cakewalk

Just what I was thinking. I'm having people over for the 2nd seder and I have a cauliflower in the fridge. Looks like this is destined to be on the menu.

Fraud has become a norm. Not just in the food industry, but in life. Think politics, finance, sports. When caught, people shrug their shoulders and get right back in the game. And they are welcomed back in the game! It's like there's no sense of shame at all. It used to shock me, it used to shock everyone. It doesn't any more, and I'm not sure how far removed that puts me from the frauds themselves. I know this is a food board and we'll stick to the food industry, but overall I don't think it can be separated out from all the rest of it.

Chocolate babka.

Beautiful bagels, Shain. As for me, make mine sesame!

Interesting. I didn't think it was so cryptic, especially with the photo there. I think she's zesting half the fruit in an attempt to create a pattern on each piece. Stripes, sort of. Look at the photo, and you can see that a type of pattern emerges on each piece. I also thought she was using the rind of all four fruits, but the juice of only two. That seemed pretty clear to me. It also seemed that the white pith was the star of the show here, not the thin yellow rind, and I thought that was what the OP was asking for. Well, I guess not. Interesting how people can look at the same thing but see it so differently,

Not sure if this is what you want, but: http://www.aglaiakremezi.com/candied-lemon-or-seville-orange-peels/ Alos: http://www.aglaiakremezi.com/rolled-lemon-peel-in-syrup/

I think it's unfair to refer to other baker's methods of making starter as "pet theories." And there's not all that much variation in the long run. Flour, water, mix, wait. I appreciate the precision. There's bread, and then there's bread. I appreciate the pursuit of perfection. I'm not sure where I stand on the presumption of its attainment.

I can't decide if I appreciate this, or think it's foolish. A bit of both, leaning more toward foolish. I keep thinking of that conversation in a Woody Allen movie (I don't remember which one, they all seem to merge) where people are having a conversation about orgasms. One person says she was reading about orgasms and discovered that all along she's been having the wrong kind. Woody Allen gives one of his raised-eyebrow looks and says, oh, I've never had the wrong kind! (Extrapolate!) This is bread. Thousands of years. Just about every culture on Earth. And now the MC people are saying, "but you're making the wrong kind." I dunno. I've never made the wrong kind. I'm not saying there's no room for improvement, there always is. I think what I'm skeptical about is the apparent exclusiveness of this enterprise.

Yes, it is a lot of salt. But I've made many of the breads from that James Beard book, and I've never found his breads to be too salty. I guess it's a matter of taste. For me it's a little strange, as tend to undersalt my food. But with bread it's a completely different story. Besides the health issues, I think there's also a concern that too much salt will hinder the rising process, but I've never had that issue, certainly not when using yeast but also not with sourdough.

I find that most bread recipes skimp on salt. Not sure why, I guess people are afraid of salt because of health considerations. But I find it maddening to spend hours, and sometimes days, making a loaf of bread only to bite into a slice and involuntarily grimace at the noticeable lack of salt. I tend to follow James Beard's rule of thumb in "Beard on Bread": 1 Tbs of salt (table salt) to 1 pound of flour. He recognizes that others think this is too much, but it's what he sticks to.

Very nice sandwich loaf, DianaB. Did you use the lid? It looks a bit rounded on top.

I usually buy extra large eggs and I use them in just about everything, even though most recipes I come across ask for large eggs. There is a difference in weight, but I don't think it's significant. I think it becomes very significant if you're baking in large quantities, but most of those recipes will use weight measurements anyway. Occasionally I come across a recipe that very specifically states "one medium egg" or "one small egg." That is unusual enough for me to figure that it matters, and more often than not I will weigh out the amount. (Everything depends on just how lazy I'm feeling at any given moment.) I think your bundt cakes will be fine.

Fantastic blog, it truly gave a sense of living in Ecuador with you. (And you might want to prepare for that eventuality.) Thank you so much.

Hot cross buns. Happy Easter!

Interesting. I have never pre-cooked apples for a crisp, and they've never come out crunchy. (I usually throw in walnuts if I want some crunch.) And I don't slice the apples so thin, either. I guess there are a lot of variables here. Type of apple would be a biggie. Liquid in the recipe? Covered or uncovered? Cooking temp? Etc.

