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My first post in this thread! + Baked eggs from upthread (butter, half-and-half, garlic, sage, rosemary, thyme, caramelized onions) + Toast from batards I made yesterday + Fuji apple

I'm glad someone else does this! I'm always self conscious carrying loaves about the house

I was reading this thread and thinking to myself, bagels. Leave the friggin' blueberries OUT, please. And while your at it, get those pineapple slices off my pizza! ← Absolutely on the bagels. I'm okay with onion, garlic, long island (no, it's not an 'everything'), what have you. But the moment you put a blueberry near one I'm thinking you don't deserve a bagel. I'm not so much an purist about dishes. I'm a purist about the ingredients. It says butter? Okay, don't even think of using anything else. Don't tell me I can use fat free half-and-half. Don't leave out the fish sauce and then complain that the dish didn't turn out well. Don't swap out the sugar for splenda, or even suggest it. You want something low sugar? Than go find a low-sugar recipe

I'm working on improving my rustic breads, particularly the crumb structure; I'm shooting for those elusive open holes that everyone loves so much. When shaping loaves of any kind, boule, baguette, or batard, I'm super paranoid about knocking the dough about to much. I don't want to lose any of the air pockets created during bulk fermentation if I don't have to. Many instruction sources I've used advocate this light handed treatment. It's certainly hard to get a good shape with as little touching as possible but it's worth it. Where I get confused is there's some sources that don't seem to think any light treatment of when shaping is needed. Seriously, watch the first video here from Baking With Julia. Forestier manhandles those loaves almost like she's trying to knead them again. Granted the loaves produced in that show don't have a terribly irregular crumb, but there's some significant bubbles, far larger than any I've seen in my bread so far. So, what's everyone's feeling on how hard to treat the dough? Am I just being too careful?

I've produced four or five really tasty loaves this week. The first couple were from a batch of dough that I threw together, had at room temperature for around three hours, stuck in the fridge for 24, pulled out, warmed to take the chill off, shaped, proofed, and baked. The second batch was dough I threw together, stuck it straight in the fridge for 48 hours, pulled out, warmed to slightly below room temp, shaped, proofed and baked. The flavor of both was top-notch, the crust is crisp and has some great blistering. The crumb is pretty good for a ~65% hydration dough. I'm a little disappointed by the oven spring in the second batch, however. I also noticed that while the first batch crackled as it cooled, the second did not. My question is: after the dough comes together, does one get better spring by first fermenting at room-temperature for a while before sticking it in the cooler? It doesn't quite make sense to me given that the dough gets knocked around during shaping and is given a chance to proof. I know I proofed longer the second time as well; perhaps I over did it? I find it difficult to determine when the proof has gone far enough, and so any tips would be appreciated.

Growing up in Upstate New York I ended up liking venison far more than beef. Is there anywhere in this city to pick some up? And what does it cost? I've never actually paid for venison before:)

I like savory oatmeal but I've never found anyone else who has a similar taste. This is my general method: Boil a mixture of 1/2C water and 1/2C milk Add 2/3 C of thick rolled oats (bulk at whole foods) Turn burner to low, cover, and simmer for 8 minutes Add 1 tsp butter and 1/8+ tsp salt Stir to incorporate, cover, and simmer 2 more minutes Dish out, top with fresh ground pepper and shredded parmesian cheese.

I just baked my favorite ones today: Black Bottom Cupcakes. These have been with me since childhood; chocolate cake with creamcheese-chocolatechip filling. Sooo satisfying

Great; many thanks! I'll try this one as well. I'm stockpiling these suggestions for when cold weather finally arrives.

That would be Mr. Tom Douglas and the coco cream pie is fabulous, although I have a special weakness for coconut cream pie. Maybe you can tweak it and put some Skor bits in the crust as well and some freshly toasted mac nuts in the filling to get closer to your elusive Hawaiian fantasy dessert? ← I was going to post about this pie as well; available at The Dhalia Bakery. The recipe is available, though I have not made it. The filling is at http://www.books-for-cooks.com/recipes/rc_...glas_kitch.html while it looks like you'll need the rest of the book to get the crust.

What about some granola? Good alternative to pasteries, good markup, people tend to like it.

Does anyone have a source for smoked black cod / sable in Seattle? I had it for the first time last week and I think it's even more enjoyable than the ubiquitous salmon.

