[aaronatthedoublef]

Walmart shipped our bread flour so we should have about 20 pounds.

It appears the initial panic of people just grabbing things has subsided here a little.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I did not know about mushrooms!

Isn't cowboy coffee boiled coffee with egg shells to 1) make it less bitter (who would argue with a mom about that!) and 2) they float on top and keep more of the grinds in the pot when the coffee is poured.

At least that's what was in the books I read as a boy.

[aaronatthedoublef]

One of the local restaurant distributors has announced they will sell fresh produce to the public for curbside pickup on Tuesdays and Thursday. Their sales have to be hurt by this so it is a good way for them to boost sales and a good alternative to people who do not want to go to the store. Also based on the restaurants that use them they have nice produce.

I went to Costco yesterday for the first time in three weeks. No toilet paper or cleaners other than Mrs. Meyers which doesn't disinfect and bathroom cleaners which are not good for the rest of the house.

Good supply of eggs, dairy, and produce. Good supply of paper towels but limited to one 12 pack per customer. Too bad because they were on sale so I would normally stock up.

Good amount of AP flour - 15 lb KAF bags and 50 lb Ardent Mills. Also sugar. I did not buy flour because I don't want to hoard and I have a good supply for now.

Also 15, 25, and 50 lb bags of rice.

Here are some "hard time" recipes posted on Atlas obscura. Potato Cookies look cool and a bit like cake pops without a stick. Then there is salt rising bread which is a bread recipe using natural yeast.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. Good suggestions. She won't eat peanuts but potatoes are good and so is watermelon! And both are viable here in New England.

Just noticed Food Network has declared this month baking month and, according to the adds, is encouraging everyone who has downloaded their app to BAKE! I'll have to check on the downloads but this could also have added to the baking stampede.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Always glad to help BA!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Wow. My six year old was just saying this morning that we should be starting our own garden! Out of the mouths of babes. Of course she wouldn't eat anything we could grow...

[aaronatthedoublef]

CT has had an influx on New Yorkers. Towns of a few thousand full time residents now have thousands of people extra. Our governor and town officials have asked that these people voluntarily quarantine themselves for two weeks. But it's also straining resources that are already taxed. Plus, many of the businesses that profit from out-of-towners are closed or running in greatly reduced capacity.

People have talked about restaurants closing from a business standpoint but no one has talked about the civic loss of these businesses. They are some of the most generous people we have. Despite being low-margin they are the first to volunteer time, money, space, and services to the various causes around the region.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The crispbreads look good. Never thought about the straight edge. That's great. I've used square biscuit cutters and I've used a pizza cutter or knife against a yardstick.

Is there a technical difference between a crispbread and a cracker or just two names for the same thing?

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made pizza too. No mushrooms because we were out. 🙁 But we had cheese, olive, sausage, and veggie which included olives, orange peppers, and red onions.

I want to make bread again this week. See if I can do it without overflowing the food processor.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Your bagel look great Choco! I am inspired by you and Mike.

I made Stella Park's 100% whole wheat bread yesterday with white whole wheat. At some point when things become more sane I'll try some red too.

It is a nice, fluffy loaf and is as high as the store bought loaves I buy. Good taste but I think I prefer honey to brown sugar that Ms. Park uses. But I will need to try it a few more times before I start changing things.

I allowed the flour and water to sit for the 2.5 hours before mixing in the second addition of wet and dry ingredients. It was a VERY slack dough - almost batter like - after I mixed it in the food processor. It overflowed the bowl and made a mess. Not sure if I can fix this or if I need to reduce the ingredients. The recipe calls for a 14 cup food processor and for some reason 10 is what sticks in my head for ours. It was much wetter than the KAF loaf which felt so dry I needed in some extra water.

I let the first rise go for 2.5 hours and the dough had firmed up some but it was still pretty wet. I shaped it and put it into a loaf pan and let it rise for almost three hour. The long rises are because our kitchen is cold (Ms. Parks time are base on a 70 degree kitchen and ours started at 66 and rose to 68) and also I was playing with my kids and lost track of time. I think the second rise went a little too long. I had the oven heated a bit above 350 then turned it down when the loaf went in. I let it bake for 25 minutes then tented it for another 15. I should have tented it sooner as the top is a little well done. I had a little oven spring too so that helped.

Now we have to see if my kids eat it. I ordered some bread from whole foods and they substituted cinnamon raisin bread without checking. My oldest has been eating turkey sandwiches on raisin bread after I told him it would be like a Thanksgiving dinner sandwich. He will eat anything! Of course he also ran 14 miles in 45 degree rain yesterday so he's hungry.

Thanks for the pointer to the recipe and for convincing me to use the food processor. I'll try this a couple more times before/if I start making changes.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'm with you. But look on Amazon and see people selling $25 of paper towels for more than double that.

Bread machines seem not to be outrageous yet. Most are under $100.

[aaronatthedoublef]

No knead intimidates me because I have to take a 400 degree Dutch oven out of the oven, dump wet dough into it, and then put it back in the oven. This is made extra daunting by kids who inevitably decide to race through the kitchen when I have the oven door open and things cooking on the stove.

The other problem with bread machines and most electronics is that they have parts from China which had their factories shutdown for about a month. By the time they reopened we were in a pandemic and many other factories and suppliers had slowed down if not shutdown.

Then goods coming in are in quarantine as opposed to coming in and going right to whomever needed them. So that slows everything down again.

Add to this increased demand for home electronics, panics, price gouging and there you have KAF limiting bread machines to two per customer.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I usually go to those sites when I have a coupon or they have a special. I bulked up on Pi Day, for example. And now I have a $10 KAF coupon which will pay for shipping for my next order.

I suspect the limit on bread machines is to prevent people from buying many and price gouging on eBay and Amazon.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Putting this on two different threads. Just received an email from KAF that flours are back in stock!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Just received a KAF email that flours are BACK in stock!

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