mktye

I like technical.

Right now the only baking books I have are The Bread Bible and The Bread Baker's Apprentice (and the Bread chapter in McGee). I may have to pick this one up.

I suspect you'll enjoy the Hamelman book. It has not the breadth of bread recipes as BBA and some of his scaled-down recipes are not without issues, but his discussion of flour, leavenings and methods make the book well worth the price.

And here is a discussion on Pain a l'Ancienne that might also be of interest.

The last two times I've made pain a l'ancienne (from Bread Baker's Apprentice - if memory serves, 79% hydration), it's come out undercooked.

I've found that Pain a l'Ancienne is a tricky bread that does not always play by the rules, so you have to trust your senses more than the recipe. I usually end up letting it rise 6-8 hours at room temperature. And cook it for a longer period and at a bit lower temperature than called for (so the crust does not burn).

If you've not already seen it, a book you might enjoy reading is "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" by Jeffrey Hamelman. He really gets into the how's and why's of bread baking without being ridiculously technical.

Last year my MIL gave me a tall jar of instant yeast (from KA, I think) that she had kept around for more than half a dozen years, always in the freezer. I brought it back, put it in my freezer, and it has worked fine in every recipe I've used it for. I typically keep yeast packets in the freezer and they don't always seem to keep their strength over time. Not sure what accounts for the difference.

The two factors that affect yeast are heat and moisture. For storage, I prefer the freezer instead of the refrigerator because I feel the moisture levels are better controlled since nearly all the water molecules in there are in a solid state (ice). I also avoid purchasing yeast at the supermarket because of concerns regarding the temperature it has been kept during the distribution and storage. (I suspect this is what accounts for the difference you are seeing, Pat.)

I buy SAF yeast in 1-pound bags from King Arthur Flour, keep it in tight-sealing tupperware containers in the freezer and have found that it will be fine even a year (or more) later.

This looks like one to try. Legant just posted about making it the other day too (dinner thread).

Great minds think alike, Miss L?

Almond Puff Loaf

Homemade strawberry pop-tarts. Recipe here.

I use 3.5 ounces of dough for hamburger buns, but as KMango pointed out, it will depend on your bun recipe. And, when forming, be sure to flatten out the dough much more than you think you should.

I'm looking for double cream...any suggestions? (or recipes for a substitute)

World Market. They usually have double cream or clotted cream, or both.

This may be a silly question, but does butternut squash and sweet potato flavors go together? I am thinking of making a sweet potato congee, but am thinking about adding some squash to it too.

In the "Cappellacci with Sweet Squash" recipe from The Splendid Table, Lynne Rossetto Kasper calls for combining butternut squash with sweet potato in a 2:1 ratio to approximate the taste and consistency of the local squash from Ferrara and Parma. I have made this recipe numerous times and it is excellent.

From my neighborhood listserv:

The Del Ray Farmers Market is now open year round -- located at the corner of Mt. Vernon Avenue and Oxford Avenue in Del Ray. During the winter months the market will be open 9 am to noon each Saturday.

The Del Ray Market farmers that will be there are Smith Meadows meats, eggs, fresh pasta and sauces; Amish cheese, yogurt, bakery goods, eggs and jams and jellies; winter vegetables; fancy nuts; pralines; and bakery goods.

Tom the Cheese Guy actually came the Saturday we had 18 inches of snow -- he was not able to get out until Sunday around 5:30!!!!!

The Del Ray Market is producer grown so the fresh vegetables and fruits will be back once that season kicks in.

From the January MOM's newletter:

MOM's Bowie

COMING SOON!

Race Track Rd

Bowie, MD 20715

Bûche de Noël. Vanilla sponge, brushed with Frangelico cake syrup, filled with chestnut French buttercream, frosted with chocolate French buttercream and decorated with meringue mushrooms.

But the Vif d'Etampes was, in fact, watery, stringy, bland, more yellow than orange despite the vivid reddish orange of the shell and not at all sweet.

A few Thanksgivings back, my MIL brought me one all the way from California (they'd grown it on their farm) and I had the same exact experience. I always figured it was just that particular pumpkin. Guess not.

Although I've not made this particular recipe, I've been liking "The Arab Table" by May S. Bsisu for such things. Someone else has copied out the recipe here.

