[aaronatthedoublef]

ItalianCook, my family did not like the texture, I think.

I've tried two and three cheese mixes. The first pizzas I made was for the school bar in college and we used mozzarella, provolone, and parmesan (doubt it was Reggiano ;-)). I've tried that mix and just mozzarella and provolone. I am the only one who likes those mixed. I've tried fontina which was too strong. I've been meaning to try fontal which is soft and milder to see if they would like that.

I make the dough and grate the cheese. Sometimes I will cut up the vegetables but my wife usually does that - olives, some kind of pepper other than green which I do not like, and onions - usually red. I usually buy pre-sliced, criminy mushrooms and break the slices into smaller chunks as I put them on the pizza.

Meat is simple, usually sausage or pepperoni. I've experimented with a few different sausage types - Italian (pork or chicken), Turkish and Moroccan (lamb usually with different spices). I used to par-cook it before I put it on then I stopped that.

My wife is the creative one. Sometimes she likes a swiss chard-olive oil-goat cheese-and mozzarella pizza.

You can try a lower gluten flour. I use part cake flour. That would help lower the protein content.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks.

I use a lot of cake flour because I use it for pizza dough. My family's favorite cake also uses cake flour. Mine uses AP. Like chocomouse I use Bob's Red Mill. I switched when KAF started using corn starch and never switched back even when they stopped. Plus KAF comes in two pound boxes here and Bob's in three pound bags and it's less expensive. Probably why I didn't switch back.

I wish I could store 50 pounds of flour. It's so much less expensive - $15 for 50 and $4 for five pounds for bread or white whole wheat. But right now we don't have the storage space.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I let my dough do the first rise and then cut it up and freeze it. It doesn't seem to have much of a second rise thawing out.

I have pre-rolled the dough and then placed them on parchment and then they seem to have more of a second rise.

I have tried par-baking crusts in the past to reproduce a Chicago, tavern-style thin crust but my family did not like it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I just checked their website. They don't have seem to have cake flour anymore. I did have access to a restaurant wholesaler here. I have to see if my access still works and what they have. Maybe I'll do that this weekend.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for the lemon curd suggestion. I'll try it next time we make scones.

New York Bakers is where I found first clear flour. I actually bought another brand - Miller's. It makes good rye bread.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi,

There is a flour place out west - I think So Cal - that repackages KAF flours into five pound bags. I've purchased first clear flour from them as well as Queen Guinevere. I'll look to see who it is when I'm back home in my kitchen.

"Chopped" does make the microwave cakes look very simple and I can see how something would become rubber really quickly. But I have a five year old who likes to help me bake and who can use the microwave some (I don't let her take things out because they can be very hot) so if I can get this down she can help and be more involved in the process.

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi,

Big baking week for me for the first time in a long time.

I made KAF baked fudgy doughnuts, pizza, pancakes, and scones.

Anyone ever made a microwave cake?

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

My limited experience working in bakeries taught me you need to develop a wholesale business in addition to retail. This is a huge challenge because your baking on a much bigger scale than your bakery was setup to do. I've worked in and seen this twice and one of the bakeries was successful and one failed but that was because of the owner. The failed bakery was purchased as a second location for another bakery and is thriving because the owner is smarter and trusts her employees.

The couple of bakeries I've seen here (I'm in the process of going to see if I can work in yet another one) that make sourdough don't begin from starters. They mix the dough and let if rest in the refrigerator but the rest is usually only about 12 hours, if that. It won't really develop any fermentation in that time in a refrigerator. It doesn't even have a soft tang but the flavor is deeper than a standard one hour rise on the counter. The owner and his head bread baker insisted that there is not the market for real sourdough here but at least part of it is that they didn't want to spend three days making a loaf of bread. And I don't know how the health department would react to them leaving out huge amounts of dough for 24 hours or more but that appears to be what Jim Lahey does in NY (I've never tasted his bread but a trip to one of his shops is on my list). I've never made my own starter because my wife would be disturbed by the science project growing on the counter. But, she is behind the spent grain idea so perhaps it's time to approach this topic again.

I make pizza dough every other week. I used to let it rise in the refrigerator but I needed at least two days in there. Now I let it rise on the counter but I still need at least 18 before it starts to have the right taste and 24 is better. If I let it go longer than 24 it goes in the fridge.

