teonzo

About the ruined Nokia, I would suggest to put it in a dehidrator between 40°C and 50°C. Years ago a friend of mine accidentally dropped her Nokia in the bathtub, then put it under the sun for a day, it came back as new. Those things are famous for surviving the worst abuses, so there are chances your phone will come back to life. What I've been told about gelatin is this. It's produced in 2 main passages: extraction from the animal parts; purification. After the extraction gelatin is in granular form. After purification it can be made back in granular form or in sheet form. Granular gelatin can range from lots of impurities to totally clear, it's impossible to see it when it's in granular form, you need to use it to see. Sheet gelatin usually verges on the totally clear, you can see it by eye if the sheet is perfectly clear and transparent. Beware that jelly made in that way (gelatin and water, nothing else) will develop mold in few days. If you freeze it you ruin it due to syneresis. So it's better making experiments with the lower quantities possible, considering the cost of gelatin. Here supermarkets sell a 12 g package for 1 euro, if you want to gel 3 l water then you end up spending 6 euro or more. The jelly you are making this week will go to waste before the event, unless you start adding stuff like potassium sorbate or glycerin (not much sense). Keep far from agar, it gives hard, brittle and cloudy jellies. They don't wobble and break easily. As far as my experience goes there are no better hydrocolloids than gelatin for this purpose. Teo

These could be some possible causes: - oven temperature was low, meaning some butter melts out of the cookie before the egg proteins have time to set; - the butter emulsion broke when adding the eggs, to avoid this the eggs must be at the same temperature of the butter mixture (about 68-70 F, usually you just need to pick the butter and eggs from the fridge a couple hours before making the recipe, so they have time to come to room temperature) and added in small amounts (in a small stream is the better choice), you want something that looks smooth like a mayonnaise and not grainy at all; - dough did not rest enough time in the fridge (during this time the flours bond with butter). A word about cutting chocolate. If you start from bars then you can soften them in the microwave before cutting. You put a bar on a piece of parchment paper, put in the microwave and give 30 seconds bursts at low power (200-300 W). After a bit the chocolate will start to soften (becoming a bit soft, before melting). When it's soft you pick it out of the microwave, lay it on a cutting board and cut the pieces of the dimensions you want. This way you get exact cuts without getting small pieces / powder. After that you let the chocolate harden again and you can use the chocolate pieces. Teo

It depends on the kind of leavened dough and the kind of leavener you are using. Working with levain / sourdough starter / natural leavener (whatever you call it, something that does NOT include saccharomyces cerevisiae) is one thing, because of all the different microbes involved. Working with commercial yeast (saccharomyces cerevisiae) is another thing, because you are using only one kind of microbe. There are recipes which call for both, trying to get the best of both worlds. As a general rule, the shorter the fermentation time is, the less flavor is developed, the quicker the final product goes stale. Working with levain gives you much more flavor, because each different microbe produces different molecules with its metabolism, some of them help retarding the staling process, others are acids. Depending on the culture of the levain (the balance between the various microbes) and the fermentation process (temperature and time) the balance of the produced acids can be pretty different. Levain went through quite a number of previous fermentations, so it carries all the molecules produced before. Working with commercial yeast gives less flavor because you are using only a kind of microbe, and this microbe has a quicker metabolism. Pre-ferments (poolish, biga...) are used to prolong the fermentation time and thus develop more aromatic molecules. So the more fermenting passages you include in the recipe, the more flavorful the final result. There are recipes that call for a direct fermentation (mix, shape, proof, bake) in only one passage, that's the simplest way but you end up with a product with poor flavor and short shelf life (quick staling). When a recipe calls for both it's because in such way you get the flavor from the levain, but also the kick and predictability of the commercial yeast. Laminated doughs for viennoiseries (croissant, danish, laminated brioche and so on, remember that croissant, kouign amann, pain au chocolat, pain au raisins are like brothers) can be made in a variety of ways. You can use only levain, in which case you get great flavour, but fermentation times can vary a lot, plus the crust is not as flaky as when you use commercial yeast (with croissants you want the flakiest crust possible). You can use commercial yeast with the direct method, it's the quickest process with the most consistent results, but less flavor. You can use commercial yeast with a pre-ferment and then added commercial yeast in the final mix (laminated doughs call for strong activity), this way you get good flavor and a good compromise (this is the road followed by lots of professionals for croissants). You can use levain and commercial yeast (no pre-ferment, just the final mix) so you get great flavor and consistent fermentation times, problems are that it takes more work and you loose some flakiness for the crust. If you want to delve in the viennoiserie world then I would suggest to start with recipes that use only commercial yeast and call for a pre-ferment. Teo

