Tammy, some very wet doughs, like that Italian, WILL spread when rising, I never get the shaping well enough to keep it from turning into a pancake. I've tried shaping the loaf on a towel with the edges pulled up to keep it from running, but I can't get it off the cloth without deflating the dough. I know there are canvas cloths for that purpose too. If I have to do something more than twice, I run out of patience with it and it's as likely to go into the garbage as it is into the oven. Since I have absolutely no patience when it comes to messing around with it any more, I have reverted to baking in a long pan shaped like a "u", with no ends (I hope that made sense). It makes a long crusty baguette type loaf and that's good enough for me. Hopefully you are more patient than I am, my last batch I gave up on, flattened out and made foccacia and it was darned good. (grin) Yeah, I know, if I messed with it long enough and tried enough times, it would work. I just don't care enough, so I toss it in that pan instead of going back and reading Ann T's excellent pictorial one more time. Annie

I never buy bread that comes in plastic bags - when I do buy bread, it comes in paper type bags that are always open at one end. I mostly buy La Brea Bakery bread, but Gelson's has their own bread that they make that is excellent as well. There's a bakery in the mini-mall with my bank, and I buy bread there occasionally as well. They don't have the best selection, and they don't have pumpernickel, which is why I have to make that bread myself. In fact, I need to make more, but I'm going to wait until Monday because DB's birthday is this week-end. Now that I have a good oven, I will be buying less bread. I reuse the plastic bags that I put onions and garlic in, and I store bread in those. Lars

Bumblebeez, is the stepped wooden shelf with the short Penzeys jars built in? Or can I buy it somewhere? I have my spices in a lot of different places. The ones I use all the time are in a shallow 3-shelf rack that matches my upper cabinets and goes from them to the counter. It holds 18 little spice bottles. I modeled it on an old wooden kiwi crate I was using in my old kitchen! Part of the "what's working here that I'd like to keep" planning. I should move some of these, though, because some aren't really used often, but they live there. The ones I use constantly are marjoram, thyme, cinnamon, cumin, and chili powder. There's a three-shelf nook in the wall where I think an ironing board my once have been. I changed the molding and kept it. It holds bigger jars, mostly of pretty spices. I have cinnamon sticks, ginger, true cinnamon, nutmegs, candied ginger, garam masala, and vanilla sugar there. In my cutlery drawer, there are two shallow horizontal chambers behind the vertically-divided ones I use for the everyday cutlery. They are filled with the short little Penzey's jars, for once in alphabetical order. (I sometimes forget that these are here!) On the second shelf of the upper cabinet just above there, I have two Trader Joe's clear triple ginger cookie containers filled with spice bottles and stacked one on top of the other. I can just reach this without a ladder, but if I really have to search I use one. Back-up supplies in a shoebox on a shelf in the back room. Ancient stuff in the cellar, in box that says "Little-used spices" LOL. These should be thrown out, but you never know...

We put all of our dishes in base cabinet drawers. To the right of the dishwasher are three drawers...top normal size for silverware, and then 2 deep drawers under it, each holding a complete set of dishes. The drawers are also wide, about 30", so we can get quite a few things in them. I lined the bottoms with the padded cushy liner (from any HD or home storage store). It works perfectly, that and the weight of the dishes holds them securely so nothing rattles when the drawers are opened or closed. We also have Blumotion on all the drawers, and they are the Blum metal drawers so they can hold up to 100 pounds each. We have all deep drawers in our base units...no doors at all except for the 2 sink units. We put everything in them, even the pots/pans. I created a baking center on one end of the island with 3 drawers...top drawer has all the rolling pins, measuring cups/spoons, pastry cutters, mixing spoons, etc. Middle deep drawer has all of the bowls, measuring cups, ets. Bottom drawer has all of the flours, sugar, baking powder/soda, all in airtight containers. You never have to run around the kitchen trying to find things when you bake...it's only one trip to the pantry for other supplies. I'll never go back to doors/shelves again in the lower cabinets. I'm also tall, so having drawers helps my back...I never have to stoop or squat to find things in the back of the shelves.