pbear

Nice piece of sleuthing. Can anyone fathom why he calls for equal parts pastry, cake and bread flour?

Right. I'm talking about the mini dehumidifier mentioned by the OP in Post #4. Like this. It's a passive system, the main "trick" of which is that the dessicant can be heated and reused rather than replaced.

Further to the Eva-Dry mini dehumidifier. After posting last night, I remembered I still have one kicking around. It's been in a outside storage locker for a couple years and so, I assume, fully saturated. Certainly the color indicator window said so. Indeed, it took 24 hours plugged in to dry it out, as opposed to the usual 10 to 12. Bottom line, my recollection is correct. The weight before drying was 1 lb 4-5/8 oz (573 g); after drying it is 1 lb 1-1/8 oz (501 g). That's a delta of 2-1/2 oz (72 g) or about 5 tbsp water. And, again, that was fully saturated. In use, you never reach this level unless you leave it in place after the uptake has slowed to a trickle, which defeats the purpose of using it in the first place. Drying when the indicator window says it's time produces the 2 oz delta I mentioned.

FWIW, I tried this product for dehumidifying a small fridge and was not impressed. As I recall, when I finally thought to check how much moisture it was absorbing, the delta after drying out was something like two ounces (1/4 c). I'm doing this from memory, so don't take that as gospel, but it's an easy test to replicate.

Sophie, following up on ChocoMom's suggestions, are cookies (biscuits) appealing? If so, that opens up myriad possibilities.

But, does it make toast? Just kidding. Congratulations.

What's really goofy is that the VP115 has an 11-1/2" seal bar, which isn't quite wide enough for 12" inch bags (indeed, it's rated for a max of 10 by 13" bags), nor two 6" bags side-by-side. The only advantage I can see (I also have the 112) is that the lid appears to have ordinary hinges and so, I presume, is easier to load and unload.

I stand corrected. DDF is right.

BTW, it probably would help resolve the question if you post a photo from above.

I respectfully disagree with DDF. (And I mean respectfully sincerely.) To my eye, that's obviously the picnic end. The butt would be block-like.

Thanks, that's very helpful.

Interesting question, so I took a quick look and found this article which explains the term (about halfway down the page). Out of curiosity, what are you making?

My hunch is that finishing on the stone will cause the bottom crust to come out crunchier than usual (or desirable). On reflection, perhaps a better compromise solution would be simply to leave the bread in the pot for the last half hour. And, yes, for purposes of comparison, a pre-heated dutch oven and a cloche are virtually identical.

Thanks. I use the rice flour because otherwise the bread sometimes adheres to the baking vessel. But that element has been part of the recipe for so long that I no longer recall how frequent a problem it was.

Oops, my bad. Didn't notice there are two Davids participating in the thread. My remarks were intended for the OP.

Frankly, Dave, I don't think this will work. No matter what you do, the dominant flavor of a biscuit will be flour. In an effort to be helpful, I suggest this. Rather than all or part buttermilk, use buttermilk powder. This will add that flavor component, which is also important, while leaving you free to pack as much chicken flavor into the liquid as you can. Mix the buttermilk powder with the flour, rather than trying to reconstitute with the liquid. Good luck.

Anna, thank you very much. Looks to me like that worked just fine. Was this your impression also? As a "quality control" check, how would you say it compared to that dough cooked in a pre-heated pot? cyalexa, I'm pretty sure cooking on the stone will change how the bottom finishes, but I'll take half a loaf if that's what works for you. In other words, it'll still be good test for the top and sides. And it'll be informative to learn whether my hunch about the bottom is correct.

Hey Jim. FWIW, I'm not using this for no-knead bread. Rather, I'm using an ordinary kneaded dough, generally (though not always) white with a modest 67% hydration. I intentionally left that open, though, as I want folks to use whatever dough they're familiar with, so they're dealing with one variable not two. Also, I realize my baking time is longer than most, but bear in mind (i) the pot has to heat up and (ii) most of the baking is at lower temps than usual. Without the first factor, i.e., when I was doing hearth style bread conventionally in a normal oven but with a high-medium-low temp protocol, total baking time was just over an hour for boules and batards, so what I'm doing here isn't as far from what you do as may appear. As for why fiddle with the temp at all, that's because I find it works better. But goodness knows there's more than one way to bake a good loaf of bed.. How this method stacks up against others is certainly fair topic for discussion. Not sure how one can comment on that, though, without trying both.

The Cuisinart BRK-200. It's since been discontinued, which is a shame as it's a nice little oven, a bit deeper and taller inside than most, simple knob controls, reasonably accurate thermostat, and both bake and convection modes.

