Dahomechef

Well, here's what my naan looked like: I could not keep the scallion bits from burning and still get the bread done. But the combination of the scallions and coarse/flaky salt with the cumin seeds was awesome when they were warm. Opens up lots of possibilities for different types of flatbreads with various flavors.

Arbuclo, you've been bakin up a storm, yes. The ka'kat look especially good. I haven't made this recipe yet, still searching for the mahlab. Did you make the naan? If you liked the pita, I bet you'd also like the naan--it was easy to make and quite good. I'll post my pics later today. What's on for this weekend?

Good deal. I'm in for the naan.

Hey, out of commission for a few days. SethG, yeah, that rhubarb cake looks pretty ugly, but it looks like the others here as well. Maybe we need a thread for "ugliest food you've ever made (with pictures)." I know I could be a regular contributor! Did make the rhubard upside-down cakes: Made these in ramekins, and they worked out fine. My 11 year old loved them although they were a bit rich for me. The Pebble Bread looks interesting. I also really want to try the oasis naan--love flatbreads and man, that photo looks good! What do you think?

slkinsey--thanks for the durum/semolina explanation. I learned this the hard way when, late one night of bread baking, realized recipe called for durum flour, didn't have any, found the semolina, decided "hey, they're the same thing, right?" and promptly ruined a lovely recipe. I keep trying to find the "perfect pizza dough" recipe and have consequently tried many in my search. Current favorite is Mario Batali's (on foodtv.com as "pizza margharita") which uses only unbleached all purpose. Here's one from last week's bake: (prosciutto, basil, garlic, kalmata olives, lotsa red pepper, mozzarella/provolone mix) I use a Hearthkit, crank the oven up as high as it will go, heat it for at least an hour. This 10" (6 oz. of dough) pizza cooked in about 7 minutes. The all purpose dough seems to make a slightly softer pie, which I like, but it still bakes up with a crispy bottom crust. With enough rising and gently stretch-and-folding, it makes a dough that you can fling if you want to and bakes up crisp/crunchy. But I'm always looking for a better recipe... By the way, a number of the recipes above throw the salt in with the yeast mixture. It was my impression salt will kill the yeast, and should be added later or to the dry ingredients. Anyone have an opinion?

I just had 2 timers go south. One was a triple timer and the other a quattro timer. These are a mixed blessing. When I have more than two things to time, you know I'm madly dashing around. At this point one of the timers goes off, stopping me in my tracks and, inevitably, leaving me staring at the damn thing, wondering "what the heck was that one for???" Gnash teeth, repeat.

FG--good point. Supposing I had the 150 to spend, do you know any reputable brands, or is this a treasure hunt among scientific equipment manufacturers?

The rhubarb in the markets looks great. Let's do it!

Mamster, that timer is beautiful. I'm going to order one myself. After checking around the kitchen, I realize I already have 4 timers, but the 2 embedded in appliances are only sometimes useful. I've got one that shows in big digits only hours/min, and it gets used for any long/slow processes (braising, proofing bread, etc.) It's a Taylor. Also have the Williams-Sonoma thermometer/timer (hey, it were a gift) which I don't recommend. Ergonomically, it's a disaster because the designers, who made it look pretty slick, made the entire top of the unit the on/off button, leading to various timer misadventures. Use the probe, though. I've gone through several of these type of thermometers because the probes just fail. Fat Guy, what do you think of the Thermapen, the one touted by Cook's Illustrated and others, which is advertised as "accurate to within .5 degrees"??

Iguana, your epis are lovely. I'm glad the instructions helped you, and I say this as someone who has tried these twice and not done as well as you have.

Mmmm ... those ka'kat look good, SethG and brngckn. Maybe I'll try them with some ground fennel seed instead of the mahleb, what do you think?

