[Mike Nolan]

We had veal Zurich over spaetzle made with 100% semolina flour, which was less successful than I had hoped. It didn't have enough gluten to hold together, so the texture is closer to a polenta. It was tasty, but it wasn't really spaetzle. A 50-50 blend of AP and semolina might hold together more.

We also decanted the first of the two flans I made yesterday. The recipe I have makes a LARGE flan, it calls for a 1 1/2 quart charlotte pan, and we wound up cooking it in 2 10" pyrex dishes, next time I may just do it in one pan, which would make it a lot deeper.

I forgot to add the vanilla, I think it may counteract the slight bitterness of true caramel, so I'll make a note on the recipe for next time not to forget it. It took a lot longer to set up than I had expected, I think I made a bit too much caramel and that insulated it too much. I may also have not had the water in the bain-marie hot enough.

[Mike Nolan]

We're having lavash pizza for supper tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

I made a batch of rye rolls starting with the Clayton eggshell roll recipe I made earlier this week, subbing in 20% dark rye flour, using molasses instead of barley malt and adjusting the salt and water amounts so the recipe was reasonably hydrated.

I also made a poolish with some of the flour and water and let it sit overnight.

Pretty good, I'm not sure if the surface will harden over time, but I will likely make it again, if only because I want to have a variety of rolls for Thanksgiving and this batch might not last that long. I may freeze a bunch of them so they are fresh on Thursday.

I didn't put caraway in them, I might do that next time. I thought about giving them an egg wash but I'm not sure how that would impact the crust. I may try that in a future batch.

[Mike Nolan]

RLB has silicone pastry wands, a set of 3 thicknesses (1/16, 1/8, 3/16), 18 inches deep, for $9.99 at Bed Bath & Beyond website.

[Mike Nolan]

We had vegetable beef soup from the freezer for supper tonight.

I've got some metal and wood bars I use for setting thickness, too, but I don't think I've got a set that's 1/16" thick, that's only slightly thicker than a dime.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 2 months ago by Mike Nolan.

[Mike Nolan]

1/4 tsp of baking soda per cup of buttermilk is what I've always seen, perhaps you needed more to pair up with the cream of tartar? Maybe your baking soda is too old? I've read of that happening but I buy it in huge bags at Sams, it takes several years to use that much, and we have never had a problem with it.

[Mike Nolan]

The ossi dei morti that I made for Halloween/All Souls were unleavened and held their shape and pattern fairly well when I used cookie cutters, stamps and molds with them. I think I liked the taste of the ones I did 3-4 years ago better, though, I need to figure out where I filed that recipe for next October.

[Mike Nolan]

Not only do I still have our two volume OED, I still use it from time to time. We have a second one that is missing the magnifying glass.

Years ago I had a chance to purchase the OED in its original 13 volumes, I still regret not doing that.

I was collecting dictionaries for a while and have a number of very good ones including the 2nd edition of the Websters Unabridged Dictionary, which many people consider to be the finest unabridged dictionary ever published. I have a number of French dictionaries these days to help me with my French studies and I have one Irish dictionary, though I haven't done much studying of Irish in the past two years.

[Mike Nolan]

I think Clayton's complete book of breads is rather like the Joy of Cooking, it isn't intended to be read cover to cover, it is more of a reference for when you're looking for certain types of breads. I glanced at all the other breads in the 'little breads' chapter while I was working on the eggshell rolls, there are a few I might try.

BTW, I entered his eggshell rolls recipe into my baker's math calculator and at 4.25 ounces per cup of flour it came up at about 86% hydration, which explains why I had to add so much extra flour, as Cass would say that's almost soup. I'm going to try a variant on it, starting with a pre-ferment and then subbing in about 20% rye flour. I sized it down a bit, too.

[Mike Nolan]

You can make a pretty good cheddar cheese sauce by starting with a Béchamel (roux and milk) and adding the cheese to that, making it a variant on Mornay sauce.

Since I almost never make my own whipped cream or butter, about the only things I use cream for are Veal Zurich (a white wine cream sauce) and for Alfredo sauce. The original Alfredo sauce was mace just with parmesan reggiano, but you have to melt it very slowly so that it doesn't curdle, cream speeds the process up a lot (and cream is far less expensive, too), so that's why restaurants do it that way. Why they add garlic is a mystery to me, it isn't needed and it isn't correct, either. (And IMHO it ruins the taste, Alfredo sauce should taste like a rich cheese and NOTHING ELSE!)

[Mike Nolan]

I've never had much luck with those rings, and I don't think they make them thinner than 1/8 inch anyway.

[Mike Nolan]

I've made blitz puff, but to be honest, once you've practiced it, it really doesn't take that much longer in terms of active time (ignoring times the dough is chilling) to make a true laminated dough.

[Mike Nolan]

I was looking at some tortilla presses online, the reviews on them weren't encouraging, some didn't get them very thin, others have multiple reports of the handle breaking. For initial testing, I might just roll them out by hand.

As far as I can tell, none of the tortilla brands available here, including those made locally, use semolina, probably because of the higher cost.

[Mike Nolan]

The Bernard Clayton book on the breads of France has a number of recipes for what in France they call pain de regime (diet bread).

[Mike Nolan]

The eggshell rolls are pretty close on texture, I think after they are allowed to cool and are reheated they'll be even closer. Most of this batch I plan to set aside for Thanksgiving.

I wound up adding a lot more flour than the recipe called for, but I think that's consistent with Bernard Clayton recipes I've tried in the past.

The flavor isn't quite where I want it, I think a little rye flour would bring the flavor up a bit. Another possibility is some whole wheat flour, maybe sifting out the bigger pieces of bran.

Increasing the salt a little might help, too, because of all the extra flour I had to add it wound up at about 1.35% salt.

I will cut back on the yeast next time, they rose way too fast. I'd be tempted to take some of the flour, water and yeast and make a preferment to give it more character. (I suspect the ones I had in NYC were made with a starter.)

I'm thinking they might benefit from an egg white glaze, they have kind of a matte finish. I don't know if that would affect the crispness of the surface.

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