Dahomechef

The recipe calls for cranberries and raisins to have a tart and a sweet fruit. Dried sour cherries might be perfect.

Arbuclo, your danish look awesome. I'm having a cup of coffee and wouldn't mind one right now. How about the Fruit Focaccia this weekend? Anybody game?

York, I don't know about your pudding, but you should try these. It must be the easiest recipe in BWJ--5 ingredients tossed in the blender, poured into the pan, and tossed into the oven. This has a huge "bang-for-the-buck" ratio!

jgarner, you can make them in whatever you have--custard cups, a muffin or mini-muffin pan, whatever. The narrow cups in the popover pan just encourage the little devils to rise and puff.

Jankk--exactly! Haven't tried a mini-popover pan myself, but if it's popovers, what's bad? Here's how mine came out (from BWJ): ... and here's the carnage: ... mmmm

Yorkshire, if I knew how to post a link to an early post in this thread I would, but there's a lovely pic of mcduff's apple tart on page 4 of this thread.

Yorkshire, yes it is the RLB Bread Bible. I believe there was some discussion of this book upthread. Although I have some issues (don't you hate that word?) with the author, every bread I've made from this book has come out marvelously well. This is no small thing. It is a big thing. And a good thing. Get the book, if you're interested in bread baking.

No, don't know if there are any apple tart pics here, just thinking of the ones I've seen in cookbooks. Baked biscotti Friday night, the 9 grain torpedo bread from The Bread Bible on Saturday, and since I couldn't make the mini rounds, my son and I baked up the popovers from BWJ on Sunday morning. Will post a pic of these tonight--they were yummy. Had to teach junior the proper way to eat a popover--hot from the oven, butter and honey (or whatever--we had a proper selection) dripping off, running down your fingers, gobbing big hunks of goodness and only breathing when necessary. Now, this is fun.

There used to be a little lunch-and-takeout place in Corte Madera called "Tote Cuisine". Always got a kick out of that one, but gone now.

alacarte, I haven't had parchment go up in flames in the oven, although at a high temp they will char. Maybe it was the surplus eggwash that was burning? BTW, I've switched over to buying parchment from King Arthur Flour, where they sell it 100 sheets at a time, pre cut to fit a half-sheet baking pan (about 13 x 18). Much more convenient than the rolls at the supermarket, and none of that tightly rolled stuff near the end of the roll that's just impossible to flatten out. Much better!

Yorshire, your tart looks great. Another apple and more overlap (check some pics of these tarts) and you'd be perfect. Country bread looks good too. Have you tried the trick of storing the bread on the counter, cut side down? It actually works as well as or better than wrapping in foil.

Yorkie, try the Benriner--it's cheap and does a great job. Those big stainless ones are pretty pricey and, from discussions here, not that much better. And watch your fingers!!

Yorkshire, I think once the oven heats up to the right temp, it wouldn't make much difference having the stone in. Don't think much of the heat goes through the stone, but circulates as heated air around the stone. Just guessing.

So how 'bout some pictures? I haven't made the tart from BWJ, I usually use the recipe in (I think it's called) Great Pies and Tarts. Did you use a mandoline or similar to slice the apples? Although possible with a knife, it's much harder and the slices are not as uniform. Just a thought.

Along the same vein, if yer grillin', throw some peach halves lightly brushed with evo on the grill, flip them when you take your steak or whatever off, turn the grill off and just leave them until it's dessert time. Serve with ice cream, yogurt, whipped cream.

One of the favorites at the annual artichoke festival is deep fried artichokes, and they're fantastic. And yeah, this thread is a little like a mental virus--"you are now infected. You. Must. Deep. Fry." Gonna stop for a big can of oil on the way home.

