DanM

I am interested in experimenting with Spanish cooking, but have not found a good book on the subject. Does anyone have a suggestion for a nice, thick book on Spanish cooking? Thanks! Dan

Let me preface this by saying that my experience with bread is limited to being a serious home baker and training in culinary school. I do not have any experience working in a bread shop. Lets break this down for you. That depends... does the recipe call for a stiff or liquid culture? I recommend that you get your hands on Peter Reinhart's Bread Bakers Apprentice or Jeffery Hammelman's Bread. Here is Peter Reinhart's instructions for making a starter. http://books.google.com/books?id=yHGBOXSNo...nhart#PPA227,M1 Partially correct. Oven spring happens when yeast reproduce wildly just before meet their maker. This creates pockets of CO2 that expand while baking. As the bread bakes, the moisture turns to steam and gives you your oven spring. You can improve the crust by steaming the oven and baking on a stone. Until the date on the package... First, you do not make starters with fresh yeast. The beasties you need are actively living in your kitchen, you just don't know it! The starter is only as good as the beasties that CURRENTLY live in it. You can find people who are willing to sell you starters from San Francisco and many exotic locations. In a very short amount of time, the beasties from those exotic locals will be displaced by local beasties and change its flavor to anything you find locally. Regular culling and feeding. You will occasionally feed the starter by throwing out most of the starter and feeding it with fresh water and flour. Best of luck Dan

DanM, that is a crazy beautiful piece of bread -- my knee jerk reaction was "Easter Island Zombie". What did you eat it with? Please don't say "brains". To answer your question, we both loved it. ← To be honest, we ate most of it plain... It was too good on its own. I think we served a veg burger or two on it though. The formula is on page 278 of Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's apprentice. I usually substitute 20% of the flour for whole wheat and 10% for spelt. http://books.google.com/books?id=yHGBOXSNo...nhart#PPA278,M1 Dan

So Peter... what did the other half say about your obscene sandwich? I don't have an obscene sandwich to share, but I am sure it would be wonderful on this delicious loaf of cheddar, potato, and chive sourdough bread I made recently. http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll57/da...ng/100_0277.jpg

Your friend may be referring to glaceed fruits, which are typically dipped. You can go over the top and make some wonderful slab truffles with classic ganache on the bottom and pate de fruit on top. .25" layers work well. I made some in school with passion fruit and they were out of this world! Dan http://i285.photobucket.com/albums/ll57/da...ng/100_2450.jpg Edited to meet EGullet posting standards...

A Cranberry Gallette from the weekend. The Gallette http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll57/da...ent=Galette.jpg And pumpkin whoopie pies with ginger cream cheese fluff http://s285.photobucket.com/albums/ll57/da...nt=100_0414.jpg Edited to meet EGullet Posting Standards...

Greetings! 22 pages of amazing insight and knowledge into making stunning chocolates and comments on Chef Greweling's books. It took me two days to read through it all, but it was well worth it. I recently finished up culinary school (a second career for me) and garnered a great respect for chocolate and confectionery work. My chocolate and confections instructor was a student of Greweling's at the CIA and suggested that I pick up a copy of his book to learn more. Most of my internship was spent at a chocolatier here in CT. Now that I am done and have free time to play, I will put Chef Greweling's book to use. Here is a box I made for my final along with a bunch of hand rolled truffles. Does anyone know of a manufacturer of kosher glucose syrup? I haven't had any luck finding any. Today's project... Put my new mold and box of chocolate to work and make a runny caramel filling for them. Pictures, of course, once I am done. Dan PS... Thanks for the link to Chocolat-chocolat. I see a lot of cool molds in there I might have to add to my honey-please list.

Good evening, One of my favorite cakes is the German Apfelkuchen. I have tried many formulas from the web, but none of them really worked. Does anyone here have a traditional apfelkuchen formula that they are willing to share? Thanks for the help! Dan

Looks good. Is it possible to substitute corn syrup or glucose syrup for the sorbitol? What effect, if any does the specific gravity of the beer have on the amount of sugar used in the final product? Thanks! Dan

Good evening, I have been asked to make a birthday cake for my mother in law and want to make a chocolate, hazelnut, and sherry cake with sherry-raisin cream from Crazy Water Picked Lemon, by Diana Henry. The only catch is that I cannot find any kosher sherry in the DFW area. What are some decent substitutes that I can use? Thanks Dan

I was at the farmer's market market the other day and found Jilo Eggplants. These are completely new to me so I grabbed six for experimentation. I was wondering what are some traditional dishes and recipes for these eggplants? Thanks for the help Dan