King Arthur Flour carries 100-count packages of half-sheet-sized, pre-cut parchment paper for $19.95. Click.

Waters Appliance Service in Gaithersburg fixes KitchenAid mixers. 216 E. Diamond Ave., 301-258-7500

Set some mouse traps baited with peanut butter in your pantry.

And if you end up left with a clever mousie who passes on the peanut butter, you'll probably have luck baiting with little pieces of raw bacon tied to the trap with dental floss (and yet again prove the near-universal irresistibility of bacon).

I've bought fish from Jim, so I can attest that it is super-fresh. He almost always sells only whole fish. They are gutted but not de-scaled. Unless you can deal with a whole fish, and are prepared to scale and filet it yourself you are better off buying from a fish market. But maybe, for a larger fish, you can split it with a friend.

And that friend just might scale and filet the fish for you. Especially if you transport the fish across state lines.

More discussion here.

Well, after a search on Cook's Thesaurus, I think I may just use cake flour to make up the difference. I just measured and all totaled, the amount I'm short is only about an 1/8 of a cup. The "hard" descriptor of the whole-wheat concerns me too much.

My favorite roll recipe (warning: it is a little fussy):

DINNER ROLLS

Makes ~2 dozen rolls

Because there is so much butter in the dough, it is too difficult to knead by hand or with a food processor (which would heat the dough too much). Although the dough will be very soft, resist the urge to add extra flour since it will result in the rolls being tough.

~3½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

2¼ teaspoons (1 package) dry yeast

1½ teaspoons salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1¼ cups milk, warmed

1 large egg, beaten lightly

8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

In the bowl of the mixer, stir together the 3 cups flour, yeast, salt and sugar. Mix in the milk and egg and beat at low speed with the paddle attachment for 1 minute. Gradually add the butter, increase the speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes, then knead with the dough hook ~5 minutes, adding more flour as necessary to make a very, very soft dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled in size, ~45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Lightly oil or line two half-sheet pans with parchment paper.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly-floured work surface and pat into a 9” square. Fold the dough into thirds by folding the upper 3” down and the lower 3” up. Pinch the edges together to seal. Next, using the side of your hand, firmly press an indentation along the length of the dough, then fold and roll the upper sealed edge of dough toward the center indentation, pressing firmly with your fingertips to seal. Pull the upper edges of the dough down over the thick portion to meet the seam, pressing with your fingertips to seal. Repeat this 5 or 6 more times until the dough lengthens and forms a taut, narrow cylinder ~17” long. Dust the dough with flour, then roll the dough seam-side up and pinch firmly to seal. Next, press an indentation into the length of the dough along the seam with the side of your open hand. And repeat as above to form a long, taut cylinder. Gently stretch and roll the dough cylinder until it measures 36” long and is ~2½” wide. Use a bench scraper (or a knife) at a 45 degree angle to the cylinder, cut off one end, then cut triangular-shaped rolls along the dough, alternating the scraper 45-degrees to the right and left. You should get ~24 rolls.

Transfer the rolls to the prepared sheet pans, then cover with lightly-oiled plastic wrap and let the rolls rise until almost doubled, ~30 minutes. Bake the rolls for 15 minutes, rotating the sheets about halfway through the baking. Cool rolls on a rack for at least 5 minutes before serving.

Adapted from an old "Cook's Illustrated" recipe

(I recently made the recipe from this year's CI Nov. issue -- while the crumb and crust were great, I found the flavor a little blah. They were okay for everyday, but not the buttery, special-occasion-type of rolls that I like to serve at Thanksgiving.)

More pork belly discussion here.

It's that time of year again! If your posts are showing up marked an hour late or the little time stamp at the bottom of the page is off by an hour...

3 steps and you're good-to-go:

1) Click on "My Controls" on the top-right part of the screen

2) Click on "Board Settings" in the left column on the screen

3) Uncheck the "Is Daylight Savings Time In Effect?" box and click on "Adjust my account settings"

This definitley looks worth a try! For you bakers out there, any suggestions on if the recipe will suffer in converting to Whole Wheat, and if not, how to do so?

If you use a larger amount of whole wheat, things can get tricky because of lack of gluten development which can result in a very dense bread.

Rocco's Foxtrot

And "Mambo Italiano"