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At its simplest, you need flour, leavening, and water to make bread; a bread made with just these will contain the fewest possible calories per gram. The calorie count per gram goes down (a bit), as the fibre content of the flour goes up, but as Will and Jenni pointed out, you can also add more air (not as easy at home as in an industrial facility), which becomes harder to do, as the amount of fibre present increases. Adding fibre to a simple flour and water dough is probably the your best bet, though, since--even in a bread with no added fibre--there's an upper limit to how much air you can incorporate into your dough. If you hate fibre-rich bread, this would have the additional (if questionable) advantage of making you feel less inclined to eat it. I adore bread, and am one of those who gains weight really easily from even small amounts of carbohydrates, but I can't bring myself to turn the consumption of one of my favourite foods into a combat zone: I just try to save bread for an occasional, smallish treat, and eat the kinds I like.

HP Sauce. And I'm not sure whether this counts, but virtually any dark gravy, at even the divey-est diner; if meat/potatoes are involved, the concept of 'too much' does not really apply to this stuff. Does this question include sweet condiments (e.g. dessert toppings), or only savoury ones?

Hydration may be the issue. I bake bread two or three times a week, and derived my current base recipe from ATK's sandwich loaf, slowly modifying it until I got results that were satisfactory, using locally available ingredients: This meant upping the fluid (360 ml fluid for 500g flour), so the final forming step of the original recipe is not doable--the dough is close to pourable--but I get an impressive rise even when I swap in half rye flour (which cuts the gluten down to about 6%). I usually add an autolyse step (unless time is short), and the resulting texture is firm and even, but moderately open (just right for a sandwich). If I have time, I let it rise overnight in the refrigerator (the loaf is fine without it, if less flavourful).

I'd like to add this internal link for fixing broken ganache, which I tried just a few minutes ago, and found very effective, even though I used the crudest possible version of the less elaborate of the two techniques described (i.e no thermometer, just warmed the ganache to blood temp., tested it on my wrist, set it aside for a minute to bring it down to about 35 C, then added small splashes of boiled milk, mixing after each until it came together). N.B. There is a good chance that your ganache will look much worse before it comes together, but persist, and it should be fine.

Just tried this, and although it initially looked like a disaster--the ganache went from being merely grainy to looking like oil-slathered, chocolate-covered muesli--it eventually came together. Only complaint is that the flavourings (lime zest and clove) are now rather muted and bland. But the consistency is lovely; I'm waiting to see how this sets up (usual firmness, or softer, owing to added fluid). Update, nearly an hour later: The ganache seems to be setting up firmly enough to form, but is either going to be a bit softer than usual (for base recipe using 200g 80% c.m. chocolate and 125 ml 38% cream), or is taking longer to reach its final firmness.

We're having dinner at someone else's home, and the projected menu is: Beetroot carpaccio Jerusalem artichoke soup with blue cheese, garnished with mushrooms fried with bacon Leg of lamb with baked potatoes, seasoned mayonnaise, and a small salad Cheese plate (to be brought by my boyfriend and another guest) Assorted home-made ice cream, and truffles (the latter will be lime-clove and tobacco-whiskey; my contribution) There will various wines, but I don't know what they will be, and there will be a Mont Michel Brut Cava champagne, about which the host expresses doubts, describing it as 'not one I would myself buy or get, so it must be from last year'. I'm afraid I continue to be the equivalent of the village idiot when it comes to anything alcoholic but Madeira (I'm perfectly capable of drinking sweet champagne and liking it), so I have no idea of what that comment implies.

I agree, I'm fine with a key, too. One with a metal loop on it, so you can hang it from the doorknob, always seems like a good idea; I just use hand sanitizer after I hand it back. I confess to sometimes making a no-eye-contact bee-line for the loo, but this is because I'm feeling embarrassed/uncomfortable, and don't know where to look; it never occurred to me that it my be offensive, but I'll be thinking of this from now on. One thing: Unless a dreadful emergency is pending, I only use the loo in places that I tend to normally frequent (e.g. I occasionally duck into City Bakery just to use their facilites, but I frequently go there for coffee/pastry). Normally I'd just use one in a department store or B&N.

I really should've asked this previously, but what don't you like about that bread quality you're getting now (lack of flavour, texture too dense/fluffy/tough, etc.)? I'm curious about what you're getting now, just to get an idea of the baseline you're working from.

