iii_bake
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Posts posted by iii_bake
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The Three crabs one sounds like Vietnamese Fish Sauce to me.
Vietnamese and Thai fish sauce are different. So if you cook Thai i would recommend using Thai Brand as it has distinctive fragrance.
I use Tipparos and Scale brand ( This one is used by my grandmother..the logo is the Traditional Scale).
There are a few new brands launched lately in Thailand. One is Megachef. Quite nice.
If the brand i like is not available, i then choose the one with the least salt content.
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So here it is...
Just want to share with you guys.
This is Dorie's autograph...the gift i got from Dorie when Baking was one year old!
This really made my day (then) and (makes) my every day ( now).
Lovely, isn't it?
Lovely, isn't she?
iii
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Try her biscuits. They are out of this world.
From Cookwise?
By the way, i just realized the typo in my first mail...i know..shirley is not a guy, sorrrrrry!
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There are a number of brands of juicers like that.
Wearever made a number of models over the years.
Just look for "Universal Juicer" or "Vintage Aluminum Juicer" on eBay.
I've got two kinds and they both work great for pomegranates.
Hi,
I did check but all of them are those without the receptacle.
William n Sonoma have this vintage style too.
I will try to post the picture.
Thankx for your help.
iii
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Thank you for your note but no, it just looks like handheld potato masher except that the body is the receptical and the strainer is just a tray hanging in it. The upper lever has flat round disc so when you press down the lever the disc presses on the fruits in the strainer...the juice then goes to the receptical.
I am trying to post a picture.
Thanks again!
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I have an old aluminum hand juicer that looks like potato ricer but with a receptacle.
The embossed wording says "VITA SIMPLEX PRESS 1"..made in Italy.
I tried to search but found only a few SIMPLEX product on ebay.
I wonder if anyboday have any info on this. It works so well with the pomegranate.
Is SIMPLEX the brand? Is it still available in the market and where i can find it?
SOS
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Marmish
I am so ashamed of my clumsiness.
I started listed out all the recipes from the book and intended to make a spreadsheet to mark them out.
I have not finished it as my eye sight are poor, somehow as i went thru one by one...it made me realize there are more than 200 recipes in the book.
Thank you.
Now what to do next?
By the way, Dorie..which recipe you made most often?
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Rasmalaysia:
Are the eggs "hard" cooked? Are they coated with anything before frying? (Your pic looks like they have some sort of breading, but since I've never deep fried a cooked egg before, I have no idea how they'd look....
For the tamarind "juice", approximately how much water would you use for 4 TBL of tamarind pulp? (I've never used it before, although I have some hanging out in my pantry...)
I read somewhere that these were called "Son in Law" eggs because a prospective bride had to make them for her future MIL to assure her that the bride could cook!
Wonder what modern western cultures would use as a comparable litmus test.... chicken divan? green bean casserole? grilled cheese? ha ha (and yet sad!)May i cut in?
I am not Rasmalaysia but i have been eating and making this for life and think i may be able to help!
The egg can be cooked as per your preference...as long as the white is hard enough to hold the shape when peeled. ( not the liquid yolk though!)
Before you fry the eggs, make sure they are well dried or else the oil will spatter all over.
When fry, use medium heat...too hot the oil the egg white will be chewy.
...just fry the egg...no coating.
For the measurement of the palm sugar, it is approximately 200 grams per cup ( unbelievable, it is the same as granulated !)
For easy dealing with hardened palm sugar...heat it breifly in the microwave...this will help soften it. Do not heat the whole bottle with lid on...it will burst and the lava of hot syrup will hurt you.
For the tamarind, just add water enough to soften it and get the extract..If you add a lot of water...you will need more of the (thin) extract for the sauce...
For this recipe, you have to reduce the sauce to the sticky consistency...This means it will take longer using the thin extract.
Please note also that the degree of sourness of tamarind pulp can vary...do not seriously stick to the measurement...taste it...the sauce should be well balanced ( the saltiness, the sweetness and the sourness)..
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I won! I won! I won!I won Dorie Greenspan's autographed BAKING.
I have been keeping this to myself for days...please share my joy!
Thank you Dorie, very much indeed.
iii
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Apart from the one year anniversary, let's celebrate the 1000th reply as well.
Dear Dorie,
By any chance, have you kept track of which recipes were not discussed or made at all from this 1000 posts?
If any, how about we all start working on them one by one...and share the result?!?
iii
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What does soaking do?
How does it help improving the dish??
Please enlighten me! Thnx
iii
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we used to make a lemon flavored agar (not my department), but it set up fine. i realize that it doesn't set up as well with acidic ingredients. does heating the juice affect any change in the pH? agar does have to be boiled to dissolve.
I think you may be doomed, if you must boil the agar in lemon juice.
Agar is a polysaccharide: a bunch of sugar molecules hooked together. If you want to chemically break up a polysaccharide, a common way to do so is to boil in an acidic water solution. You might want to do such a thing, on purpose, when you're making caramel: this is why many recipes call for a touch of lemon juice or cream of tartar in with the sugar and water.
