[aaronatthedoublef]

Here is a very comprehensive list of food days.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Amazon has it for $3/lb. Kind of expensive...

[aaronatthedoublef]

BA, what a cool idea to bake off extra pancake batter as muffins. I just always make extra pancakes and freeze them.

How sweet are the hotcakes? My batter has just a tbl of sugar at this point because I know my kids will drown them with syrup.

Mike, I will look for first clear flour. I've never seen it in the grocery store but I'll check Walmart (which actually has a huge baking aisle) the next time I'm there. My chef friends will get me things too.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'm with Len... I can only think of three styles, unless you count Sicilian but I hardly ever saw that and never thought of it as distinctively Chicagoan.

Growing up we went to a place called Nickie's which was thin because that was all there was in the neighborhood. Once or twice Dad would drive to the Northside for Uno's and that was when we had deep dish. We also went to Home Run Inn a couple of time which I remember as being a couple of miles west of Comiskey. Later on, when I lived in Seattle I found frozen Home Run Inn pizza in the grocery store near my house. It is still the best frozen pizza I've ever had.

Then Giordano's open on the Southside and a place called the Medici opened in Hyde Park and suddenly we had more choices than Nickie's thin crust.

So beyond thin, deep dish, and stuffed what are the other two?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Any suggestions for what kind of rye flour to order?

[aaronatthedoublef]

Hmmm. The East Coast trend to think about crust is relatively new. People used to look at me like I was crazy for making a slow rise crust. The other thing about East Coast - whether it's New York, New Haven, or Boston (which tends to be Greek-style) is that not only do they put olive oil in the crust, they douse their pizzas with olive oil after it bakes. They are usually way too greasy. My town probably has one pizza place per person, especially if you count the grocery stores that make their own pizza on the premises. None of them are worth going to. The latest one in town sent their exec chef to San Antonio to learn to make pizza. They have fancy toppings. And a big bar.

I'll get around to trying it at some point.

I always thought Chicago was about the whole pizza and I like it because it has more diversity than any place else I've ever been.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Len. My family noted the blandness too not that it slowed them down eating it. I will try again though. Butter might be even better than olive oil but the people I am most likely to make this for have serious dairy allergies (I've used non-dairy cheese for them) so I don't want to use it.

Also, my regular crust has no added fat - just flour, water, yeast, salt, and a little sugar to feed the yeast. And recently I've reduced the yeast too. So the slow rise really helps.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The other thing is, what rye flours... I have Arrowhead Mills, which is a pretty decent flour shop (I'd rather have KAF or Bob's because I am more experienced but Arrowhead will do). But I just have a light rye flour. After reading it might be good to use a couple of different ones.

No wonder it is so hard to find good rye bread. This stuff is complicated!

I do appreciate all the accumulated wisdom.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I'd never heard of an altus before. But when you mentioned it and I looked it up there are definitely people who swear by it. KAF has a two piece blog on making Jewish deli rye and the author also swears by an altus.

It's interesting who uses it and who doesn't. I can understand the attraction of Jim Lahey because he has a very simple approach to making artisan breads.

I think I will just make several different loaves and see what my friends prefer.

[aaronatthedoublef]

So I need to start with a good old rye bread to make a good, new rye bread. 🙂 I think I'll start with Jim Lahey's as it is the simplest. I'll see how it turns out and go from there.

I have BBA and I have a Marcy Goldman recipe and there are some interesting but involved ones on KAF as well. So there is no shortage of source material.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks for the tip on the mother starter. I think I may bake two different loaves, one with and one without and the starter and give my friends a choice.

Food trucks here have become popular for a couple of different uses. They are a new way to do catering (including chef-to-farm dinners) and also we have quite a few microbreweries that do not have or want kitchens. They partner with food trucks to bring in food and they can have a great variety without a big investment.

When I was a kid in Chicago lots of places had cats for just the reason you said. But these days no one wants to admit to needing to keep the rodent population down.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Last night I made pizza. In addition to my usual crust I tried a St. Louis crust too. The taste was a little flat. It probably needs a touch more salt and instead of using corn syrup next time I will use honey. And maybe add a couple of extra teaspoons of olive oil.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Len, that is amazing! I am about to begin making rye breads and I hope I can make mine look half as nice.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks Mike. I'm really looking to come up with a master recipe or two I can turn over. I'm just wondering about the difference between making a loaf then having it sit for 24 hours vs. making a started and building a loaf from it. Maybe I'll try both and see what happens.

There is no way I can do production work in my kitchen. Connecticut is starting to come around to allowing people to bake in home kitchens but all the state law changes have done is allow towns to make rules that allow it. But even if my town permitted it, it stresses out my wife and it's not worth it. Home kitchens are deemed not fit. The irony is that the one professional kitchen I can use is far dirtier and the equipment more dangerous than anything that is allowed in someone's house by town codes. And since anyone can rent this space the assumption that it will be used by professionals who know what they are doing is just wrong.

The law, in my town, is aimed at protecting restaurants and bakeries more than people. It is the same reason we ban food trucks unless they are associated with a brick and mortar restaurant.

But enough politics!

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made English muffins this morning (3/12). I changed the recipe and subbed in a half cup of KAF White Whole Wheat flour. It was a little heavier at the shaping but no one can tell when they eat it.

I'll work on pita this week and maybe a sweet or two.

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