[aaronatthedoublef]

I think BRM has been struggling for a while trying to figure out what they are going to be.

And, as they are trying to go national, I think the bread/baking trends are receding. While that's happening more and more people are looking to buy from smaller, local mills if they can. Granted, I just said I bought from a big miller out west but that's because I wanted to lay in some flour before the prices went up too much. My boss at the bakery has an extra building and is thinking of setting up a mill for himself.

BRM was a bargain because of their shipping but they won't be anymore. And I would sign up for the KAB club if it offered free shipping but I'm not going to pay for a club AND have a minimum order. But it seems to be working for them. They have stuff I really like and I have enough to last while I find reasonable substitutes. How is Penzey's cinnamon?

I don't remember if I wrote about this but back in Dec/Jan UPS was offering $27 to start in an entry level job that required no skills and only a high school diploma. Full benefits started on day 1 of the job. And they were having trouble finding people. Fedex started doing the same. At the same time a gallon of gas increase $1.21 on average from Feb 2021 to Feb 2022. There is no way they could NOT raise shipping prices to keep up.

Oh, and the politicians in my town think these are garbage jobs (yes they said that to me).

[aaronatthedoublef]

Walmart, at least for now (and by me) offers free shipping for $40 and up which pretty good. They are scared to death of Amazon. But they also let various vendors sell through their website so I've seen ridiculous things like $49 for a 5lb bag of KAB white whole wheat. Same thing happens on Amazon.

I have two 25lb bags of flour I bought from Central Milling. The shipping was $35 and the flour was $35 so it was still less expensive than buying at the local grocery store. The bakery I was baking for used their flour and it was pretty nice.

There is a place I just discovered down in Pennsylvania and I may try them next but I have a good amount of flour for the next few months.

[aaronatthedoublef]

When and where is the NH festival?

Rhinebeck NY might be good too.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA & Skeptic. I am thinking of buying a second set of less expensive knives to take with me. The set I have now was a housewarming gift from my dad when I bought my first house and so is more precious to me than the actual cost of the set. I wouldn't want to leave one behind.

A whisk is a great addition and I like the idea of a tub for it although if I fly somewhere I'll take a subset of the tub and pack it. When I used my friend's restaurant kitchen pre-covid I had a with everything I needed that I would haul back and forth. In the fall and winter it was cold enough I could usually just leave it in the garage.

Mike, I, too, wonder if a sharpening stone could be checked. Probably depends on who scans your luggage. But while I am proficient at honing with a steel I have never used a stone.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made coconut macaroons. I baked for the first time in a VERY long time. Kate keeps making things with Violet and then telling me not to bake stuff. She told me not to make the macaroons and I did anyway. Now that Passover is done I'll start up bread production again.

Hawaii was fun. It's interesting. We tried several different bakeries - two of them we knew and the others were recommended on the BBGA - and while they had decent pastries none of them had good, crusty bread. And baguettes were EXTREMELY hard to find. The one I did see were baguettes in name only. Maybe if we get to go back for a longer time I'll ask if I can watch them make bread to see what is missing.

I am now, more determined then ever, to put together a traveling kitchen kit. It has to include some sharp knives, some wet and dry measuring cups, and measuring spoons.

I would like to include so pots/pans and bowls but not if we are flying.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Why does it improve them? These days I'm leery of tips that just say "do this..." without saying why/how.

[aaronatthedoublef]

That's excellent. Do you think that is because it is an oil cake and not a butter cake?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. I had come to some of this on my own looking at a bunch of different recipes. I was going to us some of the techniques I use to make carnitas/pulled pork which is to brown the meat in my Dutch oven, pour off the fat, toss in some veggies, and cook in the oven covered at about 200-250 for a couple hours until it's fork tender. We don't have a slow cooker so I use my Dutch oven and oven as a substitute.

I cut the pork in carnitas into large chunks but I leave the brisket whole.

We made matzah at religious school a couple weeks ago and of the 10 moms there were about 15 different suggestions. There is one other dad but I don't think he cooks or bakes much so he did not offer any advice.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I'll have to read the paper. The thread is interesting and certainly took a path the poster never intended.

