rcaffelle

High temps of 10-15 degrees should probably be inspiring a soup or stew, but it's also a great reason to have your oven at 550 for an hour or so. Crust is NY Pizza from American Pie, sauce is crushed tomato with a little red wine vinegar and dried herbs, cheese is a mozzy, cheddar, parm mix with a little herb as well. rich

This is the multigrain from Bread Baker's Apprentice. I used the bread machine for kneading and first rise. I'm glad I did as the dough seemed pretty sticky and I would have added a lot of flour if I did it by hand. The second rise after shaping in a 9X5 was extremely fast. Reinhart says it should be about 90 minutes but I think the bread machine warmed the dough up so much during first rise that everything was moving a lot quicker. I punched it down in the pan a couple of times to give it more time. A piece of toast was delicious. The only thing stopping me from making this constantly is the need for a little cooked brown rice. Whenever I make brown rice (pretty often), a couple of these loaves will be on the menu the next day. rich

This recipe was literally just published by Cook's Illustrated so I'm hestitant to post it. I recommend this months' issue, it's got 6 recipes that I'll be trying. rich

Here is an (out of focus, sorry!) image of the CI Garlic Potato Soup that I made this weekend. Sometimes a photo can inspire, I hope this is the case. The soup is topped with garlic chips and chives. Really yummy, not too fussy. Happy Cooking! rich Edited: A 'better' photo

I love this kind of rice, too. Search for "southwestern rice" on foodtv.com and you should find a recipe from Sara Moulton. It's great. rich

Behemoth, How many ounces are your torpedo rolls? Thanks. Everything looks great, as usual. rich

Chufi, I'd surmise that oven conditions are a more likely source of your result than dough conditions. Your baking sheet isn't going to retain as much heat as a stone or tiles heated in a 500 degree oven for an hour. Once the pizza hit the sheet it probably cooled a bit and couldn't sustain the blast that a hot stone will give the underside of the crust. This lengthened the cooking time and would greatly affect the final result. Not sure why it was so bland, but certainly a darker, crunchier exterior can help. Pizza dough is not as much about rising as breads. Most doughs that I make are refrigerated 15 minutes after mixing, and come to room temp 2 hours before baking. There is no serious rising in this process. I highly recommend American Pie by Reinhart for a host of dough recipes that you can try and find one you like. rich P.S. 2 Pizzas simultaneously on one sheet is also probably not optimal if you're using a baking sheet instead of a stone. Do one at a time. Not too much extra work.

Made Pane Siciliano yesterday. I found the dough to be very slack and my KA mixer didn't do a very good job on the kneading. The dough bascially spun around on the hook constantly. I ended up kneading by hand to finish it. Peter says to give it a 2 hour rise, or until it doubled. My dough was rising much quicker. Not sure why as my kitchen is about 65-68 degrees. But I ended up turning the dough once after an hour to give it some more time to proof. Is this the right thing to do? When I got to shaping into batard/baguette/spiral, one of the 3 pieces was misbehaving and not in the mood to shape. Funny because 2 of them were fine. I was short on time at that point so I basically manhandled one of the loafs and it didn't come out as nice. I ended up baking 2 at once, then 1 by itself as they seemed a bit crowded on the baking sheet and I didn't want to have to pull them apart during baking. Really enjoyed the bread although the one I sampled was the roughly treated dough and the crumb was a bit dense. Don't have many mouths to feed here, so the other 2 went to the freezer after cooling. Maybe I can get a good crumb pic later with those. rich

GlossyP, They're real soft and chewy and delicious. The only reason I don't see myself making these every weekend for the rest of my life is that I'll burn out my KA mixers' motor. If you have a 12" saute pan (like an All-clad 6qt.), I'd use that to boil them in rather than some sort of stockpot. You don't need a lot of water, just lots of width. Someone gave me a tip on the net about setting them on wire racks after boiling to top them, which worked well for me. I baked them on parchment lined cookie sheets. Cooled about 15 minutes (torture) on the wire rack you see in the photo. BBA says to boil them 1 minute per side, I went 90 seconds, supposedly longer is chewier. Also baked them a bit longer than 10 minutes, but my oven is like that. Cream cheese is required since you need some glue to pick up the topping that falls all over your plate. Good Luck! rich

Made a batch of bagels today/yesterday. Very easy, first time I've ever made bagels. This rack has a couple of 'everything' and the rest garlic. Used KA Sir Lancelot flour, nondiastatic malt powder. First imagegullet attempt: rich

