fooey

I killed her. Matildé, the white sourdough starter, is on her death bed. Immersion blender = bad idea. She looks miserable, like a milkshake, almost no bubbles to speak of, no umph, no oompa, no happiness. It could be post-traumatic stress, depression, but I think she's done for. Verdict: immersion blender bad. - Ja, rickster, I have too much going at once.

I have a lot of cookbooks with salad chapters, but none that are dedicated solely to salads. I'm sure they exist. Please recommend your favorite!

Ha ha, indolence is me. I do make the bread by hand these days, but it's really annoying when you're about to leave home for work and then suddenly realize: "Oooooh, no! I've forgotten to feeds the blobs!"

I have three starters going at once: white, wheat, and rye (all Nancy Silverton's, because they work really well for me). Problem: It's becoming quite the task to keep up with feeding three at a time, but the only really effort is the stirring flour and water at feeding time. Quantity: Never really more than 2-3 quarts of each. Question: Will I hurt the starters by using an immersion blender (on low) to incorporate flour and water at feeding time? Yes, yes, you can go ahead and laugh at my indolence.

I've read through all the mixer threads before, the ones with endless Kitchenaid vs. Bosch vs. Electrolux posts. All of those brands are prosumer, not professional or commercial. I want a mixer I don't have to worry about, one that can crank through 10 lbs. of dough for 10 minutes and not "break a sweat". I have $2000 to spend. I wish I could afford a Hobart, but even at $2000, they're out of my league (except for the 5qt which is too small). I'm looking for a 10 to 20 quart planetary, spiral, or fork. Ideas? So for, the Berkel FMS20 looks like the best option, but it's truly gigantic. I'm 5'11" tall and it stands to my waist.

Carr's "Ginger Lemon Cremes" are the devil. They're too good to be believed. And now Costco is selling them in huge boxes for cheap. As for the glaze, the above with sugar and corn syrup should work great. I think it's the fat (butter, creme cheese) in a glaze that keeps it soft and runny. No fat, no runny. (I could be wrong on this!)

Flacoman beat me to Bananas Foster, so simple, so tasty, and elegant too! http://www.brennansneworleans.com/r_bananasfoster.html You can't go wrong with french toast and ice cream. Cold french toast is as good as the "just off the griddle" kind, but the warm/cold is just great. http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeniee/136091250/ Another fun one is beignets and coffee. It's easy to make the dough before. When ready, heat the oil, cut dough dimonds, and deep fry. Serve with lots of powdered sugar...and coffee! One huge plate is an "ooh, ahh, affair" and it's just a fancy donut! http://www.flickr.com/photos/81226325@N00/475818998/ When strawberries are in season, few things are better or simpler than a big bowl strawberries and a pan of warm, chocolate ganache to dip them. It's best to do it like a fondu event, as dipping them before and refrigerating never turns out quite right. http://www.flickr.com/photos/cheezemaster/136242844/sizes/o/ http://www.flickr.com/photos/thorsten-photography/534777939/

This thread is a bit dated, but might as well wake her up! I just had the best Reuben ever at the Essential Baking Co. It was sammich perfection! Essential Cafe Wallingford (The Essential Bakery Cafe) 1604 North 34th St Seattle, WA 98103

I started with Crust & Crumb and agree, very good starting point. 7 years on and I still go back to it. Reinhart books are weak on shaping, but then what bread book isn't. I've given up on learning bread shaping from a book and just go to YouTube instead.

Love the Silverton book! Love, love, love!, and especially for the precise sourdough instructions. I tried Peter Reinhart's sourdoughs, both Crust & Crumb version and Bread Baker's Apprentice, neither worked. Tried Dan Lepard's (Semolina), didn't work. Tried Silverton's, worked like a charm. Yeah, took a long time, but the starter works and is very resilient. She's in my refrigerator now, making alcohol! [Hamelman's rye sourdough also worked for me.] Silverton is not for the beginner, not at all; but, if you have some years into it, you simply must have it. The Olive bread I make time and again. It's my favorite bread. The Fig Anise is a hard one, but it's delicious even when it fails. I just slice thin and call it fig biscotti. One [important] thing is she uses Clavel's mix, wait 20 minutes, mix. That means a very strong dough after 20 minutes. That means...bye bye Kitchenaid mixer! Careful or you'll do like I did and destroy your mixer in no time. The Olive bread is worth a few mixers, though! Trust me. I notice she makes it in a food processor. I should try that. It's the 5th video here: http://www.pbs.org/juliachild/meet/silverton.html

A true British marmalade, one made with sour Seville oranges, would make the ganache very happy. Use a 60% chocolate if you do, as you don't want the contrast of chocolate bitter with orange bitter...or do you?

