Ann_T

@Kim Shook, I keep coming back to look at this. Looks so good. Last night's dinner Flattered Chicken Breasts from Fifty Shades of Chicken A Parody in a Cookbook

I usually take a dough out of the fridge at least 7 to 8 hours to give it time to warm up and continue rising. I have a batch (1000g flour) in the fridge that went in yesterday morning immediately after its last stretch and fold and it will stay in the fridge until 8:00 PM tonight. It should be ready to start shaping around 3:00 AM. When I take that one out I will put another batch in. I often leave them in the fridge for up to 5 days. On my days off work, I might take a dough out in the morning and leave it on the counter all day and bake late afternoon early evening. Or I might just make a dough and give it a long room temperature fermentation and bake later in the day. I do sleep, and get 5 to 6 hours between the hours of 9 and 3. Even if I go to bed late, I'm still awake by 3:00. So I might as well bake. 😀

I'd say that your baguettes turned out way better than just "well". Great crust and crumb. I vary the hydration. I've even gone over 70%. This batch was at 80%. But I prefer between 63% and 68%. I still get the same crumb and the dough is easier to work with at the lower hydration. I started a 1000g this morning with just 2g of yeast at 68%. It went into the fridge and will come out tonight and be baked in the morning. Also, depending on your flour and the weather conditions you might have to add more water. If the dough is feeling stiff and difficult while I'm doing the initial mix, stretch and folds, I add a bit more water. And I wet my hand in between each of the stretch and folds. The flour I use is from Canadian wheat and it is a commercial flour from Rogers Flour.

Tonight's dinner. Homemade French Onion soup.

I like the idea of the toasted baguette. Not something I ever think to do. Baked sourdough baguettes this morning. Moe had one sliced with just butter and a sliced tomato from our garden.

Fed both of my starters yesterday morning and made a sourdough Levain with some of the discard. They had all more than doubled and the levain was ready to go into a batch of dough. Left dough out on the counter until just after 3:00 AM. Eight early morning sourdough baguettes. Sliced while still slightly warm.

Hadn't really planned dinner but was thinking of a simple pasta using tomatoes from the garden. And maybe boneless chicken breasts on the grill. But I hadn't taken the chicken out of the freezer. Offered Moe the choice of pasta or a tomato salad with the chicken and he choose the salad. Since neither of us was overly hungry I pulled just one boneless chicken breast out of the freezer and zapped in the microwave on 30% power, for 4 minutes, just long enough start the defrost and then sliced it horizontally into two filets. Much easier to slice when still partially frozen. Pounded out, rubbed with garlic, Dijon mustard , salt, pepper, juice of a lemon and some olive oil. Left on the counter for 10 minutes while the grill heated. Sliced a number of ripe tomatoes, seasoned with dried basil, sliced white onion, fresh minced garlic, olive oil and a little red wine vinegar, salt and pepper. Set aside to marinate. Washed some lettuce. Chicken only took a few minutes on each side. Tossed the salad with the lettuce and served. We were eating within 30 minutes after I got home for work.

Used three of the Calabrese store bought buns to make triple decker toasted Club House sandwiches for breakfast. Sliced the top and bottom off of the third bun and then sliced in two for the third layer. Lettuce, bacon, tomato and chicken breast. I still had a chicken breast left from the big roaster that I did on the grill for dinner Thursday night.

I wasn't expecting the swirls either. Raisins fall into the same category as carrots for me, BUT Moe would love your bread. @PatrickT, great looking focaccia and wonderful toppings. I love this photo.

@Smithy, @rotuts, @Norm Matthews, @Okanagancook Thank you for your Anniversary greetings. I finally got around to grilling burgers on the new grill. I had offered to make homemade fries but Moe said he would be happy with potato chips. Made for an even easier worknight dinner. Tomatoes from Matt's tomato garden.

Moe and I celebrated our 44th Anniversary today, although we have actually been together for 50 years. I worked today but planned dinner so it was something simple, but worthy of a celebration dinner. One of Moe's favourite dishes from Centro Restaurant in Toronto was Fettuccine Natasha. A vodka tomato cream sauce with smoked salmon. I made it tonight using linguine. We had a small wedding with about 25 guests at the home of our very good friends Patty and Michael. We served Champagne so it has been our tradition to have Champagne on our Anniversary.