As good a name as any, I'd say . In roe deer they are so small, I imagine they're often easily overlooked (I was taking a break to thaw my fingers--the carcase was still frozen by the spine--when I happened to spot these), but I'm still puzzled about not finding this cut marked on any butcher's chart for beef or pork, since in these animals this pair of muscles must be about portion-sized, and they're even tenderer than the tenderloin (plus, in slaughtered animals, they wouldn't be full of shot ). Thanks for helping me out with this question!

They were way up towards the neck, and completely separate from the tenderloin, with about five or six vertebrae between the two groups. The only picture taken while I was butchering that shows them has really poor resolution, and they're only visible as darker bands at either side of the upper thoracic vertebrae/along the bases of the first four ribs. That's too far up for any loin cut, though, isn't it (those are usually below the ribcage, I believe)?

It was definitely muscle, not glandular tissue (if you look here, they're in the upper right hand corner; this was right after I'd taken them out, they were the last sections I removed). I'm stumped, and I hate that!

Yep. The were quite noticeable against the interior of the thoracic cavity, despite their smallness. I noticed them as I was prying out the tenderloins, as a matter of fact; saw them and wondered what they were, but figured that whatever else they might be, they would be tasty, and took them out, too. Asked my boyfriend what they were called, and he said he had no idea, not even in Danish. Nor did his father, who shot the beast, and hunts on a regular basis. I've looked online, but haven't found anything, yet.

These were in a different location than the tenderloins, and really small, finger-length, in fact. They were about where a human's longus colli muscles (not psoas major) would be, if that helps. It was a roe deer. They run pretty small, but definitely bigger than a muntjac. And it was delicious

Odd. There must be some other factor at work in the flour I use (mostly a 12% protein, all-purpose flour). A different wheat strain, perhaps.

Is this specific to one particular kind of soft wheat? My experience has been that soft wheat yields a more finely textured loaf with no real holes; if I want chewy, holey, bread, I use a hard wheat flour.

I remember buying processed gluten to eat as a snack: it was a Japanese product, called zenryu-fu. It is quite hard and crunchy. If you were to use it in baking, I'm wondering whether it would be more effective to try incorporate it by first soaking it in water, or grinding it and adding the powder to the flour, before adding water (for the latter, you'd definitelyalmost certainly want a longer autolysis phase).

I've nothing to add to the advice about determining flour type, but if you don't have cake flour, adding a bit of corn starch will generally give quite good results (I've found that potato and rice starch work equally well), but I'm not a professional, so this is not specialized, insider knowledge. For each 130 g (about 4.6 oz) of all-purpose flour, swap out two tablespoons of flour, and replace them with an equal amount of corn starch. I wish I could give credit for this recommendation, but all I have is an uncited marginal scrawl (For cake fl., per cup 7/8 AP+2T corn flour; I'm about 90% certain it was CI). Until recently I couldn't weigh such small amounts accurately, but this morning's experiments with my lovely new lab scale indicate that both a tablespoon of AP flour and one of corn starch (scooped and levelled) weigh 9 g (0.3 oz). It's very humid in Denmark, and the kitchen is particularly cold and damp, so that may need to be taken into account.

Lab scale, anyone? I don't know the cost of the Jennings CJ-4000 lab scale I was just given as a gift, but it comes with a 20-year warranty on parts and labour, which has to count for something... it wighs up to 4 kg, is precise to half a gram, and gives either ounces or grams, as you prefer. For me the aggravating factor is the weird-looking-amounts-issue associated with converting volumes to weights (e.g. a cup of unsifted flour is 113 g).

Good Morning! The Polder 898 looks fairly decent. I'd planned on getting one, but the purchase was pre-empted by the acquisition of a stove and oven that were each equipped with elaborate multi-timers. Originally, I'd considered the Polder 893 unit, but read that it has an extremely quiet alarm (we have a rather loud exhaust fan) and an insecurely attached magnetic strip.

