lou_31

A rough guide to the amount of gluten in your flour will be the amount of protein. If the nutritional information is printed as protein per 100g, then a soft flour will have 8g or so of protein, American all-purpose will have something like 10g and a strong bread flour 12 or 13g. Look for low protein (soft) for biscuits, or you can try substituting cornflour for some of the flour.

I'm curious, as a follow-on to another topic about London restaurants, which guide do you like for London restaurants? I am always struggling to come up with somewhere new to go. Do you find one gives better information than the others? Which is easier to use? Which has the best coverage?

I wanted to echo raj's post - it's really hard to think of middle-range places to go in London. High end, no problem if you can book far enough ahead and have few constraints on the wallet; low end - I'm happy with Masala Zone, Wagamama, Hamburger Union, etc. But I had to rack my brains for somewhere for a family Sunday lunch this weekend. Why are there so few simple gastropub-type places where you can expect simple dishes, well executed. My parents and in-laws (in the South West and Midlands respectively) seem to have much better access to this sort of food than we do! BTW, in the end we went for Smith's of Smithfields top floor restaurant, where they did a great job - but it wasn't that cheap, nor that easy to get to from NW london. What am I missing?

Just wanted to add my 2 pence (cents, whatever) to this thread as well. I have made bread on and off for 3 or 4 years (I'm sure you'll know what I mean when I say I go through phases). I am in the midst of a phase at the moment, brought on by Dan Lepard's excellent <A href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1840009667/sr=1-1/qid=1139439983/ref=pd_bbs_1/102-1064826-1763309?%5Fencoding=UTF8">'The Handmade Loaf'</a>. I can only repeat what others have said earlier - his method of brief kneading and resting is a revelation, and makes it much easier to start off a loaf whilst doing something else in the kitchen, e.g. looking after dinner. This makes it much more likely that I will bake on any given day, and also gives excellent results with fairly wet doughs.</br> I have also had great results with his Barm Bread and White Levain from that book - particularly proud of the crumb in the latter . [edited to add image]</br> For those first time bakers, I would say start with a book you trust and make a simple white loaf or milk loaf. You can use a cake tin instead of a loaf tin, you can bake it free-form on a tray, you can buy a quarry tile from the hardware store and use it instead of a baking stone. Personally, I have good results from preheating a thick heavy-duty baking sheet in the oven, and sliding free-form loaves onto it, and spraying the oven with water two or three times in the first 15 minutes. Don't be afraid to stick your dough in the fridge and/or punch it down and leave it to rise again when you don't have time to deal with it.</br> Above all, have fun - one of the great things about bread is that it feels, smells, looks and tastes good. Oh, and give sourdough a try - making a starter isn't that hard.

Sure - she says she took it from 'One-Pot Cakes' by Andrew Schloss, so it's second hand to begin with! If you can locate his book, I'm sure it has US-friendly ingredients - Nigella's is all in grams. 125g butter 200g caster sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 3 ripe bananas 60ml (4 tbsp) sour cream 2 large eggs 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) 1/2 tsp baking powder 300g plain (AP) flour 40g dried cherries 50 white chocolate chips or buttons Preheat oven to 180C/350F Melt butter in a saucepan, then stir in sugar, vanilla and bananas off the heat, mushing up the bananas. Stir in eggs and sour cream. Add bicarb and baking powder & stir. Stir in flour, cherries, chocolate - spoon into muffin tins and bake abour 20 mins. I have subbed yoghurt for sour cream before now, and been pretty approximate with the cherries and chocolate quantities, and it's always turned out fine.