← You may be right; traditional was perhaps a bad choice in wording. I've never run into a recipe, reference, or restaurant that had a sourdough form. I think it's time to start experimenting:)

That's the one! The Bartha was delicious; smokey deep flavor with a good deal of bite that I think was from a large amount of tomato. There was a nice contrast between the smooth flesh, seeds, and skin. Also, I think their naan was sourdough... not traditional by any means but really quite wonderful

Yes, I should have specified eggplant. The one I enjoyed so much was at (I think the name was) Mayuri on Broadway in Vancouver.

I had a really fantastic bartha last thursday at a local Indian joint and I'm eager to find a good recipe to work with at home. I don't have a grill/tandoor so I'm guessing that nothing will be spot on; the broiler will have to be good enough. -Sorry for the repeat; this seems like a better location for the question

I had a really fantastic bartha last thursday at a local Indian joint and I'm eager to find a good recipe to work with at home. I don't have a grill/tandoor so I'm guessing that nothing will be spot on; the broiler will have to be good enough.

I've always used this basic technique and people just rave about it. You should be dilligent to make sure a good amount of the butter seeps through the cuts so it can permeate the layers, but otherwise I think that the difference between this style and the traditional is negligable. I also second the advice to steep flavorings in the syrup (mine is composed of a large amount of honey for the base). I like a combination of clove, cinnamon, orange slices, lemon slices, and anything else that combines well with that base. Hrm... I wonder what a nice amount of black pepper in the syrup would be like... honey and pepper and mmmmmm

Nothing specific to recommend but I'd say: - Generally stick to things that hold well. They have enough stress, and maybe too much food right now. They don't need the worry of figuring out what's going/gone bad on them. While nice fresh produce in the summer is great it does have the downside of going south quickly, particulalrly in some applications - Include a recipe! Or offer it. Two of my favorite recipes are from a couple years ago when my grandfather died. I called up the givers a few weeks later to thank them and ask for their recipes. While it isn't the dishes are not reveleations I find them to be extra comforting and enjoyable because of the association I have with them. It's amazing your brain forms these connections.

Thanks for the responses everyone. I checked out the owner's manual and wasn't able to find anything about resetting the calibration for the oven's thermometer. I checked out how the probe is mounted and found that it pokes through a hole in the back wall, protruding about 2 inches into the interior. The base of the probe is slightly off-center and so presses against the lip of the hole. Do you think the contact with the (metal) wall might be throwing it off? I could take off the back of the oven and try to center it better. Also, the manual says over and over not to plug the hole with foil. Is there a huge risk to this? I just want a non-fluctuating, acurate oven! If I keep a close eye on things do I really run a huge risk if I travel into the transgressive alluminum plug territory?

I just moved into a new apartment and the first thing I did was take the oven's temperature. It consistantly runs about 25 colder than it says it is. Today I noticed that when I switched on the oven's internal light I can see straightinto the inside of the oven through the vent pipe right underneath the back-left burner. I know all ovens have something to vent the air inside, but I've never seen one so... exposed. I can see right in! Isn't this horribly inefficient? It certainly heats my kitchen up quickly. Is there anything I can/should do? I don't want to just plug it up as that is surely a fire hazard.

I always make sure I have a tub of caramalized onions in the fridge for sandwiches, salads, omelets and pretty much anything else. Ditto on a container of mushed up roasted garlic. Still, I'd love to know of other simple preperations I can keep on hand that add a bit of zip to pretty much everything. So what do you make sure to keep on hand at all times? I'm especially interested in things with low preperation overhead and that keep at least a week.

I'd vote for a few pictures, but not the full blown one on every page macro close up variety. It just feels too garish somehow. A subliminal "We know you're not actually going to cook it so, here, look at it. As for drawings, I'd just like to cite one example I do really like. "The Enchanted Broccoli Forest", one of the earliest Moosewood cookbooks, is filled with sketches and doodles (and the recipes are handwritten). None of them are meant to represent the food really, but it makes it gives a rediculos charm to the whole thing. There's some very tasty recipes in there as well.

A three ring binder of family recipes (copied by hand) that I was given by my little sister for christmas. She was probably 15 or so at the time and we were just beginning to move beyond the sibling rivalry phase. I've since added pages but I know that when I'm in the mood for something to make me feel at home I can look for a page written in sloppy pen with words like "grate" spelled as "great" and "cream" as "creem" (my sister is dyslexic).

At least it'll be raw...how bad can people screw up something raw? ← Oh, I don't know. I've been researching recipes online, and some of them are... very... I'll be polite and say interesting. ← I don't find the problem to be 'screwing up something raw' but rather making something raw and pretending it's something totally different. Don't give me chickpea-cashew puree and call it cheese (tastes just like cave aged gruyere! ). Make something honestly raw and it can be quite good.