Mike Nolan
Forum Replies Created
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We made a batch of gluten-free cornbread.
I've bookmarked the Anna's Swedish Butter Cake recipe in Susan Purdy's book.
We went to a wedding today and the cake (from a local supermarket's bakery department) was definitely not a WASC or even something like the 'elegant white cake' in the KAF Baker's Companion. I was thinking of trying another 'blondie' version of the Texas Sheet Cake, but maybe I'll try the Swedish Butter Cake instead.
I think you can also expect changes in this site, both in terms of how things work and what tools are available. (I'm not really happy with the current layout, so I might not stay with BBPress, the forums package I'm using, but if that changes all existing content should be migrated over.)
And don't forget there are other sites out there, Zen's, RandyD's, etc.
Hmm, I was hoping the link would work, did you try it?
No, the WSJ article focused on professional artisan bakers, not home bakers. It did note that some bakers, like Chad Robertson of Tartine, have started milling their own wheat or cutting deals with local millers. It'll be interesting to see if he writes another volume of the Tartine cookbook series that talks about it.
Those of us with home grain mills have long faced the difficulty of obtaining affordable whole grain for milling. I used to be able to get a 25 pound bag of Wheat Montana hard red wheat for about $14, but both local sources no longer carry it. Most recently I paid about $17 plus shipping to order a 26 pound bucket of it from walmart.com. (Walmart has just started offering free shipping on a lot of items, I guess they're trying to compete with Amazon Prime.)
You could look for a grocery store that has a Wheat Montana in-store grinding station, but a nearby store recently discontinued theirs. Not enough people buying it, I suspect.
The article does say that freshly milled flour should be used in 1-2 weeks, and I'm sure any flour you can buy in bags in a store will be a lot older than that. Peter Reinhart noted in one of his books that freshly milled flour should be used right away, within 24 hours, or allowed to age for 2 weeks.
The article touches on but doesn't really explain how sourdough has a lower glycemic index.
I can deal with the cost of veal, but it's so hard to find any! Our local grocery stores tend to carry at most ground veal. The one store that reliably had (frozen) veal cutlets burned down earlier this week--a fire that started in the compressor room.
I recommend Carol Fields' book, "The Italian Baker". Her method for making grissini (thin bread sticks) is both fast and fun to do, and they're every bit as good as the ones I had in Turin.
There's a vendor at the local farmers markets who has a Forno Bravo wood-burning oven that he hauls around to farmers markets and other functions. He says it takes several hours to get up to temp and 2-3 days to cool completely down.
Please keep us posted on your progress. The San Francisco Baking Institute has run a few short courses on baking breads and pizzas in a wood burning oven. I think King Arthur Flour has run similar courses in Vermont.
