Aloha Steve

Perfect looking sandwich bread. Going to check out Wal-Mart here and see what they want for it. Should only be a buck or two hughre for shipping.

If you click on the fifth picture on the brownie pan Amazon page and read the notes, you will see the side by side comparison of the two pans. Size might matter in this instance. As in most things Thanks for pointing it out.

I recently discovered this. Steam Kit I wrote a long post about it in the ABI5M topic. Excellent idea on how to get steam into a home oven safely.

I have usually done the, pour very hot water in the cast iron pot in the bottom of the stove, for a shot of steam to emulate how a pro baker's oven works, touted by countless bread authors' method. A "magic" bowl method was discovered which I have done three times now instead. The idea is that covering the dough with a stainless steel or a aluminum or pyrex bowl, on top of the pre-heated baking stone/oven, will trap the steam coming off the dough and have the same effect. I bought a large SS bowl to do it this way and while it is much safer, and less intimidating then the throw water in a 450-500 degree oven way, I do not think IMHO it works as well. On the other, very expensive side is this 'system' Almost all who have used it, wrote about it, which I have read their reviews/comments agree it works extremely well. I realize that taking the four elements of the kit, one by one, you can buy them NEW at about 1/2 the price of what the 'kit' sells for. Large stone (I'll be generous on retail prices with delivery for all) $50., steam making gun $40, stainless steel cover if one could find a comp $40, a plastic measuring cup, well let's say freebee . One of the problems for me is drilling a hole in the right place on the top. The inventor, when grilled strongly, insists the steam maker is of superior materials than the one that looks exactly like it selling all over the web for $40. Then one has to get a new SS top with handle that fits perfectly on the stone, and then having to drill the perfect size to fit the nozzle of the gun. I've seen the Rube Goldberg versions of the kit, I've seen copper pipes fed into stoves w steam a gun feeding the steam thru and a variety of other ways to achieve a easier, safer, no chance to crack oven door glass and hot water burn back from 'throwing' water into a hot oven into a red hot vessel to create steam, way. I'm not creative, using building tools (drilling into SS) is not a thing I know, I am limited to finding a top that would work by my location and have not found a new top to buy by itself. I will be pushing the easy button and buying the kit, its just a question of when. I do need a larger stone than the 13' diameter one I have now and a gun, that puts me 1/2 way there anyway. PLUS, isn't a big part of our foodies' pleasure derived from the method as well as the end result ? Steaming just seems cool PS: Dough in bucket, same hight 24 hours later.

Steve - I think you are supposed to increase the water by a 1/4 of a cup, not 25%, to increase the hydration to about 81%. When I make one-half of the "original" recipe for the 5 minutes a day loaf, I use 16 oz (454 grams) of KA A/P and/or KA white whole wheat, 13.43 oz (381 grams) of water, 2 1/4 tsp of active dry yeast, and 2 1/4 tsp. of kosher salt. My first try, before reading this thread, using the same flour had a hyration of 75% and was very dense. Here's a recent loaf I made in my dutch oven: Do let us know how your loaf turns out. Ooops that's about 4 times what I did add.........should be interesting. LOL

I think you are correct but we won't know for a few days. I looked at the proof container which has been in the fridge for 12 hours just now. I am surprised that the level the dough had risen too, before I put it in the fridge last night, after mixing the additional water in, is the same hight; approx doubled after incorporating ingredients It has not gone down a fraction of an inch that I can see LOL. Last time, it tripled after initial incorporation of the ingredients and then after placing in fridge, came down to the level it was when right after initial mixing, before proofing. Yes, Doc I usually am very scrupulous following formula's weights per ingredient, just bought a better scale so I can be more accurate. Documenting flour, yeast, sugars, fats etc used, in what volumes is extremely important to know. Whenever and whatever I can weigh I do so in grams rather than ounces, so I can be more exact. You did the measurements of your formula in grams for that very reason. This time I guessed based on what I know 750 gms of water looks like from the container I use to weigh water, and tried to visualize 25% more. Now, in my perfect 20/20 hindsight I should have weighted 250 gms out and put that in to try to stay inside the parameters and be more exact. What does it mean, if anyone knows, that it rose and has stayed at the level in the fridge ? If the dough is overly hydrated should it have collapsed, or is there no correlation ?

