thirtyoneknots

I'm not the top expert by a long shot but I do bake bread frequently. I'm just offering the best I got, if anybody has better info please do tell. Dough is generally considered properly proofed when you can gently press two fingers into it and the indentations will stay. If the dough has not yet risen enough, the density and gluten strength will typically cause the indentations to fill back in very quickly. Most recipes say dough is properly proofed when it has doubled in bulk. Over-proofed dough has expanded to the point of breaking or at least weakening the gluten bonds, and though I haven't done this in a long time (knock on wood) what I recall is that indenting the dough is likely to deflate it somewhat, since the air pockets are weak. Instead of benefiting from oven spring, over-proofed bread has a tendency to collapse. Out of curiosity, is there any particular reason you are wanting to use instant yeast here? Nothing wrong with it, of course.

I've never seen anything calling for yeast to be proofed that long. If you desire more yeasty flavor and don't have a natural levain, make a small pre-ferment with a pinch of yeast dissolved in water and flour. I normally use a 1:1 by weight mix of flour and water (subtracting those quantities from the other ingredients, of course) but some breads use wetter pre-ferments to different effects. I'm sure someone here could help you with what type is most appropriate. If you want to skip the pre-ferment you would just add the instant yeast directly to the dry ingredients. The trick to using instant yeast is that you have to add hotter water than you might otherwise for regular old active dry, like 120-130F. These rising times are likely to be shortened somewhat with instant yeast, make sure you keep an eye on it so it doesn't over-proof. My microwave will pretty reliably take a cup of tap water to the correct temp in 30 sec, or 2 cups in 1 minute. I've never tested it with larger amounts.

I did a little scrape of tonka in the whip topping, for funsies. Came out great.

Roast bone marrow and Manhattans, followed by duck breast with kale and hash brown, 1996 Delas Hermitage Les Bessards. Key lime pie for dessert by request.

Out of curiosity, what have other co-op members cooked before on such a budget?

So again only peripherally related to the book itself but seems like a good place to share. Some time back when trimming pork butt for various purposes I got tired of trying to be meticulous when trimming around the oddly-shaped shoulder blade bone, so I just cut it out quickly leaving a fair bit of meat stuck to it, and set it aside to maybe trim later. Instead what I ended up with was a partial load for the (hot) smoker so in the interest of efficient use of space, I grabbed these unscraped bones, dredged them in the standard dry cure mix from the book, then rinsed them off after a few hours and tossed the bones in the smoker. Later used them in beans like you might use a ham hock--and it was one of the best pots of beans I had ever done up to then. Since then I have started just sort of cutting across the weird-shaped side of the bone, leaving a pretty significant amount of meat there, then following the same procedure. Each shoulder only yields one of these of course, but oh my my. I think I like them better than the standard smoked hocks that are available to me. Not exactly the greatest innovation ever revealed on eGullet, but after another successful manufacture last night I figure I'd share. White bean & greens soup is on for tonight, using one of these.

Count me in the same crowd. What's the rationale for such a low budget? A dollar per person would be a challenge but doable to make nutritious, if austere, food. Half that and you're talking heaps of potatoes, rice, or pasta barely dressed up at all.

Yes sir, that's the way to go. And if you've got the means to make andouille, then you could presumably convert some of those raw hocks into smoked ones, yeah?

Ok, ok, all fair points. And yes I started doing it for the flavor and the challenge, too. In honesty I only learned about the weirdness of commercial bread when I started investigating why homemade tasted different. I've lately been moving towards "advanced" more ancient technique, namely sourdough, so my question was probably an unfair knee-jerk. Thanks for enlightening me.

Not to be That Guy, but to what degree is L-cysteine related to the types of additives (many of which are reportedly dough relaxers) in commercial bread that have prompted so many people to learn to make it themselves? I couldn't quite figure out how to word this in a way that isn't leading and sort of passive-aggressive, but that's not my intent. I will, however, confess to being a traditionalist on the order that I'm always a little suspicious of Modernist Cuisine (the concept, not the book per se). I mean after all, pita is one of the oldest types of bread, long predating dough relaxers.

Out of curiosity, what would be the reasoning behind using plain raw hocks? Personally I feel like RB&R should have relatively little meat, but it should all be very strongly flavored. To this end I have been making my own andouille and pickle meat for several years now, but I used to use smoked hocks to good effect. I have had problems with overly gelatinous beans trying to scale up a recipe using hocks, might want to increase their numbers at a slower rate than the other ingredients. eta scaling bit

I know a lot of bartenders who would love to know what you come up with.

I think of 8-10 oz thin glasses as being more of a fizz glass (ie, for "tall" drinks without ice). Highball more like 12-14 oz.

Season for fresh peanuts would be late summer, like July/August I think. I remember reading that the drought was very hard on both the peanut and pecan industries in the state, one source I read (no idea where now) basically indicated that for all intents and purposes Texas did not produce a commercial peanut crop in 2011, so you may have some difficulty in sourcing them either way. Ranch foreman I knew near Elgin said he knew people who grew them in the area though, and told our friend from S. Carolina he could get her some raw to make boiled. Never did happen, not sure if it was the drought or if he forgot.

I went ahead and made the thing according to Peterson's method, curing it for nearly two weeks. Looks like it worked just fine, but plans seem to have changed somewhat so I may be freezing the thing instead of cooking it in the near term. Basically just yielded a big old hunk of pork butt that's more or less firm and very very red. I'll try to remember to post results here once I cook the thing.

Ms. Wolfert advocates confiting sausages in The Cooking of South West France. I recall either in the book or in eGullet she advocates that it's even an excellent treatment for humble link Italian sausage from the grocery store. Sounds cool, but I can't claim I've ever tried it. Advantage would be that the elongated shape would make sausages easier to pot than whole duck legs, which have to be stacked just so to get them covered right.

My preferred cuisine when dealing with these situations is to go for Cajun/Creole dishes--things like Gumbo, Jambalaya, Red Beans & Rice. It can be made well in advance, makes economical use of very flavorful meats, gets stretched further with rice, and as an added bonus many if not most people have ever had a truly great example of the cuisine unless they are from Louisiana (and even then...). Downside: it would be difficult to adapt these to be meatless, and if you're making gumbo the right way it won't be gluten-free.

Sounds like a toddy would be nice, or subbing into some of the old Jerry Thomas single-serving punches.

The sugar is a nod to modern palates, I get that. But where did you come up with putting Chartreuse in this? Not that it sounds bad, I've just never seen a Bennett quantified that way.

You have to be extremely careful infusing tobacco into alcohol. People can get very, very sick that way.

I find that the more premium sweet vermouths like Cocchi and Carpano are more durable than Cinzano or Martini & Rossi, if that helps.

That's called a Doctor Cocktail. And yes, it's wonderful.

The Saveur Cooks Authentic __________ series, particularly the Italian one. Shame that the series seems to have petered out after only three volumes.

Didn't think to mention before, but if you have Half Price Books where you live, it's a great place to shop for cookbooks. Probably close to half of mine came from there, including a lot of favorites. And cheap!

Oxidized dry vermouth has a charm all its own, at least for this guy.