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I always have mixed emotions on Alton Brown. I thought he sold out on The Food Network, I was glad to see him resuming Good Eats, though I haven't watched it much. (I don't watch The Food Network as much as I used to, just not much worth watching.)
Some of his ideas are interesting, others not so much. I tried his popovers recipe, WAY TOO SALTY! Susan Reed at KAF was one of his instructors in cooking school, she says he knew back then what he wanted to do in the kitchen after completing his training.
Kenji is always an interesting read, and I've found very few of his ideas I've disagreed with. His take on science is usually fun, too. Wish I was an invitee to some of his experimental dinners.
Well, I toasted the malted rye after grinding it up, and it has an interesting fragrance. (I like it, my wife doesn't.) It does turn pink as you toast it.
I've been to several GFS, there is some variance in what they carry. The first one I ever went to was in Indianapolis, when I was there for a chess meeting. Their fresh meats section was excellent.
I wonder if pureed stewed prunes would be similar to plum baby food? I made a prune/chocolate ganache once to put in macarons, I thought it was delicious.
We had BLT's on semolina bread tonight. I gave my wife several choices, that one sounded best to both of us.
Looks like the closest one to you is in Indianapolis, which is probably also where the closest Gordon Food Services is.
I am starting the Munich Penny Rolls from TRB today, but they won't be baked until tomorrow. I've got the two sponges mixed, I still need to grind up the chopped rye malt and toast it. I've cleaned off the flour mill to minimize wheat contamination, but I don't think I'll be using the red rye malt in any 100% rye breads or breads designed to be gluten-free so a little wheat probably won't hurt. I"m going to run some rye chops through first to kind of clean the insides out, since that's not accessible for cleaning. It'll also give me a good idea how well it works on chopped grains.
The nearest Penzey's is in Omaha, and I think I've been there only once. I've probably been to the one in the Strip District in Pittsburgh more than that. I"m not into pre-made spice blends and that seems to be a large part of Penzey's inventory these days.
I don't know if Lincoln is quite big enough to support a Penzey's. There's a new spice shop on this side of town that I haven't visited yet, they also do knife sharpening, which interests me. (I have been sharpening my own knives, I've got whetstones in 400/1000 and 3000/8000 grit levels, but I have some scissors that need sharpening.)
I've tried a variety of steam methods over the years. What I've been doing lately is putting an 8" cast iron skillet in the oven when I turn it on, then I put the tea kettle on the stove. When the dough goes in the oven, I pour a cup or so of boiling water in the skillet. There's a big burst of steam, but much of it comes out the open door, I think. So I also take a sprayer and spray the side walls of the oven.
I believe steam is even more important for free-form loaves, because there's a lot more dough surface area exposed to the open air, so there's more crust for the steam to impact.
Several years ago I read something about a kit someone was selling that consisted of a heat-safe plastic tube that would attach to the oven door and lead down to a heavy metal pan inside, you could pour water in it and it would go into the pan while the oven was (mostly) closed. I assume it had some kind of funnel. I haven't found that reference lately. What I wasn't sure about is whether you took the tube out a few minutes later or if the oven door wound up being propped slightly open as a result.
Several companies make a steam oven for home use, they're expensive and the reviews I've seen of them have been mixed. (Maybe it is just getting used to a new oven.) But I have no plans to replace my 48" DCS dual fuel range any time, and it'd be a major job anyway, we'd probably have to take out the center island temporarily.
As I understand it, steam injectors in commercial ovens require periodic maintenance, cleaning out calcium buildup, etc. I assume there would be some ongoing maintenance on a home steam oven as well.
My KA is making some noises every now and then that tell me the main gear may be going. I don't know if I can get a replacement for it, since we've had it since 1972. (It was a wedding present.)
I've thought quite a bit about what to replace it with.
KA makes several lines of mixers in each of their sizes, with different quality/durability levels, I'm sure. You probably have to check the motor rating to figure out which one it is. (Price is probably a good clue, too, if it is under $200 it probably isn't going to be the strongest motor.) From reviews on various sites, it seems KA has gone back to metal gears from the plastic ones, at least in some lines.
KA also now offers a glass bowl option for their smaller mixers, but I hear it is very heavy and the base tends to chip where it hooks in, so I'm not sure it is worth the cost.
Viking used to make an 8 quart mixer that got good reviews (they're what KAF had in their test kitchen when I visited it several years ago.) But they've gone out of the business. I've looked at a 12 quart commercial-grade countertop mixer a few times, but it's in the $1000 range.
I've also looked at the Anksarsrum and similar mixers, I think I'd like to work with one before actually buying one.
Not sure where I'd find the counter space, but if I had to replace it NOW and funds weren't a major object, I might go with a cheaper 4 1/2 or 5 quart KA just so I've got one for small batches and the 12 quart one for bigger stuff. That way I'd still be able to use my KA pasta attachments and the bowls I have.
Has anybody tried the KA attachments on other brands of mixers that have an attachment port?
I've made recipes that were in the 9 cup range in my 4 1/2 quart mixer, but what you have to do is add the flour and water in several stages so it doesn't slop over the side. Larger mixers tend to have a bowl shield that probably helps prevent spillovers. If you're doing a dough with a preferment (and I do a lot of those, especially the rye breads), you might have to add the preferment in several stages as well.
We have fish periodically, my wife usually has orange roughy in a lemon-butter sauce and I have salmon in butter. (She doesn't care for salmon.) I've been adding some dill and occasionally some rosemary to it.
I've got a 4 1/2 quart KA (from the early 70's), so when I get to that one I'll be able to report on how well it works. I've heard from several people with larger capacity mixers (like the Anksarsrum) who said they had problems with smaller batches.
I haven't decided on an order yet for the 78 recipes in TRB, so I will probably be skipping around a bit, as it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to make two similar recipes back-to-back. A fellow BBGA member contacted me to say he was having some problems with a couple of Ginsberg's recipes, I may try one of those soon.
I think I'm doing the Munich Penny Rolls next, just because they're rolls not loaves, and Ginsberg says they have a thin crisp exterior. (My Holy Grail of breads remains the rolls I had in NYC around 25 years ago, with a crust like an eggshell and a creamy interior. I think they had some rye content, too.)
Tonight we had spaghetti with mushroom sauce and semolina bread cheese toast.
It took me about 2 minutes last night to measure out 70 grams from the previous day's rye starter, add 70 grams of rye flour and 70 grams of water and stir it up. So a long weekend and a few minutes of coaching might be all it takes to get a rye starter launched.
One of the reasons I went away from using my Zo was that it didn't allow me to make adjustments on the fly to the process. A small change in the number of minutes of kneading or rising time might have affected the volume and crumb a lot. As Peter Reinhart once wrote, your dough will tell you what it needs.
They were very good. I salted and peppered them, sprinkled on a little marjoram, nutmeg and flour, let them sit for a half hour, then seared them in a little butter on medium heat for 2-3 minutes, then flipped them over, covered the pan, reduced the heat and let them finish cooking until they were above 145 degrees. That kept them nice and moist and gave me a nice base for the pan sauce.
This is a pan sauce I'll make again. (And I might do that tomorrow, I bought two packages of these pork chops. They're thin ones, about 4 ounces, and were 88 cents each, but you can't often buy your protein for less than a dollar a serving.)
Dinner tonight was pork chops, pan cooked. I made a pan sauce using lemon juice, chicken stock, some mustard and parsley. We also had steamed broccoli. The pan sauce was excellent, the mustard gave it a taste reminiscent of a milder Sauce Robert.
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