Tepee

Er hem...I've only one year's worth of natural leaven experience under my belt...so pls take the following with a great pinch of celtic salt (which I use). Puzzled about the dormant performance of your breads, Gerhard, I decided to see how I fared with Jack's baguette formula, having never used 100% plain flour for breads before. Initially, I thought of doing the no-time method (which, again, I've never done before) but I had a glitch with my food processor...so back to Dan's familiar method. Here's my report: 1. Pre-ferment for 8 hours because at that point in time, it had more than doubled in volume and there were lots of bubbles. 2. 10-second kneads 3 times more or less every 10-minute interval. Then fold and turn 3 times for the next 2 hours. What I observed was the dough was showing much less life than when I worked with strong flours. I was a bit worried. A glass of Pimm's /cranberry juice filled with ice cubes calmed the nerves somewhat. 3. I bit the bullet at the end of 2 hours and just formed my loaves and laid them in my rice flour dusted linen cloth, separated by a rolling pin. Peeked after one hour, and was surprised to see it had visibly grown. 4. Being an attentive student (of Jack), I knew better to underprove than to overdo it. Oh, I also decided not to risk manoeveuring the loaves too much...my oven is at an odd angle . I had an oiled pan in the oven as it preheated. So, I took it out and plopped the baguettes on it. Sprayed, slashed, popped into the oven half-filled with a pan of water. Suddenly, all anxiety turned to joy as I saw the loaves springing the very moment it entered the oven. So, from my amateur inference, I'm thinking the yeast wasn't dead in your loaves, rather it needed a bit more time. I do envy your clean slashing. Mine sucks big time, perhaps due to my mild nature... Edit to add: Malaysia's temperature is 23 deg C to 31 deg C...today should be around 29.

GOsh! That's the spirit!! <insert clapping hands emoticon> Haven't tried the whizzing method before. Spurred by your determination, I decided to give it a go. Preferment is at 6 hrs now.

Sigh. Was hoping to wake up to plump baguettes... Thank you, Gerhard, for sharing with us your experience. Indeed, at least for me...this has been entertaining riveting a good learning process too. I use rice flour on linen with close weave, works like a charm. Dan says rye imparts more flavour.

Erm...don't waste precious seconds snapping pix of the slashed bread. You want to pop it into the oven ASAP. Or, better still, enlist the help of The Artist to snap your handiwork.

Awww....(((hugs))). We'll be here to support your efforts. Am glad to hear that you're persevering......"The journey is the reward"*. I'm confident you'll fulfill your purpose. * wise chinese saying. Jack! Wake up!

....no doubt some of them are hanging at a cliff......Tension mounds...Shall we wake Jack up? Do you have semolina? They act like mini ball bearings under the loaves.

They have been around for 10 years, and, credit to you entirely, for giving us the necessary push to sample the cuisine. Article about them. The recipes look interesting...will try them soon. Are they authentic enough? With 3 young children in tow, we didn't manage to check out the Kudu. Thank goodness Mother is looking very healthy.

Hullo, Gerhard. I can't help feeling excited for you now that you have Jack's starter too. No matter how 'unlively' things are looking, do persevere. My experience with Jack's starter. It's been a year since, and I'm still amazed by its readiness to perform. By the way, your intriguing blog encouraged me to have dinner at Our One-and-Only South African restaurant and we were not disappointed. A return for the more exotic stuff in the menu is highly likely. Rooting for you. You're in good hands.

Shortbread, biscotti? You can offer different variations every week.

Homemade curry puffs! Yum! When my mom made them, I could scarf down 8 at least. Don't make them myself as I hardly do any deep-frying at home for various reasons. Old Chang Kee is OK, but you have to catch them on a good day when the oil they use to deep-fry in is still fresh. Otherwise, I just go to my regular Malay stall. I prefer to order from them, specify that I'd like more meat (chicken or beef), and I'm in curry puff heaven.

Fascinated by gsquared's blog, we went to possibly the one and only SA restaurant in Malaysia, Out of Africa, just to get a taste of Gerhard's life....and we were not disappointed. The menu was quite extensive, enticing us to return to sample the other more exotic offerings. We played safe tonight, ordering only 2 mains with sides of rice, baked potatoes and fries. As the food was really robust, we left filled and satiated. Here's......Out of Africa......into Malaysia!

www.williamcurley.co.uk

Current priciest set menu , a far cry from the RM38,000 menu. Just look at that evil claw on the king crab.

Yay! That worked! Mng Goy! Now, I can get to work on perfecting my tone according to Ah Leung Gaw's.

Chee Fai, when I clicked on that link I got a load of jargon. Should I activate some software? Very excited about it.

Thanks, you 2! Will try to digest the above soon.

Is this a be-early April Fool's Day joke?

Much thanks! I learn something here every day!

All sorts of people at all levels of cooking/baking skills stumble into eG. And, if they are like me when I first found eG, they'll be very excited to find such diversity and depth of knowledge. I know I still am overwhelmed. Coming back...so, they start asking questions from this fount of information. I don't recall eG being exclusive to the elite/advanced. Who knows what these individuals may be able to share in future? I think it is hurtful and discouraging to be met with a blank wall when you expected much, in the beginning, at least. One doesn't have to be very lengthy in our replies...yup, I know every little posting takes up precious time. I maintain a website, strictly photoblog only, because I'm quite busy with real life. I get people writing to me to ask for recipes and how I decorated something, and etc. So far, I've never snubbed anyone, and, in turn, I've received much appreciation. A good feeling. Having said that, I'm not doing cakes professionally at the moment. If I did, I might use one or 2 or the above helpful responses. Just my 2 sen.

Pardon my ignorance, which I hope, will be exonerated by my (thickskinned) will to learn... Well...these fruit compounds are not available to us homebakers here (unless I go the online route). I came across these flavoured syrups which look mighty interesting. Can these be used instead to flavour desserts? I can get those locally.

Ah Leung Gaw...you don't remember (or perhaps you didn't read) this?

The Australian Modern Wedding Cakes and Chocolates magazine is also very popular with wedding cake-decorators.

Cooling herbal soups/tea Savoury Herbal Soups Enjoy!

Ching/Qing = Clear, Cleanse, Pure Bo/Bao = Nourish Leung/Liang = Cool Cantonese in italics, Mandarin in red. This pack can be made into a savoury (add meat) or sweet (add rock sugar) soup. Consists of 7 herbs: Yee Mai = Job's Tear barley, Leen Jee = Lotus Seeds Bak Hup = Lily Bulbs See Sut = Foxnut Yook Jook = Solomon's Seal Wai San = chinese dry yam Dried Longan I'll see if there's a packet in the fridge. If not, I'll go get one from the chinese medicinal hall this weekend. p/s...if Ben-sook is a dinosaur with pix-posting, I'm one with using chinese software.

Thanks, Jo! Now...to figure them out in cantonese...which I think in.