If you're boiling agar to get it to dissolve, and you have acid in with the rest of the stuff, you're starting to dismantle the structure of the agar. It won't set as well once you've started to chew the molecules apart, and that's where your problem is coming from. You have a better chance at getting this to work if you can wait to add the acid till after the agar has been boiled.
MelissaH
All right...thank you ...
I will go try now and report the result..... (or may come back with more ignorant Qs!!!)
Thanks
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But it seems to me that if you want a "crystallized sheet," you might want to use something other than agar -- maybe isomalt?
I am working on Thai dessert made from cooking agar agar with syrup until thivk and leave to dry until the skin crystalized.
It is normally a very sweet thin so i need to make a sour ones.
And for the heating...i ahve been boliling the mixture for qutie sometime...still it does not set.
I wonder what other dept. of alanamoana used to make the lemon agar agar
Any more comments please....
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why dont you sub the lemon juice for lemon zest and citric acid
cud u pls elaborate more oin the citric acid?
I really got no clue on what it is and how it works.
Thanks
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hi
I am tryinn to make agar agar crystalized sheet with lemon falvour.
It seems that the agar agar will not set if there is acid in the mixture.
Does anyone have exoerience in this?
Is there anyway to make this set?
Please help!
Thanks
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[i do not know the name in English, but the one on the right is not basil.
It is not for central Thai dishes. It comes with the north eastern part, Lao and Vietnamese dishes.
That doesn't help much, does it?
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For me, a major leap in understanding came with digital scales, weighing flour (don't use volumes , 'cups', for solids with variable packing density), weighing liquid (don't use a measuring jug - its imprecise and so inconsistent), weighing in grammes always, and thus easing thinking in percentage terms (but not, I must admit, always strict "bakers' percentages").
......
I gather that iii_bake is in Thailand (from the prawns). I have no idea what flours may be available there. However it may be worth remarking that stoneground flours (with lots of tasty wheatgerm oils) would have an even shorter storage life at tropical temperatures.
.......
The important thing is to develop an understanding (whether conscious or 'by feel') that works for you individually. Gather whatever ideas work for you - but do recognise that different people can have quite different, but often equally workable, understandings!
Which very often just turn out to be different ways of looking at the same thing... Another WOW n Thanks.
I like baking so i have digital scale and Yes, i am from Thailand.
Now i live in Singpore.
When i was in Thailand and worked with BBA i had my cousin carry Bags of King Arthur AP & Bread Flour all the way from US for me. We have Gold Medal AP but not unbleached though, we also have bread flour but i always put the blame on the flour and thought i would really feel the right stuff using ingredients from the same source as the recipe's owner
.Now that i am in S'pore, i can find Gold Medal Organic AP and Bread Flour.
I can also find Waitrose Strong Bread Flour.
So it seems i am in a much better position for flour sourcing!
You guys' experiences are worth noting and they are indeed interesting.
Thanks again
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This is part of a larger question, of how long to ferment and prove the dough, and that depends on the sort of bread you are making, what the yeast or sourdough culture characteristics are, how much of it you use, level of salt and sugar (which inhibit) and the dough temperature I'm sure others will correct me.
You might find it instructive to put some of your dough when you have mixed it into a straight sided glass jar or glass tumbler and mark the level. Loosely cover. Keep it at the same temoperature as the dough you will bake. When the dough has expanded to two and a half to three times its initial volume, its ready to bake. This is for plain white - wholemeal or bread with additives rises less. That gives the total of fermentation plus proof times.
In general you want to bulk ferment until the bread dough is saturated with CO2, and little bubbles and the structure are beginning to form. When you can just see the bubbles its time to shape and prove. So when you cut into the dough with a sharp knife and can can see little bubbles starting to form its time to stop folding and start shaping.
For my sourdough in my kitchen (about 80F) the total time is about four hours from end of mixing to baking, I usually split it into 1 hour bulk and 3 hours proof. Straight yeasted dough takes about half that, about 2 hours total. I try and get 3 or 4 folds or turning into the bulk fermentation period, so every 15 or 20 minutes or so. Sometmes I only give it one turn every half hour. Its not critical.
If you retard (put the dough in the fridge) you have to reckon on the cool down time. For a 1Kg loaf I reckon that is about 2 hours, so retarding overnight is about equivalent to 2 hours proof at room temperature for that size loaf, Retarding (in a loose plastic bag) will give you better flavour, better crust (little bubbles), and make timing easier and less critical.
Thanks.
Do appreciate your advice. Cannot wait to get my hands on the dough again!
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Hydration (the amount of water in the dough) has a number of effects.
Crudely it changes the viscosity, and hence the workability of the dough, but also the resistance to the gas bubbles expanding, and the amount of steam available to make that expansion. Roughly the wetter the dough the bigger the holes in the crumb, but too much water can make the dough sort of pudding like.