JanKK, more power to ya! I have to try that braid, it just looks awesome. I haven't done the danish yet, so I don't know if the recipe instructs to use an egg wash or some water to stick the points together. Do you think this would help? Yorkshire, I also have a big stone in my oven, and have often wondered what effect it has on baked goods. It does a great job of evening out the heating in my oven which otherwise heats very unevenly. OTOH, it takes a loooooong time to heat up. I'm going to try the recipe again without the stone and see if I have better results. You've really got the pedal to the metal on your baking! Unfortunately, my SO just went on a version of the (shudder) Atkins diet. Oh well, more for me, I guess! But people on these diets do personalize things. I've been accused of trying to sabatoge earlier diet efforts just because I baked up a big yummy pile of cookies--where's the justice? Have to check out the glazed mini rounds, but sounds good to me.

JanKK that braid looks awesome! Are you a professional, or have you made these before? I've been out of action the last few days and didn't get to the danish yet, but the photos are inspiring. yorkshire, I guess the second baking of the brownies did the trick. How long were they in the oven altogether? I wonder if there is a problem with the recipe? Although I always bake with an oven thermometer, the thermostat on my oven can be off as much as 50-65 degrees (which is why I always bake with a thermometer.)

Rhea_S, thanks for the link to an amazingly detailed thread/demonstration. I'll try that naan. Have you done it? yorkshirepud, I had exactly the same experience with the brownies. Baked 'em as indicated, found they were still fudgy, baked 'em some more, took 'em out and let 'em cool, and they did not set up at all except the "border." Put 'em back in for a while, but no matter how long they baked, remained "runny." I wouldn't be too quick to blame your old oven. I'm baking in a mid-range "pro style" gas oven that's probably less than 3 years old and got the same result. In the end, I ignored the middle of the pan and ate the 2 or 3 inch border, which was damn good! I guess I'm more a cakey-brownie type rather than a fudgy-brownie type. By the way, congratulations on having a completely new kitchen to step into!

SethG, I've had the exact same thing happen with pizza dough, but it's worse with the tomato sauce and toppings dripping over my hands while my head is stuck inside a 500 degree oven while I'm cursing like a sailor while someone sings out from the next room, "need any help?" Arrrgh. Took a few iterations, but learned the lesson. Bought a nice wooden peel and things are much better. However, even with the peel, any moisture (stray droplets of evo work well here) will cause the dough to catch on one side or the other. Now I always "shake the peel" when I'm working with dough on the peel, when I've finished working the dough, and when I'm getting ready to go into the oven, just to make sure it's still slip-slidin' along.

yorkshirepud--welcome. Haven't tried the whole wheat bread, but it sounds good! SethG--well, you see, the reason I stacked the naans for their photo op was to put the best one in front! Actually, I baked 6 of these and the first one came out pretty perfect. It may be that in my addiction to crunchy crust I baked them a bit long and that's why my scallion bits burned. As I moved on the the second, etc., they did begin to bubble a bit in the middle, so I started really going at them with my fork (dimpling instrument of choice). I stabbed (there's no other word) until I could feel the counter and just paved the whole center with holes, making a pretty even border and that seemed to help. I liked the chewy-ness, although i do prefer softer naan and would be interested in a recipe. These need to be eaten the day they're made--the next day they were Oasis Rock Naan. Danish! Yesss... Might have to do these on Sunday so the overs can go the the office.

Here's a link to a yeast conversion chart: http://www.theartisan.net/convert_yeast_two.htm

Hey, this isn't my addiction, but I have friends who've brought their kids up on "nutella rolls." Slather your nutella on a tortilla, roll it up, nuke it for about 20 seconds; eat; repeat.

Toasted, you don't need to do anything to your pizza stone before you bake on it. Although when I once lined my oven with unglazed quarry tiles, I did bake them for about 2 hours at 450 just to make sure anything left on the surface from the manufacturing process was nuked off. And don't wash it with soap and water--that's not dirt, it's patina!

Asha, welcome! Thanks for the tip. I'd found it on Penzey's but had been hoping to find it locally, with no luck. Guess I'll have to order.