tino27

NancyH -- I had to dig through the 2006 Event Planning thread, but I found a link to the Cohousing complex where the main event will be held on Saturday. Great Oak Cohousing

Nancy, I found a room at the Lexington Hotel At Detroit Metro Airport. Granted, it is about a 30 minute drive to Ann Arbor, but I got a room for $53/night with wi-fi access (my most important need) as well as free parking and I think there was a mini-fridge/microwave involved, too. It had a surprisingly high rating on Priceline.

I'm a #1 (obviously) and a #3.

A few answers of mine ... * Thursday night dinner ... both sound appealing, but if you can hook up a great Szechuan meal, I think I'd prefer that. * All the bread from the bread workshop will be given out to participants (or really whomever wants them) that day. I am making fresh bread on Saturday morning for the afternoon and evening festivities. So, I expect every loaf we make on Friday to "disappear." * Kerry's chocolate/pastry workshop is in the afternoon in the same space, so I'm thinking either 8:30-12:30 or 9:00-1:00 on Friday, August 6th for the bread workshop. Personally I'd prefer the 8:30-12:30 as that gives us 30 minutes to clean up our space and Kerry time to set up for her workshop. * Saturday morning is traditionally spent out at the markets shopping for ingredients. Whereas I, the bread guy, will be in the kitchen space (same as the workshops) making the breads. Those who want to help me or who might want more practice are more than welcome to come. It won't be nearly as structured as the workshop, and I'll probably be starting fairly early to make sure I get everything baked in time.

Of course you can make requests! The only thing I have to balance is that I will only have 4 hours to present the entire workshop in. And while that sounds like a lot of time, when dealing with bread, that isn't very long. Some breads (like brioche) are an overnight bread (start it the night before and finish it the next day). Since I suspect we will have attendees with varying levels of experience, I don't want to pick a bread which would require steps I can't demonstrate during the class. That being said, I can probably make brioche work. As well as sweet potato bread (which, prasantrin, is one of my favorites ... your mother has good taste!).

Just wanted to bump this back up to the top. I just booked my hotel for the weekend and am getting excited that it is only what, 7 weeks away? I was wondering if Tammy had any additional news in terms of venues/restaurants that have definitely been locked in. As for the bread workshop, I am putting together materials now and will start actively tracking participants towards the beginning of July. Based on the last time I did a workshop, I would suspect that there will be a minimal fee to attend (~ $5) which will cover the cost of printed materials and ingredients.

So it sounds like unless I'm willing to sift out and finely grind the bran from the product I found at the farmers market (which did have some fairly good sized pieces of bran in it), I should probably stick to a blend of whole wheat and AP flour. Thanks for the advice, however. I may just try the techniques mentioned one of these days when I want to shoot for 100% whole wheat.

I found some freshly milled whole wheat flour at my farmers market yesterday and bought a bag with the intention of making some whole wheat fettuccine noodles out of it. Which, in fact I did with a 50/50 blend with AP flour. The noodles came out quite lovely and really the only thing different between the 50/50 blend and using 100% AP flour was that I needed to add in some extra water to the recipe and had several hydration / relaxation waits between various steps of making the pasta. So naturally, I began to think last night, how would I alter my recipe / technique if I went to 100% whole wheat flour? Would I even want to? My current recipe calls for two large eggs per pound of flour. To that I added about a tbsp of olive oil, two pinches of kosher salt, and probably about 1/4 cup of water. Any thoughts on doing 100% whole wheat pasta? BTW, if you want to see the results of my experiment, check out the link in my signature.

As I was remarking to friends of mine who get the Food Network, but not the Cooking Channel, it's essentially Food Network Rebooted. While I appreciate re-airing some series that I miss from years ago (Two Fat Ladies and the original Iron Chef series ... well not COMPLETELY original because they've changed the background music), most everything else is a variation on what I can already see on the Food Network. Because the Cooking Channel wasn't part of my cable package already, I had to pay $5 to add it. I made sure as to inquire when the billing cycle closes (June 28th) so that if I don't want to keep it, I can call in time to cancel it before being billed again. Unless some compelling programming comes along soon, I'll be canceling it. At least I'll have a couple of weeks to make my final decision.

Soft flour is going to have lower protein levels in it than hard flours. This would be more suitable for baked goods with a more tender crumb like cakes, muffins, etc. That doesn't mean it can't be used for bread, and in fact, traditionally the flour used for making baguettes is a lower protein flour. There is a way to gauge what percentage of protein is in the flour through some mathematical wizardry, and I think it is in one of Peter Reinhart's books. Unfortunately, I don't have the books in front of me to check. If you have some AP flour with a known protein content, you can try this test. Take 50 grams of known AP flour and 50 grams of your mystery flour. Add 30 grams of room temperature water to each and stir to combine each. Give them about 10-15 minutes to hydrate as much as they can. The higher the protein in the flour, the more water it will absorb. Gauge the results of your mystery against the known quantity of your AP flour with water.

