[aaronatthedoublef]

It seems like it is almost impossible to exactly match the taste of a cherished family dish. It can be for numerous reasons some of which can be remedied by matching ingredients and some of which can never be duplicated - like your mom having a batch of your favorite cookies waiting for you whenever you come for a visit.

After trying to duplicate my mom's cookies numerous times, I watched her make a batch. She had a lit cigarette in her mouth the entire time from mixing to putting them on the sheet pan to taking them from the oven to cool.

After that I realized I might come close to my mom but nothing would ever taste like her's.

Or as my brother put "nothing like a little Kent micronite filter for flavor."

[aaronatthedoublef]

I haven't made pepperoni in a long time. I make sausage pizza the Chicago way - uncooked on top of the cheese. It does make the pizza greasier.

For dough handling it helps if the dough starts out round. This sounds obvious but it wasn't to me. Lately I've changed from dough balls to disks. They are better at keeping their shape in the freezer and my first step was to flatten the balls into disks anyway.

My dough is easier to work with if it is chilled so I defrost it and leave it in the refrigerator.

These days as I am trying to approximate a Chicago thin-crust I've begun to roll out my dough 12-24 hours in advance, place on semolina on parchment, dock it, and put it in the refrigerator.

This works well for creating a thin, mostly crisp crust. It does not on the veggie pizza because there is just too much water in the vegetables. Kate does not like them pre-cooked before they go on the pizza. I may experiment with putting them on part way through.

I put the pizza on directly onto the stone in the middle of the oven then shift it onto a cooling rack on the top of the oven to finish. So I am thinking that may be the time to add the veggies.

Each pizza starts with about 180g of dough and I roll it out to about 11 inches with my rolling ruler.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi Len,

How thin is your pizza? What is your process?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Great pizza Len. How much dough do you use for one.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks. I have a bag of first clear from King Arthur but it is too expensive for more than the occasional loaf of bread. And BA and Choco, you're right about rye. I've made my deli rye with all bread and with bread/first clear and to come close to what I remember from my youth in Chicago I have to use first clear.

I'll keep looking for another source.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made ciabatta rolls. Not sure what else I'll make this week,

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike - My email is unstuck! Thanks

I don't know any laws - Jewish or civil - that says that challah must be baked by Jews. That may be different in Nebraska but not here. I worked in a bakery where the owner was Jewish but none of the bakers were until I started apprenticing there. They made challah every Thu/Fri overnight.

Now kosher is something different. It requires constant supervision of you, your recipe, your techniques, and your kitchen. For example, one of the reasons I originally switched to boiled cider was to keep cider taste but reduce the amount vs the rest of the liquid. If too much juice is used in relation to the rest of the liquids then it is cake not bread.

You would need a representative from koshering authority constantly in your kitchen. But anyone can make challah.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA - where do you buy first clear flour?

[aaronatthedoublef]

CT stopped our orchards from picking apples off the ground and pressing them.

But it's still legal in MA and NY so we have apple cider from those states that is less expensive.

All it did was make CT apple cider more expensive and annoy local growers.

But we still have plenty around.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike,

Did you try my recipe. I love your spreadsheet. It turns out my challah is much less expensive than I thought. Thanks again!

Also, I haven't noted it in my recipe yet but right now I am using boiled cider. I am boiling my own and I boil about 1/3 of it away. I like the flavor better. I boil my own not because it will save money but because I can experiment with different ciders to see which works best. If I buy it from KAB (the only place I have seen it) I am limited to what they sell. We have so many small farms selling cider and they are not all the same. On Rosh Hashanah we went apple picking at a new place and I really like this orchard. But they're cider is a little weak so I can by from the other place I drive by every week on my volunteer day.

They've started to also make cider from apple mixes or specific apples. So I can buy apple cider, gala cider, or honey crisp cider. The honey crisp carries a higher price and I am not sure it is worth it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Mike,

I can vouch for BA's crackers. Kate and Violet who "do not like sourdough" (except when they do - another story) love them. I should probably start making them again. I also need to come up with a way to store my starter other than the two canning jars I have.

