djyee100

I've been told that for a slow overnight rise on the counter, the room temp shd ideally be between 62-68F. I'll use a standard amt of yeast for an overnight rise in the fridge. If I leave the dough out on the counter, I'll significantly reduce the amt of yeast. The room temp is usually 62-65F. If you're reducing the amt of yeast and letting the dough sit overnight at a very cool temp, at least the dough is hydrating and releasing simple sugars. Sometimes if you let the dough return to warm room temp, and give it time to get into gear again, the dough will rise pretty quickly (finally) as the yeasties grow and eat those sugars. Another possibility--what temp is the water with which you are mixing the dough? could that be cooling the dough down too much and inhibiting the yeast?

I wonder about this technique. I bet it tastes OK, but unless you strain the broth you might have some gunky gray unappetizing things floating in your soup--the coagulated proteins and bone bits that are normally skimmed and strained out when you make stock. Any raw bones will produce that scummy stuff. Maybe not a ham bone, though. Pam R has the right idea, cook the meat (or bones), and strain the broth, then make the soup.

I was going to suggest that you make up some red chile sauce, and store it in the freezer for a later use. But then I saw this For anyone else who is drooling over this dish, the recipe is available here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/vie...le-Sauce-233545 wow.

Not a cookbook, but a Saveur article about Ethiopian food in its April 2008 issue (No. 110). With recipes, of course. The article is available in PDF format on the author's website here: http://www.writerati.com/images/images/Ethiopia.pdf More about the author here: http://www.writerati.com/ I like those giant wheels of bread and spicy sauces.

I'm reviving this thread because someone asked me about breadbaking books. I would recommend Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice for his explication of breadbaking theory. I always refer to Reinhart's book whenever I have a question about breadbaking, or when I'm troubleshooting. I've had problems with some of his recipes, though. Sometimes Reinhart's technique can be a little idiosyncratic. I suggest reading a range of bread books, not only Reinhart's, for exposure to different methods. In my early days of breadbaking, I liked Judith Jones' The Book of Bread. Jones was the book editor who discovered Julia Child, and she wrote this book with her husband. A well put-together book, with clear instructions and reliable recipes. Now out-of-print, but available thru used book sites like http://www.abebooks.com/ For bread recipes, I especially like anything of Deborah Madison's. Madison is the vegetarian cooking guru, so one might not think of her immediately when it comes to breadbaking. But she was instrumental in setting up the famous, now defunct Tassajara Bakery in SF. Her bread recipes, or any of her baking recipes, in the Greens cookbook or Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, are rock-solid, delicious, and worth making. Her Country French Bread in Greens is still one of my favorite sourdough breads.

I've had good results with a frozen-bowl ice cream maker. I keep the plastic dasher in the freezer along with the bowl. The ice cream freezes better and faster when the dasher is also very cold.

I once read about a recipe for green salad that went like this: Dress a bowl of mixed greens with olive oil, salt & pepper, and serve it on small plates with a glass of red wine on the side. Sip the red wine as you eat the salad. The acidity of the wine is supposed to play the role of vinegar or other acid in the dressing, of course. I still prefer to dress my green salads with the oil and the acid, but this was fun to try.

I think it's important that the ingredients retain some of their individuality. (So gazpacho is out.) You should be able to identify the ingredients in a salad. Which is why I often take them to potluck dinners, so nobody has to ask me what's in the dish I brought. I would define a salad as a combination of ingredients unified by a dressing. After that, anything goes. The ingredients may be cooked or raw. The salad may have vegetables, meat, starch (e.g., pasta or bread), seafood, or fruit in it. Dairy, too. Western salads may have cheese; an Indian salad or raita is based on yogurt. A salad may include fake food like Bac-O's. It may be tossed or arranged on a plate. The salad may be served warm, room temp, or cold. I suppose a hot salad is possible, though right now I can't think of one. Indian salads may have hot oil dressings, or tadka, on them. What an interesting question to ask, Dave.

