curls

An update... Wednesday the bread was still good but it is getting more & more difficult to slice the bread. The interior is still soft but the crust is getting much harder. This morning, Thursday, it was a battle to slice the bread and while it was edible it has reached the point that I would recommend that it only be used for bread pudding or french toast. Next time I will wrap and freeze some of the bread so we only have two to three days worth of bread on the counter. Think I'll try the overnight white bread next, may include some whole wheat flour in those loaves.

Booked a room! FYI there is another event at the hotel on Friday the 15th so the only way to book a room is via our group code all other rooms are sold out. So... book your room soon or else you may have to stay at some other hotel in the area (and don't worry, there are plenty of hotels in the Vienna / Fairfax / Tysons Corner area).

Thank you rotus I am trying out your method. Hoping that the loaf will be good to the last crumb. Wondering how many days we have to finish it before it goes stale. If this does not work for me, I think I'll cut the next loaf in half and freeze half of it and leave the other half on the cutting board cut side down. Loaf two was given to family to enjoy.

I have been thinking about joining in for awhile, so glad I did. Made the Saturday white bread... delicious! So much better than what I can get from the local markets. Looking forward to trying out the other recipes in this book. So, what are your recommendations for storing the loaves (especially after you start cutting slices from it)?

Just to double-check, the dates are Friday 15 May - Sunday 17 May. Correct? Thanks for organizing this Bob!

Rob, Willow, and now Mette! So sad that you won't be at the workshop this year. Hopefully we will all see each other in 2016.

Very good to know if I ever graduate from melters to an enrober.

Bakon also has a mini enrober (http://www.bakonusa.com/enrobing-machines/mini-enrober). They are on the west coast, so shipping costs might be better for you. I have two of their melters and am very happy with them. I think Rob has the Bakon wheel temperer. There is also the enrobing line from Perfect (http://www.perfectchoco.com/en/perfect-equipments)... that is what Ruth uses. Looks like Perfect's pricing for a regular enrober is close to Dedy & Bakon's pricing for a mini enrober.

When I stripe a mould, I use colored white chocolate, milk chocolate or dark chocolate and put the chocolate in a parchment coronet or a disposable pastry bag. Have not tried used pure colored cocoa butter to make my stripes. No idea when straight colored cocoa butter would not work. Good luck!

Valentine's Day chocolates: passion fruit, muscovado sugar salted caramel, hazelnut gianduja and feuilletine, marzipan & cherry-raspberry pate de fruit.

Thanks Anna for bringing up this topic! I'm going to try out some of these recipes all of you have shared and check my bookshelves... I think I bought Cradle of Flavor when everyone on eGullet was cooking from it. Always meant to cook from that book, now might be the time. Anna, I'm looking forward to see what versions of nasi goreng you make.

CeeCee, actually yes, I like to reproduce the Dutch Indonesian food that I have had in the Netherlands but am very interested in the Indonesian & Malay versions too. Would you be willing to share your recipe?

A store with Dutch imports should have the Comimex brand of of spice mixes... They have many Indonesian spice mixes, including Nasi Goreng. Pulled out my packet and the ingredients are: onion, red pepper, carrot, leek, green beans, salt, coriander, garlic, sesame oil, yeast extract, mustard, malodextrine, potato flour, ginger, soy sauce, shrimp powder, beet extract, and lemon juice powder. You need to make the vegetables, rice, meat and eggs that go along with the spice packet. Might just be easier to make the whole thing from scratch. :-)

White chocolate with tart citrus or tropical fruits would be nice (calomandin, yuzu, passion fruit, carambola, kumquat, grapefruit). Riffing on grapefruit, grapefruit &Campari in white chocolate might work really well. Some other thoughts: - lemon curd - lemongrass & Thai flavors - key lime pie type filling - tapioca pearls, mango, pineapple - salty peanut or cashew gianduja - lime, coconut, and rum - IPA ganache - rhubarb Have fun with your new collection.

Testing out the snack cakes pan with a devils food chocolate & chocolate frosting.

The best way to cook tri tip is to grill it. Guess you are looking for the second best way to cook tri tip since you state that you can not grill or barbeque them at this time. To approximate grilling, this cast iron cooking technique from Alton Brown works well, http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pan-seared-rib-eye-recipe.html.

Nope. I use room temperature moulds (usually somewhere between 68 - 73 F).

There were a few threads about this... Wybauw has a recipe for scraps that he calls black devils. Here is a link to one of the discussions, http://forums.egullet.org/topic/102882-wybauws-black-devils/

I make a dry caramel for flan. Also, the advice above is good... you need to let your flan rest for a few hours before unmolding, otherwise the caramel will not be saucy enough to come out with the flan (it will just remain attached to your flan pan). Something I have not seen anyone mention, be careful while making your caramel syrup, that sugar is hot!. If it lands on your skin it will burn and stick to your skin. Keep a bowl of ice water near while making caramel and if you get any hot sugar / caramel on your skin, plunge it in the ice water. Here is a link to some good caramel information from David Lebovitz http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2008/01/how-to-make-the/

Those Power Flowers look very interesting! Does not look like they are available in the USA right now. Can you buy them in Canada?

Happy New Year! Hotel last time was nice; I'd be happy staying there again. Lunch... would definitely prefer a quick lunch vs. a multi-course sit down plated lunch. Salads & sandwiches would be great (like we have had at NOTL & Vegas). Saturday night sit down school chef/students prepared meal also sounds good. Thanks for planning this. Would be glad to help out, just let me know.

While I have tried both rums (very different but both quite good), I haven't tried the Coquito yet but I'll let you know when I do. Rafa, have you had (or made) Coquito?

Holiday chocolate making...

Picked up a few items at the San Juan duty free store.

Quesmoy, good ideas. I was thinking of whipping the mixture less or not heating the sugar mixture to as high a temp. Definitely planning to let the tops skin over before capping / backing them.