I made scones Sunday. I couldn't sleep and Kate had an early flight so I was up at 1:30 to make them. Since I was hoping it would help me sleep I did not make coffee before I started so I forgot the sparkling sugar on top. I also suspect my baking powder was on its last legs so I didn't have the rise I usually have.

On Monday between services Violet and I made an almond flour cookie for Yom Kippur break-fast. I screwed up the recipe but salvaged it some. I added too much confectioner's sugar. The cookies never crisped up and I suspect this might be the reason. They had an interesting flavor profile mixing cinnamon, cloves, and lemon. They will also be good for Passover since they use almond flour instead of regular flour.

Last but not least, my brother and sis-in-law have been visiting her family in Palermo. One of her cousins owns a bakery and he has been sending photos from it. I was surprised to they were using kamut and spelt (spelled "spelled"). Everything use "biga yeast" so I am guessing that means natural starter but it could be a biga with commercial yeast. AND they have gluten free options.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for the challah costing. Looking at it my bread is way less expensive than I thought and when I start buying less expensive flour that should help A LOT. I could switch from avocado oil to canola as avocado oil is about three times the cost but I like it better now than canola so I may see if I can find a less expensive source than Costco.

It was a perfect day for Northwestern: sunny and in the low 70s with a nice breeze. Our tour guide spent at least half the time talking to us in front of the beach. Smart kid! And our tour guide was from West Hartford and went to high school with my oldest and knew him well so it was a good connection.

We stayed with my brother who put on a big push to have his nephew close by and he is the uncle who live farther away in Wilmette. My other brother is walking distance to Northwestern and Henry likes the idea of family being close by. Henry is also a pretty talented singer and wants to pursue that in addition to engineering in college and of all the schools he is looking at Nwestern has the best mix of STEM and performing arts.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I will look at this when I am back home. We're in Evanston for a college tour for my middle.

I've started boiling my cider because it gives it a rounder flavor.

And my cider has one ingredient: apples!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi IC,

I don't determine who receives a challah. We have a group at our synagogue who keeps track of who might need a challah on Friday to brighten their Sabbath (Shabbat in Hebrew).

So they are anonymous to me and I am anonymous to me. Part of it is the eight forms of tzedakah. Tzedakah is translated as charity but it is a little different and there is not exact English translation. It's from the Hebrew root for "righteous". Giving is the right thing to do and people in need have a right to help from people who can afford to give.

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/45907/jewish/Eight-Levels-of-Charity.htm

But also, imagine if someone from your church or whatever organization you belong to dropped off a fresh loaf of bread when they knew you were in need. You didn't know who made the bread you just knew people were thinking of you and wanted to do something nice for you.

The next time you went to church anyone you met could have been the person who made you a gift of bread. It could be anyone. It makes the whole place seem warmer. So I want everyone to receive credit.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made eight challot (plural of challah which I have to start using since I'm working with three rabbis right now). Seven were just over a pound and the eighth was about 12 ounces. My spreadsheet calculations are working well now. I still need food costs (I know Mike has that). My estimate is that my loaves cost between $4.50 and $5.00 a loaf. I switched from local honey to Costco honey. The local stuff is great but it is $21 for 32 ounces. I will buy it for my family but the Costco stuff will work for my free loaves.

I may also switch back to KAB bread flour because I can buy 15 lb bags $20 at Costco and BRM is now up to $6.99 for 5 lb bags and I can only buy it in 5 lb bags.

These were round challot for Rosh Hashanah. I may experiment to with adding apples. Many add raisins but for whatever reason I am not a fan of raisin challah.

And my loaves were, again, over proofed but they still came out round. They just lost some of the coils.

I'm going to start making these in the kitchen at my synagogue. I'll make the dough on Wednesday afternoon, give it a 24 hour cold rise, and then bake and proof Thursday afternoon for Friday delivery. I wanted to come in at 1:00 am Friday morning but they're concerned about having someone in the building alone.

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