Freezing them works really well. I used to freeze a whole batch and then take one out each day, put it in a little ziplock and take it to work. By the time I wanted to eat it (with my afternoon cup of tea) it had defrosted nicely and tasted nice and fresh. I particularly like Nigella's banana, cherry and white chocolate muffins from Domestic Goddess. It's a good use for over-ripe bananas, too. Oh wait - I've just looked and they're actually cupcakes. But it's a pretty loose batter, and has plenty of baking soda and baking powder, so I think that counts

I wonder if using some ground almonds (almond meal), perhaps instead of some of the flour, would help. I think the problem is that the sugar holds on to a lot of moisture. The nuts will also hold on to some moisture, but will provide oils as well. I suggest it partly because the recipe already includes almond extract. Might change the texture though - anyone more expert in this want to comment?

Here is another recipe: http://lifeandhealth.guardian.co.uk/expert...1619598,00.html Nigel Slater's, which also features in his Kitchen Diaries. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks similar to one of Nigella's, which is very good. I think stem ginger (preserved ginger in syrup) is a great way to increase the heat a little.

I think the most successful gift I've given was the dark chocolate loaf cake in Nigella's How to be a Domestic Goddess. It's a bit like a chocolate-flavoured gingerbread - plain, but moist and good and improves on keeping. I baked them in these paper cases like these: http://www.surlatable.com/common/products/...cfm?PRRFNBR=328 then just wrapped in plastic. Those paper cases are probably my best suggestion for useful gifts - good for making your own gifts or giving as part of a basket, as you can bake right in them and don't need separate pans. There are lots of different shapes I've seen. Not sure what I'll do this year - liked the pictures of chocolate bark in the new Michael Recchiuti book though...

Wow - these are all such great ideas. I love the idea of a pomegranate tart - maybe with cranberries too. I'll have to make it sometime. In the end, I made a salad - the easy option, but we are moving next week, so that precluded anything too elaborate. I toasted pecan nuts, and then added the pomegranate seeds and some mixed greens. I reserved the juice separately, mixed it with a little orange juice and olive oil and seasoned it to make a dressing. I also sliced an apple and dressed it with the pomegranate juice - makes it all pink. I finished it off with crumbled Midnight Moon cheese - a goat's milk gouda. http://www.flickr.com/photos/48193103@N00/57014473/ It was great - next time I might pick a slightly saltier, more savoury cheese, and use lemon instead of orange juice to give the dressing a little more acid. Thanks for all the great ideas - this won't be my last pomegranate!

Just 69 here (and that includes *both* editions of Harold McGee!). I thought there were more than that... I can see I have some shopping to do!

Count me in. I had cooked up a similar idea recently. I would *love* to see this project get going. I have tried various methods of cataloguing (sp.) my own meagre collection, but can never keep up with the new ones. Has there been a new thread started for this one? If not, we should get one going! Louise

I have just bought my first fresh pomegranate and now I am stuck for how best to use him. I have used them before in classes, but never at home. I know how to get the seeds out, but how best to use them? The only thing I have is a vague memory of using them as a garnish in all sort of middle eastern dishes, especially with lamb.

I only really have a negative connotation of organic in terms of the cost. I generally buy some fruit and veggies that are organic, and some that are conventional. But I try whenever possible to buy organic meat, because I don't want the hormones and antibiotics, and (at least in the UK), Soil Association organic status guarantees some fairly high standards of animal welfare. For more information, Soil Association standards are here: Soil Association Standards USDA Organic standards (not as strict as Europe or Soil Association standards) are here: USDA Organic Standards And a useful summary article from Nature can be found here: Nature article

Went to the Farmer's Market in Marylebone (London) on Sunday so made up dinner to use up some of the veggies tonight. Some green and yellow baby courgettes (or zucchini if you're on the other side of the pond), cut into chunks, sauted in olive oil and then made into a Spanish omelette with some sweetcorn, half an onion and a little Lincolnshire Poacher cheese. Mmmmm...

My best tips are to keep everything really cold - chill the bowl, the ingredients and keep your hands as cold as possible - I run mine under a cold tap before starting. Another good technique is the Nigella method of putting the flour and fat into the bowl of a food processor and putting the whole thing in the freezer for half an hour before whizzing it all up.