Made the Italian Bread yesterday for a spaghetti and meatball dinner. Love this soft bread that you really have to pull on to take a bite. First loaf was just topped with butter. Froze the second loaf and will make a chipotle garlic bread with it next week. I accidentally made the biga with AP flour and didn't even realize until the next day when I went to make the dough and noticed the wrong container of flour on the counter. I weigh flour so I think the effect was minimal. This is the first bread I've made with a KA mixer. I had always done it by hand. I like how I don't need to add flour like I do when kneading by hand. Also I think the mixer gave better gluten development than I do by hand with the higher protein flour. This is my favorite thread on the net. Keep it coming! rich

"The Passion of the Crust" Second edition of "American Pie"

If you're heading to Attitash, I really enjoy the bbq at Moat Mountain Smokehouse and Brewery. Both lunch and dinner I've had there has been delicious. I had the smoked pork butt last time. I've always wanted to try the smoked brisket quesadillas but haven't yet. Highly recommended. It's on 16 in North Conway, just north of downtown, about a mile up on the left. Good q, good beer. Website: www.moatmountain.com rich

I don't see a problem split-grilling the dogs. I do this whenever eating dogs, and never have noticed them to be dry in any way. Not sure if you're using gas or charcoal, but the fire doesn't have to be inferno level. I'm usually using deli beef franks. rich

If there is a bagger at the checkout, I let them bag it. I don't like the principle of diy. Less service for the same price. Eliminate jobs for more profit. Why not fire all the cashiers and baggers and make everyone do it themselves? Sarcasm mode off.

Definitely agree with slkinsey about thinner and darker. I grill pizza all the time and am currently using a Reinhart recipe for grilled pizza dough that uses 5 total cups of flour and makes a total of 6 pizzas close to the diameter of your pies. I also use a grill and have no problem grilling the first side with both burners on high for 15 minutes before starting. When I throw the dough on the grill, it even 'sags' a bit so you really see the impression of the grill grates coming through the dough, but it's easy enough to flip once it's cooked for a bit. By the time the toppings are on and cooking, the grill temp has died down enough to usually finish without burner adjustment. Definitely try the slow fermentation route, it's really easy to freeze a bunch of balls after making a big batch. Great pics! I love Reinhart's new American Pie for do-all pizza reference. rich

I like to toast my garlic cloves before mincing them for the garlic bread. Just break up a whole clove into individual cloves, with the last layer of peel left on. Throw in a small nonstick skillet over medium, medium-low heat for 5 to 8 minutes, flipping the garlic occasionally. Garlic peel will develop black spots. Let cool and peel, then mince. Really nice flavor. rich

I'll also be in Portland for the first time in a few weeks. Does anyone have any restaurant recommendations in the "non-Gourmet" category, although I hate that term I just thought of. Just basic, good, no ritz restaurants in the downtown area. Thanks. rich

Get farm raised for less beards. Store in colander in bowl covered with damp towel in fridge. I scrub with a brush that I also use to scrub potatoes. Most farm raised I have bought, in MA, have had little in the way of beards. Steam and enjoy! Yum! rich

I find the "fusion pizzas" are better served by the grilled pizza. Sure, if I want pepperoni or mushroom pizza and lots of cheese, in the oven on a stone gives me the result I'm looking for. When I'm grilling pizzas I feel much more inspired to build a meal on this wonderful grilled flatbread. It doesn't seem like sausage and mozzarella is the best approach to grilled flatbread for me. rich

Last weekend I grilled pizzas using the (grilled) dough recipe from Reinhart's American Pie. Topping was spanish rice, black beans, cheddar cheese, and shredded chicken breast which had been mixed with Frank's Red Hot. A drizzling of sour cream finished it off. This weekend I will be again grilling the pizzas (I oven bake only in cool months). For toppings this weekend I've got a sliced potato, rosemary, crumbled bacon with a cheese to be determined for one pie, and CPK's hoisin chicken (basically) for the other. Pizza is so far and away my favorite dish there really isn't a second place. Think of Secretariat 30 years ago at the Belmont. rich

When your bread is going through it's second rise, most recipes give an approximate time it should take, and the condition the dough should be in when ready to bake (over the edge of the pan). Now if you are waiting the specified time and the dough is ridiculously large, you're probably overproofing, maybe because it's too warm (one possible reason). Maybe you should try baking when the dough "looks" like it should when it's time to bake. Just over the top of the pan for instance. If your 2nd rise takes much shorter than the recipe indication (25 minutes instead of 75), you may have a yeast amount issue or temperature issue. rich

cheeseandchoc: A 10-inch Springform Pan would probably be a better sub. for the 9X9 Brownie Pan, if you have it. Round brownies sound weird, but you could still cut them square and have a few curved bits to sample for yourself. The surface area of that springform is much closer to 9X9 than the 8X8 is. rich