Anne, It's not clear to me how much of this excess sourdough starter you have lying around. A vat of the stuff, like a professional bakery? (Yikes.) A cup or two? A half-cup? Anyway, the consensus of the board seems to be (and I agree) that the best method is to maintain and store a small amt of starter, then build it up to a congenial amount for the specific thing you wish to bake. I first learned about sourdough starter methods from the Cheese Board people in Berkeley, in a class, and also from their cookbook, Collective Works. Later I picked up more sourdough how-to's from a local professional baker. Here's how I handle my sourdough starters: To Maintain Sourdough Starter. I feed my starters only once a month if I am not using them for baking. Really. They have lasted for years in the fridge with this method. Once a month, I remove the starter from the fridge and discard all but 1/4 cup of starter. In a nonreactive bowl, I combine the 1/4 cup starter, 1/2 cup water, and 2/3 cup bread flour. I cover it and let stand at room temperature for 48 hours. Then I make the starter mixture again: I discard all but 1/4 cup of starter, then combine 1/4 cup starter with 1/2 cup water and 2/3 cup bread flour. I pour it into a clean nonreactive covered container, such as a glass jar or a plastic container. Then I immediately return the starter to the refrigerator after the second feeding. It's good for another month. To Prepare Sourdough Starter for Baking: To reinvigorate the starter for baking, I remove it from the refrigerator, and discard all but 1/4 cup of starter. In a nonreactive bowl, I combine the 1/4 cup starter, 1/2 cup water, and 2/3 cup bread flour. I cover it and let stand at room temperature for 24 hours. Then I discard all but 1/4 cup of the starter, combine the 1/4 cup starter with 1 cup of water and 1 1/3 cups bread flour. I let stand for an additional 12 hours, or up to 24 hours, before baking. Yield: about 1 3/4 cup ready-for-baking starter. Before you begin baking, remember to set aside 1/4 cup of starter to replenish your supply of starter. With this method, I have to reinvigorate the starter 3 days before baking. For rye or whole wheat starter: For the second feeding, I use 1 cup of water, 1 cup bread flour, and 1/3 cup rye or whole wheat flour. Anne, I've never mixed leftover sourdough starter into quickbreads, but based on the sourdough pancake principle, why not? As long as you adjust for the flour and liquid in the original recipe. I assume the starter is there for flavor, and you would rely on baking powder or baking soda for leavening. If you have lots of leftover starter, I also recommend the sourdough pizza dough recipe from the Cheese Board, which is my favorite all-time pizza crust: http://books.google.com/books?id=W-3C3KeeJ...num=2&ct=result If you do any quickbread or other recipes with your leftover starter, could you let us know your results? MikeJ, I once began a batch of sourdough bread in the evening, started to let it rise, then realized I would probably have to bake it off at 2AM. So I stuck it in the fridge. I think it stayed there for a couple days. I was busy. But I baked it off anyway, and the dough was significantly more sour than my usual loaves. If I remember correctly, the rise was OK, though the dough was probably overproofed by then. Perhaps you can experiment with various times for a long slow rise in the fridge, to bring the dough to the sourness you like?

johnnyd, thanks for the photos. I grew up in New England, and I remember what winter veggies looked like then (after they had been shipped thousands of miles from California or Florida). Look forward to hearing more about this grower.

A shallot tarte tatin is one of the more unusual dishes in my repertoire. I haven't made this particular recipe, but something close to it. Make sure there's enough vinegar (acid) to balance off the buttery shallots and pancetta. A very rich & delicious dish. http://thepassionatecook.typepad.com/thepa..._tatin_of_.html

I had a problem like this with a pound cake recipe. The cake rose nicely, then collapsed in the latter part of the baking time. Sank with a trench in the middle. It had a crust, also. I made the cake three times, all failed, then the lightbulb went on upstairs and I calculated the proportion of ingredients according to Corriher's balanced cake formula (in Cookwise). The amount of sugar was way over proportionate compared to the amount of flour in the recipe. When I emailed the authors of the cookbook, they checked their manuscript and found the typo. Yep, part of the flour was missing. Corriher says a few things about chiffon cakes in Cookwise, including: "Spongecake...can be prepared in layers too. It is important to have the correct amount of batter for the pan size, so follow recipe directions." Perhaps your 15cm pan is the problem?

Assuming that I have managed to already remove or store away all my cookbooks, all my recipe files, my spices from Thailand, my dried chiles from Mexico, my favorite toaster (no longer made), my wine, my favorite serving plates, my KitchenAid mixer (well-made older model), and any irreplaceable cooking utensils, I would grab my chef's knife. My cast-iron Indian tava should survive the fire. As I'm sobbing in my front yard with the thought of all the other cookware, knives, and cooking implements left behind, I hope the fire engines arrive soon.

Offhand, I can't recommend any cookbook. My cooking teacher Kasma Loha-Unchit has a couple noodle soup recipes on her website. Chiang Mai Curry Noodles: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/kaosoi.html Stewed Beef Noodle Soup: http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/beefno.html

If you go to Post #340 on this thread, the post lists all the recipes in the book, and you can judge if anything sounds new or different to you. All the recipes in the book have been cooked on this thread, with comments and photos, so you can check any recipe also.