I feel I MUST ask, just WHT KIND OF LEAF IS THAT IN THE CENTER OF THE CLUSTER? ← Oh, it's a maple, no doubt. OH MY GAWD. Is it 4:20 already? Lookie, chocolate thing! Yum, yum. Jokes aside, all of these were just terribly wonderful and very well well done.

The more I look at the Titanium Chef, the more I'm convinced that it's the same machine as the Viking stand mixer in different garb. It has different specs, but it looks so very similar, down to the shape of the bowl. For your sake, I hope it isn't. The Viking has gotten just terrible reviews.

Sugar is manmade? Someone should share that secret with the beets and the sugar cane.

I'm with the "natural" crowd, but don't go so far as to commune with the vegans. I try to keep my logic simple: If nature made it and it's not toxic if consumed, then I buy it/eat it. I often take a shortcut and ask myself, "Would my great, great-grandmother eat this? Would she even know what it is?" If yes, then I buy it/eat it. If it's a synthetic replacement (for something natural) or an additive, I avoid it at all costs. That goes for many medicines, antibacterials, fragrances, deoderants, cleaning supplies, fake fats, false sweeters, diet anything, etc. It's a challenge because 'man' tries every which way to 'frost the cake's of nature' with 'manmade manure' (antibiotics or rBST in dairy, pesticides and herbicides on fruits and vegetables, trans fats in margarine, shortening, etc. ad nauseum). I read an article this morning that sums it nicely: "Anything man makes in large doses is most likely not good for you."

Did you peel those pistachios yourself? If so, you have 10x more patience than I do!

There's a topic about Trader Joe's Artisan Puff Pastry** here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=106587 Since I'm learning to make Pithiviers (and I used all of my homemade puff pastry), I decided to try it. Verdict: It works in pinch for appetizers (such as those suggested on the box), but if you're making speciality pastries (like Pithiviers), avoid it: 1. The size of the sheets is just too small, limiting your range. 2. There are fork holes in the pastry, which I assume are made to stop shrinkage; but, if you have to flour the surface for rolling, the flour gets into the holes and stays there. 3. The flavour is, for lack of a better term, "off". It's supposed to be all-butter puff pastry and, indeed, that's what it says on the box. It smells like butter too, but the taste is just off. It's a flavour I associate with shortening or oil, but there's no mention of shortening in the ingredients. INGREDIENTS (as listed on box): Wheat flour, Butter (milk), Salt, Sugar, Water. 4. The puff pastry's "puff performance" is just OK, nothing impressive. As you can see from the images on the box (which are accurate) and the ones I post below, it puffs well enough, but no where near as much as one might expect. It could be the number of pastry "turns" or some other reason, but if you're expecting it to behave like homemade puff pastry with substantial puff, this won't do it for you. Caveat: I rolled the sheets to 12 x 12; had I not rolled the sheets of pastry, it's puff could/may have have been more substantial. When I have more time, I will try making a mini-Pithiviers and NOT roll the dough, just to see if it puffs more. BUT! IT COSTS $5. I can nit pick it until it melts, but it still costs $5 and takes zero time to make. Here are some pictures. You can see the anti-shrinkage holes (and how they picked up the flour) in this photo. Rolled out to about 12 x 12. ** [This is a cross post, but I thought it relevant to this topic. I'm not sure what the policy is on cross posting, so I may have to delete this one.]

I decided to try Trader Joe's Artisan Puff Pastry by making a Pithiviers with it. If you're interested, were discussing Pithiviers here: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=103374 Verdict: It works in pinch for appetizers (such as those suggested on the box), but if you're making speciality pastries (like Pithiviers), I would avoid it for several reasons: 1. The size of the sheets is just too small, limiting your range. 2. There are fork holes in the pastry, which I assume are made to stop shrinkage; but, if you have to flour the surface for rolling, the flour gets into the holes and stays there. 3. The flavour is, for lack of a better term, "off". It's supposed to be all-butter puff pastry and, indeed, that's what it says on the box. It smells like butter too, but the taste is just off. It's a flavour I associate with shortening or oil, but there's no mention of shortening in the ingredients. INGREDIENTS (as listed on box): Wheat flour, Butter (milk), Salt, Sugar, Water. 4. The puff pastry's "puff performance" is just OK, nothing impressive. As you can see from the images on the box (which are accurate) and the ones I post below, it puffs well enough, but no where near as much as one might expect. It could be the number of pastry "turns" or some other reason, but if you're expecting it to behave like homemade puff pastry with substantial puff, this won't do it for you. Caveat: I rolled the sheets to 12 x 12; had I not rolled the sheets of pastry, it's puff could/may have have been more substantial. When I have more time, I will try making a mini-Pithiviers and NOT roll the dough, just to see if it puffs more. BUT! IT COSTS $5. I can nit pick it until it melts, but it still costs $5 and takes zero time to make. Here are some pictures. You can see the anti-shrinkage holes (and how they picked up the flour) in this photo. Rolled out to about 12 x 12.