It was shaped. There is no difference if it's shaped or not: yeast activity is affected by freezing and defrosting, not by shaping. Teo

If one of you can write the recipe (ingredient list and passages) then we could try. Teo

You could prepare many bags, freeze them, store them in an airtight box, then pick up 1 or more when needed. Prepare 7 g bags, so if you want a 4 oz cup you use 1 bag, if you want a 8 oz cup you use 2 bags. Or 10 g bag for a 6 oz cup, whatever. Teo

They deserve the firing squad, substituting the blindfold with 3D glasses. Teo

Uh? I would say impersonal more than odd: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theobroma_cacao Teo

Years ago I run a pastry blog, I really got sick of all those kind of messages. A person contacted me regarding a pound cake, saying "I made it exactly like the recipe but it came really hard". I went through the usual questions regarding possible missteps during the execution with no avail. Finally I asked "are you sure you scaled all ingredients correctly?", the answer was "well, I kept out all the butter to make it lighter". No surprise that a pound cake without butter comes out like a brick. Another one contacted me regarding an entremet (cake with mousse layers and mirror glaze) made with apricot, saffron and pistachio. Her mail was "I really really love this cake and would like to make it for my birthday, but I don't like saffron nor pistachio, I would like to use chocolate, but not as a mousse, more of a cake". My answer: "what you are looking for was invented years ago, it's called sacher torte". I could go on till night. Teo

Definetely looks like mold. If you decide to eat it, then cut a good chunk of the part with the mold: their filaments are invisible but can go pretty deep. Teo

Freeze it with no fear. I froze lots of croissants and other viennoiseries at home, with my old chest freezer (25 years old), never got any troubles. Teo

My apologies for leading you to damaging the Nokia. Did you use a professional cling wrap that really clings, or a supermarket one with average cling? I've sealed and poached various stuff in professional cling wrap without troubles. The suggestion to use a condom is still valid, a double knot on the bottom should be enough. If a knot is enough to keep water inside a balloon, then it should be enough to keep jelly outside of a condom. Try asking around, one of your friends will have an old phone to give you for free. Leaf gelatin gives clear results, it must be clear to be sellable (nobody would buy a cloudy gelatin sheet). Don't buy the supermarket stuff, usually it's gold gelatin. About powder gelatin, it depends on the producer. Last week I made a sake jelly with powder gelatin that came out completely clear and wobbles a lot. Regarding resonant frequencies, I would keep really far from that with a weak jelly. Resonant vibrations would lead to cracks in few time, most probably the jelly would break and collapse with the first call. For your next step I would try this. Make a jelly block that satisfies you (clear and wobbly enough), without enclosing any phone in it. Then enclose the phone with whatever method you decide, lay it on the set jelly (no risks for the phone), then try calling the phone and see what happens. Worst case scenario the jelly stays firm and you wasted some time, but I would bet it's enough to make the jelly wobble noticeably. Teo

One of my favourite pasta is tomato sauce + canned mackerel + capers + olives (taggiasche, if possible). Nothing fancy but always hits the spot. Teo

People who write stuff like this should be shot on spot. Teo

I was suggesting some rice flour mainly because you were complaining they tasted like chocolate and oatmeal, not like a cookie. You are right on everything, they are delicious without flour, but you need flour for longer storage. It just depends on what's the final result you are aiming for. If your daughter loved them without flour, then there's no reason to change them. Teo

Good question. I've been taught that 24 g is the minimum amount of gelatin to gel 1000 g of water, if you go lower then the jelly will sweat water. But I must say I never checked the source. I tried a couple of times to use less gelatin and the jelly effectively sweated out some liquid. We need to consider that there can be differences in the gelatin sold in different markets. What I'm sure about is the bloom value, you need the lowest bloom possible. You need the same weight of bronze gelatin / silver gelatin / gold gelatin to be able to gel the same amount of water, meaning that if the minimum amount of bronze gelatin to gel 1000 g of water is X grams, then it will be the same weight for silver and gold gelatin. What changes is the gel strength, low bloom means low strength (wobblier gel). A good reason to go with low bloom and maybe use a bit more gelatin. If you use a first layer of hard gelatin to surround the phone then the vibrations should be a bit muted when reaching the other jelly, so it means less risks. For waterproofing the phone, you can adopt the Ottawa solution. That way you will be 100% sure your tool will be protected against potentially dangerous moisture. Teo

