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Sourdough bread confession and attempted breakout.
Norm Matthews replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
@haresfur and others, I did not expect people to want to copy me. I expected a heated discussion calling me names and decrying my methods. I have read that some bakers age their yeast on a regular basis. It gives the bread it makes a more complex flavor. It is not real sourdough but to me it does resemble sourdough very much. I did not mention the details of aging yeast but you should use 1 cup of dechlorinated water at room temperature, 1 1/2 cup flour and 2 tsp. yeast. Every day pour out half and add back the amount of water and flour you discarded, and in three or four days you will have yeast aged enough to use in a sourdough recipe. If you use just flour and water, without yeast, it will start to ferment on its own from natural wild yeast that is present everywhere, in about a week or two and you will have real sourdough starter. Using commercial yeast is a quck start way and some people will tell you it isn't real sourdough but I can't tell much, if any difference and using it with the addition of store-bought yeast will give you a good tasting loaf of bread and be more predictable. @Maison Rustique The first sourdough I got in the mail was dehydrated and it revived well. If you did not use high heat to dry it, it should revive and be as good as before. I kept it alive for sevral years and refrigerated without feeding it very often it when I did not plan to use it again for a while. You can also freeze sourdough starter. Just don't get it hot. -
It was so good the other night that I had it again.
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Sourdough bread confession and attempted breakout.
Maison Rustique replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
I was given a starter from a friend (she made it from scratch) who passed away a few years ago so it is special. With all the moving stuff, I did not have time to maintain it, so dried it. I'm anxious to re-hydrate and try it after I get moved. - Today
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That scrambled egg looks well overcooked.
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Bacon and egg. Another 5-item cooked breakfast. Lunch: heavily dusted with pepper. Chicken curry and rice. Where do I begin? Some kind of Mexican thing, as authentic, I'm sure, as the previously shown curry. It filled the hole.
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The energy that goes into extracting the materials to build the machine, manufacturing and shipping it, and then disposing of it at the end of its life far outweighs any minimal savings in hot water or soap that you might save over the average life of the machine. I have an old dishwasher, use it all the time, but I don’t kid myself that I’m saving energy with it. Living without a dishwasher clearly saves energy.
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Arin joined the community
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My situation is very relevant. The reason I don't have a dishwasher is that they are wasteful. The topic is about cleaning knives and I still have knives which I clean in a more efficient and less wasteful way. i did have a dishwasher in England 30 years ago and didn't put.my knives in it then, either. My choice.
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Bottom line: is there a difference in taste?
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Your situation isn't really relevant to the topic, then. I think we can assume the question of what to put in the dishwasher is only applicable to people who have one.
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I avoid putting anything with a wooden handle in the dishwasher. That means my Japanese knives, several crappy old knives, and my cheap as chips Kiwi. I'd put the Kiwi in if it had one of the newer plastic handles. I probably wouldn't put the Victorinox chef's knife in, but I don't have final say on all the matters. I wouldn't put my carbon steel or stainless clad knives in, even if they didn't have wooden handles. I have several knives we keep around just because we can abuse them and not worry about things like the dishwasher. So it is complicated. Good knives that only I use, hand wash as soon after a task as possible. Cheap knives where anything goes. A couple of cheap knives that are hand washed because of their wood handles. I suppose those are the ones where my strategy is different from @Porthos so his post is well taken. The old club of a western chef's knife might be a good one to experiment with, since I have a similar plastic handle one if it dies. If I have a pot of soapy water in the sink, I'll tend to just hand wash the knives so I don't end up cursing the fact that they are sitting in the dishwasher, dirty. But overall dishwashers are more energy and water efficient.
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Cacio e Pepe from a CI recipe - interesting approach by building the base through finely mincing the pecorino in the food processor and adding a little bit of hot water to get a cheese “paste”. You use the cheese paste with the hot spaghetti directly from the pot, freshly toasted and ground black pepper and some concentrated pasta water (spaghetti cooked in a small amount of water) to finish the dish. Overall good flavor but the cheese sauce started to form a few small clumps once it cooled down a bit.