Every time I go to TJ's I buy at least a pound or two of their butter and freeze it. I go through it pretty quickly when I'm baking, and that price can't be beat. I live in Manhattan and there's no TJ's in my neighborhood, so it means schlepping by subway, which means limiting what I buy to what I can carry. When I go I usually have specific things in mind, but a pound or two of their butter is always on the list! And the cashiers here don't comment on anything!

Hamantaschen season is in the works. Every year I swear I'll never make them again, but you see where that gets me. I made the prune filling (which wasn't all that great), for the others I used apricot jam and Trader Joe's Cocoa Almond Spread. The cocoa almond spread was by far the best. Happy Purim!

Interesting. Wouldn't have thought there'd be a demand for this, and I'd love to hear more about it if you have the time. I recently saw a documentary about Ecuador called An Unknown Country, about Jews from Eastern Europe who escaped to Ecuador during WWII. It was one of the few countries that would take them. But it seemed that most of the population left after a generation or two. (Very good film, BTW.) And great blog. A wave of nostalgia for that plastic milk container! (They were prevalent in Israel when I lived there.) Looking forward to more.

Not sure what to tell you, EsaK. You say you've baked with it. Are the loaves rising? Do they taste good? I've never had any luck maintaining a whole wheat starter for any length of time. I'll usually keep a white starter, and a few days before I plan to bake I'll start feeding it WW flour if I want a WW loaf. The starters above don't seem to have any bubbles, but often there's a lot of action going on under the surface, and we can only see the top. I've never done this, but have read that one way to test starter is to put a tablespoon of fed starter into a bowl of room temperature water. If it floats, you're ready to bake some bread.

Made this loaf the other day, mostly following Peter Reinhart's basic sourdough except I added some yeast because I didn't have all day. (Don't tell!) This was mostly bread flour with 1/2 cup of semolina and 1/2 cup rye flour. Rather than make two boules, I formed one large round loaf which was a bit over three pounds. I prefer this because cut the loaf into quarters and wrap and freeze them. Reinhart says to bake to 205F, but next time I'll let this go to 210F. I also think it needs a bit more salt, but that might just be me. But the crust was very nice, and the semolina and rye added nice flavor and texture. The texture I think is from the semolina, it seems to work wonders in a loaf of bread. (Just as I think buttermilk works wonders in the texture of a cake.)

Looking forward to following your blog. And also wondering what people do with so many Rambutan!

I bought that book several years ago, it really is stunning. The only thing I've made is the ka'ak, which came out good. I think I halved the recipe. Time to look through it again. Yes, it is enormous and unwieldy, but so beautiful.

Well this has become silly. Ottolenghi aside (who, IMO, should have been more specific), the OP is asking about dried currants/redcurrants in general. "Currants" can refer to more than one thing. It doesn't matter which came first, that's absurd, it doesn't get you an exclusive claim to a word. British currants are currants. American currants are also currants. They each refer to a different item. And that is precisely why the term needs further clarification. In the States, I usually see the terms "redcurrants" or "blackcurrants" for the berries, not just "currants," but that might differ for others. I don't think I've ever seen them dried, always fresh, and they're very seasonal. We used to get them every year when I belonged to a CSA, always at the very beginning of the summer. So when I see a recipe that calls for "currants," I always assume it's the dried grapes. I'd be interested to know if anyone has seen dried redcurrants or blackcurrants, I'd love to try them.

I disagree with this. Ottolenghi's books are not marketed for the British Isles exclusively. He has a big market outside the British Isles, and that was a goal. It's not by chance that his recipes have both volume and weight measures. He could definitely have been more specific. He just wasn't.

What @JohnT said. It is confusing. Dried currants shouldn't be confused with redcurrants, which I believe are berries, not grapes. (But don't quote me.) I don't think redcurrants are usually dried. They're used for jellies a lot. I'm not sure where black currants fall in the scheme of things, if they're a version of redcurrants (berries) or if they're akin to dried currants (grapes). Ottolenghi should have been more specific.