joancassell

I started with a variation of the bread, from the King Arthur Flour catalogue, having had no success with the Times recipe (too gloopy to handle). I then varied the King Arthur variation a bit. I used 13 3/4 oz. King Arthur AP flour, 3 oz. pumpernickel flour, 3 oz. mixed seeds (pumpkin, flax, toasted sesame, sunflower -- but I think you could use whatever you like), 1 1/2 tsp. sea salt, 1 5/8 cups spring water. I used a dough mixer (easier than the Kitchenaid, learned about these from a King Arthur breadmaking course) to blend, let it rise for 18 hours, folded it a few times on a floured board (needed a dough scraper to do this) made a ball with the help of the dough scraper, put it into a greased bowl (King Arthur's suggestion: lots easier than a towel), let it rise for 2 hours, poured it into a Le Creuset 5 qt buffet pot preheated in a 450 oven . Removed the top after 30 minutes, baked 35 minutes more, removed bread and let ot cool on a rack for an hour. It was about 108 to 110 when done. Delicious! Lots of flavor and texture, lots of holes, lovely crisp crust. So good I've been making it over and over. In fact some is in the oven right now. Yum! The Le Creuset pot gets stained inside, though, and I'm thinking of getting an Emil Henry stoneware 4 qt. pot for this, which is what King Arthur recommends. Tried bleach on the pot, even tried a special Le Creuset cleaning product, but the casserole has tan stains that I can't seem to remove.

Has anyone tried the cooking stone that Le Sanctuaire sells for $75? It looks like a tempting alternative to charcoal cooking (since I hate cleaning the grill afterwards). Or is this just lazy hopeful thinking?

Well, I've had some problems with my Blue Star 30" range. I still love it, but I can't say the folks at Blue Star have been responsive or, in fact, anything but dismissive when I asked for help. I couldn't adjust the simmer burner to turn down the heat; seems I needed a new burner handle; the one the burner came with was defective. The oven door kept sticking and I had to yank it open with both hands -- a nuisance when I was involved in roasting or baking. I had just moved into a new house with many problems associated with it, and by the time I got to the oven door, it was out of warranty. The door was now completely out of whack from all that yanking open and needed a new door lining, which I had to order from the distributor - the Blue Star people barely managed to say "call the distributor" -- showing complete disinterest in my predicament. Then the sparker on one burner went; I phoned the distributor (by this time I knew them only too well) and now that works. It's a lovely stove, cooks beautifully, but the quality control -- at least on the one I got -- is less than perfect, and the consumer relations of the Blue Star people s.. (well, lets say) stinks. Since I'm not mechanical, each problem involved a call to a repairman, scheduling, ordering the part, rescheduling, paying the repairman. Would I buy one again? Yes, I probably would. But I'd keep the distributor's name and contact information close, and make sure to have EVERYTHING wrong repaired within that first year, when it's still under warranty.

This should give you some idea for substitutions: http://www.bluechipgroup.net/ClearJel.html

The whisk on my 35 or 40-year old Kitchen Aid mixer broke and I bought a shiny new one from Kitchen Aid that fits perfectly! Did it online, too. They ask the model number and you get the correct whisk. You can probably get any other attachments (e.g. pasta rollers) from them as well.

I wear a man's denim shirt, when I remember. When I don't, I'm often sorry. I've tried to find something like it, or smock-like, in attractive washable fabric, for dinner parties. No luck. Perhaps someone at eGullet should make and sell them. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd be interested.

The Solaire looks tempting but let me display my ignorance and inquire: how is it fueled? Do you plug it into an electric socket, attach it to a gas container, or some other method? I guess I should know but I surely do not. I too was entranced by the Iron Chef cowboy steaks, they looked so deliciously charred on the outside and so wonderfully rare inside.

I found something from India called "unfiltered mustard oil" at an ethnic grocery here (the Missouri saleslady said cheerfullyL "if it's weird, we got it!"). I don't know if it's as strong as the Italian essence, but when good fruit is available here, in May or June, I'll try to make Mostarda. Should you find an internet or mail order source for the Italian essence, I'd be grateful if you'd pass it on. I found a recipe on the Internet similar to yours, but it called for reducing the syrup each day. What do you think?

I have had problems with my 30" BlueStar range. (1) I could not get the simmer burner to simmer, turned out I needed a new handle, the one I had was defective. (2) The hinge on the oven door kept sticking and had to be wrestled open. I had just moved into a new house, with many defects that needed fixing, and by the time I got to the door, my warranty was over (bought the range in January, it was not installed until late March). The appliance serviceman reported that forcing the door open pulled the door lining out of whack, and I needed a new lining as well as hinges. I called Pritzer-Painter, who were curt and unhelpful; call the distributor, I was told. The distributor ordered one, which was not in stock; they had to construct a lining with attached hinges. Four months and $260 later, plus $90 for the serviceman, I have an oven door that works. Two defects adds up to poor quality-control. (3) I'd also prefer it if the oven heated up to 550, rather than 500 (as did my unlamented previous Amana range), so that it did not take forever to heat a baking stone for artisan bread. I like my BlueStar a lot, it's a serious cooking machine, but David Rosengarten's rave review does not compensate for imperfect quality control and downright poor customer relations.