You can tell the loaves that try to get a good texture from an over wet dough rather than proper gluten development, by the characteristic of thick cell walls.
Most loaves I make are around 70% hydration (weight of water to total flour weight) for example:
Preferment: 200g flour + 100g water (plus 10g culture)
Dough: 400g flour + 320g water (+10g salt) (plus preferment)
Total: 420g water/600g flour = 70% hydration.
This dough will need support during proof.
Different flours adsorb different amounts (wholemeal adsorbs more).
Other factors affect viscosity as well, such as the acid in sourdough breaking down the starch - sourdough gets wetter as they prove. Temperature affects viscosity with cold doughs stiffer, hence cold retarded dough is less delicate and easier to handle, especially at the end of proof.
Bread can range from about 55% (tight, stiff, long fermented boules) to more than 100% hydration (ciabattta, more a batter than a dough). Very wet doughs are hard to handle directly - form, shape and bake them on silicon paper.
Its worth noting that you need to measure accurately. 5g difference in water (a teaspoonful) will make about a 1% difference to the hydration in the example above, and that will change the handling characteristics and the crumb structure.
Bread dough is tough stuff at the beginning of fermentation and can stand a lot of abuse, but it gets more and more delicate as the structure is set up and it expands, especially high hydration doughs.
Wow...thanks a lot.
Do i get another Q?
( how to indicate the amount and timing of Turning the dough?)
iii
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There are things that matter in bread baking and many things that do not. Here is a rough list, but not exclusive. I'm sure others will have their views:
Things that matter:
Time and temperature of the fermentation and proof
Accurate neasurements by weight - use Baker's percentages
Lots of bottom heat
Steam in the first minute, but not after
Hydration of the dough, in quite a small range
Right amounts of salt (2% flour weight)
Good yeast or sourdough culture
Don't overprove
If you add sugar etc it will slow fermentation
Things that don't matter:
Strong flour - almost any flour will do
Steam after the first minute
Kneading - its time and water that develop the gluten, not mechanical work
Hi Jackal10,
I have been the secret admiror of your post. Finally i get your advice.
Now that you r here, can u brief about the hydration and the effects of it to bread or its texture?
Thanks
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I can only suggest the items i am sure what they are:
Tamrain Leaves:..Fresh??? I have never seen them dried though. The tamarind leaves are used in Soup called Tom Klong...a kind of Tom Yum seasoned with Tamarin pulp extract ( instead of lime)...the leaves are a bit sour and lend the sourness to the soup.
Shrimp Fat in Oil, i think it is the tomalley ( see perparation for Thai River Prawn for the photo). Use this in Shrimp fried Rice to get the Full Shrimp Flavour. ( add just before you mix in the rice)
Pork Fu...Eat with Boil Rice for breakfast ( and other boil rice condiments).
Yep, the tamarind leaves are fresh -- really fresh, by the looks of them. I don't know if someone is growing tamarinds here, or if they're imported. I love good Tom Yum, so a variant on that sounds like a good use!
The Pork Fu is pretty tasty -- I just opened it up to try some, I can see how it'd be good that way. Cool, I thought that might be how it was used.
Thanks for the help!
forgot to tell to use Dried Red Chilli instead of fresh Bird eye chilli..and it wouls be nnice to char them a bit under flame. Do not burn them though.
Charred shallot is sometimes added as well.
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Thank you guys!!
Actually i did make notes. But it seems like i could not figure out the "what" & "why" things.
I once made white loaf from BBA and took a pciture ( it came out very beautiful)....but ten loaves after that could not rise as high.
I tried to vary a lot of factors but still did not work.
I just thought getting more advices from you all would give me short cuts..aha!!! ( sorry for sounding so lazy and discouraged).
Once again, thanks for the input. i will keep working on it definitely!
iii
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I have been longing for a true understanding on bread making.
I have gone thru BBA (with good advices from Peter himself), Bread ( hamelman), Bread ( RLB), Bread ( Nancy Silverton) including Dan lepard and a lot more.
But what i need now is experience and a special section on my brain to help figuring out the way to identify "the mistakes" or "what to adjust to get better result" etc.
I just cannot go to Peter or others for advice on every loaf i made but still i am not confident in the dough thing at all.
The fact is that i am way over the hill now and not sure whether with the time i have left I would be able to master simple loaf making mysteries....
so here is the proposal:
Can you write about your experience in bread making that helped enlighten you or gave you the feeling that you have advanced another step?
iii
Isomalt
in Pastry & Baking
Posted
I worked with three batches of isomalt today and yet not successful.
I got thiny bubbles , not on the surface but the bottom....and within hours...it turned clouldy.
I used the silpat the smooth side but still i got the pattern mark on the finsihed product.
Do need help on how to correct this?
I also saw a presentation with a square with sharp edge bubble isomalt...and wonder how to make such a cut.
SOS please
iii