so how bad am I gonna rock my kitchen/cooking world when I move

[NMDemDist2]

from 1200 FT elevation to 3300 FT???

I've heard horror stories of high elevation cooking. is 3300 enough to ruin half my recipes??

:hide:

[Stinky The Clown]

1. I'll hafta leave this one up to the eagles amongst us ......

I never lived above 300 ft. Mostly I've lived at sea level.

[eleny]

2. Not to worry

I live at over a mile high here west of Denver and there's folks from NM here in the group, too.

Baking is where I notice the difference. One tip that a native Coloradoan told me years ago that helped a lot was to grease the pans more generously when it's called for. Mostly, it's slightly adjusting liquid and flour a bit.

I believe that you'll love the challenge and this one won't be that bad. I grew up at sea level in a humid climate and didn't have a tough time acclimating in the kitchen.

[NMDemDist2]

7. that's a great tip, thanks! sounds like I won't run into too much trouble

just give some extra time for the beans and pasta to boil up. sounds like the bread will do fine....

[politicat]

3. Nah. 3500 is the major cut-off.

Boiling point in Globe AZ (3700 feet) is 205.7 degrees F, and that's not really enough to make much of a difference. Bread bakes fine there, and the crumb on cakes works well. The only place to really make changes is in baked goods leavened by baking powder alone. At 3300 feet, you want to reduce the baking powder (if using double acting) by 1/8 of a teaspoon. (Boiling point at 29.71 mb and at 3300 is 208 degrees, so unless the pressure drops dramatically (i.e. storm front coming in) you probably won't notice the difference.)

All sweet things are slightly more concentrated above 3000 feet, so you might want to reduce sugar by 2 teaspoons or a tablespoon, but experiment first.

Yeast is fine, but watch the first couple of loaves and be prepared to do two rises to develop the flavor well.

Humidity can be as much of a bugabear as altitude, though. The Valley is supposedly hot and dry, but the past few years have been damper than ever in the summers. Out in the hinterlands, however is still dry, and you may need to adjust for that more than for the altitude. Adding a little extra water to breads and quick breads and a little extra oil to cakes helps the moisture content. And trash that idea entirely if you're going with a swamp cooler - then you may need to add extra flour in the summers to compensate for the extra moisture the flour will absorb from the higher humidity.

But no, you probably won't have any disasters. Even the most delicate egg-leavened sponge cakes (like genoise) taste good, though they may be a little odd shaped. That's what frosting's for, though. It fills in the dip in the middle. And if the cake can survive a 9x13 pan, it will bake up fine in anything.

[NMDemDist2]

6. you'll laugh at me. I "knew" from reading the cake boxes that you had

to adjust above 3500FT so that's one of the first things I looked at when shopping the new town

:rofl:

[politicat]

14. Silly chick!

You'll be fine. Your bigger issue might be switching from an electric oven to a gas or LP one!

[NMDemDist2]

15. one of the things I'm looking forward to most

it's been extremely difficult with the electric stove

gas is so much better!

[Warpy]

4. That isn't that drastic a change for baking purposes

but you'll notice a difference when you cook pasta and rice. Water will boil at about 205, and that affects cooking times. You may find you'll need a pressure cooker for large beans, although at 6000 feet, I find that a slow cooker does fine for small beans like Anasazi beans, lentils, and others.

I really didn't bake much of anything but bread at sea level, so all my baking has been high altitude baking. Bread can be fun if you're not used to what yeast does under such low air pressure--bread seems to rise much higher in much less time but then has much less flavor than it does at sea level. I've found that starting a biga the previous day works better to develop the flavor than doing the whole business in a day.

The main thing to get used to in New Mexico is that they put green chile in EVERYTHING. However, once you get used to it, it's hard to eat in the rest of the country, everything will taste flat.

[NMDemDist2]

5. I am looking forward to the green chilis and hoping Mr K will aquire a

taste for them. :shrug:

I usually cook red beans or pintos but will plan for all day cooking on the stove instead of in the crock pot. Or just let the crock pot go over night and the next day.

since I am baking all our bread these days, that's my main concern. i'll just have to plan ahead enough to do the bigas I suppose.

thanks for the info, fore warned is fore armed you know!

[troubleinwinter]

10. I made my usual recipe

of black-eyed peas with sausage balls (after just moving from near sea-level to 5,300' high) a week ago, just in a pot on the stove. They were marvelous. They may have taken longer to cook... I dunno. I never cook them by time, I cook em til they're good!

I do imagine that bread would rise quicker! I moved away from the San Francisco area several weeks ago, and am suffering and crying greatly over not being able to get sour-dough bread.

[troubleinwinter]

8. Hah!

Girl I just moved 7 weeks ago from about 200 feet to Prescott, AZ. It's 5,300.

I only notice that water starts boiling at a slightly lower temp. So I boil stuff a minute longer.

Thus far, I see really no difference in baking, just add a minute or two.

I don't think we usually cook by exact time, anyway. We always adjust to our ingredients being a tad wetter or drier than a recipe, our different ovens, etc., and determine doneness by look and feel.

[NMDemDist2]

9. true about the look and feel

and BTW I love that pic in your sig line. How is Ballot (isnj't that his name?) doing anyway? he must be all grown up now. got any pics of him all big? I haven't seen any pics since the ones when Andy first got him.

and another BTW, you DID NOT chase me out of the state :rofl:

[troubleinwinter]

11. Ted emails

periododic pics of little Ballot. He must just be a riot. Gimme a coupla minutes and I think I can dig the latest one up. I'll post it here....

[troubleinwinter]

13. Here ya go... Christmas Ballot

To be perfectly frank, I don't think Ballot has much taste. But he does have that paper-thing goin' on!

[NMDemDist2]

16. ahhhh poor baby

he looks like "HELP!"

but he's adorable!

[SoCalDem]

12. Call the extension office and have them send you the chart

I had mine taped to my fridge when we lived in Denver

[NMDemDist2]

17. brilliant! thanks for the idea n/t

[anitar1]

18. I lived in Green River , Wyo for about a year, long ago.

I believe it is over 6000 feet. Hated cooking there. You are so right about beans. Start them early in the AM so they will be ready for dinner.Very frustrating trying to adjust to cooking at high altitude. But 3300 shouldn't be so bad.

[politicat]

19. Bean trick....

Never, ever use old beans. I learned that my first winter above 5000 feet.

I also learned that doing a quick soak the evening before was the best way to deal with them. Quick soak, then let them soak all night and crockpot them during the day. Easier to deal with, too.

And learning to love lentils helped a lot.

[NMDemDist2]

20. that makes sense n/t