Agree. A friend bought that booklet on a recent trip to Thailand, and I flipped thru it. It's a good basic start if you want to be systematic about tasting the major kinds of street food. One friend bought the booklet in a bookstore in Bangkok (I was told a bookstore near one of the Skytrain stops, if that's any help to you. ). Another friend bought the booklet at the Sengho bookstore. http://www.sengho.com/

My local Whole Foods keeps fresh unpeeled water chestnuts in water, in the fresh veggie display case (the one that rains on your hand as you are about to pick out some lettuce.) I had never seen water chestnuts stored like that before, not even in Chinese markets. It seems to work. The water chestnuts are crispy and white inside. I've begun storing fresh water chestnuts in water in my own fridge, though so far only for a few days before I cook 'em. Anybody else do this? know about this storage technique? My dad used to make this dish once a year for Chinese New Year. Such a treat. They're like Chinese tacos. My dad made this dish with chopped pork and added in some finely chopped shittake mushrooms, too. http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/coo...ttuce_wrap.html

Have you seen this article? http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/travel/06bangkok.html

I live in an area near some old, formerly neglected orchards. I've noticed that people are taking care of those orchards again, and valuing the free fruit the trees will provide. I'm hoping some old-fashioned canning bees will happen in the fall. Sausage-making is another event for a crowd. Many hands mean quicker work and lots of great home-made sausage for everybody. I recently invited a group of friends over for a morning coffee, and baked the pastries myself. Nothing difficult, only scones and banana bread. But people were blown away. One forgets that most people only eat commercially baked pastries that don't compare to homebaked. Of course the ingredients for the pastries were very cheap, maybe a few dollars altogether, and produced enough for people to take some extras home, too.

A recipe for chocolate cakes stuffed with frozen ganache, Alice Medrich's recipe for Molten Chocolate Raspberry Cakes in Bittersweet. On this blog. Ingredients are the same, the instructions have been rewritten. http://joakitchen.blogspot.com/2007/12/mol...erry-cakes.html I haven't made these cakes, but I've tasted them, and they're delish.

Judy Rodgers adds arugula and pickled onions to the bacon in the Zuni Cafe Cookbook: http://www.leitesculinaria.com/recipes/coo...k/gougeres.html These are delicious, but bacon-y gougeres are a little too heavy for me. Jerry Traunfeld in the Herb Farm cookbook combines cheddar and freshly chopped thyme in his gougeres recipe. The ingredients in this post are the same as Traunfeld's recipe; the instructions have been rewritten. I prefer to reduce the amt of thyme to 3/4 TB. A little of this fresh herb goes a long way for my tastebuds. http://www.discusscooking.com/forums/f7/ch...eres-15906.html Alice Waters, in the Art of Simple Food, suggests substituting 2 or 3 chopped salt-packed anchovies for the cheese in gougeres. Hmmm, maybe not for a Superbowl party. I'd eat this version, but for others it might be an acquired taste.

This thread has put cheese on my mind. I didn't hide away my wallet fast enough when I went shopping today, and I came home with a local cheese, Rouge et Noir Camembert, and two classics, Pont l'Eveque and Stilton. While surfing the website of one of my favorite local cheesemakers, I came across this helpful Library of Cheese: http://www.cowgirlcreamery.com/library.asp I don't know how available the Cowgirl Creamery cheeses are in other parts of the country, but my fav is Red Hawk cheese, and a good friend swears by Pierce Point.

Just curious - did they steam those, or bake them? ← Both, but usually steamed. Before baking you can put a light sugar wash (a little sugar dissolved in water) on the buns to make the rolls shiny.

If you're in a cheese obsession phase, and I've been there, I suggest this book: Cheeses of the World, by Roland Barthelemy. http://www.amazon.com/Cheeses-World-Season...33177387&sr=1-2 A very informative, mouthwatering book. When I read it, I kept running to the store to buy and try out different cheeses. An emphasis on European cheeses, especially French cheeses, but the book was written by a Frenchman, and that's the French worldview for you. From the book, about Saint Albray: A cheese from the Munster family, from SW France, typically a factory-made cheese from pasteurized cows milk, and optimal after 3 wks of aging. The book is out of print, but used copies are available on http://www.abebooks.com/ as well. The author has another newer book out, Guide to Cheeses of the World, but that's not the book I'm talking about. have fun with your cheese explorations.

My parents liked to make soft, fluffy white rolls from Pillsbury Hot Roll Mix. The mix is very easy to use. My first baking experiences, age 11, were with the Hot Roll Mix. My parents particularly liked to use this mix to make Chinese roast pork buns (cha siu bao). good luck!