December 11, 2009 - 2:02pm
Cleaning an Apron
Testing the limits of the phrase "there is no such thing as a dumb question"...
My heavy cotton apron, I am shamed to admit, has not been laundered for a year. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to wash an article that is literally caked with dried dough, flour etc. My concern is that putting it in the normal laundry, a front load machine, will cause clogging in the system.
Thanks,
John Ambrose
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Laundry mat?
When I load up a towel or dish cloth with pieces of dough my wife bars me from the kitchen - usually only for day until she settles down.
I have found that soaking the towel/apron in cold water for a couple of days and agitating it several times each day to loosen the disolving bits of flour works pretty well. I then rinse it by hand to remove most of the disolved particles and toss it immediately into the washer (with nothing else - just the "infected" piece) for a normal low water wash cycle.
No warrenty implied.
David
Rick
Dried sour dough starter?
That was going to be my suggestion!
quite a bit of fabric softener to the water, then see what happens after a day or so.
I even remove wallpaper paste with diluted fabric softener.
This stuff is a bear to clean up! After a baking session, I've learned to never let my kitchen scrubby sponge come into contact with any wet dough. I use paper towels for washing out my mixing bowl and cleaning up loose flour. Anyway...I know this doesn't have to do w/ your apron-- I'm just amazed how destructive a little flour can be. I think it gives fodder to the people who argue that eating flour is the same as eating paste :)
Try scraping or flaking off the dried dough first, then take it outside, hang it over a line and beat the krap out of it to get the rest of the flour...then just wash it on a very warm cycle.
Good luck!!
I guess there's some advantage to not wearing an apron. I usually am in jeans, so I just throw them in the washing machine with other stuff - cool water wash. Any sponges, brushes, etc. with glop on them go into the dishwasher.
I keep a bowl of cold soapy water in the sink and give the utensils a soak before they go into the dishwasher.
So far, so good; but there may be a huge paste ball somewhere in the Dallas sewer system. Kind of like the eggplant that ate Chicago!
Bettie
Don't worry about the paste ball in the sewer system, the aligators will eat it.
Simplicity is good!
If you made bread with no clothes on at all, you could just shower afterwards and save your jeans as well as your apron from getting soiled!
David
1. Can bread dough see? Can it laugh hysterically? Would that shorten or lengthen the rising time?
2. Since I make mostly whole wheat sourdough, would it show through the white alligator skin?
3. Is all this the first sign that we've gotten the Christmas Crazies?
Bettie
a. Dough cannot see, but it can absorb pheromones.
b. Dough cannot laugh. It does not have vocal cords. Dough can grigne, if scored properly.
c. Are you asking about the dough's rising time or the baker's?
Yes, but only from inside the skin in a well-lit room.
I can only speak for myself. There has been no perceptible increase in my perennial craziness.
Hope this helps.
David
Shame on you! I haven't laughed that hard in a while! Thanks!
Hmm. Now that would make an interesting video.
Filmed artistically, of course.
You could send it to me and buy your self a new one. :o)
(I need a good apron)
Nice one!
Wish I'd thought of that ...
Mary
Thanks to all of you for your advice!
The solution, baking the apron, from dmsynder and rick.c worked well. After the apron cooled I laid it out on the table and scraped any remaining bits of dough using a butter knife.
Thanks again,
John Ambrose
You should write up your experience for the TFL Handbook! Maybe it should be a "Lesson." Maybe Floyd should list it under "Favorite Recipes!"
David
Just remember to be careful that you aren't baking a polyester apron that will melt and if it is cotton, remember that being organic, it will deteriorate from baking. Good luck with it all!! I like the baking naked idea myself!!