pizzabrasil

If the starter is alive, bubbly and happy, you could left it to rest in the refrigerator (4°C / 40°F) by a lot of days. Mine is (actually three of them) in there for almost three years, being feed randomly between 7 to 30 days. Ambient temperature - 12 -12 – 6 – 6 hours - return to refrigerator. More a few (a couple, may be each three hours) feedings just before the dough preparation. You could let dry, process to powder, and store in the fridge for several months, too. When the starter is alive it is hard to kill it! Luis

Hi, all I found a lot of information about roasting pig indoors, digging a big hole, using a china box or even a BBQ. However, in my today bird eye reading, I did not found that I was looking for, which is baking a pig in a wood oven. In matter of fact, a long time ago I saw several little pigs of nearly 20 pounds each, being dead, prepared and baked in a wood oven, all in the same day, to be commercialized. The pigs had as little rest as a couple of hours between being sacrificed and baked. Of course, they look succulent and they could be, since the farmer did bake to live. However, I am not sure that this type of baking is the one that could give the best results and taste. Could you people, to give me some tips and / or tricks to bake a little pig in a wood oven? Meaning how to prepare the pig, seasoning, resting time, cooking temperature, moistening, time in the oven and side plates. As always, thanks you all in this forum. Luis

Nathan: As asked, following a little explanation and a recipe of empanadas de humita. From Wikipedia “Humita is a Native American dish from pre-Hispanic times, and a traditional food in Argentina, Chile, Ecuador and Peru. It consists of masa harina (flour dough) and corn, slowly cooked in oil. Humitas are present in various countries in Latin America, although their origin is unclear. The noun "humita" derives precisely from Quichua, a regional dialect of the Quechua people found in Ecuador, the south of Colombia, and the northwestern part of Argentina. In Venezuela, they are known as hallacas, in Peru as humitas, in Bolivia as "sweet corn cakes," and in Mexico and Central America as tamales.” Empanadas de Humita are basically the traditional empanadas dough, already mentioned in this thread, filled with humita. There are the essence of the tradition, as like the ‘empanadas de pino’ (or meat filled empanadas – as in the recipe already presented here) are, and there are indispensable in any Argentinian table, along a good bottle of Merlot. There are several humita recipes, depending on each country. The one that I like most is made with corn and bechamel sauce, so simple and so great, as following: The dough recipe and shape was explained before in this thread. For humita filling Bechamel sauce recipe. 100g of butter 1cup of flour 2 cups of milk Fresh grated nutmeg (do not forget it), salt and pepper. Melt the butter in a hot pan, add the flour slowly and mixing continuosly until the butter be incorporated in the flour. This mixture will be a little dry and thicken. Do not stop mixing and do not let it burn By continuous mixing, add the milk until well incorporated. Wet dough, still dense, thick one. Remove from heat. Season with salt, pepper and the nutmeg. Filling the empanadas dough with humita All the Bechamel sauce above. Four/Five grated corn (or a can of canned corn) Water or milk to boil the grated corn. A big onion. 250 gr cheese (muzz or parmesan, as you wish) chopped or grated. Crushed red pepper (sweet and hot type) Salt and pepper (if needed) Fry the chopped onion until slighty brown (do not burn) and add in the bechamel sauce. Boil the corn in the water or milk until tender. Or use the can of canned corn. Add the tender corn to the bechamel + onion sauce. Season with the red pepper. Taste the filling, the red pepper taste mild when incorporated in this sauce. Add in the cheese. More salt, pepper and nutmeg, if necessary. The filling will be ok when smooth and ticky and when, if tasted, there is an extreme danger to left the pan empty with nothing to fill the empanadas dough <g> Fill the empanadas dough as explained in previous mail, beeing cautious to not let some filling on the edges, otherwise the filling could running out when baking or frying. Bake or fry the empanadas de humita as already mentioned. Bon apetit! Luis

Hi, all. When in holidays, I spend some time baking and cooking, in Argentina, to my family. Pizzas, empanadas and a looot of barbecues, of course, were to the table. Talking a little more about the empanadas I would like to show some pictures of those including a few words to descript them. From reading the old ‘empanadas’ thread you could know a lot of empanadas recipe and tips. All the following pictures shows empanadas that were baked in home oven, differently that those showed in the previous thread, that were baked in wood oven at highest temperature. I had not a temperature reader in hands but I believe that the temperature was near to 250°C (480°F). The first photo (labeled 2) shows a big empanada (torta pascualina) made with commercial dough. The dough used was ‘La Salteña’ –pastry kind- that could be obtained in several places in your country. This dough is great, and I recommend it to be used when out of time to work with dough. The second picture (15) shows two different hands made empanadas dough after resting in refrigerator and waiting to be shaped. At left a typical one worked with lard (as in previous thread) and the pastry dough at right (white dough) In third and fourth pictures (16-17) we have a torta pascualina (pastry) and empanadas (lard). The children had worked on these, is why the different sizes and finishing. The two following photos (19-20) could give an ideia about the filling and finished dough after baked. The 22 is an interesting picture to compare the results of different dough and fillings. The lard dough forms were filled as traditional. The pastry dough empanadas were filled with ham, cheese, oregano and a pinch of both pepper and salt. Just before baking the pastry dough was coated with beaten egg. The baked pascualina filled with meat, caramelized onions, olives, ham, cheese and species is showed in pictures 24, 25 and 26. See the layers of the pastry dough in this last picture. If somebody is interested in, both of the empanadas type, pastry and lard, were quickly consumed, in despite of more good food on the table. The jury was no capable to choose a winner, this could be a work for you, when trying this recipes LOL. Until the next baking time! Luis

