Baking – Baker’s Angel Flake Coconut

Structure is the main reason a tube pan is used for angel food cake. Angel food cake rises a lot, but does not have much of any gluten network or other means of supporting this structure. The egg whites can hold the air bubbles initially, but will lose them eventually. (Hence you should not delay baking after the batter is mixed, and you should treat the batter gently, spooning into the pan and taking care to not slam the pan around.) The tube pan helps because as the batter rises, it can "climb" the pan, sticking to the edges. This is also why angel food cake is left to cool upside-down in the pan for an unusually long time; it should not be removed from the pan until it is completely set. If it weren't for the tube, the center of the cake would not have anything strong to hold it up, so it would collapse. This is not an issue for cupcakes because they are so small.

Flax is a very problematic fabric to wash, and even more problematic to dry. You risk ending up with stiff, wrinkled, and/or shrunk fabric.

I would never machine wash the flax couche. Actually, I wouldn't wash it after regular use, when it doesn't come into contact with anything but flour and lean dough. But if it accidentally got dirtied with something else, you are obviously better off washing it than throwing it away.

In this case, I would hand-wash it in room-temperature water, neven in a washing machine (not even the wool cycle). Use wool detergent (no fabric softener), and don't crumple the fabric while washing. Instead, try to let it soak a bit (maybe 15-20 min) and then gently "shake off" the dirt under water. You can add a bit of food grade citric acid for the last rinse, because acid acts somewhat similar to fabric softener.

When it is washed, don't wring it. Shake off as much water as you can, then lay it between two frotee towels. It should be spread out, not wrinkled or folded. Keep it at room temperature, not near sun, wind or a heater. Change the towels after 6 to 8 hours (the first time you may have to change them sooner). Repeat until it is only moist, not wet. Then spread it somewhere to dry without towels, again away from sun, wind, or excessive heat. Turn it every few hours. It will probably be stiffer than when you started with it, but I think it will be still usable.