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.

Thank you for the reply. Any clue as to what pH I need the lemon juice to be so that it is acidic enough as I hate bottled lemon or lime juice. Perhaps also adding citric acid if it is not the correct pH might also help. Litmus paper for testing pH can't be that hard to acquire. Water bath preserving is much easier to do in small batches (like 8 8oz bottles) as my pressure canner is quite large and I would hate to fire it up for such a small quantity.

I love lemon curd and make my own using whole eggs and no water bath. It does come to a boil and does not curdle. I am wondering how to can lemon curd (or even if it is possible to can lemon curd) as I cannot possibly eat the quantity I make over a short period of time without gaining weight precipitously. Any thoughts on how to achieve this. I do have a pressure canner but not enough freezer space to contemplate freezing it.

Hi all My second starter (the really active one from which I have had some good bakes with AP flour and 1 bake using whole wheat) is now acting quite strange. I confess I left it out on the bench for 2 days without refreshing and when I remembered it, it had of course completely run out of food but there was no hooch at all. So I continued as usual. Next the starter decided to act really sluggish and took 24 hours to double or more so I increased the number of feeds to speed it up and it did oblige for a while and then slowed right down again. So I switched flours to a commercial brand (Robin Hood AP non bleached for those Canadians following this thread) and it again went into overdrive to the point where my ratios are 1:4:4. At 1:2:2 the starter more than doubled in 8 and appeared to be trending down to 7 or 6 hours consistently. So I increased the ration to 1:4:4. Now the starter takes 9 hours one refreshment to more than double and 15 to 18 hours the next refreshment. Huh? This has continued for the past 4 days. What on earth is happening and can it be fixed?

My favourite soup by Gordon Ramsay. Pea, mint with Parma ham 4 ounces lightly smoked sliced bacon 2 shallots, sliced 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 pound fresh peas in pods, shelled 2 tablespoons dry white wine 4 cups Vegetable Nage or light chicken stock 1/2 cup heavy cream, plus a little extra for serving Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper Method: 1. Reserve 4 slices of bacon and chop the rest. Place the chopped bacon in a saucepan with the shallots and oil. Heat until sizzling, then sweat over a low heat for about 5 minutes. 2. Add the peas and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes. Pour in the wine and cook until it has evaporated. 3. Stir in the nage or stock and 1 cup of water, and bring to a boil. Season with salt and pepper, and simmer for 15 minutes. Blend in a food processor or blender until smooth, then pass through a fine sieve into a bowl, rubbing with the back of a ladle. Leave to cool and then refrigerate. 4. Meanwhile, broil the reserved bacon slices until crisp. (In the restaurant we bake the slices between two heavy baking sheets to keep them straight and flat, but you may prefer the crinkly look.) Drain well on a paper towel so they aren’t greasy. Keep warm. 5 When the soup is well chilled, check the seasoning and whisk in the cream. Season again. Serve in bowls with a little extra cream trickled on top and a floating bacon slice. I add a good hand full of fresh mint leaves before the blend and don't bother with the sieve and have been known just to add water instead of a veg nage or light chicken stock as it is less fussy to make and tastes just a yummy.

I never did find out as I pitched both starters and started again, this time with great success. The smell of nail polish has not returned to any starter I have on the go now. I have two: a whole wheat starter and an AP starter both of which I have successfully baked from.

Thank you.

Since I am learning how to make whole wheat bread using yeast before I start making whole wheat bread using a sourdough starter, here is my first attempt at making whole wheat bread using a poolish. I cut down to a quarter of the amount of yeast called for in making the 2nd stage of the process as I like flavour over the taste of yeast. The dough is very light and yes took longer to prove because of the reduction in the yeast added.

In reality recipes are only guides. You only really need yeast, water (or liquid of some kind), salt, and flour (AP or bread/high protein) flour to make bread. Every thing else added or substituted is a variation on a theme and changes the product produced.

Not necessarily. The taste and texture of the bread would change but the recipe would still work.

I don't see why not. You could also (if you have some) use reconstituted powdered milk or even no milk at all and up the fat (if there is added fat in the recipe) and water content of the recipe to compensate.