There are 30 guests, and baking 4 Pithiviers would take 6 hours. Good suggestion, though, thanks. At this point, I'm thinking to bake them Friday afternoon-evening, and take them with me as a carry on. There's so much that can go wrong with this, so I'm bracing for the worse. There's always my Bananas Foster backup if they don't make it. Torres says that he makes the Pithivier, freezes it solid, throws it into his backpack (still wrapped for the freezer, of course) and cycles off to a party. Once there, he pops it in the oven to cook. Don't know if this would work for you, though. ←

Anyone have advice on how to get them from my home in Seattle to Alaska? I fly up next Saturday and will have 3 or 4 of these with me. How do I pack them so they don't fall apart? I wonder if airport security will even let me through. If they ask for a taste, there's no way I'm getting through, because they'll want to keep all of them for dessert.

Thanks, alanamoana, that's very helpful. I missed the fact that layer + butter packet + layer = 3, so in fact, I was doing: 3 (dough,butter,dough) x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 6561 layers. Ouch! I looked at the Pithiviers this morning, and considering the rise I got (it rose even more after cooling, oddly), I should be satisfied. I've seen Torres' and Hermé's quick puff, but being the purist I am, refuse to make it until I master the traditional form. Now that you say it's a good solution, I will certainly try it. Oh, and thanks for all the research on the number of turns. There's obviously a lot of opinion of "right".

Thanks, Tepee. I'm sure yours will be better, I just hope you don't have to make as many to get there. I will make my fourth tomorrow. When it comes to getting things right, I stop only when my checkbook nears empty. Please post your questions too so we know what troubles you're having. I wonder how difficult this is in the Pantheon of pastry. Of all the things I've made over the years, this is proving to be my greatest challenge. The shape is always the biggest challenge, for this, for croissant, and for many breads. I'm finding YouTube helpful. I didn't even know it was pronounced with 4 syllables... Pith -iv(as in give) -e(as in tree) -a(as in hay) ...until I saw this video on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bkADYAtoay0. It's not the most helpful video if you're trying to make one from scratch, but at least you can hear how it's pronounced. I was pronoucing it Pith-eve-yair, which is wrong.

Thanks, alanamoana. I'm glad I read the other Pithivier thread, because my first one came out soggy and stretchy, just like they said an underbaked one would. The research I did paid off: If they're baked a really long time at the proper temperature, they cook through very well, even the bottom. I think your double pan idea is a good one. I haven't checked the bottom yet, so now I'm worried. It might be burnt, considering it was directly on the stone. Had I not covered with aluminum foil, it would have carbonized after about 35-40 minutes. As for turns, I use letter turns, 7 of them: so 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 2187 layers. Is that too much? If I do 4 doubles, that's only 4 x 4 x 4 x 4 = 256. Is that right? I think my math is wrong, but 256 sounds like too few. Your advice about the tart pan is spot on, I think. The tart pan itself has a very thin edge, but it still might not be sharp enough. I will freeze the next one first, and then try the tart pan. I've been cutting it before and, like you say, probably squishing the layers. If it still doesn't level, then the tart pan will become suspect. Thanks again for the advice. I plan to make these for guests (30 guests) for the holidays, so I'm encouraged to get it right. All of the advice I'm getting is helping a great deal. I'm also learning to make puff pastry like a champ, even if I'm exhausting myself a bit. Making the puff pastry is the hardest part, but it's very rewarding once you can make it like a professional.

Thanks, Serj. It's still not perfect by any means; it's not level, for one; but, the rise is at least the 8x height Jacques Torres predicted and it didn't leak (thanks to you all). It smells so, sooooo good. I just want to stick my entire face in it. Here's a better photo of the unbaked, frozen Pithiviers: Here's a photo to show the width before baking. That's a US dime for comparison. And here it is fully baked. It's not even, but much better than the first three attempts. I may be "turning" the puff pastry too many times: 2187 layers (7 turns).

I'm on a diet, and I cannot be tempted by this delicious pastry in my house. If anyone is in Seattle and wants it, it's yours, free if you pick it up. I'm in the U Dist on Roosevelt. Send me an email before 8pm, Dec 13: (epa300@gmail.com).