Ann_T

@BonVivant, what a beautiful feast. I can't believe that is your first time making it at home. Amazing!!!! I need to check out that cookbook. Last night's intended dessert, postponed until today. Originally I had planned to serve the fruit over a lemon or grapefruit sorbet topped with a little Prosecco. Went to four different grocery stores and none had sorbet. So then I thought I would do something I have done in the past and make a fruit plate served with sweetened whipped cream folded into creme fraiche. And again, the stores that I can usually find creme fraiche didn't have any either. Anyway, didn't matter because neither of us had room for dessert last night. So I remembered this morning that I still had some clotted cream left. So......I whipped up some heavy cream, sweetened with powdered sugar and a little of vanilla and folded it into the clotted cream and made Moe a fruit plate for lunch.

@PatrickT, one last loaf out of the last dough from Monday night. Matt took the last batch out of the fridge at 7:00 AM this morning and it sat on the counter all day until 3:30 PM. He divided it in half. Half for his pizza and enough left for a larger Baton. I let it rest for a while before the final shaping and it just came out of the oven just before 6:00 PM . So this dough had about 82 hours in the fridge. Handled beautifully for both the bread and Matt's pizza crust.

Yes. That is what I do. Anywhere from 24hrs up to 96 hrs. Unless I'm baking the same day. Even then, with just 1 g of yeast it takes 6 to 8 hours to rise. I put three batches of dough, 500g of flour each in the fridge on Monday night. One came out of the fridge Wednesday night and was left on the counter until Thursday morning. Another came out last night and was left out until after 4:00 AM this morning and I baked four baguettes. And the third batch, Matt took out of the fridge this morning to make pizza. Should be ready for him to use after 2:00 PM. I will probably get two or three more batches into the fridge tonight so I have them there for when I want to bake again. I'm really happy with doing just 500g batches at a time now, rather than 1000g batches. This was today's bake.

Thanks @kayb @MaryIsobel, welcome to the Island. You picked a wonderful time to be here. Weather has been perfect the last couple of weeks. At least for me, because I love it hot. Only thing I miss about Ontario is a long hot summer.

Bruschetta for breakfast. This was suppose to be the start to last night's dinner. But I knew if I had this I wouldn't be hungry for the main course. So made it this morning for breakfast. Thick slices of my homemade bread fried in olive oil. The tomatoes and basil came from our garden, and the garlic was locally grown here in the Cowichan Valley.

I love this dish. I think I have some of these little ribs in the freezer. Need to make them soon. Moe and I celebrated our 43rd Wedding Anniversary today. Dinner was grilled pork tenderloin medallions with a reduced black pepper cherry sauce. Served with spaetzle, braised red cabbage and zucchini.

Breakfast is served. Cheddar and Chive Omelette with toasted baguette.

I've been freezing homemade bread for years. Nice to be able to pull a loaf/baguette out of the freezer. This was especially good the last couple of weeks when we were having 90 plus temperatures and didn't want to turn on the oven. I never have bread go moldy.

@JoNorvelleWalker, you don't freeze? If I know that the baguettes won't be eaten same day or next, I wrap in a paper towel, and into a ziplock freezer bag and freeze. They defrost quickly. And don't seem to suffer from being frozen. My freezer is empty of baguettes at the moment so I started three more 500g batches of dough last night and they are in the fridge and will get baked over the next two or three days. Baked four baguettes this morning from a 500g batch of dough. The dough was made Saturday morning and went directly in the fridge after the last stretch and fold. Taken out of the fridge last night around 8:00PM and left on the counter until 4:00 AM this morning. I started three more batches last night for the fridge. The 500g batches are great to have on hand. Will make four baguettes, or one or two boules depending on size, or two pizzas. My intentions are to keep three on hand. As I pull one out to use, another one will go into replace. Using just 1g of yeast for 500g of flour and hydration is 63%. This seems to be the perfect ratio for both loaves as well as for pizza dough.

WOW @Steve Irby, beautiful quiches. Last night's dinner off the grill. Grilled Porterhouse Steak. Vegetables done in a grill pan.

I had a craving for chicken stew and dumplings. So that is what I made for dinner last night.

Sliced one of yesterday's baguettes for breakfast today. Toasted and topped with Canadian back bacon and sliced tomatoes. Breakfast for two.

Linda, yes. If a dough isn't going to be baked same day, then it goes right into the fridge immediately after the last stretch and fold. It still rises in the fridge and will continue to rise once it is out of the fridge and after it warms up. Because I have started to use just 1g or yeast in 500g of flour, it takes 7 to 8 hours before it is ready to divide and shape into loaves or use for pizza.

