[aaronatthedoublef]

What are YOUR favorite whole wheat sandwich loaves? I want to try making one my kids will eat and so far I've never been successful.

Have fun at class Mike. Looking forward to reading about it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Yup. I really started looking at no-knead when I was teaching kids to make challah. The first time I used my KA stand mixer and they all went home and asked their parents to buy one.

The next three or four times I did it I made all the dough by hand to show them it could be done. I used a bowl, a wooden spoon, and a scraper - all of their kitchens had at least two of those three.

Anything that gets people baking is good.

Here is the KAF Just Bread recipe... They bread has a levain which calls for a sourdough starter but doesn't have a link to a sourdough starter. So I'm not sure how popular this will be for novice bakers.

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The no-knead trend may have contributed to using Dutch ovens. Yes people have been baking bread in pots forever. But looking at Jim Lahey's "my bread" all of his recipes require a pot or a stiff pan in the case of baguettes because the dough is too soft to hold a shape on it's own.

And it doesn't seem as if it's less work. I have to admit I've always been afraid to use a Dutch oven but maybe I'll try it with a spatula or using it cold.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Interesting. Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike. Pretty cool. Thanks for this. I want to make a steam tube!

What was the difference between starting weight and finishing weight? Was it significant? I don't usually care but when I taught challah making the finished loaf size mattered. I needed about 18.5 ounces to make a one pound loaf.

I've just started to notice the different weights before and after proofing, after second rise, and after baking and I have been curious.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Pretty amazing challah. I've made a double decker one once. It is not easy.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've used oven/microwave oven combo units before in some long term hotels but they seem to have fallen out of favor for regular microwaves these days. It worked okay. It had some kind of rack in it that worked wit the microwave.

A local appliance store used to sell them but I could never convince my wife we should replace the microwave with it.

Our current range is better than the last which had no insulation but it still throws off a lot of heat and stays hot for a while. More than once I've doublechecked to see if the I've left the oven on after pizza night where it runs at about 500 for a couple hours.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Yes, Mike, it is a common practice and considered legal to hire someone to turn things on and off, push elevator buttons, etc. during the Sabbath. I've always disagreed with practice of having someone break the law for me, but I also do not "keep the Sabbath". In big hotels in Israel they have Sabbath and non-Sabbath elevators. The Sabbath elevators stop on each floor going up and each floor going down so no one needs to push a button to call the elevator or designate where they want it to take them.

I do not think my wife would allow me to keep the oven on overnight unless I were staying up to watch it. And even then she might not because she knows I would fall asleep.

And since you've taught us the Maillard reaction is non-pyrolytic it shouldn't inhibit browning.

We won't get a slow cooker because it takes up too much counter space. What would be neat is a combination microwave/toaster oven that was big enough to hold a dutch oven. Then I could use that without turning on the entire oven and heating up the kitchen in the summer.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made scones yesterday for Valentines day. Today my daughter and I made strawberry ice cream cone cupcakes. The frosting had strawberries too and was a little too liquid but it tasted good.

[aaronatthedoublef]

It looks great. And the ground caraway is an interesting addition.

I go back and forth with the cornstarch glaze. I'm not sure it adds much beyond color.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The only time I've used self-rising flour I made my own and I used KAF bread flour so it had high gluten and was not soft. But that's what I had and since I only had the one use for self-rising I wasn't going to buy a five pound bag.

Never used barley. I'll have to try it sometime.

I use flax meal and chickpea flour which appear soft and are gluten free.

I also use corn meal in shortbread to soften it. My Scottish side of the family says they used to add rice flour back when they were kids. This was before I could find rice flour so I added some corn meal.

We've recently started having corn flour in addition to corn meal in a couple stores here. I am not sure of the difference between corn flour and fine corn meal. They look the same in the bags. I always thought corn flour was what the Brits called corn meal/

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. So just based on protein content (glutenin vs. gliadin aside) pastry flour is soft like self-rising but doesn't have the leavening or salt.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi... Finally reading this. Fascinating. Is it soft wheat flour our is it low gluten flour? Or is soft wheat flour automatically low gluten? What about pastry flour?

KAF pastry flour is 8% and their self-rising is 8.5%. Their self-rising is from "soft wheat" but I did not see anything for their pastry flour. I did not see the protein content on White Lily but it says it is from "soft winter wheat".

I remember winter wheat as one of the commodities reported on the "Top O' the Morning Show" when I was a kid. I do not remember if it was hard or soft.

What about white vs. red?

• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.
• This reply was modified 5 years, 9 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

When do you go into production? Can't wait to see this on Kickstarter!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Neat. Would a bigger funnel allow for more water? Or would it be limited by the tube? Not that you need more water.

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