Mike Nolan
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I think the downtown farmer's market on Saturdays here is planning to open either this weekend or next. The Sunday one that is a lot closer to us (and has free parking) is still talking about opening in early June.
The recipe I've been playing around with lately uses both some starter and a small amount of commercial yeast. I may try a 100% sourdough bread next time.
What I've been doing is creating what Chad Robertson calls an 'immature starter' by taking a very small amount of my rye starter and inoculating enough wheat flour and water to do the recipe, then letting it sit overnight, by which time it is quite active.
His method, with a non-refrigerated starter, tends to favor lactic acid producing bacteria over acetic acid producing bacteria, which will tend to dominate in a cooler environment. I think it makes for a less sour tasting bread but still with the benefits of a sourdough.
Deb is a microbiologist by training and put her training into practical use in her own kitchen. I think Reinhart's BBA book goes into some length about how the pineapple juice method was developed via posts on the original KAF Baking Circle.
I've had some interesting email discussions with her, and was sorely disappointed when her sourdough class was cancelled in March. She posts periodically on the BBGA forum. I've suggested she should do a book, but I can tell you from direct observation that writing a book is a LOT of work.
The marinade at Chick-Fil-A has garlic in it, which is why we stopped going there.
Gotta have some easier ones from time to time. 🙂
I've tried turning it around and flipping it upside down on a 3-strand braid, if you're careful there's not much difference. The key is to use the same amount of tension throughout, otherwise the dough stretches and your inner links are a lot fatter than the ends.
The oven light will produce a warm environment for proofing dough, prop the door open a little if it is too warm. My small oven has a 'proof' cycle, all it does is turn on the light, though, and the temperature gets to about 105, which I think is a bit too warm for most doughs. The bigger oven doesn't get as warm, it gets to the mid 80's.
I like proofing dough at a temperature between 70 and 74.
I've got a seed starter heating pad, I've used it under a cooling rack a couple of times.
I've got an online class tonight (HTML5 and CSS), let's shoot for tomorrow.
If you make the chocolate chip challah, it has really LONG rise times, I should probably have given it at least another hour in final proof. I made it with SAF Gold yeast. The recipe calls for ADY that is proofed, but I don't currently have any. James Beard's Monkey Bread recipe was one recipe where I found proofed ADY really outperformed IDY, though I never tried it with SAF Gold, because I didn't have any at the time.
The challah is very tasty, I cut the amount of cinnamon in the dough overall and added it, plus a little more, to the 3rd strand so that I had one dark chocolate strand, one strand heavy on chocolate chips, and one strand with extra cinnamon.
I need to make some practice dough to practice a six-strand braid, I've watched a number of videos, they make it look easy. (I'm still not sure if the method in 'Deli Man' is the same as the classic 6 strand braid, even though Jeffrey Hamelman says it is.)
At just over 57% hydration, that's a low hydration dough. I've been playing with a recipe that is 70% hydration, and it is challenging.
Let's get through the virtual pizza party on Saturday first. 🙂
Here's a picture of the chocolate chip challah, you can see where one of the strands basically got pulled apart by the one underneath it expanding.
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.For my 2nd test batch of baguettes, I used a second sheet pan as a lid and put a shallow pan of boiling water in with the dough. That seemed to work fairly well in terms of keeping the air moist, so I may try it again.
I think that batch of dough was just too high a hydration, the recipe calls for double hydration (and extra 5% water added towards the end of mixing, a mixing process I hadn't used before.) I should probably have done more stretch-and-folds to firm them up, one of them flattened a lot.
Taste-wise, they were excellent.
Our younger son developed an allergy to shellfish and these days can't eat anything made with fish sauce, either. I occasionally have problems with shrimp (which started with a bad reaction I had to some shrimp Creole many years ago) but I'm ok with lobster, crab and oysters. Never cared for the taste of clams.
If I'm going to buy tenderloin, I'm more likely to use it for Steak Diane. I find it is not very flavorful as a steak. Not enough fat in the meat, most likely. (That's why a filet is often wrapped with bacon, to add some extra fat.)
I usually do sirloin steak, because one of the stores usually stocks a thick cut of it and I can trim it into 2 sets of 4-5 ounce steaks with a few scraps that go in the freezer for the next batch of beef stock. Or sometimes I'll use the 2nd half of it for a stir fry or for beef Stroganoff.
RIbeye steaks have too much fat in them for my taste, NY Strip usually does too.
The chocolate chip chllah is very good. My big oven was busy with dinner, so I did a 3 strand braid that was only about 13" long, I should probably have done two smaller braids or a longer one that waited until the big oven was available, because it got REALLY wide and had a bit of a blowout. (One of the braids essentially got pulled apart by the one underneath it.) It was probably underproofed, this dough takes long time to proof.
But I think I'd make it again. I wanted to put some cinnamon chips in the 3rd braid, but I couldn't find any in the house and didn't feel like making a trip to the store just for one item. So I just put some extra cinnamon in it.
I may try making French toast with it, I'll definitely need to freeze a bunch of it, there's way too much of it to eat. I may offer some to our neighbor.
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