Still having trouble locating the elusive mahleb, and I really want to make the ka'kat with this flavor, so I'm going to wait until I have it to bake. Needing a baking fix this weekend, I made the BWJ Babas: Without baba molds or brioche pans, I used a popover pan which gave a really nice shape. The recipe yielded 5-and-a-runt babas, and the pastry cream was about twice what was needed. The recipe was fun to make and the babas baked up with a lovely open moist crumb. The more rum drizzled over these babies, the better they taste. About 20 years ago this was my favorite dessert. The recipe produced about the same taste and a much lighter crumb than the babas I remember, but I guess my tastes have changed: they really are too sweet and gooey for me now. What's on for next week?

Okay . . . caramel. Every time I make caramel, when it comes time to pour in the heavy cream I get a huge hunkin lump no matter what I do, or how I do it. I can cook it out if I want to take the time, or strain it out, but why, why, why? I'm going with Balmagowry--it's just my fate.

From the Purespice.com site: "In Turkey and the Middle East, the small, beige-colored oval kernels of the black cherry tree are dried and ground to flavor breads and pastries. They are soft, have a nutty chewiness and a bitter, rather sour, taste when sampled on their own. It is best to buy mahlab whole, and grind as needed." a 2.2 oz jar is $16.60! From Penzeys.com: "Mahlab, the pit of the sour cherry, has been used for centuries in the Middle East (especially in Turkey and Syria) as a sweet/sour, nutty addition to breads, cookies and biscuits. This old spice has gained an American following with the new interest in Mediterranean cooking and is mentioned in several popular new cookbooks." a 2.2 oz jar is $3.09. go figure From this info, can anyone suggest an alternative so I can bake this weekend? Curious minds want to know....

Dahome here--been away for a few days and consequently no baking--missed last weekend, which doesn't look like a big loss. I still plan to make the Babas at some point. They just look too yummy to miss. But..... I'm in for the ka'kat this weekend. Wouldn't have picked this recipe myself, which is exactly why I'm enjoying this project so much! Mahleb is apparently a flavoring made from ground black cherry pits, according to the Food Lover's Companion. Haven't seen it at Safeway, but the recipe calls for 1/4 teaspoon and lists it as optional. Maybe another flavoring could be used?

SethG, thanks for your thoughtful review of The Bread Bible. I have to say, I agree with just about everything you said. RLB can be insufferable, and when I read her whining about how it took her 2 whole weeks to perfect a recipe, I almost threw the book into the dining room. Jeez. However, (you knew that was coming, right?) I still recommend the book for one reason--the recipes work really well for me. Everything I've made from it has turned out either really good or fantastic. Yeah, it's pretty irritating that her recipes are sometimes soooo repetitive, but I just skip that stuff. Try the prosciutto bread or beer bread for quick recipes you might like. Good stuff. Ineterestingly, RLB seems the opposite to me of Peter Reinhart's (sp?) The Bread Baker's Apprentice, by a baker who has spent his life passionate about bread. I really admire his book, and his personality as it comes through the book, and love watching him on PBS, but I have had little luck with the recipes. Probably because I'm not a very good or well educated bread baker, who knows?

Devlin--Thanks for the informative post. I use King Arthur flours and have just started using malt as well as vital wheat gluten, both due to the recipes in RLB's Bread Bible. I've had good results with the malt and haven't noticed the off flavor yet. Perhaps I should experiment with other flours, thanks for the suggestion. If there is only one good bread baker in your area, there would seem to be room for you! As you know, once the locals become used to a better bread, you could have yourself one sweet business. Never been to southern Indiana, only the north, which is stunningly unremarkable in my memory. Semifreddi is the name of a local artisan baker--sorry for the confusion. I'm pumped about trying the cocodrillo. The "wet" doughs have worked really well for me. What's the name of the Fields book? Can anyone post an egullet link for it? Devlin, thanks again for all your input. There must be a "bread thread" around that we could move this dicussion to. Once I get the Fields book, I'll report back on my results.