Requesting a little assistance. For several years, I’ve been baking bread by a variation of the covered pot method, where I start with the baking vessel at room temp rather than pre-heated. Instead, I do the final rise in the pot and, when ready, put that (covered) into a hot oven. I do it this way for several reasons. First, I live in a small studio apartment without a proper kitchen, so I need a method that will work in a countertop oven. Second, I find transferring proofed dough to a heated pot awkward and nerve wracking (fear of burns). Third, starting with a room temp baking vessel opens up lots of options as regards shapes and sizes, e.g., using a 1/3 steam table pan to make batards. Fourth, although not perfect, the method gives me pretty good results. The reason for this thread is that I’m in the process of updating my personal cookbook (not published, just something I distribute to family and friends) and would like to include this method in the bread chapter. My concern is that, while I assume it will work in a standard oven, I’ve never had a chance to test it; also, it occurs to me the timing might be different. I’d appreciate it if a couple folks (or three) would give it a test run and let me know. To be clear, I’m not trying to convert anyone to this approach. It’s a cheater method and I assume anyone willing to test it probably has a non-cheater one which works better for them. I’m just trying to confirm whether it works in a normal oven. Anyhoo, here are the details. Prepare whatever bread dough you generally use. For the sake of comparing results, it would be helpful if you work up a dough based on 1 lb (450 g) flour, thus producing a dough something like 1 lb 11 oz (760 g) raw weight and a finished loaf of about 1-1/2 lb (675 g). Prepare a baking vessel by oiling lightly, then dusting with rice flour (finely-milled semolina or cornmeal also may be used). My preferred baking vessel is a 3 qt All Clad cassoulet, but any similarly shaped saucier or “chef’s pan” would be just as good. Indeed almost any oven proof pot with a lid will work; it’s mostly for the shape of the baked boule that I prefer the rounded pot. After the first rise, shape dough into a ball, roll in bread or all purpose flour, place in pot, cover and give a second rise. Preheat oven to 450ºF/232ºC. Spritz dough thoroughly with water, slash with a razor or knife, cover and place in oven. After half an hour, reduce heat to 375ºF/191ºC, uncover pot and bake another half hour. Reduce oven to 325ºF/163ºC; remove bread from pot, transfer to a shallow baking pan with a rack and bake a final half hour. Let cool on a wire rack. Note: This is how I’ve written the instructions for the book, which assumes a conventional oven. For a countertop oven, I have to make several adjustments to shield the crust from overcooking. Whether I have correctly backed out those adjustments is one of the things I’m trying to confirm. Feel free, of course, to play with variations on this protocol to your heart’s content, but please do at least one trial as written, so we have a common basis of comparison. Many thanks to any who have the time and interest to give this a whirl.

Rather than things which hold in a crockpot, consider doing stuff that reheats easily, either in the oven or in the microwave. Soup would be an obvious example of the latter, most casseroles an obvious example of the former. In fact, there are lots of dishes that reheat well, e.g., curry over rice, which may or may not be on your radar screen. Reheating works best, I find, if the portions are set up in single serving dishes immediately after cooking then chilled. (I'm not dealing with your situation, but I do cook almost all my meals ahead.) One neat thing about this strategy is that not everyone has to eat the same things on the same days, though of course there are limits to how much choice you can accommodate at any given time. Hope that helps.

The only place I've seen this discussed is Rose Levy Barenbaum's Bread Bible, at p.547. From that, I gather the main difference between high and low is the protein content, as the outer portion of the endosperm has more. IOW, Elaina, I'd expect this to behave like a bread flour. Give it a whirl in a tried-and-true recipe and you'll know.

The Steba looks like a nice little machine. I assume it's more expensive, but if you can afford it, that's what I'd get. In particular, it seems to me you'll have a much easier time getting support and repairs if needed. And these are machines, after all. They're not going to last forever without service. That said, I wouldn't worry too much about the plastic housing of the Sansaire. Most restaurants use plastic tubs for the water bath. It's not difficult to find a plastic that will stand up to sous vide temps, so I assume Sansaire got that right.

In fairness, that citric acid isn't vitamin C was a nitpick, but I thought it a nit worth picking. As for the OP, I will say that I'm unable after a fair amount of searching to find any sites explaining or even discussing the concern. I'm left only with the option of speculating, and what I suspect this is about is a Dorian Gray problem, i.e., that if Mel-Fry is resistant to heat break down, there must be some heavy manipulation involved and some folks don't like that on principle when food is involved. Indeed, my initial inclination was to presume some form of hydrogenation. Turns out that's wrong. Rather, the process by which Ventura Foods prepares Mel-Fry (half a dozen products, by the way, not just one; see the drop-down under "shortenings & oils") is disclosed in a patent (warning: this is a long read) and involves a combination of emulsifiers and filtering, but not hydrogenation. Whether this suits one's philosophical preferences is another matter, but there's no obvious health concern that I can see.

By the by, citric acid isn't vitamin C. That's ascorbic acid.