[aaronatthedoublef]

First - thanks for the assistance of spent grain. It gives me a place to start. And I think my friend will indulge me His brew master is very interested in bread. I spent an hour one evening talking with him about sourdough and why the local variations are not very sour. He likes things VERY fermented. Go figure.

As for the bread not tasting like beer, I tried using a local amber ale to make pizza dough and I could never detect any difference so I stopped using it because water is way less expensive.

Restaurants are extremely hard. I was talking with a friend (chef and COO of a four restaurant group here) about the challenges. It is only becoming harder here as we require employers to increase compensation and benefits. For someone like my friend there is no way they can drop their number of employees down without closing some stores. And there is some price elasticity but not much. So their margins shrink. And sure, these guys are doing well but they are not rich. Restaurants are the number one business to close each year. That is partly because they are also the number one business to open. But everyone thinks it's as simple as being a good cook but there is so much more to it than that. Here is a Freakonomics podcast about Kenji Alt Lopes opening a beer hall in San Mateo and all the challenges he faces.

I'll let you all know how my beer bread turns out as I progress.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The Bicycling article is good. The WSJ article (behind a paywall) pointed out that the data was based on correlation not causation and as my mom used to say about things like this, publish or perish.

Len, your point was raised when the very first study saying eggs were bad was published years ago. There stories on the news showing people frying eggs in bacon fat talking about how bad the eggs were. 😉

[aaronatthedoublef]

Sounds great BA.

We have can lights in the kitchen (in fact throughout the house). I switched to LEDs when we were thinking about putting in a backup generator because we have nine cans in the kitchen alone and swapping out 65 watt bulbs for 9 watt LEDs makes a difference when spec'ing a generator.

There are all-in-one LED cans that are the light and fixture. They look cleaner than the standard can and are pretty straight forward to install. I did it and I am not handy. I've done 36 in the house so far and some day I will get to the rest.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Spatchcocking turkey is HARD! I've only done it once with a 15 lb bird. Not sure I would want to try it again!

I couldn't sleep last night and watching Alton Brown he not only removed the backbone but also removed the breastbone when he spatchcocked a chicken.

When they taught me to do it we just removed the backbone. That's also how Martha Stewart does it on here website.

How do the folks here do it?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Really good idea! Only catch for us is there is no way my wife would allow a chicken to sit uncovered in our refrigerator, especially raw. I have watched her cook pounded-flat, boneless, skinless chicken breasts for over 45 minutes because she could still see some pink meat inside.

I've been meaning to try something I saw to quickly roast a chicken. Spatchcock it. Then heat the oven to 350. While heating the oven to 350 heat a skillet (cast iron works best) on the stove with cooking oil in the bottom.

Season the chicken the way you like it. and when the oven is ready, turn off the heat and place the chicken in the skillet then place the skillet in the oven until the internal temp reads 155 (or you can go to 165).

It supposed to start cooking the chicken from the bottom before it ever goes in the oven and the spatchcocked chicken makes the whole thing cook faster. When I try it I'll report back the results.

[aaronatthedoublef]

This is why I love this site! We start talking about a baking show and evolve into televisions and streaming.

BA, the next set you by will likely be a smart television and will allow you to connect to Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, and whatever else is out there without an additional device like an Amazon Fire.

Another observation from the two seasons of Netflix GBBS is how many people have accidents or near accidents because they are using cookie sheets and "bakes" slide off. I haven't used a cookie sheet in years, even for cookies. The last time I used a cookie sheet was as a peel for pizza.

How about you all? Do you still use cookie sheets?

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, the KAF recipe I used calls for light and dark corn syrup and white sugar. Since I didn't have dark I subbed in some turbinado sugar for some of the white sugar. I also subbed in some turbinado sugar for brown sugar on my pumpkin pie when I ran out of brown. It gives some of the molasses taste but it's not an exact substitute as it's much drier than brown sugar. And, like you, I tend to stick with brand names I know. Although I've moved away from Land O'Lakes. It's just too expensive. And I tried Trader Joe's which is half the price of LOL on sale and I cannot tell the difference and, even more importantly, the people I bake for cannot tell the difference.

I did follow your guidance on par-cooking the pumpkin filling before putting it into the oven and that worked well. I might have even been able to cook it a bit longer. Thanks!

Mike - how did your turkey go?

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