Fundamentalists boo ya, that pie is great looking. I made pizza once, tasted good, I do not know why I don't do it more often ? Instead I buy DiGIorno's rising crust, for 6.99 which feeds four. Maybe its the law of diminishing returns ? How much better is it; taste = work, time and extra cost. I know one thing though, crowdingthepan and that is no store bought pizza is going is going to closely taste as good as yours. Béchamel brillant !

Apple-pineapple-peach cake, perhaps?? LOL That cake is delicious.......my wife raves about it. A little while back I made a cheesecake with apple and we loved that almost as much. I guess there is a reason that fruit and cheese is one of the most popular and timeless desserts in the world. BTW, emmalish again THANK YOU FOR POSTING THE RECIPE !

Tell me what is the difference between this all edges brownie pan and the all edges lasagna pan ?

Tell me what is the difference between thisall edges brownie pan and theall edges lasagna pan ?

Today I'd say CAKE

Well I hope this new batch comes out alright. I ran out of AP so I used Bread flour. Heart Surgeons based and changed to, 600 G Bread Flour, 200 G both WW and Semolina, 30 G non-diastic malt powder and Organic Barley Malt instead of honey, salt, yeast cut down 25% and a very little bit of the old batter. Boom, doubled in an hour, listened to Chris' advice and put in fridge. K, I started reading this topic from the beginning and in the first three pages or so, read 4 times, if using bread flour INCREASE WATER at lest 25%........Ye gads, I did not do that. Now, I am sure it was under hydrated. I started debating whether to get the container and add more water or was it too late, being 1 hour room temp rise and 6 hours in the fridge. Got up to get and add, sat down LOL. 15 minutes later, got back up, got the container and added the about 25% more water, mixed as little as I could just to incorporate water as much as possible. Dough fell down to original level when first mixed, just checked it now, 1 hour after adding water and Voilà, as you can see its at lest doubled. Here's the dough looking 'wet' Think too wet ? I am hoping it will be absorbed as time goes on. Here's the dough risen. Do you think with adding the water 7 hours later it will be OK ?

Leslie?, thank you for the info and link, the log is proofing as I write in a bread pan

What are the drawbacks to seeds ? Have you ever put raisins in and if so how ?

In the recipe for for the banana pudding, it calls for self rising flour. What exactly is that ?

I made this today, however it is not low fat. Butter instead of margarine, real cream cheese instead of no fat. I also added more vanilla & cinnamon. Steve's rule, whenever these two ingredients appear in the same recipe, add more for better taste. Also for the cinnamon/sugar mix I used brown sugar instead of white. It tastes really, really good. We have did not let it cool before tasting it, only because we were making sure I did not ruin it, ah yea, that's the ticket...LOL so It crumbled a bit. Its as stone cold winning recipe. Thank you for bringing it to out attention. Also, I had some peach & pineapple pieces in the fridge, I washed the syrup of, dried well and inserted into the mix.

Thank you so much. I used toasted sesame seeds but now I am going to find nigella seeds, maybe we will develop muscles while eating them. And please, no FINAL tip, as you think about offering any suggestions/tips/insights it will be most welcomed by me & I'm sure all the people on this thread and elsewhere. Mahalo, steve

I have two wooden spoons. The long handled one I bought two years ago to replace the one I had for umteen years. Its most frequent function is to stir the Crystal Light fruit punch in the pitcher. I usually hold it under running water to clean for about 3 seconds and then into the drying rack. When I use it to cook, I like the idea that it is imparting some of the fruit punch flavor to what it is I'm coking, especially tomato sauce The other is a Joyce Chen brand, smaller spoon, that has a clear coat of some kind on it, therefore it does not get seasoned from anything I use it to cook with. Risotto, mixing batters etc, probably would not benefit from fruit punch flavor. This one I've had for, oh maybe 18 months, cost $8. at WS and shows almost no wear. WE use our dishwasher as a storage cabinet. When we remodeled I was going to show my wife that her family's tradition of hand washing was old school and that using dishwasher was the way to go. Unfortunately, if we don't want big ugly bugs, we have to rinse thoroughly before putting in dishwasher, because, we do not make a full load for three days And anyway, the home is the women's domain and all that. I should have remembered that, I know TMI.........

