paulraphael

I've suspected some of this. It seems that there's a lot of batch to batch variation in cookies that must be based on variables that we're not controlling (this is cookie baking, not analytical chemistry ... right??) I've had identical recipes turn out differently two days in a row, so I can only assume this can influence our comparison of recipes. We might think we're comparing recipes when we're really comparing relative humidity, or karma. I especially wonder about this when people declare a particular recipe "bland" compared with another, when the ingredients are the same and the proportions extremely close.

One reason is to make scaling much easier. A bread baker knows if he needs to make two loaves or a hundred, and in each case how many kilos of flour it will take. He can start with that flour weight, and with very simple math calculate the amounts of all the other ingredients. Another reason is to help compare recipes. When they're given in bakers percentages, you can directly compare any of them. With traditional recipe format, you'll be dealing with whatever recipe size the authors chose to give you. You have to do math just to get the recipes on a common footing. And obviously, this is an even bigger nuissance when the recipes use volume measurements. Cup sizes do not vary in the U.S., (it's always 8 fl oz) but no matter where you are, how much flour actually fits in a cup will depend on how it was transported, stored, handled, scooped, and measured.

I love bakers percentages, but the standard system stops being useful when you're dealing with dishes that have a main ingredient besides flour. Are there variations that bakers use in these cases? When I've worked on dessert recipes, and needed to compare known recipes to find out what's going on, I've often had to use a different ingredient as the 100% ingredient. Typically chocolate! A lot of tortes, mousses, and even brownies have little to no flour in them. But standardizing the chocolate at 100% puts them on an equal footing. Other kinds of baked goods might be best described with yet a different 100% ingredient. Is this a standard way to do it, or is there more accepted (probably smarter) way?

Maybe Jacques just doesn't keep AP flower in the pantry?

Such a great movie, for all the reasons mentioned. Anyone know how it was received in France? I'd be really curious to see some French reviews (ideally translated, or at least summarized).

I would just use butter and an intensely flavored, well strained fruit coulis (or combination of coulis and liqueur). This recipe is for a chocolate butter sauce which is ganache-like, but is more versatile and easily flavored. A lower proportion of liquid would let you get the consistency of a ganache filling. Please post your results ... I'm curious to know.

Curious that Jacques mixes almost equal amounts pastry and bread flower. Isn't that a bit like making all purpose flower? Thoughts from the pastry geniuses?

are the methodologies all similar as well (creaming the butter and sugar, oven temp, etc.)? i look forward to hearing about your results.

this Peter Reinhart recipe is the best I've had.

this sounds like a project for Thomas Keller. I can see him presenting a Gum Course.

It is, unless you happen to have a really good source for milk fat. I use manufacturing cream from Berkeley Farms, which I can usually get for about $4-$5/half gallon. That's a lot more expensive than typical butter and close to the cost of the fancy-pants brands. But it gives me something to do, I guess. Hobbies can be expensive. ← $5 a half gallon doesn't sound expensive to me. Supermarket butter costs $4-5 a pound where I am; how much do you get from a half gallon? And how is the quality of manufacturing cream?

Any sense of how much butter you get from a quart of cream? I'm curious to figure out the cost of homemade butter vs. factory butter vs. farm butter.

As far as I know this has to do with the churning action of rapidly boiling water. The vigorous stirring action of the boil emulsifies a lot of the fat and smaller protein particles that would otherwise rise to the top where you could skim them off.

The question is what happens to that additional energy at the rolling boil--does it somehow make it into the food, or does it just escape as steam at a faster rate (hence the rolling boil ... )?

When I made ice cream commercially, we made the rum raisin by soaking the raisins in rum overnight ... no heating required to get them soft, plump and drunk. This would be worth trying with the vanilla, assuming the immediate craving isn't too overwhelming.

Interesting. I've wondered about this. Have you tried preheating the oven with the stone to a much higher temp (500 or so) and then letting the air temp drop down to regular baking temp before putting the pie in? Stones are an interesting variable because the retain a ton of heat (high thermal mass) but don't transfer the heat to the food as quickly as metal (low conductivity) and they they also block the convection that you'd get with food sitting on a rack. I think the biggest help for a pie crust would be a stone that's hotter than the ambient temperature of the oven. By the way, the slow conductivity makes it highly unlikely that you'd break any kind of glass or ceramic bakeware by setting it on a hot stone. It won't cause a drastic temperature change like putting it under a broiler or quenching it in water.