Chapeau for the idea, fantastic! I would keep far from a chamber vacuum machine, the pressure shock while releasing air inside the chamber would risk to detach some electronics, ruining the cell phone. A food saver should be fine, the buttons on the Nokia are dual not single, so it's pretty hard that the bag would press one side more than the other, pressing both sides together does not activate anything. At least if your model is like mine (I'm an old dinosaur and still use my 15 year old Nokia but can't remember which model it is). The problem is that the bags for the food saver are not flat, so people would see the bag and all the ondulations. Avoid freezing too, not a good idea. You can use a double layer of plastic wrap, if you pull it carefully you won't be able to notice it from the front. If you cut it carefully (exact dimensions) you should be able to put the closures on the sides of the phone, so they will be really hard to notice. It won't be completely water proof, but if you use a very viscous first layer of gelatin then the risks are almost zero (Nokia phones are famous for surviving all kinds of hardships, mine included). For the first layer of gelatin you just need to use a high ratio of gelatin per water, for this use going for a technical recipe with glucose and glycerine is overkill. Just use 1 g gelatin (powder form I suppose since you work in a pastry shop) for 10 g water: dissolve the powder gelatin in 10 parts water instead of the usual 5 parts, then melt and use. Make this layer the thinner possible, few millimeters. For the final block of gelatin the lowest ratio is 24 g gelatin per 1000 g water, so if you use powder gelatin you dissolve 24 g gelatin in 120 g water, then melt it and add to 880 g water. Go for the lowest bloom possible, bronze gelatin usually in a professional setting (140 bloom), if you can find the 100 bloom one even better (should be a special order, never seen any professionals using it). Remember that you must wrap the phone when it's on, even Nokia batteries have their limits. Teo

No beaver? That's racism. Teo

Only possible problem is that if you freeze it slowly then some yeast cells will die, so the rising will be slower. If you have a blast freezer on your way then you are totally safe for this, lots of restaurants use this method for their breads. Thawing process is better made in the fridge and not at room temperature. Teo

Poor family, they should appeal to the Geneva Conventions. Teo

Craquelin has almost the same recipe of the Ina Garten shortbread, it's 100 g flour, 100 g sugar, from 80 to 100 g butter, made with the creamed butter method. For this use it's better to avoid chemical leaveners (baking soda and so on), you loose control on the final volume and on how the cookies spread. To get consistent results you need to roll the dough at the same width, you can use 2 thin bars (around 2 mm) as a guide on the opposite sides of the dough, when the rolling pin touches the bars you are done. Of course the rolling pin must be a good one with a regular shape (no bends, no bumps). Just after cooking the cookies (as soon as they come out of the oven) it's better to put a sheet of parchment paper on their top, then a sheet pan on it and press lightly. This way you end up with cookies that are flat and the same width. You let them cool to room temperature, then you dry them in the oven at 270 F for about 15 minutes. This way you eliminate almost all moisture, this helps a lot on shelf life, not in the sense of molds, but in the sense of taste. After the drying process and cooling, you move the cookies and put them all near the others, so there's the less free space possible between them. Then you spray the surface with cocoa butter. Allow some minutes for the cocoa butter to crystallize, then put a sheet of parchment paper on their top, then a sheet pan on it, flip everything together, pull away the sheet pan and the parchment paper (which were on the bottom when you sprayed the cocoa butter and now are on the top), then spray again with cocoa butter (so the cookies are completely sprayed on both sides). You can prepare a big batch of these, if you do things properly they keep for around 6 months. You need to store them in an airtight container, if it's one of the container where you can suck out the air with the proper pump then much better. I prefer spraying with cocoa butter than using a no-water layer in the bonbon. As for the recipe, you can use the basic streusel recipe: 100 g butter, 100 g sugar, 100 g all purpose wheat flour, 100 g almond flour, pinch of salt. Mix everything together, let it rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour, then roll. It has the added almond flour if compared to the craquelin / shortbread, it adds taste and makes it more crumbly. Another road to try is the feuilletine, Valrhona sells it as Eclat d'Or. You prepare a no-water component (usually a gianduja), add the feuilletine, spread it thin on a sheet of parchment paper, cut the small rounds. You can re-use the trimmings, you just need to re-melt them. But I would not use this for a cheesecake bonbon for a taste matter. Teo

Professionals use a tool called "raplette" (French term). This is the only occurrence on Amazon. I don't know if there is an English term for this tool, or if there are cheaper versions for home use. Teo

Mai tai, added ingredient. That's why the result was pretty good. Teo

It looks great! I love the pairing between pumpkin and milk chocolate. I would suggest adding some pumpkin seeds, they work great too. Teo

I had to google this because I forgot what it was. I had to google this because I never heard even the first 3 letters together, I'll need some lessons to learn how to pronounce it. Thanks for pointing them out, they are really interesting, I think they would get a good response here in Italy, so I'm saving them for the future. We'll wait for whatever you are going to show us! Teo