I made two batards this morning using Heart Surgeons interpretation of the 5 Minute Artisan Formula. I posted it in that thread I included pix....

Thank you very much for the formula, tutorial and reply ! Water temp duly noted. I'm still a novice so they taste MUCH better then they look. This morning I made two batards from your recipe w/ the aforementioned increase % of the semolina. One I put a little rice/AP mixture and slashed, the other after putting the mix on, brushed with egg white/water and put sesame seeds on, right before putting in the oven. Both rose OK, the sesame collapsed a little in the middle, and either the cut was off which is what I think, or the egg wash being very cold deflated it a bit as once before on a different formula it deflated the dough a lot. I used a pre-heated stove/stone, put dough on stone and covered with a warmed, only by hot water SS bowl for 10 minutes, uncovered and baked for 14 minutes more. It worked OK, well better than that probably. I'll know more tomorrow after I've eaten more. I just wonder how much better it would taste, if at all, with the water in the hot pan to make steam method ? This was only my second time baking bread with no steam and the first time doesn't count...... It tastes good right now. I always wait a day for a final taste judgment as it seems the breads gets more flavorful with time. It is absolutely extraordinary to me that no mixing, except to minimally incorporate the ingredients together could turn out such a...such a..uh uh....BREAD !

Oh yes.......date & nut bread with CC....got go make some ASAP. Anyone got a recipe ? LOL Got the CC already.

Terrific........when I make lasagna, the different layers are not so clearly visible. Seeing your layers and fillings so prominent (delicious looking) like that, it looks to me like a 7 layer cake, savory Italian style. Would you mind sending a piece post haste please ?

AndreaReina, on 21 March 2010 - 06:58 AM, said: Cooking the loaf under a stainless steel pan does indeed get that beautiful crust without having to use a dutch oven, steam injection, or water/ice cubes in a pan. I've used the lid of a roaster pan for my ciabatte, and it works great. If results aren't what they could be, try spritzing the inside of the pan with just a little water, give it a little head-start. Besides editing for grammar and spelling, I should also put for screwing up quotes!! Here is the loaf I tried the no adding water to get steam, letting the steam come from the bread covered method. It is a Spinach & Cheddar cheese loaf, made with a poolish. Total flour is 3-1 WW v BF. I have not made it before, so I cannot compare. Taste aside, it did not rise as much as I thought it would, not as much oven spring as I thought it would and the crust isn't crunchy and hardly any oven spring. It tastey but I won't make it again. I cannot say that its because of not 'injecting' steam vs covered with SS bowl made a lick of difference. Even if I made it before, because I am a novice baker therefore, I cannot say, I under or over proofed it, I think I may have mixed a bit too long in the mixer and all these things could make a diff. All mute as I have no comparison. Today I was been told to warm up the SS bowl with hot water, letting some drops stay in before covering, so when it get's overturned onto the bread on a heated stone, there is some additional steam happening.

I haven't baked bread using their stoneware so can't offer an opinion. But, I have used their stoneware for other applications and have been very happy. Many thanks for all the help......steve

I don't usually weigh the dough but I did this time for some reason. It weighed 14.74 ounces. My dutch oven is a 5.5 qt. oblong made by Cuisinart. This is the only dutch oven I have ever used and its working good for me. A round one would probably work just as well but the oblong shape makes it easy for me to get the loaf into and out of the pan. I like to avoid burns when I can. LOL You didn't ask but I preheated the dutch oven in the oven to 450 degrees for 20 minutes. I baked the loaf for 25 minutes with the lid on and then 15 minutes with the lid off. This is the third time I have made this loaf this way and have really liked the results each time. ETA: I let the dough do its rest and bake on parchment paper with cornmeal. I use the parchment to lift the dough into and out of the pan. Thanks very much for the directions, I've noted them. I am thinking of buying this now, a decent price for a Le Crueuset and I have a 6 QT only, so it will fill a gap, plus I don't have to buy a replacement knob for the one I have. Its not enamel but stoneware.......what do you think ?