teonzo

I really hope to open eGullet on 2029 and read about your next trip for the 100th birthday! Teo

You should volunteer for a new weekly blog here! Teo

For how long? Teo

LOL Teo

These are the kind of stories I love to read, thanks a lot for sharing! Teo

To get back on topic, the Addams Family had a lot of interesting recipes too. Time for some Addams experiments in Manitoulin! Teo

Try putting a light bulb in your mouth, if it goes on then you are twins! And you solved your lighting problem. Watching some episodes of the Addams Family (the original series, not the movies) is highly suggested, one of the funniest things to ever be aired on TV. Teo

I would like to put some constructive thoughts. When dealing with food it's important to know what to avoid (things that can lead to food poisoning), but it's also important to know what you can do (there are no risks) and why. If you focus only on the first, then you loose sight of the second and third, which is not good. Aw is not the only parameter to look at, that's true. It gives an idea on the multiplication speed of microbes. It does not say which microbes will be there, that depends on the ingredients you are using, the environment and so on. How can you say if you can expect a food to be safe? If it has low Aw and has no risks due to ingredients and environment, then you can expect it to be safe. So what about this specific case? We have something that is composed by butter, flour and sugar. Flour and sugar give no troubles (assuming they are dealt in the correct way, which should be the case here), they are shelf stable. Only troubles could come from butter. It's a given that butter can stand room temperature for a lot of days, this comes from direct experience from tons and tons of cases: first trouble that comes is rancidity due to oxidization, so your concern is that not bacteria. Just think about butter ganaches: they last LONG, simply because butter has few troubles at room temperature. As Merry Berry wrote, some countries do not consider butter an ingredient that must be stored in the refrigerator. What happens when we add flour and sugar to butter? Aw is going to lower, since some water will get bound by flour and sugar. So even less risks. Sugar behaves in different ways when it comes in contact to water. Do we know a case where butter is mixed with sugar and has no troubles after a day at room temperature? Yes, it's buttercream, if there were troubles then we would have heard about lots of food poisonings at wedding ceremonies, not so. Buttercream is riskier than this uncooked dough, since it contains egg whites and more water. Is there a chance that bad bacteria will form after adding flour to something with water? There is the well know case of flour + water, used to create the sourdough starter. Microbes form there and multiplicate, yes, but they are good ones. So we start from 3 ingredients that give no troubles after few days at room temperature, none of their combinations can ring an alarm bell. Besides that there is the high pasteurization in the oven. Before screaming "IT'S RISKY!" it would be better to consider the whole scenario and remember what things can be done. Teo

Where's Uncle Fester when Anna N needs him??? Teo

This calls for a visit to a couple of thrift stores, where you'll find the right lamp for you for $1. Teo

I have a better idea: you put the dough under the chair, I roll it while oscillating peacefully. Teo

This new apartment looks awesome! I would spend all my time on that rocking chair. I always say I need to buy one, but then I remember it would be my ruin. Teo

Forgive my impudence, but you guys are exaggerating a bit. It's ok to leave butter at room temperature for at least 2 days, no problems about microbial growth since butter has a low Aw. The bigger problem of leaving butter at room temperature is that it risks to go rancid. Having said that, that incriminated dough is made adding sugar and flour to butter. Sugar absorbs water and lowers the Aw sensibly. Same with flour. So the risks are even less. Then this dough is cooked in an oven to hard pasteurization. If you pick a chocolate bonbon near its expiry date and measure its microbial content, then compare it with the microbial content of that dough (both just before cooking and after cooking), then be sure the thing with the higher microbial activity is the bonbon, even if compared with that raw dough. But you keep selling chocolates with that expiry date. Some more considerations. What about buttercream in the wedding cakes? Is it enforced by law to build a wedding cake in a walk-in refrigerator, then put it out just few minutes before it's going to be eaten? Most wedding cakes are made at least a day in advance and are stored at room temperature. Nobody ever complained. Buttercream is full of butter. What about levain / sourdough starter? It's just flour + water, the Aw is much higher than the one of butter. It's left for days at room temperature, more than that dough. Then it's cooked in an oven, like that dough. Nobody ever complained. Teo

I'm pretty sure it's both. Coarse flour means much less active surface. Which means less water will be absorbed (ending up as higher idration) and less proteins are available to form gluten (less gluten development). Milling a correct flour (much finer) will solve this problem. Teo

