sanrensho

Does anybody else make these (shui jian bao) at home? I successfully made a batch of bao zi yesterday and want to try pan frying some. Do I just steam them for the same amount of time before pan frying? Is steam (water) ever introduced when pan frying these buns--as in pot stickers?

I want to live where Tri2Cook lives. Seriously, though, I enjoy chanterelle, matsutake (pine) and porcini mushrooms among wild-picked varieties. Among cultured varieties, we eat a lot of shiitake, enoki and hiratake or maitake. From a price/availability perspective, if I had to pick one mushroom as an everyday cooking variety, I would choose fresh shiitake.

I find that some amount of sludge is inevitable with a French press, even if I have my roaster grind it for me for French press. For me it's an "either or" situation--I'd rather have sludgeless coffee via mokka pot, drip or Vietnamese filter, or embrace the sludge with Turkish coffee. At the moment, French press is my least favorite method of making coffee at home.

I actually think the no-knead breads are easier--no-brainers in fact. So I would encourage you to jump right in. If your library has it, you might look into borrowing a book called "No Need to Knead" (out of print).

I think you're right, but most of the Japanese recipes I found for "peanut butter" refer to a mixture of peanuts, butter/margarine and sugar/maple syrup. Which is peanut cream, no?

Whoah, nobody accused you of anything. Notice the quotes around the word "weird" (your words). All I'm saying is that it might not be half bad. Let us know if you try it. I won't have a chance to try any commercial Japanese pb for another couple of months, so I'm tempted to have a go at this--minus the egg yolk. Helen, what do you think of the commercial Japanese peanut butters, compared with a US brand like Skippy's? Kris, you must have some thoughts on this. The addition of sugar doesn't bother me at all, since it's normal in my household to spread a little honey with our peanut butter (not big pbj fans).

Interesting. It's been years and years since I had any Japanese peanut butter, but a quick search for Japanese recipes indicates that most call for butter/margarine and sugar, but not yolks. Literally, peanuts + butter = (Japanese) peanut butter. It makes me wonder if Japanese peanut butter morphed into a butter-based paste due to a transliteration issue. Although the recipe may seem "weird," it isn't necessarily bad if the results taste good.

Most Japanese santoku knives do not have a scalloped edge.

I pretty much do what Tino does, proof seam side up in proofing baskets. In my case, I actually use deep bowls (I mostly bake boules) lined with cheesecloth or dishclothes. Well-floured, of course. I also give the dough a light dusting of flour before it goes into the "basket," as added protection against sticking. When proofed, I usually give the seam side another light dusting of flour, and gently tip the dough onto a peel liberally dusted with cornmeal. You could also flour the peel to prevent sticking, although I generally haven't found it necessary. I usually bake two boules at a time. Since I only have one peel, I use my Epicurean cutting board as a second peel. It's thin enough to work decently for this purpose.

The formula for the homemade baking powder can be found here. I was also looking at this the other day and want to try it.

Thanks for the info, Jason. I can't say that I'm an expert at detecting the grade of macha in baked goods, but I can see how the cheaper grades of Japanese macha might come across better in a finished bread product (as opposed to something more delicate like a mousse or cakes). Needless to say, if something is advertised as containing macha/green tea, I expect some flavor to come across, and not just green color!

To my knowledge, I've never had a stromboli. But I'm intrigued. Would someone care to enlighten me about the differences between a stromboli and calzone (which I've had)? Googling seems to suggest that the difference is mainly in the fillings and the shape. Are there any other differences, such as the dough? And is it an Italian-American invention? Please, teach me the ways of stromboli.

I agree wholeheartedly. Wetter doughs are simply a means to an end. Wetter = more holes, and the pendulum (fashion) right now seems to have swung toward more holes or breads of this type. In the end, it's largely a matter of personal preference and the crumb that we associate with certain types of bread. Early on, I realized that I prefer a tighter crumb minus irregular holes for most of my daily breads (pain au levain, pain de campagne, pain de seigle, sandwich breads and challah). My kids and wife have the same preference. Of course, I still like to shoot for an open crumb for certain breads: baguettes, ciabatta, pizza dough, focaccia, etc. It all depends on the application.

Thanks for the clarification, Ling. The reason I ask is because I've always been disappointed when buying "green tea" goods from our local Chinese bakeries here in Vancouver (and moon cakes from HK). I never detect much macha flavor, so I had assumed they were referring to the use of "green tea" as a broad category, rather than Japanese macha.

I'm not familiar enough with Persian cuisine to make an informed recommendation, but this thread might help: http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=46832 The thread is slightly out-of-date, but maybe someone can give an update.

Great report! I have a minor question for you, Ling. When you say "green tea," is it safe to assume you're talking about Chinese green tea and not Japanese powdered macha? And are desserts or baked goods made with Japanese macha common in HK and Taiwan?

Yes, at an angle. Another trick with wet doughs is to slightly oil the blade. I use scraper blades from the hardware store.

I always slash immediately before putting in the oven. If you're not getting enough rise, try introducing steam. Or your loaves could be overproofed, in which case you won't see much oven spring. Some people use a cold oven method to get oven spring. (Place bread in cold oven, crank to high, lower the oven temp when it reaches your desired temperature.) With this method, I find that you need to watch for overbrowning of the crust. In that case, tent some foil over the loaf once it gets close to your desired color. You could try increasing the hydration. I think it would help the bread mavens to know what kind of recipe/proportions you are using.

When I read "brioche using a levain method," my first thought was a sourdough brioche.

Are we talking about a sourdough (wild yeast) starter? I thought "levain" traditionally refers to the use of a sourdough starter.

Thanks Susie Q and KitchenMom for the comments. It sounds like I need to pick up a Waring Pro.

The episode just aired today in North America (via TV Japan). I found it thoroughly enjoyable, although I wish they had shown more actual dishes.

How long does the Waring Pro take to bake a waffle? And does it need to warm-up again between waffles? Thanks.

Sorry, I should have been clearer. The service that I use does not use PO boxes--all shipments are sent to their street address in my name. This circumvents the issue of certain carriers not delivering to PO boxes. BTW, the service I use only charges per shipment received in my name. No monthly or other charges at all. Where is your desired pick-up point? Maybe you can post in the closest regional forum.

This might not answer your question, but the place that I use (just across the border in Washington) is a dedicated mailing service. You phone them up, give them your name and telephone number, and they call you when a package comes in. No P.O. box, just their physical address.