BTW, the person who started the thread grew up three houses down from me in Chicago. We discovered this on a pizza thread.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone. I've toyed with the idea of a baking steel and it might work if I made one pizza a night. With Sam in school I am down to five regular pizzas and a mini pizza for Violet. There is usually some leftover for lunch the next day.

When we had two working ovens I could go between them and keep one hotter and one cooler. Now with one oven I can only set the temp. I set it to about 500 and preheat for about 90 minutes (sometimes longer). I usually start in the middle shelf to set the pizza then move it to the top shelf to finish it and brown the cheese. I am using the bottom shelf for par-baking but I could finish that before I start making pizzas but that makes the whole process take longer.

I want to keep my dough high in whole grains because we do this almost every week. I used to use all whole wheat flour but Kate didn't like the result.

One last thing. I am roasting the vegetables to reduce the water in them. I could pre-cook the sausage but I am trying to get back to my South Side roots.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've been experimenting with pizza. It was too soggy for me, especially the center of the pizza and especially with veggies or sausage or pepperoni.

First, I modified the crust and subbed out some of the pastry flour for bread flour. This made the dough more elastic but it was still soggy in the center. The amount of whole wheat/flax/white flour is the same I've just increased the gluten.

So I par-baked the crust for about a minute. But that created the Boboli problem (do Bobolis still exist?). Everything just sorted of floated on top of an already cooked crust and did not mesh well. It did not taste the same but it did eliminate the dreaded "soggy bottom" problem.

Then I par-baked and docked the crust. This was much closer to my unbaked crusts in flavor and much crisper.

I par-bake on parchment but then after I top the crust I just go right from the peel to stone. I was putting a bunch of flour on the peel which stayed on the crust AND made a mess in the oven. So then I tried lightly dusting the bottom of the crust before I topped it and leaving a small edge hanging of the end of the peel. That fixed the flour problem.

I have at least a couple more things. I want to dock BEFORE I bake to see if it makes a difference. Also, talking to some tavern pizza makers they bake on a pan I forgot to ask if it was hot or cold when they put the dough on it but if it is hot I will have to top the dough then slide it on to a hot pan. Some oil on the pan may crisp it up too. In college we sprayed pans with oil then baked the pizzas most of the way in the pan and took it out at the end for a few minutes on the deck to crisp up. But these were more like cake pans and the pizza was more like Greek style.

I have a few different recipes too so I may play around with those but I do not want to change too many things at once.

No pizza making for a while as we'll be out of town and then it will be Passover.

I also made matzah at Sunday School yesterday. We had pre-K through 6th grade come in and mix, roll, and dock dough. The entire process of making matzah, from adding the water to the flour to finishing the bake is supposed to be 18 minutes or less to prevent any rising. We also slid the matzah on to pans that had been heating in the oven. It was a little daunting until I realized it's not really too different from using a stone.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, we were on the same wavelength! I made more of your crackers this morning. Came out much better than the batch earlier this week.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Rottie. I don't have a smoker and I am not sure I have the patience. A buddy down the street has one and I'm sure he would let me use it but this is for Passover and I'd like to roast it like my mom and the ladies did back when I was growing up.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Violet and I made green cupcakes for St. Patrick's Day. It was another Duff Goldman recipe and the first I've tried that was not very sweet.

The cupcakes used melted butter, something I've never done in a cake before.

I think Iover-mixed and over-baked them. They were a little hard and dry. We added the food coloring after the mix, in several batches until we had a color that Violet liked. I think this is when they became over mixed. Next time I'll mix the coloring into the melted butter & sugar before I add the eggs.

I did not get to try brown butter buttercream because Violet wanted to make the frosting and decorate with Kate so I was kicked from the kitchen (not really I just worked on dinner).

Next time.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I wasn't actually going to make corn beef. When I have made it I use the flat, not the tip and I trim off most of the fat (beyond what the butcher trims). For pastrami I'm told you leave the fat on because it keeps th emeat moist when it's smoked.

I also steam/braise corn beef instead of boiling.

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