Raspberry Thyme Sauce for Pork Serves 4 as Main Dish. I came up with this as a sauce for roasted pork tenderloin. I tried a few different approaches before getting to this one, which is a tart, intensely flavored glaze. Since then I've learned that it's not an original idea, but I still like it! It works well with any roasted or sautéed pork dish. 1 shallot, finely chopped 1/3 c raspberry preserves 2 c poultry or veal stock 1/2 c white wine and/or white wine vinegar* 2 tsp Balsamic vinnegar (use goof stuff, or leave it out) several stems fresh thyme 1 fl oz butter salt, pepper *For a very tart sauce, use all vinegar. For a mild sauce, use all wine. For a medium sauce, use 1/4 cup of each. Deglaze the pan drippings from the pork with the stock, and wine/vinegar. Stir in shallots. Reduce by 1/2 Add 3/4 of the thyme and all the raspberry preserves Reduce until it's a light syruppy consistency, then reduce heat Add remainder of the thyme, and the balsamic vinnegar (if using) Salt and pepper to taste. Strain into warmed serving vessel Swirl in Butter Keywords: Dinner, Easy, Main Dish, Pork, Sauce ( RG1995 )

Chocolate Butter Sauce Serves 6 as Dessert. This is the most versatile and delicious chocolate sauce I've found. I first learned about it from James Peterson. It's infinitely variable. Compared with ganache based sauces, you have more control over flavor and consistency, less milk flavor diluting the chocolate, and more sheen. Most hot fudge sauces taste like Hershey's Syrup in comparison. The drawback is that it's a more fragile emulsion than ganache, so it's best used fresh. It can be refrigerated and reheated, but you have to do it with care. 4 oz Bittersweet Chocolate*, at room temperature, chopped into small chunks 113g 3 fl oz Liquid** (approx) (84g) 1-1/2 oz Butter, cool, in small pieces (42g) *I like a dark, complex, strongly flavored chocolate, like Valrhona Guanaja. If I'm not adding any additional flavoring, I'll brighten up the taste of the chocolate by blending 2-1/2 ounces Guanaja with 1-1/2 ounces Manjari (a brighter, more aromatic Valrhona chocolate). If I'm adding a sweet flavoring (liqueur, etc.) I'll blend 3-1/2 ounces Guanaja with 1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate. **Liquid can be water, strong coffee, liqueur, fruit brandy, fortified wine, whisky, etc.. You can adjust the amount to control consistency (add more if the sauce will be used on ice cream, for example) 1. melt chocolate in the liquid over medium-low heat in a heavy saucepan. keep liquid well below a simmer. 2. lower heat or remove from heat, and swirl in the butter. if you do it all right and keep the temperature moderate, the butter and chocolate will stay emulsified, and you will have a glassy-smooth texture, like ganache but with a greater sheen. 3. If you refrigerate leftovers and need to reheat it, let it come to room temperature slowly, without disturbing it. then heat in a water bath over water that's below a simmer. Stir very gently. Keywords: Dessert, French, Easy, Chocolate, Sauce ( RG1994 )

I've gotten it to work ... pre-chopped with a knife to very small pieces. more like 1/4 inch. then pulsed carefully, with the processor much less than half full. I'd think a real grinder would do a much better job, but I've never had one. Partially freezing the meat is probably a good idea, as is using a blade that's sharper than mine (not quite blunt but getting there).

With these tortes/cakes you should start by deciding what kind of texture you want. I've found three basic families: souflé based (light and fluffy, made with whipped egg whites), custard based (denser and mousse-like, made with whole eggs or eggs plus yolks), and ganache-based (even denser, usually made in ramekins with an underbaked center ... they're typically made with cream, and without egg whites). After trying a ton of recipes, I found myself liking the texture of the second kind the most. They can be made really creamy and dense and intense, but still light enough that they melt in your mouth. My version (very intense and easy to make) is here.

who could argue with that?

Yeah, same impression. Appears to be designed to look great in photos. I'm also really wary of all these manufacturers advertising higher and higher wattages to make you think the things are powerful. It's like trying to sell you a car because it gets worse mileage. Delonghi sells a 1000 watt mixer ... I looked up some specs and found 40 quart Hobart floorstanding mixers with lower watt motors than this. The hardcore mixers advertise horsepower, which is the actual output of the thing, and consider lower wattage, not higher, a design goal. These are mixers that could probably hold three or four Delonghi and Cuisinart mixers in their bowl, and turn them into merengue! Unfortunately the consumer mixers don't seem to advertise power output, so you have to trust word of mouth to know how burley they really are.

I haven't actually tried it, so I've told you everything I know. It's mentioned in 'Desserts by Pierre Hermé' ... i don't remember him going into much more detail than what I posted, but I'll take a look.

I mostly make tarts, but the challenges are the same. I've used all the tricks that MaryMc mentions. They definitely help, but it stll can be a challenge to get a crisp bottom shell when the ingredients are moist. Here's a trick from Pierre Hermé that I haven't tried yet: keep a stockpile of stale crumbls from ladyfingers or genoise or sugar cookies, and use them to lightly line the bottom of the shell to soak up excess moisture. Has anyone tried this?

I'm not sure about the specific problem you're having, if the ganache really was luke warm. I can imagine the loaf pan causing the recipe to not turn out as intended, though. Most of the chocolate tortes I've seen that are based on a ganache are intended to be underbaked in ramekins, so the center stays liquid. That's usually the point of the ganache batter (althought these are typically made with just yolks or mostly yolks; egg whites can muck up the texture of a molten center). Is that what the original recipe called for?