gfron1

Not completely. I lowered my temp and that gave me a crust that was less desirable than when I was baking at 495F. So I've taken my temp back up. I've proofed a bit more and that didn't make a difference - one loaf blew out the other didn't. Same with less proofing. I've also paid a lot more attention to my shaping and getting bubbles out - that seems to have helped. I think I may still not be slashing deeply enough. In other words, I'm not being consistent enough in my technique to pinpoint the problem. I'm also messing around a lot with what I throw into the dough (seeds and such) and whether I hydrate those add-ons, and what impact that might have. I guess the end of the story is that everything is selling as fast as I can put it out, so I'll continue to pay attention and see if I can't pinpoint the problem. I would say that 30% are blowouts at this point, but you know what...to most people that makes it look cool and artisenal instead of factory bread - which is added value.

That would be good enough for me - thank you.

Daniel - that's a wonderful menu and very generous of you to share. I'll give them a whirl this weekend and let you know how it turns out.

I just can't imagine making 4000 cookies - bravo!

I've been wanting something like this for ages, but I don't want individuals. I want a pan of 12 that I can pop the bottoms out of each. I'd love to see a source.

I like making no money in my little oasis. So no move anytime soon. But isn't nice to know you can visit and get a big cheese party thrown for you if you do some sanity migrations southward! I promise quality food without the attitude. And thanks Lisa (and everyone else too). My photos aren't spectacular but I use cheap Canon PowerShot A530...the key is that close-up feature and turn the flash off. Click.

Brown butter shortbread...those are very brown. Are you playing with the title or did you really get your butter that dark? I haven't been posting as much lately because I've been gearing up to sell (because now is a great time to be starting a bakery business - extreme sarcasm intended). I'm only doing small amounts and focusing on sure sales to pair with our lunch crowd. Browned butter, chocolate chip cookies (Thanks to the CCC Bake-off) A chocolate apricot tart (Thanks to Amernick who always leaves me with extra dough) And a couple of baguettes and a boule from my juniper berry sourdough starter (Thanks Hummingbirdkiss) Everything has sold out every day, so that's a good sign. I'd welcome feedback on the "packaging." Its a bit much, but I wanted to up the perceived value to match my store, and in fact, I'm using higher quality ingredients than anyone in town.

Another confessor here - never been to the canyon. But, you're surrounded by Tribal land, so find a dive and enjoy a Navajo Taco.

I'm rolling at these ideas. Some very useful! Some absolutely not! Ultimately the play staff wants to publish recipes so I need to have things that are re-creatable, but still beyond the norm, but loyal (literally or allusionarily) to the story...which I just barely know. While you all keep throwing ideas out, I guess I should crack open the Bible or Torah or Veggie Tales video. Thanks for the help with this.

Lot's of behind the scenes hard work - thanks! The Society is definitley better as a result of the time you put in. Now enjoy the fun and games!

Is jello Biblical? Maybe its in the Old Testament.

I just spoke to someone who went to the Sky Gypsy Cafe this morning (referenced in my earlier post). Apparently the cafe food is nothing worth the trip. The experience of finding this gem in the middle of the dessert is. They have good coffee and a good health food store. But if you go that out of the way, you need to do it for the hiking or birding and not the food.

I've been asked to create a menu to pair with a local performance of Joseph and having not seen the play, I don't really know where to start. Any thoughts? What would you serve? (I really, really appreciate the help on this one...I'm lost)

to me this is about idiot-proofing rice making. As you can see from the pic - light and fluffy. I just boiled to the time on the bag and drained. Perfect every time!

I hadn't caught that in Saveur, but I had heard the method on Splendid Table. I did it just a couple of nights ago when I made a riff on Moors e Cristianos. The rice I used was Singing Pines Hand-Harvested, Wood Parched wild rice. Amazing stuff. I, however, did not do the steaming step, and it was perfect as is.

Oh wow! A red curry ice cream sounds great. What about going for a triple headers of red, green (if the heat isn't too much) and yellow or masaman curry. And what if you made jasmine rice milk for your base...of course you would have to top it all off with candied lemongrass ties!

I might lose this quiz. I'm guessing mole, but the lemongrass cream may nudge to the front.

Our own Patrick A graduated high school yesterday and will head off to his 4-year culinary/hospitality program in the fall. Today is his party which I made a few things for the family and friends. Mango Cheesecake with Lemongrass Cream Raspberry Macaron with Bittersweet Ganache Molé Mousse: The photo doesn't do this one justice. A 45% chocolate mousse infused with molé rojo set atop a chocolate coated baked corn tortilla with an ancho piñon. Toffee Tartlets: Crushed cacao nibs on the bottom, covered in wet toffee, thick 64% ganache and a kadaifi nest smothered in honey and turbinado - that should get the ol' diabetes going!

The soft cheeses on the right could be a bunch of things, but the one I want to take a stab at is the ball on the left. Is it Gaperon?

A whole bunch (read maybe one pound) of strawberries boiled down (no sugar) as thick as it would go. I ended up with just over a 1/4 cup. Poured some strawberry sludge into the almond flour and processed it back into a dry mix, then proceeded as usual.

Thanks - I'm doing a couple of loafs a day so I'll see what happens tonight.

Ohhh...you're opening up the floodgates of horror stories here! I also prefer the 1-800 route these days. I went to an unnamed international Mexican fast food restaurant that rhymes with Paco Hell. That was my first mistake. I went at 9 pm, two hours before closing. The crew was already cleaning for close which included washing the floor in the kitchen. Apparently they do that by putting an inch of water over the whole floor and the staff walks through it. When we got to the counter a young team member was pouring some chemical from the bottle onto the water on the floor and sloshing around in her shoes. She saw us and came to take our orders. We were already woozy from the fumes, but didn't want to be rude. She took our orders to which the line cooks started hustling. At one point the cook called to our order taker to get a chalupa shell, which she promptly did - with no gloves, after having handled the chemical bottle. We got our food, walked out, dropped the bag of food in the trash can, and called the 1-800 number. Now to your question...we just stayed objective, provided the facts and let the horror of the whole situation sit with the minimum wage paid customer service rep. She used her script to tell us how sorry she was for our inconvenience. Her script then told her to offer us a replacement meal - "Oh, yeah, thanks, but no thanks." The coupons arrived days later and were promptly tossed in the trash. Moral of the story - decide what realistic conclusion you want to your story and your letter will follow.

Yep - blowouts. What's interesting is on my large boule tonight, my deepest slash led to the blowout, while the other shallow slashes stayed pretty and intact. So, I'll read up on slashes and play Johnny Depp (either one of his barber characters) and make that boule think twice before erupting on me. And hathor...ash, potassium...just you being able to know that you should mention those two things puts you beyond my knowledge.

Those cookies make me happy - not sure why - but they do. Good luck with 4000 cookies!

The sorghum mafia is getting its act together and I think we'll see more of this in restaurants soon. In the meantime I made a simple sorghum bar to see what it tasted like. Next I'll try some of the suggestions above.