Crêpes Suzette. This is categorizable as 'dinner', because its preparation ended up pushing past dinner time, and subbing for it, although the project was a spectacular fiasco that actually ended up on the floor at one point. I did this in someone else's kitchen, someone who rather dislikes cooking and considers it a bore, and who sweetly (she truly meant to be kind) chose to hang about chatting, to relieve my boredom while I cooked. Unfortunately, I like cooking and am never bored by it, but do tend to focus intensely on whatever I happen to be doing, and was going out of my mind trying to give my undivided attention to both my first efforts at this dessert and my friend's conversation. I think I looked at each of the instructions about five times before they registered. I was pushing the two hour mark on this enterprise when I turned on the broiler (if this is making no sense, this was the CI recipe from Sept/Oct 2006). I was intially thrown by the fact that there is no broiler as such in most European ovens: There's a top element, but you need to select the temperature, and I realized that I had no idea of what a broiler's temperature is, other than 'very hot'. I cranked it up to 275 C and hoped for the best. I was breathing a sigh of relief as I slipped the pan into the oven, when I noticed that the interior of the oven was room temperature, although smoke was issuing from somewhere. 'Somewhere' turned out to be the smaller, lower oven which I'd clean forgotten about. Right. We turn that off, and try again. Once that was sorted, all went smoothly until I removed the pan from the oven and set it, crookedly, alas, on a trivet, from which it slipped and fell heavily to floor – upside down, of course. The crêpes that did not touch the floor were actually retrieved and eaten, but this I did not see, as, once I'd picked up the mess, I quickly excused myself from the scene to avoid spontaneously combusting from embarrassment before witnesses.

I definitely agree that a slicer is an excellent idea, but only if you get a professional grade one, since 'consumer-grade' ones never seem to be up to their job. My boyfriend lost his heart to a professional slicing unit on diplay in a shop window in Bolzano; I was fairly certain he'd also lost his mind (it weighs 9.5 Kg, about 20 lbs.), when he calmly purchased, dismantled, and packed it into his suitcase, to take home with us. But it's been a terrific addition to the kitchen, and its perfomance, when compared to that of slicers intended for consumer kitchens, is at a whole other level. I also agree that 'less stuff' is a great idea; one of the things that makes me crazy when I find myself working in other people's kitchens is the sheer amount of stuff you have to plough through, to find, say, a slotted spoon.... and how can someone have two wooden lemon jucers, but not a single strainer (in all fairness, I suspect that many such items are unwanted gifts)?

I was just given a Jennings CJ-4000 lab scale :smile: This is brilliant, because the kitchen scale in residence devoured batteries, was given to going dead at the most inconvenient moments (the lab scale has an auxiliary power cord, in case the batteries die and there are no extras about) and was only accurate to a gram (and I have grave doubts about that), while the Jennings is accurate to half a gram, and has a cover that doubles as a measuring dish.

Damn, your food looks good! Here it's all about Christmas eve: yesterday was a sandwich and a bunch of hastily thrown together rice. Oh,and the last of the venison in pastry, which became a bit dry on reheating, even at a low temperature. No SV cooking here, but I do keep duck fat in the refrigerator, and I have a whacking great bag of suet in the freezer, which was collected at the slaughterhouse in its raw form, and rendered at home for the annual Christmas pudding. I also use it in any recipe that calls for solid vegetable shortening (you just can't get suet here, since it's all exported or used commercially). Thanks Dave, I kept staring at the photo of the onion and the explanation of how it ought to have been done, and wondering what I wasn't quite getting.

I want to thank everyone who offered venison advice; the results I got were good enough that the biggest opponent of my preference for cutting the meat off the bone to cook separately asked me for the recipe I used. I do have one question, however: Does anyone know the butcher's term for the two little strips of meat, positioned at either side of the interior aspect of the neck vertebrae, like two tiny tenderloins? People seem slightly nauseated when I use anatomical terms, and I figure these must have a culinary-use name, too.

My experience is that chilis and soups--everything from thin broths to thick, stand-alone stews--freeze really well. The one caveat is that you should avoid including in them anything that breaks down when heated/chilled a lot, like broccoli (basically, if it turns grey and mushy when boiled, count it out; otherwise, you're good). If you want to include anything delicate, add a bit of it fresh to your reheated soup. The Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Cook's Illustrated has a recipe for chili that looks really promising; if you can get your hands on a copy, give it a look. I hope this doesn't sound like a shill, but in terms of delivering what they promise, CI has yet to let me down even once.