Smithy

Very impressive crust and crumb, both! Was this the no-knead bread in the heavy stainless to which you referred on the previous page? Is this a Forkish, Lahey, or Anna N (or all of the above) approach?

In addition to or instead of the cayenne?

That's interesting reading. It should be noted that your excerpt is from a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking regarding the test methods, but as I read this it still looks as though the efficiencies of coil, smooth electric and induction are roughly equivalent using the hybrid-block method. The claims of higher efficiency for induction are from a 2009 study by a non-government group. The other thing I took away from this is that the biggest efficiency bang for the buck is matching burner size to pot size. The efficiency was way down for a small pot on a big burner. No surprise, perhaps, except for the magnitude. This table is excerpted from Page 34 of the same document : Edited to add link and this followup information: the NOPR is for what's called a hybrid-block measurement method using a steel-and-aluminum block as opposed to measuring efficiency for boiling water. They show that the boiling-water method is less repeatable than the hybrid-block method. It's clear that certain commenters are not happy with the proposal or its implications.

I'm fascinated as well. I can see the two halves of the mold in the background of that photo, but have no idea how you'd fill the halves and mate them without making a mess. That's a very cool pate.

I love Cooking at the Kasbah; it's one of my first Moroccan cookbooks. It's fairly small, but I'm not sure it has enough variety to meet your indoor / outdoor requirements. Two other cookbooks for you to consider, if you don't find something new, are: Alice's Kitchen: Traditional Lebanese Cooking, by Linda Dala Sawaya. Linda is an artist who includes charming drawings and family photos in this collection of their family's recipes. There are notes about family history. There are careful notes about how to do certain items. I have yet to have a recipe fail from this small book, and consider it an excellent introduction to Lebanese cookery. The Sultan's Kitchen: A Turkish Cookbook, by Ozcan Ozan. This book is from the restaurant of the same name in Boston, and it carries a good seasonal variety of foods. Neither of these books meets your 'relatively new' requirements, and I'm not sure about their meeting the 'most dishes can be done in under an hour' requirement. They are relatively small and varied enough for different weather conditions and types of dishes (soups, salads, vegetarian and so on).

That looks like perfect summer fare. My basil is also reaching the point where I can harvest it - pesto in the next few days! As for the lamb - I've been hankering for lamb, but I can't buy any more meat until I've worked down through the freezer. No lamb in there. :-(The only thing that seems to be missing from your meals is your lovely bread.

Is Farquhar's a particularly good butter, or just what thy happened to have? Is that a pork roast of some sort at the lower left?

Thanks for the reminder of those recipes, Toliver. I'd forgotten about them, and they really do sound like a good summer treat. I wonder how those creamsicle cookies would go with rhubarb ice cream?

That storm system was here yesterday, and it was indeed a good day for long, slow cooking. I'm looking forward to seeing how that cake turns out.

Nope, that clarified it perfectly. Thanks!

So much for my suggestion of something they can't see well. Thanks for that information about an unintended consequence.

Remember to disable them before you go out to weed or harvest. :-D

A dog does wonders for that problem. Failing that, I wonder whether bird netting would help? Something difficult to see that's too floppy for deer to be able to jump? It might spook the deer enough to discourage them. I've heard mixed reviews (mostly negative) about the various chemical scents that are supposed to scare deer away, and I've seen adult deer clear 10' chainlink fences with ease.

That meal looks delightful to me. I'm sure it was a very rare treat for the med student. Sorry if this is a silly question, but how will you transfer those little loaves out of those beautifully lined baskets? Do you flip the loaves over onto a baking sheet and then transfer to a stone? (I'd have flour all over if I did that.) Or will you be able to pick them up once they're risen without deflating them? Edit: maybe I'm overthinking the "place directly on the stone" comment. I flip my floured loaves onto a paddle without scattering too much flour in the process. Well, I did say the question might seem silly.

Thanks, Mick, for the links and recipes. I'm enjoying your blog. I'm alternating these days between yeasted breads and sourdough breads, getting a feel for both and cross-pollinating, so to speak, between various courses and books. Today (starting yesterday) I made my first attempt at an epi (wheat stalk shape) loaf for friends who know they're in for an adventure whenever they come for dinner. The dough is 80% hydration, fermented overnight. I have this question in to the teacher, but I'll ask here also: does "pain a l'ancienne" (please forgive the missing diacriticals) refer to the overnight/several night fermentation, the hydration level, or something else altogether? Before baking, I feared that it would be nothing more than a blob: By the time it was done, I was feeling better about it. It looks more like a crankshaft than a wheat stalk, but tastes better than either.

That looks beautiful, FauxPas! I love the color. It's a salute to the memory of the much-lamented and sorely-missed apricots noted above. We have a windfall of Real Strawberries right now, from a farmer about 50 miles south who trucks the stuff up the same day they're picked. They're red all the way through, tender, juicy and packed with flavor. So far I've been pigging out on them and sharing them around with friends and neighbors while they're still good (they don't keep). However. with the next bucketful I may try making a small jar of non-gelled refrigerator preserves. What would be the optimum amount of sugar so the fruit keeps and the flavor isn't overwhelmed? Should a small amount of acid be added to brighten them? The purpose would be to have a nice strawberry sauce for the occasional toast or dessert topping. I've never liked commercial strawberry preserves, but a few home cooks have demonstrated that it can be done well.

Impressive! Thank you.

Do you have any photos of all that in the Remoska? If not this meal, then another would be nice. It doesn't look big enough to handle all that. Has it operated and cleaned up as easily as you'd hoped?

Are you asking whether: a. anyone has installed both gas and induction, or b. compared the two side by side, or c. whether there are dual units? I could imagine installing a standard gas oven/range and having a separate induction cooktop if I had the room.

I can't give you the exact recipe because it isn't mine to give away, but I can tell you that it's an 80% hydration using the Pain à l’Ancienne Method. I think it's probably as much technique as formula. The formula and technique are from Peter Reinhart's class in Craftsy, Artisan Bread Making. I highly recommend the class. Thanks, Mick! Yes, I'd be very interested. The focaccia was my first excursion into high-hydration dough. Very interesting stuff. Please do share! rotuts, you've made my point exactly. The topic Establishing and Working with Homegrown Sourdough Starter hasn't done much since this spring. It's time for a revival.

My first effort at focaccia. To the side you can see a sourdough loaf based on Mick's 50% starter above. I'll post about it in the sourdough topic, which has been languishing.

I don't think there's a "normal" answer to your question as to how much it costs to set up a kitchen. It depends on many, many issues, including your location. When I moved out of my parents' house it was an excuse for my parents to buy new dishes (so they could give me their old ones). I had a lot of hand-me-down appliances from family and friends. I visited thrift stores. If you have thrift stores in your area and are patient, you can find amazingly good deals. To see what I mean, go look at this topic: Yard Sale, Thrift Store, Junk Heap Shopping (Part 2) and its predecessor.

Those are nifty cookie cutters. Congrats! I wouldn't worry about the porosity. Everything's porous on some level, and - as AlaMoi points out - you're baking the cookies hot and long enough to kill the unlikely bacteria that might grow there. A food-grade oil spray before use might help seal the pores if you were really concerned, but I'd be inclined to just wash them after use like any other cookie cutter. If, after some use and washing, you start noticing an off-flavor or off-smell, you'll know that the pores are retaining something.

I guess I'll have to be the one to bite: what is IPB?

50% starter! Looks like a good way to use up some starter when I've gotten carried away with refreshing but not using.