glennbech

Looks great. Looks like the right "height" for my preference. One of my favorites from the book (so far!) :-)

I can smell them from here :-) I am sorry that I don't feel qualified to comment on the brioche crumb, other than to say that it looks fantastic :-)

>The stainless steel bowl seems to me to maintain a cooler >temperature than a more neutral plastic container. I Just want to make a quick comment on this; The steel bowl is not cooler, it is just a better heat conductor. (When touching the bowl, the heat from your hand is transfered faster to the bowl, and it feels cooler) So, If you for example place a steel bown in a 30 degrees C hot water for fermentation, the heat will be transfered to your dough more effectively than with a plastic bowl.

Nice Bill! Yummy! 1) What shaping technique do you use for your bagels? Do you start with a ball and pinch a hole, or start with a string that you connect? 2) What's the glaze?

I just have a comment to Kitchenqueen's starter that wasn't frothy. I would be very reluctant to bake with a non-frothy starter. If I am not wrong, the froth is the work of the yeast, and one of my "health" signs. If my starter only has some small and large bubbles, but no froth I usually add a tablespoon of instant yeast , and bake it as a "mixed race bread". It Rises like a charm and still has that sour taste. It's important to minimize ones losses and frustratons :-)

We had a super-smooth passion fruit bruleè as a pre-desert at a Gordon Ramsay restaurant this Easter, and now I want to replicate it. Does anyone have rules of thumb on how much liquid I can add to a bruleè without having to worry about if it will set or not? I was thinking of just adding passion fruit pulp without seeds to the egg/cream mixture og a "regular" bruleè recipe. Is this a good start?

I echo that... It's only a matter of beeing *real* carefull in the beginning. Once the emulsion gets going, it gets a lot more tolerant. Practice Practice! The good thing about a mayo, is that it's relatively easy to start from scratch... If you break a emulsion sauce however, like the Bernaise .... You need to start over with charlots, wine, blah blah blah... Not funny! :-) Also... Beeing a little bit of a "purist", im not sure I'd like that spray veggie oil in my mayo, even if it's just a little bit. The once available here in Norway even smells a bit funny... This leads me to a question... Is there any way to "rescue" a broken mayo?

Maybe if I made 10-15 liters each time

I've been that sick from eating cheese pancakes at a dirty truck stop in the middle of nowhere in Turkey, South of Istanbul in the middle of the night. They had probably been lying around for ages, but was quite tasty. The effect came in about 20 -30 minutes, and was "acute" .) I was also seriously sick from eating some kind of milk porridge at a local flea market in Bogota, Columbia... Not to mention some strange Thai Insect with a juicy inside I consumed while beeing slightly intoxicated by another toxin I don't think I'll die from my stock, it, and if there is just a *slight* chance that i *Might* get sick, and that's the worst it can get, I think I'll take my chances with it .-) Thanks for all the responses

Thanks for the answers; I'll probably take my chances with it. I'll report in the thread if I get sick :-)

By the way; Salt also affects (slows down) gluten development. It is a known technique to mix together flour and wet ingredients without the salt, and let stand for 10-15 minutes, and then add the salt.. Salt and yeast activity shouldn't generally be a problem. I can add teaspoon of instant yeast to almost a half a kilo of flour, and add 10 grams of salt. The thing rises well anyhow... Do you have "rising problems", pardon me for asking :-)

Just a comment on this; I think you'll actually get more steam using ice cold water. The temp. wil fall a bit more in the oven that way I guess. Another thing; I've been doing the same in my electric oven, throwing directly at the bottom. Yesterday, however, I discovered that the floor of my oven is now out of shape. I think it has something to do with heating the metal up to almost 500F, and then throwing water at it. Did anyone else experience this?

Tejon; Amazing! :-) I'll have to try something like this for a dinner party or something like that. A perfect bread for sharing!

I had to reduce my beef stock by half, in a hurry this morning, and left a boiling hot reduced stock to cool in my saute-pan uncovered. I'll be back from work in 8 hours. Can anyone tell me how easily a stock gets spoiled? Does the same rule apply for chicken, duck and other stocks?

Ann_T those loaves awsome! Very nice colour and slice-job :-) Real shiny as well, are they treated with something, or is it just the steam?

Guess what arrived in the mail today? Cane bannetons from brotformen.de! :-) Had to try'em out immediately with a direct yeasted dough (20% wholemeal spelt, 80% AP flour, and lots of flax, sunflower and sessame seeds). It sure makes an interesting pattern! I can't wait to try'em out on my sourdough recipes

... Oh yes... Here he is at Gordon Ramsay at Claridge's. Good boy, good boy

... Sounds to me that you are doing all the right things :-) Did you buy the "Hand made loaf" by Dan Lepard ? (you can see him lurking thee forums from time to time ) I usually mix and match a few techniques into the B.B.A recipes. I never knead for a long time (only short 10-15 second kneads, at 15 minute intervals). I am certain that my "crumb" performance rocketed when I started using his techniques. I also do a few "stretch and fold"'s. (Like the B.B.A ciabate recipe) when I try to achieve a real open and light crumb. Another issue that you might consider is to reduce to flour for "sprinkeling" I've found myself adding way to much flour to the dough during shaping. Water or oil on the hands and work surface can often replace the tons of flour you see in the B.B.A book. You need that wet dough to get the open texture! Pictures?

