[aaronatthedoublef]

Hmmm.... Tried fixing the link myself but it's not working. Might be a browser issue. I'll try a different one.

Costco sells 25 lb. bags of KAF AP flour by me. I do not know the price. NY Bakers sells five pound bags of first clear here http://nybakers.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=113 for $8.95 for a 5 lb. bag. Same price as the KAF 2 lb. bag and no one has noticed the difference yet. It also comes in a poly bag which, so far, has faired better when shipped. With KAF I lose a bag every couple of shipments (they always replace it right away). Walmart shipped me flour and literally just dumped the flour bags into a box and two of five bags split open.

Walmart used to ship free to a store and you could come pick it up there. I don't know if they still do it but it might be worth a check.

Also, they are teaming up with Google to battle Amazon and Kroger is supposed to be making massive changes and infusions in tech as well. We'll see how those go.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Our kitchen has a butcher block so I use that for rolling things out when I'm in the house. I have a big cutting board that I use as a cutting board and for rolling out dough when I am using our outdoor oven outside. It was inexpensive from Bed, Bath, & Beyond and it's big. It sits on top of our refrigerator when not in use.

I had not thought about using silpats for kneading dough but at this point I do that in the big bowl I mix it in. I don't use my stand mixer because at 5 quarts, it is not big enough for most of the dough recipes I make. I like the bowl because I make less of a mess and there is less cleanup. I use a bowl scraper to fold the dough over on itself.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Our water is actually pretty good here. We're having a battle with a bottled water company because they want to start filling from our reservoir at a ridiculously low price while all of our bills are going up and, when they proposed this, we were at an all time historical low.

We actually have a pedal sink in the kitchen. It works very nicely. I used to tell people it was voice activated and say "sink on" and step on the pedal. In a couple years there will be Alexa-connected (or Google) sinks.

Like Mike, we have a commercial hood (which used to go with our commercial range until we pitched it). The only real challenge here is if something goes wrong. The people who can fix commercial products are not bonded to work in houses and the people who fix residential appliances have no idea what to do with restaurant gear.

Our commercial range had a 48 inch, stainless steel griddle and I loved it. My new range came with a really nice, thick, cast iron grill/griddle and I use it daily. It takes the place of two burners. I may take it our, put the burners in, and then get a griddle that sits on top of the burners. I saw one with a back splash that will be less messy to cook on and easier to clean.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Like Mike's pastry instructor my pastry chefs that I worked for did not use the European butters.They referred to the European brands as "finish" butter. They liked it for sauces and such but less so for baking. We did not make any laminated pastry when I was there so they might have liked it for that.

The place with the lowest cost and highest quality combination here is actually Whole Foods. Amazon is supposed to be lowering prices on some staples so we'll see how that goes. I buy and freeze LoL when it is 2-4-1. If I'm making pies I'll buy fresh. And if I ever get to making croissants I'll buy fresh for that.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Very cool. VERY, very cool! The east coast is supposed to have another eclipse in 7 years so this gives me something to shoot for and time to practice.

[aaronatthedoublef]

One of my favorite scientists was Robert Ballard. Dr. Ballard made it his mission (besides oceanography) to engage kids. I heard him talk and he said when he was a kid scientists were cool, not nerds, and reminded everyone that Indiana Jones was a scientist.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Funny, I was just reading about pre-shaping on KAF. No one has ever told me about that before but, thinking back to shaping dough in the bakery we did just that. It's just no one ever called it that.

I'm going to try that with my rye bread. I'm also going to try baking it on the stone instead of a sheet pan and adding some steam. I want to get a little thicker crust and a little more oven spring.

Thanks!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Krispy Kreme has announced they will be selling chocolate glazed doughnuts for the first time ever next Monday - Eclipse doughnuts!

[aaronatthedoublef]

I've seen a few articles on this recently - letting the flour and water sit for as little as half an hour, before adding yeast or adding a sponge or poolish. It is supposed to add lots of flavor. Haven't tried it myself but, as Mike says, this has been around forever.

And if you read Pretty Good Number One which is far from ancient but about five years old, the author devotes a chapter to the beauties of fermentation and not just for bread.

It is a fun read as is his first book Hungry Monkey.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I am debating whether or not to show this to my kids as they will want their bagels cut this way and I think I might lose a finger doing it!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Don't many British recipes also use self-rising flour? We have a Welsh friend who kept using all purpose flour and not having her recipes workout. I gave her bag of self-rising and it changed her life.

A pastry chef offered me a job based on three criteria:

1) I would pass the drug screen
2) I showed up to where I was supposed to be when I was supposed to be there (see item 1)
3) I can do fractions in my head

Not very demanding requirements to work for a high end chef in a fine-dining restaurant.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Has anyone tried recipes from the GBBO? How often do they use ingredients we do not have here? How hard are they to translate?

I'm surprised at the continued success of Hell's Kitchen. It wore me out after a few seasons.

[aaronatthedoublef]

http://www.finecooking.com/article/heavy-cream-vs-whipping-cream is the link I originally intended to post. It's interesting except for the one snarky comment at the end.

In our town rents and taxes are so high the only stores that can survive seem to be national chains, except for restaurants. We seem to have and endless number of them and very few go out of business. We now have three new ice cream shops in town that charge a minimum of $6.50 a pop.

Two are Thai ice cream places (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ybb57frsdKk) and one makes ice cream to-order using liquid nitrogen.

I've started to refer to our town as Connecticut's food court. People have asked where they can buy a t-shirt so I may have a new, second line of business!

[aaronatthedoublef]

Clotted cream is good on scones and berries. For example, when they mention strawberries and cream at Wimbledon it's clotted cream.

The web says: Clotted cream (sometimes called scalded, clouted, Devonshire or Cornish cream) is a thick cream made by indirectly heating full-cream cow's milk using steam or a water bath and then leaving it in shallow pans to cool slowly.

Sorry about the bad link. I'll try to fix it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hi BA. Just looking at the sides of the cartons heavy whipping cream appears to have more fat. I found this article online. You can search and see. According to this whipping cream is 30-36% while heavy cream is higher - the article says one dairy came in am 39%.

They say more fat makes it more stable.

I've always used heavy cream regardless of whether the recipe called for whipping cream or heavy cream or, sometime, water in my pie crust.

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