@JoNorvelleWalker, I always love the colour you get on your loaves. Decided to bake cheddar cheese baguettes this morning. Dough had been in the fridge for two days and taken out last night and left on the counter overnight. Baked three cheddar and one regular. Moe had to sample with a "little" butter.

For dinner last night. Escargot in Mushroom caps. Ready for the oven. Baguette for dipping in the garlic butter.

Started 3 batches of dough Thursday night. All at 500g of flour, 1g of yeast, 14g of salt and 315g of water for 63% hydration. Two batches went into the fridge and will get used for baguettes and pizza in the next day or two and one batch I left out on the counter overnight and baked four baguettes yesterday morning. Started another batch Friday morning to replace the one I baked so I'll have three batches on the go. Going to try and keep at least two batches in the fridge at all times so I can bake whenever I feel like it.

Whine all you want @Shelby. I'd be whining too if I was dealing with poison Ivy. Hope the meds help and you are feeling better. Tonight for dinner I made Beef Burgundy. A recipe I have been making for years. Adapted from a Julia Child recipe. It is a wonderful celebration dinner. I've made it more than once to celebrate our Anniversary. But it is also a great dinner party recipe because most of it can be made a few hours ahead of time, and the beef tenderloin steaks just seared at the last minute or even seared early and then warmed up in the sauce. Since we were out most of the day, I didn't do anything ahead of time, but the dinner still came together easily. Stopped at a farm store and picked up locally grown vegetables.

Homemade Italian sausage patties with Rigatoni for dinner tonight. Made the sausage mix earlier in the day so the flavours had time to meld.

Thanks @DesertTinker. @Captain, here is another link with options. The recipe is basically the same - just flour, water, salt and yeast OR instead of yeast sourdough starter. You can vary the hydration. Lately I've been using just 63% hydration with great results. Especially like the lower hydration for pizzas. In the past I thought that I needed higher hydration for a pizza dough. Not the case. There is also a hydration chart at the end of this blog post........ Artisan Breads Another option is using the Charles Van Over food processor method (The Best Bread Ever) when making smaller 500g batches. I'd forgotten about this method until @Dave R posted about it a couple of months ago. I still do two to three stretch and folds with the autolyze rests between, even when I use the FP. Food Processor Batches.

Linda, I use Canadian flour. My favourite and the one I have used now for years is one of Roger's flours. The one I buy is Silver Star which is one of their commercial flours. Protein is 13.4%. My local Costco carries it in 20K bags (44lbs). I don't run out often, but if I did, I would buy their regular bread flour or all purpose flour at the grocery store. Also makes wonderful bread.

@Kayb, I must confess to not having a scientific bone in my body, so I don't know the scientific explanation. In fact, even reading up on it , there seems to be a number of views, including higher hydration. But I consistently get the shine with both higher and lower hydrations. Recently all my breads have been at 63% instead of 70% or higher and I'm still getting a really good shine on the crumb. I believe it has more to do with gluten development. I also think that the flour I use is a big contributing factor. And a longer fermentation contributes, which will also play a part in the development of the gluten.

I'm glad that you like that recipe. It is very versatile. Been too hot the last week or two to bake. Thankfully the weather cooled off enough to bake before we ran out of the baguettes in the freezer. I made two 500g batches of dough Thursday morning before leaving for work and they both went into the fridge after the last stretch and fold. Both were 63% hydration. Matt took one of them out around noon on Friday so the dough would be ready to use by the time I got home from work. Enough for two pizzas. (posted on the Dinner thread). I took the second batch out before going to bed and left it on the counter until 4:00 AM this morning. It was ready to go. Shaped three baguettes. Started each one in the CSO on the Bread Steam setting and transferred to the big oven to finish. I'm really liking the 63% hydration. Perfect for pizza dough and the baguette crumb is nice and airy with lots of shine.

Pizza night. Dough was made early yesterday morning and went into the fridge for a cold fermentation and Matt took it out around noon today. Ready to use by the time I got home from work. Divided into two balls , one slightly larger for Matt's pizza. I made some homemade Italian sausage and fried some up for a sausage and mushroom pizza. Baked in the Ooni. Matt is a vegetarian so he made his own, topped with three cheeses, vegetarian pepperoni and bacon, jalapeno peppers and green olives. He baked his at 550°F on the stone in the conventional oven.

Love the idea of mini calzones. Monday night's dinner. Thai red curry chicken over rice noodles.