Smithy

I need help getting a better rise in this loaf. This is my sourdough rosemary bread: It looks pretty good from the top, but the side view shows that it's er, a bit vertically challenged. We're both delighted with the flavor and crumb. He's delighted with the crust, which is not the shatteringly crisp crust revered by others. It came out of the oven with a floury pattern that vanished with the butter I brushed over it to soften the crust for him. I've accepted the crust, but I'd like more rise. This bread is made with half whole wheat and half bread flour, 77% hydration, and my standard sourdough starter. There is slightly under 9% olive oil and slightly over 3% salt, both added after autolysis. The dough stretches, folds and proofs nicely, but tends to spread when I release it from its banneton. In past batches I have suspected overproofing, but this time I'm sure that didn't happen. The somewhat-flat loaf doesn't get much oven spring when it goes into the oven. The oven is about as hot as I can get it, and according to the oven thermometer hotter than necessary (450F, which is much too hot in my home oven.) I'm preheating it to let the baking stone stabilize at high temperature. I spritz with water after the loaf goes in, and have added water to a hot pan as past loaves went in. The oven has a tendency to go out with the steam, though, so with this loaf I put a pan of water in with the loaf. As I see it, the tendency to spread and the lack of oven spring are both issues. Should I: Increase the oven temperature still further and/or preheat longer? Put that pan of water in during the preheat step so the bread goes into a steamy oven? Forget about the banneton and shape it more tightly by hand? (A batard, perhaps?) Use a bread pan? Reduce the hydration? Reduce the oil? (Does the oil tend to relax the dough?) Change something else about this formula? ...or just resign myself to having a tasty but flattish loaf? Comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

*bump* I picked up a small leg of lamb at a halal market and spent a great deal of time perusing this topic. There's good advice here. I also drew inspiration from @Abra's excellent blog post, Cook 7 Hours, Eat With Spoon. The gist of my reading was that the butt/shoulder end may be cooked on high heat, quickly, or low and slow - with or without bone, grilled or oven-cooked, and done beautifully either way - with differing texture and doneness depending on whether it's low and slow or high and fast. The shank end, on the other hand, benefits best from the low and slow treatment. I looked at my 3.5 lb bone-in leg, and said to myself, "self, that's the shank end". I seasoned it with a mix of spices aimed at Egyptian shawarma, browned it in the pot, put celery stalks and onions beneath it as a rack, and threw it covered, into my oven, at the lowest setting possible. This gas oven's control scale doesn't go lower than 300F, but I know there's a detent at around 200F. I had started a bit late to allow a full 7 hours, so was reluctant to use the 200F detent. I spent the next several hours monitoring the oven temperature and doing my best to maintain something between 200 and 300F in the oven and around 165F inside the meat. Late in the afternoon I realized the meat temperature had gotten away from me - up to 185F - and after some cooling and allowing it to settle back to 165, decided it was tender enough. Here's how it came out of the oven: It wasn't wrecked at all. This is a terrific cooking method. Lamb. It's what's for dinner last night, and pita stuffing today. (Yes, I need to work on my plating skills. No, I didn't bother making gravy last night, but the juice was good.)

Sorry to hear that.

Welcome, Orientalschool. Come on in, take a look around, get comfortable and join the fun! Do you like to cook North Indian cuisine (and other food) yourself, or are you more of a take-out or eat-out sort of person? If you cook, do you do it for yourself or for several people? If you have any questions about where to find things or how the forums work, feel free to ask a host (I am one) or post in the Moderation and Policy Discussion forum.

I just finished Earlene Fowler's mystery novel, Arkansas Traveler. The book isn't about food as such, but food features heavily in it. The heroine brings her best friend, California born and raised, to the Arkansas Ozarks and the friend has to struggle with southern food. ("Crowder peas!" our heroine rhapsodizes. "Eight flavors of grits. Eight! You can't get that in California.") In addition, two other main characters - sisters in their 80's - are furiously competitive with each other in the kitchen. Woe betide the person who gets caught between them, or who samples only one sister's potato salad at a picnic! I was in stitches.

@kbjesq, you may be interested in checking out this topic for outdoor gardening in Florida: The Hydroponic Garden Project. It's been a while since @Jason Perlow updated, but he may have solved much of the varmint problem with this approach.

You'll have to get past me to do it.

Which would be a better liner: nonstick or stainless steel?

