[Mike Nolan]

The dough sheeter has arrived. It's fairly simple, the central section with the gears, two rods that extend to the sides to rest the rolling plate on, the rolling plate and a handle, and it looks well made and easy to keep clean. The rolling plate is small enough it will fit in the refrigerator, which will make chilling the dough between turns easier. (That would not have been the case with the larger model.)

It did not come with any recipes and the Brod and Taylor website doesn't appear to have any recipes specifically for the sheeter, so sizing dough will be a learning process. Their website says it handles 200-300 grams of dough, but that may be based on final rollout thickness and the overall dimensions of the rollout plate. I've used croissant recipes that had you divide the dough into two parts for final rollout, that should work here as well.

I've sized my puff pastry and croissant dough recipes in a spreadsheet table that has 7 columns to make from 200-800 grams of dough. I'll probably start with a 300 gram batch.

I was looking at the turnover recipe we used in pastry school, but it doesn't seem to indicate the size to cut the dough to. Other recipes seem to use about a 5x5 square.

[Mike Nolan]

I used to buy plastic bread bags at the grocery store, but they don't always have them on the shelf and they won't fit a long loaf of bread, like from a 13 inch pullman pan.

Some years ago I bought several boxes of gusseted plastic bread bags at a bakery auction. There were two sizes of them and it took me a long time to use them up.

After that I bought a case of gusseted bread bags from International Plastics. They're big enough to hold most of my free-form loaves as well as the pullman pan loaves which are 4x4x13 inches. They aren't big enough to hold a large Challah, though.

I'll order them again when I run out, probably some time next year, but will probably order the slightly thicker version next time, these occasionally rip along a seam. I haven't priced them lately, but a case of 1000 bags cost me under $50 last time, with shipping.

I also have some micro-perforated bags that are sized for baguettes, I got them from Clear Bags. They're supposed to have breathing characteristics similar to paper bags. Because they're sized for baguettes, they won't fit bigger breads, though I've used them for bagels.

[Mike Nolan]

I may try making puff pastry first, so I can make apple turnovers like we made in pastry school. My first cracker-like project will probably be carta di musica or some kind of lavosh.

[Mike Nolan]

If you've ever read any of Noah Gordon's novels, a number of them have lengthy passages dealing with the complexities of Jewish life and traditions, now and in the past. He seems to do his homework on them.

An older brother worked in food service, including several years working in Chicago-area country club kitchens. He said members would pick up something like a bacon-wrapped scallop at a buffet and ask with a straight face, "Is this kosher?"

I think the greatest food experience my wife and I have ever had is still the bar mitzvah dinner that one of her father's friends invited us to, at Cafe La Tour in Chicago. We lost count of the number of courses at around 15!

From my limited studies of religions, most of the major religions have internal debates over a variety of issues, with experts offering contrasting opinions. Even the Catholic Church has those debates, the Pope either can't settle them or chooses not to get involved in the differences.

I also see a lot of discussion among vegetarians and vegans over what is or is not allowed. Recently, discussions over lab-grown proteins have gotten interesting.

A friend of ours describes her daughter as 'almost vegan'. She also went through a 'mostly gluten free' phase, which I think she's still on, I think it is more a matter of choice than medical necessity.

[Mike Nolan]

We had tacos last night, will be having fish and broccoli tonight, and are still enjoying the last of the eggplant/zucchini lasagna I made last week. I may have to make another batch of that, I've still got plenty of white eggplant left, and there are still blooms on the plants, so they may still be setting new fruit.

I'll take careful notes on the next batch so I can post the recipe with exact quantities.

[Mike Nolan]

I broke down and ordered the Brod and Taylor dough sheeter (it's my anniversary present to myself), it should be here tomorrow. BTW, they now have a somewhat larger model, the platform is 15x35 vs 12x24, which might work better for cottage industry production, but I went with the smaller one.

[Mike Nolan]

As a non-Jew who is interested in Jewish traditions (and those of other religions), I've always wondered about the rules regarding birds of prey. I guess eating insects and grubs doesn't count, since nearly all birds do that, but what about ducks and other waterfowl, who eat fish and frogs, and possibly some warm-blooded animals as well?

Boiled cider has some of the characteristics of other cooked sugars, so I'd say the cooking process does more than just concentrate the flavor. It might be possible to reduce the water content in a low-heat environment with less impact on the cider, but that's probably not easily done in a home kitchen.

I wonder if my brix refractometer would measure the change in cider vs boiled cider?

[Mike Nolan]

I made semolina bread this evening, and my wife made her buttermilk scones.

[Mike Nolan]

Making maple syrup is one of those things that works much better on a commercial scale than in home kitchens. Choco has quite an investment in their setup.

[Mike Nolan]

I canned 7 quarts of tomato juice today.

[Mike Nolan]

Tonight we had tuna melts.

[Mike Nolan]

I use the King Arthur recipe https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/brazilian-cheese-buns-pao-de-queijo-recipe, but without the garlic.

I use a #60 scoop to dish them out onto parchment. In restaurants they're often much larger, but IMHO smaller is better.

I was using the 4 cheese blend that Sams Club sold (romano, asiago, provolone and parmesan), but they've stopped carrying it, and their new 'shaved cheese' blend is terrible. These days I've been using Soiree 3 cheese blend (parmesan, romano and asiago) or Bel Gioso cheeses.

I've had them with ground pepper in them and also with bits of hot peppers or pepper flakes, they're good but strong spices can clash with the main course.

[Mike Nolan]

The chipas recipes I found online were all similar to pao de queijo (Brazilian cheese rolls.)

IMHO the key to those rolls is the cheese. You can also play with the herbs and spices in them. (Of course I consider garlic unnecessary in them, and when I made them for the Brazilian-American Friendship picnic, nobody complained that they didn't have garlic in them, they were too busy snarfing them down!)

[Mike Nolan]

We had tomato and salami sandwiches plus sweet corn.

[Mike Nolan]

We had melon and salami and sweet corn. And ice cream with hot fudge and caramel sauce.

[Author]

Posts