Spatchcocked a large roasting chicken this morning and seasoned with with garlic, dried oregano from our own garden, lemon zest, salt, pepper and olive oil. Moe took it out of the fridge for me, an hour before I got home. I added the juice of a lemon and let it sit another 15 minutes while the grill heated. Grilled over indirect heat. Made roasted Greek potatoes in a cast iron skillet also on the grill. Place the pan on the double wide top shelf. Served with rice, Greek salad and the Greek lemon potatoes and grilled lemon.

Thank you @rotuts.

Finally cooled down enough to use the oven. Roast beef dinner. Stirling Silver top sirloin roast. Presalted Sunday. Roasted on high heat. Served with our traditional sides, including Yorkshire Pudding. This dinner always reminds us of the roast beef dinner at Honest Ed's Warehouse restaurant in Toronto back in the early 70's. Also baked an apple pie early in the day. Moe and I shared a piece for dessert.

I had a 1000g batch of dough in the fridge since Friday morning. Taken out last night and left on the counter until 4:00 AM this morning. Ralph Nieboer from the amazing Facebook bread group Breadworks, recently shared photos of little loaves baked in loaf pans. So I decided to copy him this morning and used my baguette dough to bake mini loaves. Aren't they cute? Matt sliced one horizontally, while still warm. Even the crumb isn't bad.

Dinner tonight was a pork belly and cabbage stir fry. Served with rice.

@PatrickT you are really turning out some very beautiful loaves. Great colour on your crusts.

Last night's dinner. Same day pizza dough. Made Friday morning before I left for work. Left out on the counter until 5:30 PM. Italian Sausage and Kalamata Olive pizza with a fresh tomato sauce.

@KennethT, what a beautiful fish dish. I got out of work late and didn't get home until 5:40. I had a presalted 17oz Sterling Silver NY Strip ready to go on the new grill. Turned the grill on to heat. Got the potatoes peeled and cut into wedges, cut a sweet potato using a potato crinkle cutter, broke the stem end off of fresh local green beans, and cut up a red pepper. Tossed the vegetables with fresh garlic and olive oil, salt and pepper. Got the potatoes going on the grill along with the sweet potatoes. The green beans and the peppers went into the preheated vegetable grill pan which I moved to the upper rack. Moved the sweet potatoes to the grill pan. This rack folds out to add a lot more square inches of cooking space and also folds back and drops down to rest against the back of the grill if it isn't needed. When the vegetables were just about done, the steak went on and was grilled over the sear zone. We were eating by 6:20. Shared platter for two. I think I like the new Weber.

Too hot to turn on the oven yesterday so baked a small loaf of rye in the new grill. We sampled the smoke chicken breast on rye last night and Moe wanted it again for breakfast this morning.

Smoked two small chickens, started early this morning. Moe had two legs for lunch and for dinner we had thinly sliced smoked chicken breast on homemade rye. (no pics)

Moe and I shared a platter of wings done on my new grill. Ordered a new gas grill and is was delivered yesterday. Had planned to grill last night but postponed until this morning. No sides.

love the idea of potatoes in your tacos. Moe asked for a loaded omelette for breakfast this morning. A loaded omelette varies depending what I have on hand. This mornings omelette was loaded with onions, mushrooms, Italian sausage, red peppers, potatoes, salt, pepper and fresh oregano. Served with Black Russian tomatoes from Matt's garden, and toasted sourdough bread. I'm working today so this should keep him going almost until dinner.

@Duvel, beautiful setting. Very similar to what you see here on the west Coast of Canada. Easy dinner last night. Made hard shell tacos. And a pitcher of Sangria.

I love green peppercorns in different sauces. You can buy them brined or dried. I only use the dried ones because I don't like the flavour that the brine adds to a dish. I usually just soak the dried ones in chicken or beef broth, or wine to soften them a little before adding to a sauce.