snowangel

Pam, what are you going to use for wrappers?

Oh, I am so proud of my epi and my other loaves! I used the recipe for the mixed started. I am a huge Steve Sullivan fan, given that my sister lives but a couple of blocks from Acme, I am used to a decent supply of their loves. And, since I seems to have been bread impaired, I held out little hope, especially since I had to modify the rising schedule due to a family crisis. (I had to fridge the dough after the first rise.) But, thanks to the ink that SethG provided (I'd have to search for it again) for the epi shaping and the other mistakes I made (I think my couches aren't sturdy enough, and I made a big mistake about not enough flour on the parchment that I, ahem, used on the couches, I think I did very, very well. The flavour was fab, and I had HOLES! Note that on the "baguette", my slashing wasn't deep enough, and I need more tiles for the oven so that I can accommodate a longer loaf: Holes! I think I'm arriving. Don't be afraid of water, and I learned that in the winter, more water is necessary. And, don't be afraid to use flour in rising the loaves. Now, if I could just get my kids to love this bread with cultured butter...

Thanks, Arne, for the report. We dream of a trip like this, but what with Heidi and a teen who is now driving...someday. But, a food question. I am (ahem) not a pastry person, nor am I fond of sweets, especially in the am. What would I do for breakfast?

Beautiful, Bruce! But you remind me that when I did this dish, I did up the chilies. One other recipe that I found "lacking" was the bisteccas, where she calls for the roasted poblanos (and please, forget the potatoes, and opt for another starch, please!), in which the amount called for is clearly inadequate. You mentioned that you needed to up the heat (which I didn't when I made this dish), but aside from the temp issues, I do think that Molly could be upping the umfh factor on some of these dishes. A bit more of the chilies, a couple more poblanoes, a bit more lime...just a bit more of what can make these dishes so spectactular.

OK, Pam. I'm armed with cookbooks, and more confused than ever. Most of the recipes are pork based, but, isn't it the "other white meat?" I'm doing chicken. They all seem to call for a cube of aspic (I read that to mean a chicken stock that is like jello) with some ground meat, a bit of soy, minced onions, whatever. But what is most confusing is the dough. Some call for just hot water and high gluten flour. Then there is a recipe for AP flour and a bit of water and an egg. Then there is one for one with AP flour and water. I just might cop out and buy some wrappers!

Someday, you, too, will grocery shop alone. Once I got to that point, I think my favorite moment of the week was shopping alone on Monday mornings, when what had gone off sale the day before was reduced, and there were little old ladies to help, etc. (Sad, but no, they shared many of the plants in their gardens as I helped them get home!). Good compromise on the pizza. Where are TJ's do you find the pizza dough? We have but a tiny TJ's here in Minneapolis, and let me tell you, the place was jammed and I couldn't find anyone to ask. How was the sausage?

Here's Marlene's recipe. It looks wonderful, and since I get get little sausages at the local meat market (which are fab), I'm thinking these might be a good activity for the kids who are off school for several days!

Rochelle, do you have a meat market that you use for superlative sausages? If so, ask them to twist up a mess of little ones for you. I know my local joint, which I love, makes their brats way too long for my liking, so I asked for shorter ones, and voila! I got shorter ones (helps if you bribe them with smoked meat...).

Ah, I've never been brave enough to show a photo of our fridge during any of my four blogs (as witnessed today when I actually cleaned out the damned thing and found something slimy vaguely resembling scallions lurking in a plastic bag under the veg drawer ) And, when we moved a few years ago from a small house with a HUGE kitchen to a big house with a teensie kitchen, I can related. Worst of all was that in order to get the old house ready to put on the market, I had to get rid of tons of stuff in order to move into a big house! I vote for homemade pizza (late to the party, I know). Bonus points if you grill it!

Pam, I'm armed with cookbooks, and as soon as I get the ribs on the grill (I'm pretending it's summer), I'll peruse them and give you more advice. I knew the no shellfish for you, but I think my point was more that I think you can sort of do what you want with the filling. It might not be the most traditional, but if you keep the aspic-type soup going, you're probably going to find that in some household, this would still be authentic! Also, I'm not above buying premade wrappers!

