[Mike Nolan]

We got 3 inches of snow overnight, though by tomorrow much of it will have melted.

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[Mike Nolan]

Here's a variant on this recipe that I've been using in a 4x4x13 Pullman loaf pan. The idea of using a pre-ferment is one I took from Jeffrey Hamelman's Semolina bread recipe.

Pre-ferment:

6 1/2 ounces semolina
6 1/2 ounces bread flour
12 ounces lukewarm water
1 teaspoon instant dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar

Stir and allow to sit for 60-90 minutes, it should be very bubbly by then.

Add:

6 1/2 ounces semolina
6 1/2 ounces bread flour
(It helps to add this flour in several steps to avoid a flour cloud.)

4 tablespoons Carnation malted milk powder
2 teaspoons salt
4 tablespoons melted butter
1-2 ounces cool water

Knead until it passes the windowpane test. Dough should be slightly tacky but not sticky.

Bulk rise 60 to 90 minutes
Shape and put in greased Pullman pan
Allow to rise for at least 60 minutes. (I leave the lid off for the first 45 minutes, putting the lid on when I start the oven pre-heating.)

Preheat oven to 375.

Bake for 15 minutes, rotate, bake for another 10 minutes, then remove lid and bake for 10-15 minutes until internal temperature is 200 or higher.

Remove from pan and cool completely before slicing.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making chicken, mushrooms and rice casserole for supper tonight. Should give us a couple days of leftovers, too.

[Mike Nolan]

Most of the time I only do about a 2-3 hour preferment, one recipe only calls for a one hour preferment, but if I do an overnight one it often goes 15 hours, and that doesn't seem to be a problem.

[Mike Nolan]

The KA was a wedding present, actually. It has held up very well.

I've never made chocolate covered cherries before, but I've made fondant and we made several types of covered chocolates in Chocolate School.

I plan to make some of them using a little invertase (it helps liquefy the filling) and some without, they should still partially liquefy, becomimg more of a soft cream filling.

I will also be making some chocolate batons to put in chocolate croissants and making a bunch of chocolates for our granddaughter's Advent calendar.

[Mike Nolan]

I made two pounds of fondant today, in preparation for making a batch of chocolate covered cherries early next week. (I"m also going to make some ones that have some juice from the cherries in the fondant but no cherry, because my wife likes the semi-liquid center that tastes of cherry but not the cherry itself.)

If you've never made confectioner's fondant (not the stuff used to decorate cakes), it is kind of fun to cream it and watch it turn from a pale yellow liquid to a white almost powdery solid as you work it.

It is basically the same process as making fudge on a marble, you pour it on the marble straight from the pan and let it cool undisturbed for several minutes, then you work it so that you control the crystal size in the sugar as it crystallizes, you want smaller crystals because that makes for a creamy fudge or fondant.

I've got a book on candymaking that says you can cream fondant in a mixer, but I'd be afraid it'd burn out the motor or strip the gears in my 48 year old KA.

[Mike Nolan]

Recently I switched from the 'poke a hole in the middle' method to the 'wrap around your hand' method of shaping bagels, I'm still getting the hang of that one. It makes for a smoother surface, at least when you do it right. 🙂

[Mike Nolan]

I've pretty much stopped making fluted edges, in part because, like Len, my hands are fairly large, but also because I've noticed over the years that a lot of those carefully crafted edges get left on the plate.

I still take the time to make a lattice crust for a cherry pie, because, well, it just isn't a cherry pie without a lattice crust!

[Mike Nolan]

I made a big pot of chili using about 6 pounds of ripe tomatoes picked from the garden ahead of cold weather. I have six 20 inch trays of green tomatoes in the garage, we'll use them as they ripen over the next few weeks.

[Mike Nolan]

Sprinkled on top. Chicagoans disagree as to whether you want the bright yellow mustard or a stone-ground mustard. (Some hot dog places offer both.)

Personally, I prefer grilled onions over raw unions, but they're a bit of work to make so I seldom have them at home.

Ketchup is on the menu as a test, if you order your Chicago hot dog with ketchup they know you're not REALLY from Chicago!

Ideally you would use Vienna all-beef hot dogs, but any all-beef hot dog will generally suffice.

[Mike Nolan]

The ones that are more dough-like can be made without rings, but they won't have tall straight sides. The ones that are more like pancake batter cannot be made without rings.

[Mike Nolan]

I don't want to pay for a handful of streaming services, cutting the cable often turns out to be more expensive IMHO (and you still have to have high speed Internet from SOMEONE to use it.)

[Mike Nolan]

Raisins, rum, sour cream, nuts...apple pie is always good. Just keep those raisins away from your dogs!

There's just one piece of last week's strudel left, my wife was asking about whether I could make a smaller strudel since there's just the two of us, but this one is going fast enough I don't see that as necessary. (I thought it could have used just a little more dough relative to the amount of filling, one more layer, perhaps. Maybe I can stretch the next one out a bit more.)

[Mike Nolan]

Yeah, and if I had 150 hours, or even 1500 hours, I couldn't come close to making something like that!

I do have to admit to not having a clue as to what the Madalorian was, though.

[Mike Nolan]

Celery salt is a standard component of a Chicago-style hot dog, along with a poppy seed bun and that day-glo green relish that you really can't find outside of Chicago. Peppers are optional.

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