Mike Nolan
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Organic and vegetarian have to do with the diets the chickens are fed, don't they?
I wonder how much time 'free range' chickens spend taking advantage of their ability to walk around? I've seen more than one article suggesting it is near zero.
I was reading a review of Philadelphia cheese steak locations yesterday, Geno's got a really bad review, 13th out of 13, and Pat's was 10th:
https://www.tastingtable.com/389069/ranking-the-best-philly-cheesesteaks-from-worst-to-first/
We took a break from onion soup tonight and had salads.
Several years ago I switched from using beef broth to using chicken broth for onion soup, I think beef tends to dominate the flavor profile, and of course I keep the salt down.
I haven't had a really good bowl of onion soup in a restaurant since the Playboy Club closed in Chicago, a LONG time ago. Usually the dominant flavor is salt. 🙁
It was great, and I wound up with about 5 quarts of soup to refrigerate, some for the next few days, some for the freezer.
I still see a Tasting Table site, but maybe it isn't under the same ownership these days?
My wife just suggested putting a chocolate kiss on those peanut butter cookies right after they come out of the oven. Might have to try that next time.
Choco, did you see the report on the record windchill on Mt. Washington? Wow!
We've got a break in the cold weather, it is currently 42 and headed towards 50. But still a good soup day, and the house smells like onion.
Today I'm making a big batch of onion soup, starting with caramelizing 10 pounds of onions in the oven.
I tend to use the same technique for strands for braiding that I do for loaves of bread. It's a bit time consuming, especially if doing several 11 strand braided loaves.
Scale the dough and roll it into balls. Let those rest for at least 5 minutes to relax the gluten. Flatten them, fold the top down 2/3 of the way then the bottom up to the top. Fold the bottom to the top again and seal with your hand. Do that again. You should now have a log that is fairly uniform in diameter and can be easily lengthened.
Aaron, is that a 3 or a 4 strand braid?
I made another batch of peanut butter cookies.
I've used several different semolinas over the years. I used to buy either Bobs Red Mill or Hodgson Mill, the latter brand seems to have vanished completely from stores here. Then I was buying it in bulk at the coop, so I don't really know whose it was.
A few years ago I bought a 50 pound bag of it (ardent mills or bay state, probably) and in the last year or so I've bought two 25 pound bags of Bobs Red Mill. All of these were typical semolina, almost granular and mostly endosperm.
I currently use 5-8 pounds of semolina a month for bread and pasta, less pasta in the summer but more bread.
The most recent purchase was from Azure Standard, and unlike the other semolinas this is much more finely ground and also includes most of the bran and germ. (The details on their website says they filter out the large bran particles, removing about 12% of the bran.)
It would probably be most accurate to call it a (nearly) whole grain durum flour rather than semolina. I've baked enough with whole grain flours that I'm familiar with the differences, and this one definitely handled and baked like a whole grain flour, and we can taste the bran. (It's not a bad taste, it just is a different taste. My wife calls it more nutty, I would call it more bitter.)
I haven't decided yet if I'm going to look for another source for 'real' semolina, I may try tinkering with the recipe first. I'm sure I can find uses for 25 pounds of whole wheat durum flour over the next year or so anyway. I'm curious to see how whole grain durum affects pasta.
I've been trying to set up an account with Sysco, but they don't like dealing with serious home bakers or home-based cottage industry bakers. (You can't even look at their price catalog unless you have an account, which makes doing a detailed business plan for a home-based bread subscription service difficult.) Restaurant Depot in Omaha also prohibits retail customers.
Webstaurant has 50 pound bags of semolina for $31.99 but the shipping to Nebraska is $36.42.
KAB AP is $8.99 for a 12 pound bag at Costco here as of a few days ago. But it was $5.99 for a 12 pound bag a year ago.
I think I've figured out why the semolina bread is different. Looking closely at the label it says it is whole grain semolina flour, so most of the bran and germ are included, not just endosperm. That would explain the slight bitterness as well as the darker interior color. It also darkened faster on the surface, and that's typical of breads made with whole grain flour.
Adjusting the ratio of durum to AP flour might lighten it a bit, and there are several things that can be done to lessen the bitterness of bran, like adding some orange juice or honey.
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