Soupcon

Finally success with my third attempt at making a sourdough starter. This time round there was no signs of life in the starter on the morning of day 2 so I just stirred the drying surface back into the water/flour base and eureka on the morning of day three I found the starter had risen by about 1/2 again and was full of tiny bubbles. So I fed with a 1/1/1 ratio of 20 gms each of starter, flour and water and covered with cheesecloth and left it alone. By mid afternoon it was quite active and I think I will feed again tonight with a 1/1/1 ratio.

Why not dry the starter until you have the flour to make more bread. See this youtube video

I too saw that article and began my second foray into sourdough bread baking now that I have lots of time. An even better tutorial is the instagram account of Kristen Dennis called Full Proof Baking which takes you through 14 days of how to make and nurture a sourdough starter (also found on youtube). She also has a video of how to advance from the starter you have made to making a loaf and a video on how to dry your starter if you don't have time to bake from your starter for a long period of time and also how to rehydrate the starter back to leaven ready. I am using unbleached AP flour that has a protein content of 13%. My first starter this time seemed normal until day two but appeared to be a little dry and had no evidence of activity. So at the beginning of day 3 I added about 1/2 tsp of distilled water which I mixed in thoroughly and to my amazement the starter began fermenting within an hour or two. By the evening the starter had doubled in bulk so I fed the starter a 1/1/1 ratio and by the next morning it had more than doubled again. Here I failed miserably as I mistook vinegar for distilled water and had to throw the whole thing out and I started the whole process again. However I am very thrilled by how active the first starter was by the end of day 3 and am looking for success again with this attempt.

Not quite cooking sous vide ... but... I make yogurt using my sous vide bath. I heat the milk, and skim milk powder up to 180*F using a large open top container (not submersed) and the sous vide. Hold the milk mixture at 180*F for at least 30 to 60 min and then cool the container with the milk down to 110*F as well as cooling the sous vide bath down to 110*F fairly rapidly. Add the yogurt starter, or a couple of tablespoons of previous batch or commercial yogurt you like the taste of, to the cooled milk mixture,, mix in well and decant into sealable containers, return sealed containers to the bath (I happen to not submerse my containers but both ways work) and hold at 110*F for at least 4 hours or until set. The longer the yogurt cooks at 110*F the more sour it becomes. Remove from bath and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Enjoy. I use sealed wide mouthed canning jars for the containers.

Eureka!!! For those of you who love lemon curd, you can freeze the damn stuff. I make mine with whole eggs so am not sure about how well curds made with egg yolks only survive freezing. I freeze the just made cooled lemon curd in 16 oz containers and then thaw it in the fridge when needed. Yippee.

You could probably make a version of kouign amann with the scraps or at least a half arsed version.

Why wreck apple pie with icecream or cheddar. Apple pie is best with... more apple pie!!! 😋

@PassionateAmateur Stella Parks (Bravetart) has a recipe for "milk duds" on seriouseats.com . The caramel recipe within the recipe might solve your caramel problem. https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/10/homemade-milk-duds-recipe.html

I was introduced to Indian cuisine by a lab tech from Pakistan. In her kitchen she taught me about cooking her cuisine by practical example... cooking lunch together ... which for me were lessons I absorbed and loved. Although she was not vegetarian, the Indian cookbook I found that best replicated the products of her lessons is "Lord Krishna's Cuisine: The Art of Indian Vegetarian Cooking". My edition of course is very old and well loved as is demonstrated by the present condition of the book and the stains on it's pages.

I have just made Devil's Food Chocolate Ice Cream by Lebovitz in which he uses cocoa powder. I used Cocao Barry Extra Bruit and have found no problem with grittiness from the cocoa powder. I also used half & half instead of whole milk and made the creme anglaise in my Vitamix instead of a saucepan over a flame. This recipe is to die for.

@Anna N Never too late to reply. Well I have found a method for making lemon curd in a blender (Vitamix or blender of it's kind) which can be made in about 6 minutes. The Vitamix does all the cooking. I usually use a recipe calling for whole eggs and which brings the curd to a simmer for a minute to two and tweaked it for the Vitamix. Bloody genius. The finished product needs to be stashed in the fridge to set. Yummmm. See "thekitchn.com for the method. Use what ever recipe you like and tweak it to fit.

Pressure can broth (chicken or beef) in qt or litre jars at 12 lbs for 25 minutes from the time the canner reaches full pressure. I used to can stock in qt or litre jars but found I was wasting too much stock so I started to can in pint or 16 oz jars and found I had less leftover stock to refrigerate or waste.

Hi Anna, My pressure canner is made by Presto and has a two piece weight for canning at 12 and 15/16 lbs of pressure depending on what you are canning. BTW I have no interest in Presto. I looked at all the pressure canners on the market and this was the cheapest as I don't can in huge quantities. I works on the same principle as the one your mom years ago probably had but is much larger. Not difficult to use at all and for those of us who like to cook, will save you money in the long run.

I assume most of the readers of this topic are home cooks. Why not can the stock instead of freezing it? Yes, it takes another hour of your time, but then it does not take up freezer space and can sit on the shelf for as long as necessary. I can all my stocks in 16 oz jars (1/2 liter if you are on the continent) just to save freezer space. Infinitely portable and I since I rarely use a litre of stock at time, also less wastefull. Now I have enough jars all I need to buy are lids for canning and occasionally replacement rings.

@ Anna N Thanks for the suggestion. I am afraid I am the only one in my family who likes lemon curd and I doubt that I can consume 2 quarts in probably 4 months. The curd I make is actually quite tart unlike most of the other recipes I have found and is fool proof but does make large amounts for a single person to consume. Which is why I was looking for a way to preserve the curd without ruining it and also not taking up freezer space. Looks like the freezer is the only route I have left.