Divina, Thanks for the response. I'll try the store that has Indian foods in St. Louis. If I can find the senape (in St. Louis, or with your help), I'm perfectly willing to spend 3 days making a large quantity (After all, I spend that much time making gravlax, which I then freeze and eat and eat and eat! And it takes even longer to make preserved lemons.)

Divina, Mostardo di Cremona is difficult to find and extremely expensive. Have you any idea : how I might get some essence of senape, without going to Italy for it? I've tried every Italian website (in English) I could find with no success.

Thanks Kevin. I'm still a relative newbie. How do I contact Divina and/or the previous discussion of moustarda? I'll take a look at Molto Italiano.

Does anyone have a recipe that produces something similar to moustarda di cremona? John Ash gives a recipe for cherry-berry moustarda, used to marinate pork tenderloin, it's delicious, but I want to make something like the Italian classic, which I adore and could eat by the jar-ful.

My K45 Kitchen Aid mixer, with all the attachments (except for a pasta-roller, which I recently bought) is still going strong after more than 45 years. A spoke on the whisk just broke and I was able to buy a new whisk from Kitchen Aid (instead of their saying: it's an old model and we don't carry those parts any more, a la computer companies)

Joe, I haven't been using an oven thermometer at all, after getting burned once too many times trying to use tongs to grab my round one where it had fallen to the bottom of the oven. Just ordered a long Taylor one that can sit on the bars, as does yours. There is one down point for the Blue Star oven, for me. It does not go up to 550, just 500. What this means is that when I want to heat my oven stone it takes all that much longer to bring it up to the right temperature (I gave up on using the sides of my HearthKit because it took 2 hours to bring it up to 500). This is the only way my late unlamented Amana trumped the Blue Star.

Dear Joe: I also love my Blue Star. But one tiny problem: my oven thermometer does not hang properly on those thick grills, it keeps falling off, and is painful to retrieve in a hot oven. Any suggestions?

Have you tried freezing the softer cheese for an hour? Since folks often freeze "un-prime" cheeses, this wouldn't hurt the quality, but would allow you to grate more easily. IIRC, that's been the advice I've heard [and used, if I can reach far back into my kitchen memories]. ← Thanks! I'll give it a try. And next time I'm going to use serrano chiles -- the big fat jalapenos have no bite.

I could use advice on grating SOFT cheddar. Just tried a cheddar jalapeno bread recipe from Gourmet and had the devil's own time grating the extra sharp Cabot cheddar. The rotary grater and the microplane gave up on it; my Vitamix blender grated it but it rested on the bottom in a sticky mess that was difficult to extricate -- the Vitamix does not open from the bottom -- alas. (While I'm at it, has anyone had the same problems with jalapenos I've had in the past year or so? They seem to be getting larger and larger and milder and milder, so that the taste does not differ all that much from bell peppers. I've been using or adding serrano peppers to jalapeno recipes. Perhaps this is just the Midwest - they've altered them to fit bland Midwestern palates.

I have a question for Paula Wolfert. I've made your Moroccan bread twice now. It turned out well, but I was unable to figure out how to roll it around the inside of a bowl to make it round. It ended up kind of strange looking. Would just shaping it into a ball, turning the edges under, as one does with most round loaves, be okay.

Thanks! I ordered one on ebay, that should arrive any day now. It will be a great help with my oven.

I've found that if it turns out too sweet, some good-quality red wine vinegar (tablespoon to 1/4 cup to taste) improves it. It's also delicious with a little Dijon mustard added. Great with steak!

Thanks! Could you tell me more about a laser thermometer, what it costs, where one finds it?

Joe, thank you so much for the Blue Star info. I'm not sure I have the cujones to turn down the burner myself, but I can surely get someone to do it for me. It will make a big difference in my enjoyment of the Blue Star. The web site was great fun! I too love my range and like the fact that it looks SERIOUS, rather than being a piece of nouveau riche my-kitchen-cost-more-than-yours equipment.

It comes from the Third Edition of The Foodlover's Guide to Paris, by Patricia Wells (pp. 246-248). I halve it with some changes that have evolved over the years. It's an antsy bread, won't rise in the frig or a cold kitchen (I've finally started putting it into the microwave with 1 1/2 cups of water brought to a boil in the winter, when the kitchen is cold); no yeast, just a starter that takes four days to make, and then a piece of old dough is kept for the next batch of bread. If you want my actual recipe, I'd be delighted to give it to you. (My theory is that good cooks should be able to be generous with recipes -- unlike a woman I knew years ago, who always left out one ingredient when she gave a recipe!).

I CAN turn down the heat relatively quickly when the Hearth Kit is out -- it's just that removing it is such a big deal. And yes, the Blue Star is great! Although the low burner is not quite low enough, even though I put nails in every other hole to lower the heat. That's where the simmer mat (also recommended by Paula Wolfert ) comes in. I don't think it's the thermometer, although it's worth trying a new one.