I'm really glad this topic came up. Received this book for the holidays last year (year before last?) and, maybe due to the typography, it looked like every recipe was 6 pages long. Stuck it on the shelf, but some of the recipes mentioned here have got me wondering. Will look again when I get home. Thanks!

Devlin, I'd love to see a pic of your ciabatta. I'm in a self-imposed no-ciabatta-baking zone due to continued frustration. I know it's not reasonable to expect to be able to create breads like the artisan bakers, but with ciabatta, I fear I haven't gotten close to the open airy texture of the best ciabattas. I don't know where you're located, but around here (SF bay area) I like the Semifreddi ciabatta. Can you replicate that kind of texture? Glad to hear you are getting a replacement for your 25 lbs of paste. Although people have said a number of things about my breads I don't think I've had one that tasted like paste--yet!

For company, when what I was going to make didn't come out quite the way I imagined, it's always flank steak. Yeah. Slather on some steak rub I keep in the pantry, heat up the grill, and in about 9 minutes, dinner's on the table and everyone's looking for seconds! Fallback for late-night is always pasta puttanesca (assuming there's no stew or such frozen and vacuum packed in the freezer). Lunch fallback (almost a religion) is tuna sandwich with mayo, evo, and a serrano chile.

Egg creams were a staple for me growing up in NYC and environs. At the time there were many soda fountains whose taps were expertly manipulated by soda jerks. The traditional way these egg creams were made (while I was watching, anyway), was with a few fingers of milk in the bottom of a Coke-style glass (narrower at the bottom, flaring out toward the top). Then the seltzer was added, strong at first to foam up the milk. When the glass is full, the chocolate syrup is poured in, settling to the bottom, and here's the key point. A long spoon, dropped into the glass, then stirred the drink at the bottom only. This produced the creamy, chocolate, bubbly drink with a foamy white head. If you add the chocolate syrup to the milk, you won't be able to get the chocolate body with the white head. Good luck! (I'm getting a nostalgia attack. Must. make. egg. cream. now.)

Abra - welcome. It is fun, yes? What book did you have in mind? mdt, your galette looks perfect, and the walnut bread is beautiful. Thanks for the photos. What's on for next week?

Devlin- Thanks for the background, and best of luck with your business. It sounds like you are going to be very successful. I'm intrigued by the cocodrillo bread--I love those really wet doughs. Have you had any luck with ciabatta? I guess I'll have to get the Fields book. SethG, your walnut bread is amazing. I didn't think I would make it, just didn't seem interesting till I saw your post. Baked two galettes: I used blueberries, pears and apples. Nice combination. Initially, the dough as it came out of the mixer looked more like sludge (very pretty sludge) than dough. But after chilling it rolled out very nicely. I ended up with a bit too much fruit, and the galette on the top is the result of tryingg to stuff it all in. It disappeared as rapidly as the nicer-looking one. I liked the bit of cornmeal, and the recipe is so ridiculously easy I'm sure I'm going to do these often this summer as different fruits come into market. And the savory versions look pretty good too. I'm glad we made this one.

Devlin, welcome. Thanks for the info on mixing speeds, this has frequently caused confusion. Curious if you've baked from Rose Levy Berenbaum's The Bread Bible. I've had the most success with her recipes, but I haven't tried The Italian Baker. Wondered how you would compare them. Stifling jealousy here about your plans for a brick over. I had a neighbor who built one in his back yard a couple of years ago--quite impressive, about 7 feet tall. I guess the only downside for him was that he lost about 1/4 of his backyard, and when it came time for him to sell the house, it took months. The new owners were musicians, so not sure what they made of the pile of bricks out back. Neighbor went on to open a bread bakery somewhere in Oregon. Good luck!

Oops... forgot about the matzoh idea. I'll be making it also, but you are probably right that there may be little interest. Since I missed making the brioche dough I'd love to try the Baba if others are agreeable.