Ann_T

@RWood, that little roll is so cute. Tonight's dinner. Smoked Salmon and bagel platter for two.

Sourdough bagels. Last batch just out of the oven. I made two different sizes. The smallest are "cocktail" size and will be served with cream cheese and smoked salmon tonight. They are topped with poppy seeds. And the larger size were topped with poppy seeds, sesame seeds and fried onions. Matt fried the onions because this is his favourite bagel.

Never. After I feed a starter, it sits on the counter only as long as it takes to more than double and then goes into the fridge until next time I feed it. And I would use some of the discard in a biga or another preferment. But the last couple of days I've used this new method, just the remnants left in the bottom of a jar, mixed with the water and the flour, and after it doubles, I've put into another batch of dough. This morning , the two I fed last night had doubled overnight so I used one in a bagel dough, and the second one went into a dough, that is destined for pizza in a day or two. I didn't bother feeding both jars, just one. And that one is now ready to use, but I'm not ready to use it so it is going into the fridge for a day or two.

I've been playing around with making a small "preferment" using the method from Culinary Exploration. Philip uses just a small amount of discard, basically the scrapings in the bottom of the jar to make a small "preferment" or starter for his next batch of dough. Yesterday I added less than a tablespoon of discard to two small jars and fed both with 55g of water and 55g of flour. Left it out on the counter overnight. Had more than doubled by 4:00 AM. I decided that I would make bagels today and add one of the starters to the batch. I then fed the scrapings that remained in the bottom of the jar, again with 55g of starter and 55g of water. I also weighed out the scrapings, which amounted to 22g. This method works great for me, because I can either feed the scrapings at night and the starter is ready to use in the morning in a dough, or I can feed in the morning and the starter is ready to use when I get home from work. Here is a link to his site where you can also find his Youtube video on this method. https://www.culinaryexploration.eu/blog/Sourdough-feeding

For tonight's dinner, we shared a beautiful big Sterling Silver Porterhouse steak with a full size tenderloin. Grilled and serve as Steak and Frites with a red wine sauce.

TdeV, You can find the "basic" recipe here. Along with some of my other escargot favourites. https://thibeaultstable.com/2015/01/13/favourite-escargot-recipes/

Thanks @PatrickT and @paul o' vendange, I'm looking forward to trying the Khorasan. Baked three times today. Matt pulled one of my sourdoughs out of the fridge this morning and used a little over 500g to make a large pizza for lunch, and I shaped what was left into this little batard. I had also started another dough early this morning with a small sourdough "biga" that I had left out over night. This dough was left on the counter for a late same day bake, and rather than bake on a stone, I baked it in a loaf pan.

I'm inspired to maybe start making more "seeded" loaves. These all look so good. Patrick, I had planned to stop at True Grain Bakery today to pick up their Stone Ground Organic Rye that I use to feed my Starter, and they also have Organic, stone ground, BC whole Khorasan flour. So I'm going get a bag of it too. Today's bake. Made a small "biga" yesterday morning using just the sourdough discard remnants in the bottom of a jar, added 55g of water and 55g of flour. Mixed, covered and left on the counter to rise. Added it to 600g of flour, salt and hydration was 70%. Made the dough last night before bed. Was left out on the counter until 3:00 am, for a 7 hour, room temperature fermentation.

Last night's dinner. Escargot in mushroom caps. Served with slices of baguette to sop up the garlic butter.

Had intended to make this soup last night and didn't so I made it this morning. Moe loves potato leek soup any time of day, including breakfast. Served with toasted baguette.

I made a pot roast on Tuesday and we ended up having just sandwiches with it for dinner. So yesterday morning I used some of the leftover pot roast and gravy to make Moe a bastardized version of a Shepherds Pie for breakfast.

Today's bake. Eight baguettes. Started a 1000g batch last night, with the addition of a small pate fermentee, that had been in the fridge for 7 days. Added 700g water, 2g of yeast and 14g of salt. After the last stretch and fold at 8:30PM, it was left out on the counter until 4:00 AM this morning.

Every time I feed I discard. And the discard gets used in a preferment. When I feed my starter I stir it well and weigh out 172g of starter (6oz) and feed it with 86g organic rye flour (3oz) and 86g of bottled water (3oz) and leave it on the counter to more than double. Then it goes back into the fridge until I feed it again. What is left in the container, is the discard. And I don't have a lot of discard. Sometimes I just toss 60 to 80g of discard into a batch of dough, but usually I make a preferment. The easiest to make is the biga. My regular biga is 220g of flour, 220g of water and 80g of discard. Mix well, cover and leave to double. This gets added to 1000g of flour, along with the water and salt. If your starter is strong there is no need to add yeast, but if you want insurance, add a gram of yeast. NOTE: As long as it is fed with in two weeks, I can use the discard in a batch of bread. If I leave it in the fridge too long, I follow the same formula above, but after it has doubled, I will feed it again, using some of the discard in a preferment.

I asked Moe if he could have anything he wanted for dinner what would it be. His quick response was Rack of Lamb. Thankfully Thrifty's had fresh racks. Rubbed it with fresh garlic, rosemary and lots of black pepper. Ready for the grill. Grilled Rack of Lamb with homemade mint sauce (Moe's favourite), Parisienne Potatoes, cauliflower and carrots (for Moe).

Moe's breakfast. Grilled chicken breast with bucatini pasta and broccoli.