@StephanieGodfrey, does this mean that you didn't take that trip, or that you took it and have happy memories? If it's the latter, we'd love to hear about it. We always love to read about traveling....especially if there are photos that can help us visualize your experience.

@robie, do please let us know what you did and how it came out. in addition, I've been curious about that recipe. Do you have a link?

By the way, I am seriously jonesing for cheesecake after that photo of yours!

2016 Panaderia Canadiense - Salt Cod, Squash, and Sweets: Semana Santa in the Sierra: March 19 - 27, 2016

Folks, Panaderia Canadiense's wonderful (and exhausting, inspiring, and applause-worthy) food blog will be winding down in a few hours. If you have any last questions, comments or thanks, you have a few hours to do so; we plan to lock the topic at around 6 p.m. Central time.

I am very impressed with your food, the street food, and your blogging and baking capabilities! Thank you so much for doing this, and do please thank all your friends who allowed their photos to be taken! I'm interested in (actually, covetous of) Belén's cooking pots. It looks like one is aluminum and the smaller is copper. Is that right? Do those pots have a name? Not that I have need of any, but they'd look mighty cool in either of my kitchens.

I can't help with the tart questions either, but I may not understand your description correctly. Are the candied Meyer slices just a topping, or is the entire filling supposed to be those candied slices? I also can't imagine why they'd have gone bitter, unless some enzyme did that during the slow cook. (That can happen with navel orange juice, but I hadn't read about it with Meyers.) At any rate - if you have enough Meyers and time left to start over, here's a Meyer lemon tart recipe I can recommend: Meyer Lemon Tart, originally published in the Cooking Club of America's magazine, Cooking Pleasures. Meyer lemon custard goes into a tart shell, and IMO it's the essence of Meyer goodness.

Actually, I like the marbling on those very much! I think the one at the top with little squiggles is especially fun and intriguing, but they all look great. If you really don't think these look good, feel free to send me the rejects.

I hope I'm not asking another question that's already been answered. Your posts show a great variety of fresh produce and readily available fresh meats (except during High Holy Week ). I don't see as much mention of seasonings, although Maggi (in multiple forms) and cinnamon have been mentioned. Is there a combination of seasonings that is characteristic of Ecuadorean food, or does the cuisine rely mostly on the flavors of the ingredients themselves? I'm also curious - if you have time to pursue it - about whether most farmers there are independent, work in a cooperative group, or are farming for some much larger corporation such as those that send so much produce up our way. Is Fair Trade a food pricing issue there? Jumping to yet another point - were you just lucky to find a house with that lovely kitchen and counter, or did you have that built? I do love the look of that quartz counter! Thanks for a fascinating and vicariously exhausting look at your world. It would be impressive under any circumstances, but it's trebly so during this week.

I am thoroughly enjoying this blog! Waaay back in this post you shared your cups of warm jello with us in this picture: I don't think I'd heard of warm jello to drink before now, but it's sounding pretty darned good at the moment. Are you mixing this from packages of gelatin with your own flavorings, or are you buying a commercial mix - maybe even JelloTM itself? Edit: sorry, now I see you answered the question on the next page. Never mind... (ducks head in shame)

This, and your answer to ElsieD's followup question, are the most succinct descriptions of the difference that I remember reading, even in the topic devoted to this distinction. Thank you.

...and she's launched the blog! Click here to follow along.

Here are the last two photos. I'll let @Panaderia Canadiense decide how much to say about them, now or later. I too am looking forward to this blog!

Just to be clear - yes, the game is to guess who it is. I confess, I'd hoped that it wouldn't happen so many days before the blog opens...but kudos to our guessers!

Thanks for the responses, everyone. I scraped, and then rinsed and rubbed. Here are two photos of the result: I think the stopper's shiny surface (see the portion between the handles and the rubber rings) was a simple surface coating to make it look pretty, and that the surface coat was loosened or corroded by the atmosphere in the bottle. My sister says that before she put the stopper into a plastic bag with some damp items it had rather pretty-looking crystals on the outside. We have no photos of that stage. She certainly doesn't plan to use the stopper again for a food substance. The question is whether the remainder of her expensive blackberry-infused balsamic vinegar is safe. She'll probably pitch it away (oh, woe). What would you do?

I'm not sure I follow you. Are you asking whether the blogger has been identified? If so, I'm not answering that question... ...yet... ...but I am offering up more of the promised teaser photos.