I'd think if you put them in your steamer, they'd travel nicely! Pam, I noticed in the Martha Stewart hors'doeuvres cookbook, there is a recipe for crabmeat soup dumplings, using chicken stock.

Pam, I'm off to the library either this evening or tomorrow to look for cookbooks with recipes. A quick perusal on line indicates that the dough calls for high gluten flour, which I can't seem to find. And, I'm planning on using chicken stock. I've got some that's pretty gelatinous, but I think I'll cook it with a few more chicken feet. I'm planning on chicken. I know they are typically done with pork, but I'm going with minced chicken.

Another great option would be to order olive oil from Jim Dixon -- he imports and has a couple from Tuscany. Good stuff!

Yep, Marlene's right. Barely burbling, and since I think most ovens cycle on and off, if it's not really burbling, don't worry, unless that continues for quite some time. Plus, the more peeking you do, the less burbling you'll see. Remember, every time you open the oven, and haul the LC out and open the lid, you are losing heat!

For advice on bibimbap, click here. Restaurant life will get easier, trust me. We found when my kids were the age of yours, we just didn't go very often, but resumed once Peter hit about 2-1/2. They are all seasoned pros now!

They are great grilled...

My first ciabatta: I'm not proud of it, but then again, I am. Next time, I wouldn't mix it as long (I did it in the KA and was multi-taking). I would add more water next time. I found that as it was, not needing kneading and just folding, it was very easy to work with. But the couche thing. My folds in the very heavy linen towel that I had rubbed heavily with rice flour kept flopping, and so I ended up putting it into a higher sided pan and putting skewers on top of the pan, under the top side of the folds. Should the folds be stiffer? If so, how do you achieve that without actually buying a couce? Should I starch a towel? And, I had an extra loaf. I just wrapped it up, stuck it in the fridge and figured that Tuesday night, I'd warm it and crisp the crust in the oven. ??? But, I will say this was a mighty tasty loaf. I had made the poolish on Friday and didn't make the loaves until today. Oh, and another question. We're heading north to our cabin this Friday. We're having soup and bread on Saturday night. It would be much simplerl to make dough for the Italian bread at home on Thursday than to do it up there. Will the dough be OK friedged until then? I'm bound and determined to no longer be bread-baking impaired.

Those yeasted waffles sound divine, and the waffle maker I have (the Nordicware stovetop) gets blazing hot and has unbelievable recovery time.

Well, if it's Minnesota or Wisconsin, the photo sure wasn't taken in the last week or two! We're no longer wearing t-shirts, and the grass is littered with dead leaves!

For some great advice, get a copy of All About Braising by Molly Stevens (you should be able to get it from your local library), and visit the Braising with Molly topic.

Up at our cabin, there's an old turner with no slots. I hate it. I used it once to turn eggs while frying them, and there was some sort of suction and I could hardly get the eggs to release.

Does phyllo count? What about home-made potstickers? With a family of 5, frozen TV dinners would break the bank, but there are always a couple of frozen pizzas in there for those nights when we get back from the cabin right at dinner-time...

The outdoor fridge is back in action! I had a mess of raspberry and strawberries juices, so decided it was time to make syrup. So, it's 35 degrees with a howling wind. Stuck those pans into bowls of ice on the deck table and voila! Quick chill (but not as fast as that January quick chill).

Meant to add that I did the Coq au Vin the other night. It is a mighty tasty, but not very visually appealing dish, as shown here. The only change (other than temp) that I would make in this recipe is that I would not include chicken breasts. Add some extra thighs and save the breasts for something else. Or, add them later in the braise.

Smacking hand on forehead, she goes duh! Thanks Elie. I don't have professional couches, either, but I do have a really heavy linen dishcloth. Do you have trouble getting the loaves from the couches to the peel? Any hints on this?