[aaronatthedoublef]

Depending on where products are made it may be cheaper to replace them than repair them. Sad, but true.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I haven't really worried too much. I keep using my recipe and just flip them when they are firm. But I wanted to check with the experts.

I did add a little white whole wheat flour this weekend to see if there were any complaints and everything was eaten. So it will be a little bit more healthful from now on.

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

CWC, I agree with your point. I'm a couple of hours from their factory myself and I salute and want to support anyone who wants to manufacture in New England.

And to Mike's point, my wife would probably feel better knowing what I bring into the kitchen is food grade from a place that makes things for the kitchen.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Thanks BA! Apparently we have a new law passed last year that will allow some home bakeries. The Forrager site says local health departments will need to pass more rules before the state law becomes affective...

The people against the law point to the fact that we can use an already licensed kitchen for food prep but, there is a shortage of those places here and they are expensive. For example, I can lease out my temple's kitchen. Last time I checked as a member it would cost me over $100 a day and I would need to bring some of my own equipment like a mixer and a food processor if I wanted to use those. Plus, when I have used it for temple events I spent a half hour cleaning before I ever started prep.

I think if you are not a member of the congregation the cost is two to three times the member cost.

Of course, until my town passes laws I'll live in the gray zone...

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Home bakeries are no longer tolerated here in CT. A few years back there was a 13 year old girl who had a thriving custom cake business. One of the local news stations did a story on her and her town shut her down. The same is true in most towns. If you are in a house you cannot pass the health department codes.

If you do this on a small scale and don't attract attention the way this girl did then you might get away with it.

It's seen as a way to protect bakeries.

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

The closest I've come to molecular gastronomy was sitting in meetings with Nathan Myhryold.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Ahhhh... One more reason the authenticity of this recipe was suspect - it contained no alcohol. It was sort of like a pound cake with dried fruit.

And looking back at my notes, the English (and Aussies) cover their fruitcakes with marmalade and then seal it with marzipan! I remember doing this part. I chose to just cover the top and not the entire cake. But their is one chance to get it right because after the marzipan meets the marmalade it is not budging!

In hindsight the smart thing to do would have been to make the marzipan larger than the cake and then just trim it. But I do not anticipate anyone asking me for a wedding cake anytime soon.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made my usual Thanksgiving pies. My pumpkin crust was better than my pecan. I need to work on my blind baking.

One of my sons was doing a report on Winston Churchill and asked if I would make a Winston Churchill fruitcake. The directions were very sparse and it did not seem like a traditional English fruitcake recipe to me. I did use currants but I had no candied citrus peel, no place to buy it, and no desire to make it.

It said "bake in a moderate oven for two hours". I guess moderate was 350 but it was done in an hour... It could have used a glaze on the top but it was pretty tasty.

[aaronatthedoublef]

Like Mike I use KAF pastry flour. I have unopened bags in big, plastic bins in the basement with DampRid in the bins. I keep opened bags in plastic containers in the kitchen. I tend to go through it pretty quickly as I use it weekly for waffles and pancakes.

I use cake flour and flax meal from Bob's Red Mill. I can buy both of those locally. Bob's cake flour is unbleached and not a blend like KAF. I use if for making pizza so I go through it pretty quickly as well. The local Big Y just had it on sale for $3 for 3 lbs. so I stocked up.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I just read an interesting article about two different cookbooks - one by Anthony Bourdain and the other by Alton Brown. I also read the article about Alton Brown referenced in this one. This article and the other make Mr. Brown seem a bit tragic.

I like to read cookbooks too. Two of my favorites are Bread Bakers Apprentice and My Bread. They are both good reads independent of the recipes in them.

I have some classics to and some that were classics to my family. I have several editions of the The Settlement Cookbook including a reprint of the first that tells how to make the recipes over open fires or woodstoves.

But sometimes I avoid the classic. One of my favorite baking books is Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman. It definitely is not a classic Jewish baking book and that is part of what appeals to me as my family is not what most people think of when they think of Jews and the "classic" Jewish dishes are not the things my mom made of cooked for holidays,

Another favorite is Rosie's. I saw it on a remainder table right after I had moved out west and was missing back East. I knew and loved Rosie's bakery and couldn't not buy it. It was this book that started me baking more than just chocolate chip cookies.

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone.

[aaronatthedoublef]

BTW, I have two bread recipes I want to try but they call for TWO different clay bread bakers. Does anyone know a good substitute that is something I might readily have in my kitchen?

Thanks

[aaronatthedoublef]

I developed a tangential theory this summer... We spent a week on Nantucket which has become mini-Manhattan in the summer. All the restaurants server overly complex dishes with loads of local ingredients.

First, on a small island without much land for farming there is a limited amount of stuff you can grow and grow well. It's just a fact of life. There are many wonderful things about Nantucket but it is not a great place to farm.

Second, there are a lot of mediocre chefs who try to up their game by putting tons of different ingredients into their food.

Next, the simpler a dish, the harder it is to make well. It took me a few dozen baguettes before I could make and shape them well. Biscuits and scones are basic and simple and hard to make well so most people dress them to excess to make up for what they cannot do when making them simple.

I read an article that talked about millennials drinking from Ball jars because it's authentic. It's only authentic if you drink from them because that's what you have that will hold liquid. If you buy them to drink from it's affected.

I find myself going back to basics more and more. I barely use my kitchen aid mixer any more because it's heavy and noisy and my favorite time to bake is 4:30 am. Bowls and spoons are much quieter. The thing I like best about no-knead breads is that I don't need my mixer or muscle.

Sorry for the rant.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I made a bunch of pizzas this week. I gave a talk on pizza which turned into a hands-on class because only about 12 people showed up. The talk was at 9 and so I was at the temple at 7:15 getting the oven on and hot. It was a Vulcan convection oven and I forgot that the doors are not insulated and re-learned that lesson the hard way. I made six pizzas with my crust and one with Jim Leahy's no-knead from "My Bread". People were eating pizza at 8:30 in the morning so maybe if I open a place here I'll make pizza for breakfast - and not breakfast pizzas but regular pizzas.

Then my family wanted pizza for dinner since I had assembled everything and they had nothing for so I made another five pizzas for us. My 13 year old ate two-and-a-half... There was a little leftover so my daughter took it to school for lunch today.

My 13 year old had a soccer team party so I made my first batch of ginger-snaps of the season (they're really more molasses cookies). I brought two boxes and the hostess took one so the kids only had one box with a couple dozen cookies which they polished off.

Last week was crazy so I fell behind on my Thanksgiving prep doing this other baking. Now I need to catch up.

[aaronatthedoublef]

KAF Self-rising flour is here

It has baking powder and salt added to it and is low protein at 8.5%. There is also a blog post that says it is milled from a softer, southern wheat.

Here is a site on how to make your own self-rising flour. It uses all purpose flour and adds baking powder and salt. But given what KAF (and others) say about it being softer I might substitute pastry flour.

I did make my own years ago for an Australian fruit cake. I probably used bread flour but the cake actually came out fine. It was a back in the mid-90s before there were recipes for everything on the Internet. According to my Brit and Aussie friends they mostly use what we call self-rising flour.

• This reply was modified 8 years, 1 month ago by aaronatthedoublef.

[aaronatthedoublef]

I looked on their website and they have a cafe too. Although there isn't a menu or pricing for the cafe it's targeted at "hikers" and such so may be a bit more affordable.

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