bread pan, I realized that I’ve never tried one of the many Bread Machine Mixes available today. I honestly can’t tell you why. They certainly are convenient.

Mixes like this are pretty much ‘dump and bake’. Dump in the mix, dump in the liquid, turn on the machine and you are go to go.

The variety pack, pictured here, would make a great gift. Don’t you think? Especially if the recipient is new to bread machine baking.

Mixes include: honey wheat bread, New England herb bread, Idaho potato white bread and country farm white bread. Each mix makes a large loaf.

I also ran across a fruity sample pack that includes the mix to make one loaf each of knobby apple cinnamon bread, prairie sunflower bread, California raisin bread and cranberry nut bread.

These bread machine mixes all get rave reviews. They are convenient to keep on hand and so easy to prepare. You’ll consider yourself lucky if it isn’t all gobbled up, before it gets cool.

Calling all pepperhead’s… this post is for you. Today, I want to touch on (but not ACTUALLY touch) the Bhut Jolokia pepper.

This little bundle of pure heat measures a whopping 1,001,304 SHU’s. The ONLY thing hotter is pure capsaicin, the substance that makes peppers hot in the first place.

The term SHU’s refers to Scoville Heat Units, named after Dr. Wilber Scoville. He came up with this testing method, in 1912. On the scale, zero represents no heat whatsoever. So, in a nutshell, that means the higher the number, the hotter the pepper.

This is how some other peppers rate on the scale:

• Habanero – 100,000 to 450,000 SHU’s
• Thai or Pepin – 50,000 to 100,000 SHU’s
• Tabasco or Cayenne – 30,000 to 50,000 SHU’s
• Serrano – 5,000 to 15,000 SHU’s
• Jalapeno – ONLY 2,500 to 5,000 SHU’s
• Green Bell – 0 to 100 SHU’s

When handling the world’s hottest pepper, it is imperative that you wear rubber gloves. This will help to prevent any burning, of the skin.

Merchants that sell Bhut Jolokia peppers recommend that you use a pepper grinder to prepare (dried peppers) and serve them, because such a small amount is needed.

In the event that your skin starts burning, rinsing it with whole milk will help to ease the discomfort.

Photo by: L’eau Bleue @ Flickr.com

I have yet to try Bobs Red Mill Baking Products. Until I did a quick search, I never realized that there are so many different products available. The majority of them are geared toward bread baking… one of my favorite pastimes. YUM!

The mill claims to be the most unique, in the northwest. I believe the claim, as they utilize century old equipment to grind and mill their whole grain products. In fact, that’s what makes them so fresh.

If you are in need of ingredients such as pearl tapioca, corn grits, baking powder, bean soup mix, rolled oats, brown rice, pancake mix or flaxseed… Bob is defiantly the man of hour.

If you are looking for date sugar, yes I said date sugar, I’m happy to inform you that your search is over. Honestly, I never knew such a product existed. So it was more than a little interesting to learn that it is sugar that has been entirely derived from dates.

This sugar can be used to replace white sugar, in any recipe. It can also be sprinkled on cereal, added to beverages, etc.

Have you used any Bobs Red Mill products? If so, feel free to share your feedback here.