[aaronatthedoublef]

I tried something new last night. I thought we were having seven for pizza so I pulled biscuit dough out of the freezer to use as a crust. I pressed it out into a quarter sheet, sauce, and TJ's mozzarella. It was tasty. Violet likes it better than the yeast crust. It is so much easier but much worse in food contents. My yeast crust is lean with about 60% whole grains.

I oiled the quarter sheet (I could have used WAY less) then finished it on the stone. I should have put it onto the stone sooner. I will not make this a weekly offering but I told Kate I need to try some new things. I think next week I'll try ciabatta crust.

The idea came from three places, first, I thought we would have more people so I needed emergency crust! As it turned out we only had three people. Next, I have used pie crust for pizza by accident before I began labeling things in the freezer. Finally, many years ago, someone started a rumor that Uno's - the original before it became the big chain - used Pop 'n Fresh biscuit dough for its crusts.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

I made potato rolls. I'd started with the KAF recipe but it seemed to stiff so this time I upped the hydration to 70% and I'm very happy with the outcome. I may brush the top with egg wash next time to give them some more color.

I was going to make challah but we were out of eggs and by the time I went to the store I'd lost the momentum. I may make it out of cycle. I usually prep it Thursday night or Friday morning. I'm still adjusting to the morning schedule after school started. I make the breakfasts and lunches and get our kids on the bus.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike,

I second Joan! You inspired me and I've signed up for the BBGA laminated dough class.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Puff Pastry Party at Mike's!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Choco, challah is complicated for a couple reasons that may not mean anything to anyone who is not Jewish or making it for Jewish friends and boiled, concentrated cider may actually be a help here. Too much juice in bread and, according to the laws of Kosher, it is no longer bread but cake. I've talked to a few people about whether or not this includes all the liquids - honey, oil, eggs, and water/juice (my cider), or if it is just the water to juice ratio. And no one has ever given me a straight answer on this. And a straight answer probably doesn't exist. We are a people who cannot decide if legumes are kosher for Passover or not (and that is a completely different set of rules layered on top of the everyday rules).

From your writing it sounds as if like brown butter and baked sugar the boiling changes the flavor and it is more than just concentrating it. I've found some recipes that will make smaller batches so I may try that but they are labor intensive and take three hours of watching and stirring so I'll have to block that out. Or I can just buy some.

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

Choco, making maple syrup is NOT easy. Now your family are masters at it but I've tried it a couple of times with mixed success.

But, even if I use the boiled cider (purchased or making my own) I'll have to add more water to make up for the water I've taken out of the cider so I might as well just use the regular stuff and find one I like. WF used to have a brand I really like but it has disappeared.

I made mini layer cakes - chocolate cake with coconut buttercream I made a sheet cake and used a round cutter to cut the layers. I should have frozen the layer and done a crumb coat but I lacked the freezer space. I made cake balls with the leftover cake and frosting. Apparently they needed to be rolled in frosting too!

We went to see my son's XC team run and my other son's singing group had an impromptu party so I made a bunch of oatmeal raisin cookies.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

Len - that looks FANTASTIC!

Mike, BA,

I have not tried apple cider vinegar or boiled apple cider. We have vinegar so I can try that but I want things a little more stable and consistent before I start changing things up. I reluctant to start using an ingredient I can only buy from KAB and mostly only mail order so I'll probably just stick with straight cider.

We do have cider mills here. Many are seasonal but we're in apple season now so they should be opening. The bigger ones have cider all year. CT cider production went way down when we passed a law that the farms couldn't use apples from the ground. If I had to guess I would suspect that those places lose a lot of crop to little kids picking and dropping apples.

There are probably five or six farm stands within a few miles of my house. I've been volunteering at a local kitchen and I pass at least two on the way there (it's a five mile drive).

I need to find one I like and then buy a bunch and freeze it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've never seen piperade before. It seems like, as Choco says, it would be good any place you used tomato sauce. When we make our own we also try to sneak in some spinach just to get some into our kids.

Peppers and onions (usually sweet sometimes hot) are pretty common here with Italian sausage. Fry the all together. Standard fare outside Fenway before a Red Sox game. Tomatoes would be good addition to that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike,

I really wish you'd figure that out as I have watched that brief scene many times and the only thing I can get is they start with three strands and fold them in half to get six. I've pinged Wise Sons, which is the deli where they filmed this, a couple times. Maybe I'll have to see if they'll let me come out to San Francisco and learn it!

BA - what are malted wheat flakes? What do they do for flavor?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Made more challah yesterday. We were going to friends for a party and we needed a hostess gift. My braid was better than last time but still not where I want it. I am trying to do a four braid from the middle out. I don't remember where I saw the middle out braid technique but I like it because it tends to keep the middle of the challah plump. But it was for three strand not four. So I need to practice this some more. I did not take any pictures unfortunately.

The husband kept smelling the bread then telling everyone else to smell it. I think the apple cider adds a lot to it even if it's in the background. I need a better apple cider though. This one is good but not as good as the local stuff the store used to have.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for the pie dough Mike.

My impression was that whole meat like steak could spend a little longer in the danger zone than ground meat. I know at Shake Shack they make the burgers in the morning and keep them by the grill in a refrigerator until they cook them. So they come from cold right to cooking.

I let steaks warm up some but I've never let it sit at room temp for four or five hours. And we would have advised customers against it at WF. We always offered to pack things in ice, too as did the cashiers and baggers.

I've seen several chefs say that a could chef can cook a steak to well done without leaving it burned to a cinder. I've never seen it done and my family likes medium rare so I aim for that (and I usually get medium).

[aaronatthedoublef]

Okay... sorry too many posts but one more with a question...

Lots of recipes for things where butter is cut in - pie crust, biscuits, scones, etc. tell us to not over work the dough. But with things like biscuits and scones where we want layers that are visible and that require multiple folds. Even with pie crust, when I make it at least, it never completely comes together until I have it out of the bowl and "utz" as my mom used to say.

With yeast doughs I can let it rest and the gluten relaxes. Can't I do the same with pie-biscuit-scones? I usually chill them and let them rest before I bake them anyway...

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

I bought from Vitacost and it was easy and fast. I bout 2x5 lb. of BRM pastry and 2x1.5 lb. of semolina. Shipping was under $8.95, YMMV.

I ordered Monday and it was here Friday.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Happy Birthday and congratulations on your 50th. That is fantastic!

I made challah on Friday. I was working on converting my recipe from volume to weight and calculated the hydration without thinking about the oil, eggs, or sugar so it started out super wet. I decided to see how it would turn out. I like the wetter bread. It's really soft. And I think it will be easier next time I'm teaching kids to make challah because they tend to add a ton of flour as they shape and this will absorb it and still be wet enough to stick together.

At the last minute I decided to make a four strand braid and obviously need some practice on that. I made rolls which were huge - 7 ounces - and we used them for hamburger buns. No egg wash since this was mostly practice. We had some people over photographing our house (long story) so I cut the loaf in half and gave them each a half.

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[aaronatthedoublef]

I've never order from Webstaurantstore so I don't know. The shipping charges I have had for flour tend to be about $1/lb recently so I would guess they would need to be in this range to be competitive.

If I want SAF yeast, Webstaurant and KAF seem to be the places I can order it from and no one is selling it locally anymore. Don't know why by Red Star and Fleischman have take over and they work find but I wanted some of the gold yeast for sweet doughs.

If you just need cold bags, the grocery stores by us all sell insulated bags that work very well, especially if I add an ice pack. And here they cost about $5 per bag for the expensive ones. They would hold multiple, 9-inch pies.

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