Uhm, let me understand: you make the flour setting the mill on the lowest setting, then milling the whole grains in one single passage at the lowest setting? If it's so, then I suggest to change method. Start with the highest setting, run the whole grains to get a really coarse flour. Lower the setting a bit, run the flour to make it a bit finer. Repeat this process, lowering the setting a bit at a time, until you reach the lowest setting. Then repeat running the flour at the lowest setting until you get a really fine flour. If you run the whole grains in a single passage at the lowest setting then it's impossible to get a fine flour, you'll end up with a coarse one. I never saw in real life that kind of mill (actually I never saw a small mill for home use), but I suspect its mechanics are not super solid, this means that if you follow that practice (milling the whole grains immediately at the lowest setting) then you risk breaking the mill in the medium term. Such a thing should be written in the machine instructions, aka "the book no one ever reads". Teo

You are banned from Italy, such anathema against the sacred rules is not tolerated. Teo

I see their point, but if you want to make serious bread (which is the goal of this very thread) then it's better to follow other ways: stand mixer, or even hand kneading. You can try to pass it a second (and a third and fourth) time in the mill, each time it will be finer. Trying to master this one is the wisest choice you can make. That's why I'm suggesting to use a finer flour for your next try, it should be enough to fix the troubles. Teo

Seems like a case of insufficient gluten development, both from how it rises flat and on how you say the dough was too liquidy. First of all, be sure you are using 100% wheat with good gluten content. Second, try getting a finer flour with the mill, looking at the photos you are using a flour that is a bit too coarse (big flour particles mean fewer proteins will idrate, so less gluten will form). Third, try getting some experience about gluten development, look for infos about the "window test". The recipe you linked talked about using a food processor with blades, not my favourite method for developing gluten, if you have a stand mixer with a hook attachment then it's much better. If you use the stand mixer, then keep it at low speed, otherwise you risk breaking it. Teo

Pick up some with a palette knife / spatula / whatever metal tool with a flat surface, then put it in the fridge for around 5 minutes. If it's tempered then it will detach easily and neatly from the metal surface, if it's not tempered then it will stick. Just like tempered chocolate, with the difference that gianduja is softer and does not snap. The "problem" is that you are using a professional textbook in an amateur environment. Professionals grows step by step: you learn the first stage, then you pass to the second only after you learned the first. In this case: you work with gianduja only after you learned to temper chocolate and have mastered it. Making things at home you want to reach the end result as soon as possible instead of practicing the basics procedures (which are boring, we all know that), which ends up being before you are ready for it. Eagerness for the final results is not a defect, but you pay it with this kind of troubles: you are jumping to things too fast, so you are not ready to catch the nuances. Teo

Rolling that kind of dough at room temperature is almost impossible, it's too soft. The only "good" reasons to keep it out of the fridge overnight are if there is no space in the fridge, or if she is going to pipe small cookies with a pastry bag. If she needs to roll it then doing so is just a big error on her workflow, much better to keep it in the fridge then giving a quick round in a planetary mixer with a paddle attachment to soften it enough. It's her error, not yours, it's not harming your work, so let her work the way she likes. If it's not the optimal then she is the one paying for the consequent troubles (lost time, worse quality, so on). Teo

Microbes are in the butter too, as are in the air. It depends on the Aw, when mixing flour and sugar to butter you lower it. Teo

You can keep butter at room temperature for a couple of days without worrying about safety, only thing to worry about is it going rancid. So if the dough is just butter + sugar + flour then there are no risks. To cook it you must reach gelification point of starches, which is usually over 195°F. The problem is about its quality, not the best way to get great results. Teo

Gianduja depends on the nut paste you are using: hazelnut is different from pistachio, which is different from sesame, so on. Different nut paste, different tempering curve: each nut oil affects cocoa butter in a different way. Different chocolate to nut paste ratio, different tempering curve. Greweling can't give a tempering curve for each case, it would take half the book. That's why he says "cooled to 27°C/80°F or below": "below" is really important here, he is not saying that when you cool it to 27°C then you are always game, he is meaning it's possible you need to go below. When working with chocolate you can't work it trusting temperatures and limiting your decisions on watching the temperature. You need to develop the "feel", which means becoming able to notice if what you have in your hands is tempered or not. Which takes lots of tempering tests at the beginning, then a bit of eye and feeling for the texture. For gianduja it's easier to start with tempered chocolate. Knowing when pure chocolate is tempered is much easier. Tempering by hand 1 part of pure chocolate is quicker and easier than tempering 3 parts of gianduja. If you start from tempered chocolate then the tempering agitation is made on 1x mass, if you start from untempered chocolate and temper the full gianduja then the tempering agitation is made on 3x mass (more manual work). Having said this, if you ended up with a good amount of gianduja that is out of temper, then the only thing to do is remelt it and temper by hand, going below 27°C as was suggested by Kerry. Teo

What Kerry said, if you are starting from all the 3 ingredients mixed together and melted untempered chocolate. Personally I prefer to start from melted tempered chocolate, then add nut paste and sugar. Teo

I'm just joking, teasing people who fall in love in that way is one of my favourite passtimes. Teo