Alex, I'm pretty sure Tammy has also booked that space during the day on Friday for the workshops. At least that was the impression I got from what she said earlier upthread. Tammy, would you mind verifying that?

Kerry Beal: Do we want to stagger our workshops on Friday, so people can attend both? I'm not worried about kitchen space, as the main room has those wonderful long tables, but I will need the ovens (at least one and both if I can get them). Everybody: Per usual, I will be happy to supply any of the breads required for our usual Saturday afternoon noshing as well as for dinner. I'll be baking off the breads for Saturday's activities on Saturday morning (in lieu of the market visit), so as you begin to plan your appetizers / dishes, if you have a specific bread component, shoot me a PM and I'll be happy to work something out. In about a month, I'll start posting more details (along with attendees) about the bread workshop. So far I've got LuckyGirl and Darienne. Sadly, we won't have prasantrin's +1 joining us this year.

I just got a priceline offer of some bonus cash so I started bidding. I went up to 50( 40 with 10 bonus cash) for Ann Arbor and was denied. I said " screw it" and went to the airport zone. I paid 30( plus 10 bonus cash) for the Crowne Plaza( 3 star). I'm ok with the 30 min drive to Ann Arbor since I'm saving so much money on the hotel!! CaliPoutine -- Is there a link you can provide for the "airport zone"? Thanks!!

tammylc -- I'm definitely in for the weekend and definitely willing to do a bread workshop on Friday. My only other question is will it be possible to use the common area kitchen and stove on Saturday morning to bake off the bread for the dinner on Saturday night? I normally skip the Market shopping on Saturday morning anyway, so it isn't a problem for me. And, in fact, any other eG'er or member of your community who wants to help is certainly welcome to join me. If I remember correctly, the stove had a double oven, right? Tom

So then technically, Palak Paneer could be called Saag Paneer, but not necessarily the other way round (if something other than spinach were used). Correct? And, yes, that did help. I've seen it labeled on menus both ways and now I know the difference.

Had lunch recently at a local Indian restaurant and decided on getting what was labeled simply "Paneer" on the menu. When it came out, it was what I was expected, curried spinach with paneer, but when I started researching it later on, I came across two different names for what appears to be spinach with cheese, Palak Paneer vs. Saag Paneer. Is the difference in name regional? Are there subtle differences in these two dishes? I also noticed that spinach with chickpeas can be referred to as Palak Chana vs. Saag Chana. I guess I'd just like to know which name to use when I am describing the dish. Thanks!!

How much water do you use? Does it matter? I probably use about 1/8 - 1/4 cup of water. I pull out the 1/4 cup dry measuring cup, fill it almost full, and then dump it onto my pre-heated baking sheet.

Yes, higher hydration does reduce grigne. The more water in the dough, the less "structure" the uncooked dough has. Where I always slash my French batards (at 65-70% hydration), I never bother with my ciabatta (85% hyrdation) because the spot where I make my slash will simply "fill in" before the loaf has a chance to set up in the oven.

Some friends of mine were cleaning out the apartment of a dear friend who had passed on when they found these two bottles of liquor. This one is apparently from Venezuela: And this one we really can't figure out because none of us were sure what language was even on the bottle: Can anyone out there help me to identify what each of these liquors is and provide links or any background information you might have? Thanks!!

I, too, got talked into a set of these knives by my college friend's little brother. And at the time, they were the best things I've ever used. Since then, I've added/replaced knives as needed, but the one Cutco knife I go back to time and again (and actually carry with me in my knife roll) is the bread knife. I have come across its equal, but none superior. When taking bread classes at the local cooking school I was SHOCKED to see that my Cutco was a far superior and more effective knife. I also like (and still use) the serrated steak knives, too. I've kept the older knives, if for no other reason than to have a spare in case I have help in the kitchen and don't want people screwing up my Henkels or Shuns.

Perhaps a roasted red pepper aioli?

Apparently, according to this Consumerist link the Double Down should be hitting local KFC stores on April 12th ... Thoughts (other than gagging)?

If my dining options are limited to the big boys, my preference is for a Wendy's double with cheese. And their fries, when done well, are also quite good. However, if I'm home in Akron, when my craving for a good burger rears its head, it is usually satisfied by a Swenson's Galley Boy. Something about the combination of the meat, the cheese, the two sauces and the toasted bun. In fact, I even wrote about it on my blog. Crap, now I'm suddenly craving one.

I hesitate to call the books that Reinhart has published "cookbooks," but I suppose in the strictest sense of the word, they are. Cookbooks have traditionally been full of recipes that people blindly follow with no idea of the how's or why's of cooking (or baking). Each of the Reinhart books I own spends a good deal of time talking about the science of bread baking before any recipes start showing up. Thus my reticence to call them cookbooks.

Most anything by Peter Reinhart would serve your needs well.