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cajungirl

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Everything posted by cajungirl

  1. cajungirl

    Preserving Summer

    You bet So far this year, stewed figs, strawberry jam, pickled okra! God, I love this time of year
  2. I didn't go all the way through this thread, but the past two pages surely have made me hungry. Last weekend I made the Cheddar, Chive Potato bread and had to fight off my friends so that I could have some. I've made it before and its always wonderful. This weekend, I think I'll use the same basic dough, but instead of the cheddar and chives, it'll be caramelized onions and walnuts...what do you think?
  3. I keep my SAS instant yeast in the freezer, I buy in bulk and its still active after two years.
  4. and what a wonderful read this book is!
  5. I don't think you are in danger of having to find another hobby.. I'll bet theres a difference...probably a big one. But, I really want to know the results when you do this.. Please document well and pass along what you learn.
  6. Congrats!!! I think you did a great job...wish you were my kid
  7. I always check the temp from the bottom of the loaf, in two or three places, that way you reduce the possibility of hitting a wrong spot and not getting an accurate reading. Also, I go for 195-210, depending on the type of bread I'm baking.
  8. Hi Glenn, Hmmmm. It was my understanding that the introduction of steam is for the crispness of the crust, not the color. But of course, I could be wrong...I frequently am, you know My guess would be that the oven wasn't hot enough. Since it was an unfamiliar oven (I assume someone else's oven), did you have a stone available to use? Do you use a thermometer to test for doneness? Maybe it wasn't quite finished baking. A little off subject, this weekend I made BBA ciabatta (but I used my sourdough starter as cognitivefun suggested). It came out very well, oh so tasty. Then, yesterday I made BBA Chive and Cheddar bread. I had forgotten just how good it is. I made a little "wetter" than Reinhardt calls for and it was just sooooo good. Its a potato bread and has so much wonderful flavor. You'll need to try it and let me know what you think. Peggy
  9. Thanks Bill. I have a formica countertop and I just thought that the water would be a little less messy than oil. Also, if I'm folding several times and using a bench knife to help scrape the dough together to fold, wouldn't I begin to incorporate too much oil? What do you think? Thanks
  10. Glenn, I'm glad you got it. My copy is a mess because I've used it so much. You're right, he is truly passionate about his craft. I'm sure you'll get a lot out of it and if you're like me, will be inspired by him
  11. The weather finally cooled enough for me to bake this past weekend. Teh "Great California Heatwave" has moved on, whew! I started refreshing my starter on Tues eve, again on Wed eve, Thurs eve and Fri morning. After 4 hours I mixed dough (used Peter Reinhardt's BBA's basic sourdough proportions) and let ferment for nearly 4 hours then shaped??, not exactly, it was a really wet dough. Thanks to what I've read here, I spritzed my counter top with water, wet my hands and a bench knife and was able to fold it several times. As an experiment, half was baked Fri evening the other half went into the fridge. The first loaf had nice holes, but only moderate oven spring....but mighty tasty! The second loaf had nice holes, and much better oven spring....still mighty tasty. I discovered that with dough thats very wet, instead of slashing, kitchen shears are better for me, didn't seem to deflate as much without the drag on the dough. One of these days I'll get a digital camera and share pictures. Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone who contributes here for the knowledge you're all sharing. And especially for sharing your less than successful endeavors, they kept me going when I was awfully discouraged Keep it going!!
  12. I got a response to a requesst for proportions from a mill that sells vital wheat gluten and they said to use 1 tablespoon per 1 cup of flour...I haven't tried it yet though because its hotter than hell here and I just can't light the oven
  13. Hi Evan, What is "sour salt"? I've never heard of it ← Citric acid. ← Thanks. I've used ascorbic acid to help the yeast feed, but never heard of citric acid.
  14. Hi Evan, What is "sour salt"? I've never heard of it
  15. Glenn, I also own "The Italian Baker", but I bought it second-hand quite some time back, forgot I had it, and haven't used it yet. I have heard great things about it, especially the "crocodile bread" its very wet, like ciabatta. I've become obsessed with sourdough lately. I think its time for me to take a break and get back to commercial yeast levened bread for a while. But the weather is so hot right now, that I won't be doing any baking...this heatwave is horrible. But I can tell you that I've used 'Bread Baker's Apprentice" since it came out and I think its one of my best books. Oh, and congrats on the new little one!
  16. Hi Glenn, You will certainly get better and more complex flavor by mixing a poolish or biga, after it has had time to ferment, you can retard in fridge overnight before mixing your final dough. Do you have access to Peter Reinhardt's "Bread Baker's Apprentice"? If so, he does some wonderful two-day breads.
  17. Oh yeah, I forgot...I have no air conditioning. We don't need it here in the bay area.... (at least not normally)
  18. Well, it isn't normal here (San Jose), but when I got home yesterday, my patio registered 102 in the shade. Though I'm originally from New Orleans, I'm just not used to it anymore. Sooooo...lots of ice cold watermelon, a salad Nicoise and sherbet last night. Tonight, salad with cold grilled chicken atop, more watermelon and I may make ice cream or a peach sorbet! But, NO real cooking!
  19. A word of caution!!! Be sure to use only organic grapes. You wouldn't want to put pesticides in your bread
  20. I too make lemon honey jelly---how about the addition of ginger, I've not done it, but have often thought about it.
  21. I took a look at this and it would be wonderful, but of course, its not available for my model I did send an email to them though to let them know that they would sell a mountain of them if they would be available for all models!
  22. I just purchased "Bread a Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes" by J. Hamelman. I haven't had time yet to really read, just thumbed through, but it looks amazing. I'm really excited to read and try some of his methods and recipes. I've been using "Bread Baker's Apprentice" since it came out and have had success, but its time to try new things....
  23. This is what I mean about using too much. If you use the amount I suggested, 1 lightly heaped teaspoon to 1Kg of dough, then it will neither sweeten the bread nor soften the crumb and crust. Cajungirl, you would love the crunch of my crust, and I don't have to bake it black to get it. You do learn a bit in 25years of making sourdough, I first learned from a German baker. ← You are so right Bill. I baked this weekend and used diastatic malt, not very much though. I most certainly had a nice dark crispy crust, thick and crackly. Thanks for your guidance.
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