A Tip Worth Its Salt

I'm still baking bread, I've been doing it since the shutdown using sourdough starter which, over these last few months, has become quite rich and robust. I've likely created a monster. Anyway, yesterday was baking day and I baked two loaves: one regular sourdough and a loaf of cinnamon swirl. The cinnamon swirl filling oozed up and over the edge of the loaf pan and created one very respectable puddle of brown sugar and cinnamon goop on the oven floor where it baked itself in-- yuck. And, naturally, the oven was otherwise clean. Groan. I knew I should've put a cookie sheet beneath the pans but I forgot. By then it was dinnertime and, except for the burned on smell that kept reminding me, I tried to put the mess out of my mind. Before bed last night I remembered a tip that my mother-in-law told me decades ago, one that she swore by. I got out the salt shaker and covered the burned-on mess (in the now cool oven*) with table salt. I folded a piece of paper towel so that it was four thicknesses and slowly poured boiling water onto the paper towel until it was just saturated. I closed the door and went to bed. This morning I opened the over door and effortlessly wiped out the mess and threw it away! 

Voila! 

This photo reminds me that the racks need cleaning now. I'll use the ammonia-in-the-black-trash-bag method for that, a tip from my own mother. I'll put the racks in the bag with 1/2 C of ammonia and set the bag (tied and sealed) out in the sun for the afternoon, then hose them off outdoors- sparkling clean!

Life is Good!

* make sure that oven is completely cooled before using this cleaning method.