[Mike Nolan]

Here's a picture of a slice of today's sourdough:

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[Mike Nolan]

Well, the sourdough could have stood more proofing, both loaves had blowouts along the side, which is always a sign of underproofing. Might have been a little underbaked as well, but the outside is very crunchy, like many sourdoughs.

So my starter may not be quite as active as I thought it was, which means I probably need to adjust rise times.

Diane wasn't fond of it, both the texture and the taste. It is mildly sour, but I think the crunchiness put her off, and maybe the rye undertaste. I might have to bake sourdough breads at a lower temperature to keep the outsides from getting crunchy if I want any hope of her eating them.

I may have to try some kind of semolina sourdough.

[Mike Nolan]

I am making Jeffrey Hamelman's Vermont Sourdough Bread (version 1, with some rye flour) tonight. They'll be in the oven soon. The levain was very active, the final dough not as much, so I'm giving it a little extra time in final proof.

[Mike Nolan]

Tonight we had the steaks I was originally planning for yesterday, with baked potato and sauteed mushrooms.

[Mike Nolan]

I was originally planning steaks on the grill for tonight, but there's been a storm trying to move in since mid-afternoon, though all we've gotten so far is a series of sprinkles.

So we did tacos/nachos inside.

[Mike Nolan]

The Modernist Pizza book talks about several different crust styles, one of them is Brazilian thin-crust, but I can't find a Brazilian dough recipe anywhere and I'm not sure I'm ready to spend that much on a pizza cookbook set.

This sounds like an interesting recipe to try: https://www.atbbq.com/blogs/recipes/chicago-thin-crust-tavern-style-pizza

[Mike Nolan]

Here's what the two starters look like before their daily/morning feed a day or two ago.

This is the wheat starter:

This is the rye starter, it doesn't bubble as much, but that appears to be true of rye starters in general:

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[Mike Nolan]

Today's bagels came out strange, they flattened out. Taste pretty good but look ugly.

I was using Jeffrey Hamelman's technique, overnight retardation, then a quick boil and into an ice bath. They looked over-proofed when I took them out of the fridge.

[Mike Nolan]

I'm making bagel dough this evening, the Hamelman recipe again. I'll shape them tonight, refrigerate them, then boil and bake them in the morning.

[Mike Nolan]

Joan Simpson wrote:

I had a Philly steak hot pocket was mostly cheese and bread.Not a fan of them.

Yeah, and usually mediocre bread and cheese, with too much salt.

[Mike Nolan]

I had a sandwich and Diane had an omelet tonight.

[Mike Nolan]

I've only had coal-fired pizza once, and it was pretty good.

Coal-fired pizza ovens are hotter and drier than wood-fired pizza ovens, the crust is crisper and usually a bit charred on the bottom, though the center is chewy. They're said to be harder for pizziaolos to learn to use, possibly because there just aren't that many around.

[Mike Nolan]

Back in the 70's it was said that there were 5 different style of Chicago-Style pizza. (Some people said 7.)

Stuffed pizza has always been a sub-specialty, even the places that claim to have invented it never made them the star of the menu.

Chicago-style thin was always the odd duck, it is similar to tavern style but different in some subtle ways. I haven't found a thin/tavern style crust recipe I'm happy with yet.

Pasquale Bruno Jr's book, "The Great Chicago-Style Pizza Cookbook" is still IMHO the definitive text on them, but it gave short shrift to thin/tavern style.

[Mike Nolan]

I find that a second tray of cookies takes 30 seconds to 2 minutes less in the oven, depending on the recipe, so it isn't just you or your oven.

I've been using the convection setting in my big oven for the first 10-15 minutes of a pie, but not for other things--yet.

[Mike Nolan]

Diane is having a ham and cheese omelet, I'm having leftover ribs.

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