Franci

Today I went out with a friend for lunch. We shared conch salad and lobster fried rice. And I had a Caesar salad with shrimps (why did I order this? I don’t even like Caesar salad). The starters were good.

Lunch was almost a breakfast. Salad, some parmigiano, frittata, some cottage cheese and Ezekiel bread. I was in a hurry and was fast and comforting

This afternoon my stomach felt so upset that for dinner I only wanted congee, very plain, half water, half chicken stock, some chicken in it and coriander. I didn’t feel like trying to take an appetizing picture of it. It’s a difficult task😁

Hi @rotuts, thank you for the welcome back! @BonVivantyour sole! Envy on the freshness of your ingredients! My husband would have adored the scallops so much. Kids and husband had some tagliatelle with ragù and fried cod. I had a salad of arugula and spinach, grilled Asian eggplants and tuna in kimchi sauce.

thank you dear Shelby, so good to be back!

I just said hi on the dinner thread but also here I want to say hi again. So happy to be back! Looking forward checking what you have been cooking! Today we had a yellow tail snapper. Some sauté chards, shishito peppers and Ezekiel bread (just for me).

Hi guys, long time! I hope everybody is well. I’ve not had time to go back and see what you have been eating these days, but I have no doubts many good meals to get inspiration from. It looks like after long time I feel like cooking again 😁 Yesterday was a fish day. I decided to make an insalata di mare: octopus, squids, gulf pink shrimps and mussels. More sauté mussels for my husband joy. Some grilled bread and green salad.

Thanks @ptw1953. Cutting board, bought cheaply in a restaurant supply store in Italy. I left for a weekend and my husband put it in the dishwasher...it is now much lighter in color than used to be!

Sure, @ElsieD. Yea, all-purpose flour.

@ElsieD roughly Flour 700gr (I used KA) water 550gr Fresh yeast 8gr (I used 3 g total of red star active dry) 2 tablespoon lard (I used extra virgin olive oil salt 15g (plus more coarse to sprinkle) 11am. For the poolish: mix 300 g flour and 300gr water, half of the yeast. Mix and let raise at 20C. 3pm: dissolve the remaining yeast in 30g water, add 30 g flour, mix and cover. Pour the remaining water 220g in the bowl of the mixer and slowly add the flour (370g), start mixing on low speed for about 2 minutes, cover and let rest 45 minutes. Turn the stand mixer back on add the yeast made in the afternoon and slowly add the poolish until incorporated, then add the salt. Switch from the hook to the paddle attachment, start on slow and increase a little bit until the dough holds together. Switch to the hook attachment again and add oil or lard mixing until incorporated. Let rise until about 6-6:30pm and then divide the dough in two on a heavily dusted table. Give some foldings to the doughs. Transfer them to two oiled pans, let them rest covered half an hour and then very gently stretch. You can leave them higher like a bread or make a focaccia with it. Let double in bulk, spray some oil and sprinkle with coarse salt and bake at 480 F 10 minutes on the lower shelf and then 10 more minutes in the middle. I baked slightly less. P.S.: You can simplify the second part of it. Starting at 3pm adding directly to the poolish the remaining flour, water and yeast and proceed with the recipe.

I wanted to make some bread today but forgot to make the biga I needed yesterday night, so I was looking for something faster. I had a memory from my hometown of something called panfocaccia and was hoping that the “pane pizza” from Adriano’s blog would be similar. Different but good bread alternative for dinner.

All good questions. For now we are renting, so something free standing and on the small size, as Mitch mentioned 4 cases max I would guess a good approximation. It’s going to go right where the wine cases are resting at the moment, right at the end of the kitchen island. Price? Mmmmhh, it’s the husband who is really interested, don’t know how much is willing to spend. I am going to collect all your suggestions and pass to him.

Bringing this up. Any update on wine refrigerator, 12 years after this post? I need to buy one

Happy birthday to your daughter @Kim Shook tomorrow is my daughter birthday as well and besides the usual cake that you have seen many times, we decided to make some panda sablès

This fig and pear tatin! Love it. Yesterday we had guests and since I didn’t make galette des rois for Jan 6, I decided to make it yesterday.

Dear @Shelby, miss you too!!! I am finally settled. 🤗

@Toliver this is just passata with very little salt and olive oil, I don’t like garlic that much. If I have a choice, Mutti passata with basil it’s perfect for me on pizza. In Wholefoods in Brooklyn I was able to find it, here I’ve not nbeen able to locate it yet, the second best option I found it here it’s called Poma Rosa, it’s ok.

@George_Bradley I hope not, for you, I am saying. Ah, ah, in the end a lot of effort for the result. Too bad because the product was good, very good potential. I just speak for myself, I was missing a good partner to do what I was not good at. Maybe if I can find that person in my new location I might think about it. Good luck!

Thank you, guys! I also missed you very much. I am trying to make pizza once a week for the kids. I always use the Confraternita della pizza calculator for it. I normally use an higher % hydration but didn’t realize I put in the wrong number and well today it’s just a 65%

Oh, wow, was missing @Ann_T beautiful bread! And wow, @JoNorvelleWalker huge, huge improvement to your baking! @kayb and @Anna N, @ElsieD 🤗

Thanks Mitch. I already know we’ll be living in Coconut Grove. As for the business I will see what to do. I think I need to spend some time in Florida to decide.

Business not sure will be open in April but I’ll be in Brooklyn until end of the school in June. I’ll be happy to grab a coffee

Thank you guys! I cannot say enough good things about all the great and supportive persons I’ve met on Egullet. You really helped so much! I am happy about starting this business, what I’ve accomplished, the exerience gained and all. @pastrygirl I guess the scaling issue is different depending from the product. For myself, making cakes, the only way I can see is trying to extend the shelf life of the cakes, if I want to keep it wholesale. Otherwise just open a front store... @blue_dolphin I think it will be easier for me to think about the possibility of having a Dolci di Franci in Miami after some time there. I don’t know the place and I’d need a little time to get comfortable, look around, meet locals... @Anna N I particularly want to thank you and Kerry for the great support! Definitely I’m playing with the idea of selling the salami online...it doesn’t require a big kitchen...so maybe if I encounter a good marketing person. Don’t know. For now I confess that I am looking for a break, organize my move, settle in, a good vacation in the summer and then we’ll see.

Guys, I’ve not updated you with how things are going. I’ll be closing the business. I am not sure on the exact date but before June. To summarize it, it’s just a matter of scale. At this scale it doesn’t work...I’d need to invest much more time and money into this business that I am willing to, it’s really that simple. And I am moving. I don’t want to sell the business because I think in some years, when the situation is different, I’d want to go back to it. I think my customers will miss me and in this little part of Brooklyn I have my followers but it’s not enough.

Yes, please, come and see me!