Hi Concordal and welcome to the forum ! I have noticed this :-) The recipe actually says (step 7) that if you want to bake rustic, ciabata-style bread they should ble left to proof for 1-2 hours, and they will resemble and perform like ciabata. ... And also notice that the recipe is for baguettes. The result of that will be very different from a loaf, as the loaf will be heavier and restrict the rise in the oven. Ciabata and baguettes are lighter and will rise more easily in the oven I think. You mentioned that you had been baking loaves? Do you bake on a hot stone? In my experience, the hot surface and high liquid ratio and a "mature" (overnight) dough that has lots and lots of small gas pockets will rise mostly by "oven spring". I've had flat loaves blow up like soccer balls in my oven, it's amazing to watch :-) Just some Ideas, maybe you could tell us what kind of loaf you were shaping (weight?) and a little bit more about how your oven was set up for bakin?

Whale meat? Or is that imorted to the US?

RDB; It sounds like you are well connected :-) Im not sure, and time will tell... But there might be a certain age range where restaurant visits can be a problem? I'm thinking of the age 1-3 where they are a bit extra restless, and at the same time not so easy to talk reason to?

It's funny that you started discussing High end restaurants and children. We sat through a "Menu Prestiege" for lunch at "Gordon Ramsay's at Claridges" (1*), with our 9 month's old on Monday. They replied "Of course", when we asked if the kid was okay, and one of the waitstaff even gave him a spoon to hammer the high-chair with :-) The food was amazing by the way... I wish I could afford a 220 pound sterling lunch a bit more often :-) .... And did I mention that my baby boy absolutely loved the foi gras on brioche ? :-)

Oslo; For a high quality, high budget meal I would recommend Bagatelle. I've only been there twice, on special occations, but they are were both memorable dining experiences. Oscarsgate is a bit too "experimental" for my taste, and I think the owners are very much into the "gastronomical chemistry wave". When I visited, we did a 5 course menu, but In reallity, there was probably at least 25 "taste experiences". Each plate had so many things going on that you wouldn't imagine it. As an example, the waiter came in the middle of the meal with a raspberry and a test tube half full of red liquid. We were instructed to eat the raspberry and drink the drink at the same time. It gave a real interesting taste experience, and serves as a good example of what is going on over there. I believe Oscarsgate may have the most advanced Wine list in Norway at the moment. 10 points for the best foi gras I've ever had. Oro ended up as the choice for my wedding dinner, and the few times I've been there, the staff has made it memorable, both service and food-wise. But; Correct me If I am wrong but Oro and Bagatelle meals may seem a bit alike, and will probably be about the same kind of dining experience. Alex Sushi has, or had the reputation of beeing one of the best Sushi venues outside of Japan. If you're into that kind of thing. They are serious about their fish, and you'll have to pay from $60 up to $100 for the most advanced menu. "Restaurant Eik", connected to the Savoy Hotel, will give you excellent gourmet food for half the price of Bagatelle and Oro. Maybe a good place to "rest the wallet" :-) It is very popular and it has been known to be hard to get a reservation. Any other opinions on this venue? I've only visited once, and was very happy with the experience. "Ekerberg restauranten" has the best view of All I guess, but the one 6 course menu I had there was nothing compare to the other restautrants mentioned here. Now you've heard the same comment about this restaurant from me as well Bread Gourmet; Check out "Frosken", "Åpent Bakeri" and "Blings" for the best Artisan Bakeries in Oslo, if you're into that kind of thing :-) If the sun is shining it's worth noticing that there is a seafood restaurant "Solsiden" on the oposite side of Aker brygge, that will actually give you the sun until sunset. A bit noisy, since the celing is very high (some old building used in fishing). I've only had wine and oysters, so I don't know what the menu is like at the moment. If the sun is shining you might consider this as an alternative to the very crowded and a bit touristy "Aker brygge" area. Just my "50 cents"... A small comment about the cost. It seems that when dining with my wife, I always end up paying ~ $500 for a 5+ course menu, with wine by the glass for the "high end" places. (Bagatelle, Oro, Oscarsgate ). Most other restaurants you will end up paying about, maybe a little above half of that. Strange isn't it? :-)

Me, my wife and my 9 months old boy had lunch there yesterday. I would warmly recommend the boiled salted beef The boy also loved the pie my wife ordered .-)

... And for the ultimate cereal gourmet experience, I would recommend going to "Le Pain Quotidien" and try out their "Tertines" of freshly baked sourdough artisan bread. Im really interested in bread, and an eager home sourdough baker, so I am planning to see the best london has to offer on bakeries .-) I've been to Paul and Le Pain Quotidien, and are hoping to stop by "Baker / Spice" before we go home. Le Pain Quotidien was also very child friendly, with a pleasant "of course, we're not mean" when I asked if they had a chair for the kid