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The only energy my washing by hand uses is supplied by me, apart from a tiny amount from a gas-fired water heater for a tiny amount of hot water. I don't possess or want a a dishwashers. They are unknown here.
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But if he's running a dishwasher load anyway, it actually saves water and energy -- albeit a very small amount each time, but over 47+ years, it adds up.
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Sourdough bread confession and attempted breakout.
Norm Matthews replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
Not copper. The bread pan have is steel. The pictured one was from King Arthur, but I bet you can find one on Amazon for less -
Continuing the chocolate theme, we have 巧克力脆皮榴莲冰皮月饼 (qiǎo kè lì cuì pí liú lián bīng pí yuè bǐng), chocolate crispy durian snowy mooncake. It is basically the same durian cake I mentioned before but coated in chocolate with nuts. I’ll pass. Chinese chocolate is not generally good, at all.
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It takes seconds to hand wash a knife after use and is a lot less wasteful of water and energy.
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I have a three loaf baguette pan and I just checked and it too fits in the Anova. Are those copper sheet pans?
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I don’t have lots of knives so I prefer to keep my limited selection at the ready. I don’t run the dishwasher after every meal so washing them by hand suits me.
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@ElsieD, the baguette pan from King Arthur fits in the Anova steam oven. I have some copper sheets which go under the pan which behave like a baking pan. I've made baguettes twice, not very successfully. I'm looking to Norm to help me figure out how to do this right 🙃
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Thank you. I've read the recipe and the sourdough starter instructions and will try it.
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I think I had an argument with fat guy about this 15 years ago. Or maybe it was about wooden spoons? my perspective…I’d rather give any and all of my knives a quick wash and dry and put them back where they belong.
- Yesterday
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Sourdough bread confession and attempted breakout.
Norm Matthews replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
@ElsieD Maybe you could try the recipe called King Arthur Flour Rustic Sourdough Bread. It is very reliable and I didn't attempt to keep sourdough going in the last year. What I did was to mix equal amounts of water and flour with a two teaspoons of commercial yeast, feed it for two or three days then use that "aged yeast" in place of actual sourdough in the recipe. It makes good bread. I bake mine on a double French loaf pan and brush them with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds just before they ot into the oven.PS that recipe also uses store bought yeast to assure a quick and good rise without relying on the sourdough or aged yeast for anything but flavor. -
I have had zero luck maintaining a sourdough starter. I have tried a number of times with the same result. I still make bread, but not with sourdough starter.
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Sourdough bread confession and attempted breakout.
Norm Matthews replied to a topic in Pastry & Baking
Thank you. Your post made me realize that I forgot to post the recipes for today on the blog. They are there now. -
I have run my knives through the dishwasher without ill effects (one wooden handle notwithstanding) for 47+years. However, I do so with the understanding of what not to put in, and how to position them to avoid damage. I've never had a blade deteriorate I have 2 knives that never go in: a 10" slicer with a rosewood handle and a 10" chef's knife with a rosewood handle. I'll never own Damascus steel knives. They are beautiful but would require more care than I wish to put into them. My knife block is filled with western-style knives. I have Forschner, Victorniox, Wusthoff, Henkel, and others. After I retired from participating in Ren Faires as a volunteer I stopped pursuing one of my hobbies, finding quality brand knives in thrift stores that were donated because the edges were dull and the owner didn't choose to deal to with them. Bringing them back life and giving them to friends was a pleasure. There are a few of those that made it into my knive block or knife roll that I use when traveling. My best "test case" is my 9 1/2" chef's knife that my Sweetie gave me for Christmas 1982. Just this year, for the first time, I had to smooth its wooden handle and then put 6 coats of polyurethane on it. The blade itself still takes and keeps an edge. I use an Edge Pro. I actually found egullet when I wanted to learn to properly sharpen knives; thank you Chad Ward. I position all knives so that the edges CAN NOT hit anything else. I fully understand that the prevailing wisdom is never, ever put kitchen knives in the dishwasher. If that is how you care for knives I have no argument with what you do in your kitchen. My choice to put them in the dishwasher is solely my own choice. I do not wish to engage in debate over my choice. I simply wanted to share my perspective and personal experience.
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