Thanks, Bill: I hope this had helped. I will see soon. Regards. Luis

Hey, Bill/SFNM: Nice to see you here! There are a lot of us that are flying around these superb sites as eGullet, Pizzamaking, Fornobravo and any of those that fill our mouth of water and our belly of …well, of a lot of things that, in being Monday, I even could mention LOL. By the way, do you mind to share the recipe and tips of the Struan bread with us? Luis

This thread is like an addiction! I did not try this recipe since I have not a Dutch oven. However I will try it in a stainless steel pan that is in my kitchen. I had not access to the video and I am wondering if there is anybody in this site that had recorded it and could mail it to me (PM, may be). I would like to give a try in the home oven and later in wood oven (directly over the hearth). I am curious to see if and how it works at higher temperatures and out of pan. Thank you all Luis

Chris: I mean 24+ hours. The first focaccia (those from wood oven) had nearly 22 hs and the last one was rised on counter and had around 9 hours of rising time. I used Carl´s preferment in the first dough and a combination of Carl´s, Camaldoli and Ischia preferments in the second one (I did not want to waste the feeding halves of preferment) :-) Luis

Backing is not an exact science, most an art. There will always be differences in the recipes, depending on environment, equipment, uses and especially, bakers. Regarding the use of yeast in the dough, the quantities do not, necessarily, need to be adjusted just according your total dough weight. If the dough will be rising on counter or in the refrigerator, if the rising time need to be retarded (either for flavor or schedule) of if your kitchen is cold or hot, all of these and a lot of others reasons are important to adjust the yeast quantities. Is a matter of experience and personal taste. Having a wood oven, and making lots of pizzas and focaccias, I normally use to use long-in-refrigerator rise times and little quantities of yeast. 1/8 of teaspoon to a pair-of-pizzas-dough is a good example. In case of the home oven use, where the temperatures are the halves of wood one, a little more of yeast could be used to better ovenspring. Follow some pictures from the last focaccias, either in home or in wood oven, just to show the differences (shots not so good) Luis

The empanadas recipe was edited to paste pictures. Enjoy it. Thanks Pam and all by your help!

Thank you all! I had posted the pictures of the empanadas making steps in my album Pizzabrasil – Empanadas recipe. When I learn how to post the pictures directly between the recipe paragraphs, I will do. Luis

