[aaronatthedoublef]

I remember going to a McDonald's that had a library in it. It was in Stockholm and was the only place our co-workers could think to take us for food after 10:30 at night.

The one on Clark was the one I was thinking of. Driven by many times but never stopped inside.

[aaronatthedoublef]

When I lived in NH there was a Shakey's. They had a piano AND a banjo. AND best of all for young men they had an all-you-can-eat pizza buffet.

We started to pick up take out when a pizza place opened up a couple blocks from our house and my mom did the math and figured out it was a cheap or cheaper than frozen pizza and much better.

Once we all left home pizza was our go to meal for the Wednesday before Thanksgiving. Not being a turkey lover I always liked this because I had leftover pizza for Thanksgiving. We had two stuffed pizza places in our neighborhood - Giordano's first and then Eduardo's. We were more of a Giordano's family. They are still a favorite and I am happy Derek Rose helped rescue them from bankruptcy.

I've never been to an experimental McDonald's. There used to be one in Water Tower place that had table service. I do not know if it is still there and if it is if it does. There is another, giant McDonald's a few blocks away that is experimental but I've never been there.

[aaronatthedoublef]

There are places that make pizza in production lines. Ever been in the back in a Domino's? I'm not sure what they do now but they used to have an assembly line. Doughs were passed down and received sauce followed by cheese followed by toppings and then into a rolling oven.

It was kind of cool but the results were not great.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made carnitas this week. It's been a long time since I made it. We've had two meals from it so far and I think I'll get at least one more lunch out of it but my 13 year old is an eating machine.

I mixed it with this neat rice mix from Trader Joe's on Sunday night and last night with broccoli.

The pork butt was actually pretty fatty despite having been "trimmed". I may have to find a different place to buy my meat. Costco has very nice quality but I do not have enough freezer space for the quantity.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made a six strand. The first half was good with width and height. Then I started stretching the strands to make it longer which was a mistake and made the second half too long and thin.

I also flipped it upside down after 20 minutes of baking and as well as tenting it, to keep the top from browning too much.

[aaronatthedoublef]

It has 18 golden delicious apples!

[aaronatthedoublef]

This is not new. When I lived in Seattle a number of restaurants open with tavern licenses instead of bar licenses. The differences were that taverns could only server wine and beer and no one under drinking age was allowed inside. They could keep out kids but blame it on the state. That was almost 20 years ago.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Looking at the pictures there are definitely subtle differences in shaping. There are also differences in the glazing. One from a bakery called Bien Cuit is very different in appearance. According to their website "bien cuit" means well done and their crusts are dark and caramelized.

But there is also a sameness to them too. I've sent an email to Ziggy. I'll let everyone know if and when he replies.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks everyone. I thought I had a line on it from a site called thekitchn.com but it's not there. Still they have some interesting recipes and techniques.

I was in New York yesterday with 10 minutes before my train and did a quick run through Grand Central station. The three bakeries I saw all appeared to have the six strand braid but there is something they do that give them more variety in height than I can get.

I'll try and contact the deli in Houston. I may also see if I can spend a week with a bakery in New York or Boston learning how they do it.

I have some challah defrosting and I'll try a six strand braid sometime this weekend (even though it should be for tonight).

Thanks again

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA. I don't have that. I have several books, one even dedicated to challah. I think I'll just have to keep watching the movie on Amazon until I figure it out.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Whole Foods makes there challah a couple hours from me. I may head up there to see if they will show me unless I can find a place that does it closer.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks IC. I tried YouTube and have not found it yet. That doesn't mean it's not there, just that I have not found it.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I had a challah class at the temple this morning. It's interesting. This was with adults and they were more nervous about this than the kids. It was funny to see them carefully measuring the length of their ropes. Of course their braids were tighter and loaves prettier but I had enough dough to make six loaves and they only wanted to make three. Add that to the dough I made for the demo in class and I have enough challah for a couple of months (actually three months because Passover starts in a couple weeks).

I made pancakes and waffles this morning. I switched up my recipe which used to be white pastry flour and put in half WW pastry flour. No one complained. My 13 year old ate two waffles at one time and I am not sure he even tasted them he ate so fast. And he is too skinny to buy pants for to boot!

I'm making pizza tonight with my regular dough and a modified St. Louis style crust. It's half WW pastry flour and half bread flour. I subbed in honey for the corn syrup and used two tablespoons of olive oil instead of two teaspoons. I'll let you know how it turns out.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I salvaged my unrisen challah from a few weeks ago thanks to the suggestions from everyone. I mixed some yeast with some water and sugar, let it activate and then kneaded it into the dough. I should have done this in a bowl and not on the counter. Or maybe added some flour to thicken it first.

But the dough rose nicely and I made 18 four ounce rolls from it.

After tasting, apparently I left out the salt too! Oh well...

[aaronatthedoublef]

My parchment says it's rated to 500. Until I adjust the thermostat I can only get my oven up to about 475. It still browns up quite a bit where it is not covered with pizza. I usually pull it out after the crust has set and I am currently down to using two sheets of parchment to make five or six pizzas. Each pizza is about 14 inches in diameter.

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