Franci

Made durum bread again, cut with 20% sprouted spelt flour and used some compressed yeast plus some old durum dough

I guess I should have tried the cadco first

Here I am. Better dough, 24hrs slow rising with 2g fresh yeast and some old dough. The bottom didn't get charred has in the other oven, temperature lower but convection made cooking more homogeneous. 4:30 minutes at 500 F. Next time I'll try a verace but the Roman style pretty decent. I was also out of mozzarella and had to use scamorza.

Paul, if you go back to my first picture on top you can see how much room the steel gets on the sides. I think plenty. I've a dough in the fridge for tonight. I'm trying the Cadco and see how it goes there...otherwise, I'm back to my pizza in a pan at least until I can have a different baking solution. My love for thin pizza is not so big to tolerate mediocre pizza

Anna, I tried in the past with thicker cornmeal and didn't get a good result. I think it's a lot of pain. I am sure you can buy somewhere. From google I got that some people were able to buy from Bulk Barn, I don't know if that helps. You might want to check also the indian aisle, I think most of the time what is called atta flour is a finely milled durum. But read the package carefully. Edit to add: I'd also email Caputo and ask if they have a distributor in Canada and go from there.

Maybe you can already see from the picture. Left is Caputo rimacinata, right Bob's red mill semolina

Hi Cakewalk, semolina is just very coarse compared to durum. As you said, you use just a small amount, mix with other flours, and that would be ok. The bread I made is 100% durum, if you make a 100% semolina bread it will be much denser than that. Amazon prices are not always the best...and the high price is for the smallest quantity. My local deli repackage it, and I pay $3.29 a pound.

Yes! Here you can buy on Amazon They call it semolina which is a mistake for me. On the product you read semola rimacinata. Rimacinata means "re-milled"=finely milled. You have different thickness of semolina in Italy, depending on the location. The semolina , which is called "semolino" in Italian, is used for gnocchi alla romana, for some cakes or puddings. In Sardinia they traditionally use a flour a little coarser than durum to make some pasta or pie shells but it means it needs to be worked for very, very long time. Durum is semola rimacinata and is what we use for fresh pasta in the south and breads/focacce.

Thanks, Anna. Nobody I know makes bread (or fresh pasta at home) with semolina. Only durum. Semolina will make a very dense bread. Here is pretty easy to find. I buy the Caputo brand but I've used King Arthur in the past. The recipe comes from Adriano (he is truly amazing!), now I've put some dough on the side to try his second version of durum bread. I still think my bread could come much nicer if was not for my oven. I should try in the Cadco (where I've also a steam button, but I couldn't figure out from the instruction how to set up the steam and my husband is too busy for it ).

The other guys that you can check, they have a wonderful selection is Pariani

If you are in NY, check also at Buonitalia in Chealsea mkt, maybe they have the bronte paste and their prices are generally good. I have a pastry chef friend here in Brooklyn and he said to me it was much cheaper for them to ship pistachio paste from Italy. I brought some back with me last summer (Bronte paste) from these guys, I'm 100% sure I got a paste from Bronte. Payed 10.22 euros taxed included for 250 g It's maybe good thing to ask if they ship to the US. Edit to add: and this month they also have a 30% discount on their products.

100% durum bread

Had for lunch with the only beans I like. Delish

Ok guys, it took me some time. this is what I tried yesterday I moved the racks on the top part of the oven. And I used the tiles only to support the top rack. I used my finger to show the distance to the top. I turned the oven at the highest temperature and left it there for 1 hour and half. I measured the temperature on the steel with my IR thermomether and was readying 600F, the ceiling of the oven was not too far away, 574F. I started just with a piece of dough no condiment, just for testing porpouses This is after a minute and 20 seconds. I tried with a pizza, not napoletana, but scrocchia, roman style. No way. the bottom will do, not the top. Too bad, this oven is a monster for heat retention. I'll try the cadco and see what happens there.

Hi, hi, like that dcarch! This my tendons after they have been in salt and spices for 9 days I didn't scrape the excess salt and when in the KR with just water and some scallions and 1 carrot. PCooked for 1 and half hours. I had to leave, so I turned off and came back after 1 hour. They were cooked just right for me, only too salty. For who is wondering at this stage they are very gelatinous and quite tender with just some bite. So, being too salty I decided to cover again with cold water, bring to a boil and let it sit for 1/2 an hour. Perfect saltiness and still nicely spiced. I could have eaten the all thing like that...my husband instead prefers them crunchier, so I put the in a terrine, pressed and in the fridge. I'm going to slice later.

Anna, cannot speak for Paul, but for me, texture! I really dislike pigs ears texture but love tendons.

Paul, if I had to do Italian style, I'll cook them fresh with my beef stock in the pressure cooker, put in a terrine with a little bit of salt and press down until the day after. Then slice thin and add thinly sliced sweet onion, sharp white wine/oil dressing and chopped parsley. This time I cured in salt for 8 days, curious to know how they will turn. I'll put them in the PC when I get back tonight, just with vegetables without rinsing them and press them. I'll report back tomorrow. I love tendons.

I use the paddle to make the filling for chinese dumpling and I add as much iced water the meat can take. Talking about fish and paddle...a lot of people use it to make baccala' mantecato alla veneziana

I usually eat beef tendon Szechuan style every Saturday, it's tendon and shin. I wanted to try something different, so I asked my butcher to get me some tendons and he put me on the side a little less than a pound. I was intrigued by this recipe. I didn't have szechuan peppercorns or dry chili, so I used fennel, black pepper, garlic, korean ground peppers. And I didn't vacuum seal but put in a terrine with a weight. 8 days have passed, need to cook them but I don't have the sauce mentioned, any suggestion? I also thought about PCooking them. Thanks

Morher's day desserts have been a classic Italian: mimosa cake (mimosa flower is what you give as gift on Woman's day in Italy) and again apples and puffy pastry, and in detail puff-pastry, pan di spagna, pastry cream and apples

Try raw puntarelle style (so dressed with anchovies pesto: anchovies, garlic, oil and vinegar). Or if I stir-fry, I particularly like with shiitake mushroom and lots of parsley or the usual: tons of chopped ginger, garlic and white part of scallions (I add the green at the end), scramble eggs, fish sauce, bacon/pancetta/pork belly leftovers always welcome. Think also of a cauliflower risotto with a touch of blue cheese.

I remember I asked about pizza party here

Jo, I found this table. The one I grew up with was lievital. Times have changed. While in the past the use of fresh yeast was massive, now given the wider information available home bakers (also in Italy), when they are not wild yeast aficionado, use less and less yeast preferring a longer refrigerated rise. For a 24 hour fermentation of pizza (500-600 g flour at 20 C) I would use less than 3 g of fresh yeast, so 1 g of instant

LIsa, honestly I didn't think I could buy so cheaply from the bakery. I guess is much fresher than the odd one you can find sometimes from grocery stores. I'll wrap well and will last until it will last in the fridge!

That's funny Paulraphael, I admit I didn't research into it properly but I heard about this death cell theory on Italian forum about dry yeast and fresh yeast and everybody thinks fresh is superior. But I'm guessing a lot are talking about active dry instead of instant. I should remind myself that nothing is too difficult if you look in the right place. I found it in a neighborhood bakery for $ 2 dollars, it's a pound