Edited to paste pictures. Was a long time ago, I was planning to construct a wood oven. This strong idea carried me through many Internet sites and so to a lot of food relatives. A new path was opened to my eyes and soon I discovered myself submerged in a world of (food) senses. The eGullet Society was one of former sites and I read it and learn with it almost each day of the week. My oven was finished two years ago, good bread, excellent pizzas and lots of food were and are baked in it. Nowadays, as the learning process is in advance, I feel that I could collaborate with my (little) experience exposing same of my knowledge in the eGullet forum. I would like to thank all of you by writing here and I hope you forgive me for any type – LOL – error in the next posts. Please, see the empanadas recipe below. There will be tips and tricks at the end of this one. Empanadas recipe The quantities are only representatives, and same practice will be needed to adapt the recipe to your taste, environment and oven. Empanadas Dough: 1 kg (2.2 lb) flour. 300 g (.66 lb) melted fat (baked) or 200 g (.44 lb) melted fat/lard (fried) 400 g (.88 lb) water. 1 teaspoon sea salt. Filling: 200 g (.44 lb) melted fat. 500 g (1.1 lb) chopped white onions. 1 kg (2.2 lb) chopped meat. 100 g (0.22 lb) dried grapes. 6 boiled eggs, chopped. 200 g (.44 lb) of green olives. Salt and black pepper, to taste. To the filling, dress with low firing, the melted fat and chopped onions in a pan with lid, until slightly brown. Maintain the onions moving. Do not let it burn. Briefly immerse the chopped meat in boiled water until white (30 seconds max.), drain it. Add the chopped meat and the salt to the onions in the pan. Cook until the meat be pink (rear). Add the pepper to taste. Apart from fire and let it to cool (warm or ambient temperature) To the dough, mix well the salt in the boiling water, until completely dissolved. Let apart until warm. Arrange the flour as a ring (like a volcano, with a hole in the middle) in your counter. Incorporate the warm melted fat/lard by putting it in the middle of the flour and mixing with your fingers. When the grease and flour be mixed, add slowly the salted water, by little quantities each time, kneading the dough until it look smooth and shine. Put the dough to rest in the refrigerator, in a covered bowl, by half to one hour. Take the dough from the refrigerator and shape it in the counter with a roll pin, until 2 mm (0.08 inches) (take or left) of thickness. Cut in circles of 13 -15 cm (5 – 8 inches) of diameter. Finishing the empanadas, Put a generously filled table spoon of filling in each dough disk, add some raisings, one olive and a tea spoon of chopped boiled egg. Moistening each disk edge, fold it by the middle making a kind of half moon, with the filling inside. Seal the edge by gently pressing with a fork. http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11616564..._3785_67640.jpg http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/11616564..._3785_23483.jpg To baking empanadas, Arrange the empanadas in a clean metal dish or baking sheet, ready to go to the oven. Let your oven reach the maximum temperature and bake the empanadas by ten minutes (take a look and retire from the oven, when the dough is pale brown with dark spots). To fried empanadas, Heat melted fat in a half filled pan. Let the fat get hot. Do not let it burn. Decrease the fire a little, just to maintain the fat hot. Deep fried the empanadas by two or three at time, by one to two minutes until pale brown. Retire and let dry over a grid. To eat, Use your fingers (never use fork and knife). Be carefully because the empanadas will be hot and the filling will be juicy. Do not use your better shirt  A glass of good red wine could not be out! Tips and Tricks: The empanadas will be unforgettable if fried in pig fat, in place of baked in oven. There will be two important reasons: the first one will be the marvelous taste, the second one, the deeper impact in your digestive apparel. Do not eat a lot! Even if you like these too much. Drinking fine wine is good to fight cholesterol, helps in the digestion and is a must with empanadas. Like as all food types, several changes could be made with the dough and filling. Some people like to add from 1 to 3 egg yokes to the dough. A tablespoon of sugar will enhance the taste too. More or less fat could be used, depending on you. Even, pig fat and butter could be used in 50/50% proportion. Either butter or margarine. However, nothing replaces the taste of the animal fat. When mixing fat and flour, the lard must not be hot, just warm, because hot lard bitter and harder the dough. To shape the dough, it could be folded like an envelope from twelve and six to the middle, rolled, folded again from three and nine to the middle and repeating this operation one or two times. This changes the original dough appearance to a more pastry dough type. Knead the dough just a little when is going to be fried, and work more with it when going to be baked. The traditional sealing of the filled disks edge is by crimping it. Taking the end of the ‘half moon’ edge – the size of one inch of the perimeter - with your fingers (remembering that the disks were filled and folded by half) and gently pressing within your thumb and forefinger to seal and bend it over itself. This movement let the first inch of the perimeter folded over the second inch. Take this second inch and repeat going to the third inch. The way to go is the former inch of the perimeter overlapping the half or third part of the next inch. Go this way until completely sealed. Sealing as above explained give structure (eat by hands) to the empanadas and the borders will be crunchy. Do never use silverware to eat empanadas. (Do not bit your fingers or dirt your shirt too!) The dough could be prepared in antecedence and rested in refrigerator. The meat to be used to filling, will be a juicy one (I do not know your cuts, here we use ‘nalga’ or ‘cuadrada’, I am pretty sure that could be beef) and chopped up by knife. This is important. Chop up using a kitchen sharp knife is the big secret on the preparation of the meat to fill the empanadas. Do not cut too thin. The meat need to have ‘body’ to be sensed (or bited) when the empanada is tasted. The juice of the meat mixed with the flavor of the onions, spices and fat is the crucial point here. The salt will be added after cooking to give flavor to the meat. The pepper and species will be added after cooking, to avoid loose of flavor when cooking. The empanadas will be fried with hot oil/fat, no burning oil/fat. Too much hot gives a bitter taste to the dough. A full potato or lemon leaves could be used in the fat for frying. This is to avoid it of burning. The empanadas will be baked at the maximum oven temperature (like pizza does). The empanadas could be brushed with egg yoke when retired from the oven, or The empanadas could be brushed with egg yoke before baking. The grapes, chopped egg and olives could be left out or replaced. The above recipe is an original one. It is possible to use a lot of different fillings, like ham and cheese, corn and gorgonzola cheese, chicken and hot pepper, and so on. The filling could be sweet one, too. Like the traditional cheese and quince (in a piece) or sweet potato. To make the sweet empanadas, the dough could be use butter in place of lard, fried in oil or baked and the dough could be brushed with batted egg yoke and sprinkling some sugar over it. It is all that I can remember by now. May be the explanation is not too great. Do not worry. Try it. There will be no regrets. Luis