rickster

I don't think this is unique to Endicott. I used to get this at pizzerias in Southern Connecticut 20 years ago.

Not that exotic an idea, but I recently made a gooseberry tart. Prebaked a tart shell, added a layer of pastry cream and then added a layer of gooseberries that had been stewed with sugar and some cornstarch, It was delicious.

I visited a Wegman's in NJ not long after it opened and was very impressed. But I wonder if the great gourmet selection, especially on fresh items like the 20 types of mushrooms, is something they maintain over time or does it get pruned back/

Interesting idea that it may be related to the apple. I used a Granny Smith apple as they called for and squeezed it pretty dry in a towel. I also wonder if it could be related to whether you're using fresh or frozen blueberries. It seems that the people having better luck with the pie setting are using frozen berries. ← I wonder whether different varieties of blueberries have different levels of pectin, or whether it varies with time of harvest, growing conditions, etc.

I would say it's more like: Gruhn-o-blwahz. ← I agree with the last half, but think that "Gren" is pronounced closer to the way it is spelled, than "Gruhn", but I suppose it can depend on your accent too.

There's somethng wrong when they put Bayless in a challenge that couldn't be more in his wheelhouse (tongue + street food). It would have been a lot better to see him on a different episode.

It depends where you live. It's on Saturday morning, 9:30 am in Chicago, 10:30 Eastern time.

I noticed on the website that the Pastry Camp is tailored for food enthusiasts, not pros so I would think you're OK. I would be really curious about how it goes for you. I've thought about taking the same course but couldn't get the schedule to work. Also thought it might be a bit too basic for me, but not sure if I would be qualified for the next level up.

My recollection is that there are different grinds of semolina, which may behave differently. I've made some loaves (not from this book) with 100% fine grind semolina and been very happy with the results.

I thought it ironic that Tyler Florence reamed the woman (Jamika?) who suggested boiling the used marinade for a sauce to save money. Two weeks ago I saw Anne Burrell suggest exactly the same thing on Secrets of a Restaurant Chef on FN.

Rick Bayless was the one face I recognized from the previews.

I agree. Too much time judging and not enough cooking. I had thought prior to the season that some chefs, like Wylie, would have difficulty when forced to operate out of their element, cuisine wise or technique wise.

Another idea for a sweet pizza crust would be to use something like a sweet bread dough, maybe like a brioche, which would be closer to the original pizza concept.

I think the fact that this is all done for charity may be tempering their comments.

That's odd. At this price range and with the type of material it seems to cover (I haven't seen it), I wouldn't think it would appeal to the type of baker still wedded to cups and spoons. Still, I suppose it would broaden the appeal.

I think step one in recreating them is to find a source for Italian wild cherries. Seriously, I think it is less the secrets of the syrup and preserving than the quality of the cherry, which you can't get in the US. They are delicious

You're right about refrigeration/freezing. This was what I thought was giving me too thick a foot, so I tried applying the foot to room temperature ganache and got a thinner result and still had the cracking problem. I have been using pistoles melted for the foot, not worrying about getting them to any particular temperature. Thanks for al the advice. I think I will try warming the knife and cutting sooner and at room temperature ad see what happens

Maybe someone can provide some advice. I am a rank amateur at chocolate making but have this book and have made a number of the hand dipped chocolate recipes from it. Everyone loves the results, but I have what I guess I would call a production problem. When I cut the set ganache, often either the ganache cracks parallel to the knife cut and falls off the foot or the foot cracks. I would guess I am losing about a third of the chocolates this way. What am I doing wrong? My first guess was that I was applying too thick a foot and maybe cutting the ganache too cold, but I've adjusted for this and it still happens. I've tried cutting with a chef's knife as well as a serrated knife. Should I warm the knife? or is this inevitable when using a less than professional cutter?

I would guess this is right. I do know that any shelf stable aseptically packaged product is heat processed, just at not as high a temperature as a bottled or canned one. But frozen does nto have to be at all, so I'd expect some degradation in flavor, which I guess is the tradeoff for convenience.

This sounds similar to an excellent Rose Levy Beranbaum scone recipe in the Pie and Pastry Bible. General concept is you take the chunks of butter and flatten itno flakes and combine with flour sugar leavening and cream. You then roll and fold the dough through a couple of turns. It's a bit similar to doing a rough puff pastry dough and makes a very flaky scone.

I will admit that I now use the idea of whizzing the onion/carrot/garlic/celery, etc. mixture in a food processor all the time rather than tediously chopping each vegetable.

My experience has been that the thickness/hardness of the crust has a lot to do with how much steam you introduce at the beginning of the baking. My current oven set up with a baking stone does not allow for good circulation of steam from a pan of ice cubes, and I've found my crusts to be thinner than before.

Are you proofing in a refrigerator? 12 hours seems awfully long for yeast risen dough, unless you are retarding it in the fridge.

I don't know if the top loaf is supposed to be a ciabatta, but if it is, it's an odd shape. Ciabatta dough is very wet, almost a batter, which helps to give the very airy crumb structure.

I think this week's secret was how much bacon fat went into some lentils she was making. This is an example of something I really don't want to know!