Mottmott

I want to thank you all for your help. I understand when making something, it's a matter of whistling in tune with yourself whatever the key. What's tough for the beginner is that there are so many variables. Sometimes it's dumb stuff, like the fact that Morton & Diamond kosher salt are not the same weight per volume. (And that I seem incapable of remember which is which.) I'm sure it's a matter of practice, practice, practice. The potter, Kit Williams is a woman.

Ruth, I think the yeast is alive and cooking as I did do a test with it (after making the dough ). The fault may be in my conversion from fresh yeast to the SAF. The dough does seem to have come to life after sitting in the oven with the light on. So I may give it a go after I have a good nap. Kit, I actually own the Pastries book, but alas it is not in my present possession. When visiting my family in Portland a couple years ago (before they moved here). I accidentally left it behind and it is now buried in some box they have not yet unpacked since moving here. I'd give up and just let them have the book, but the chances of my DIL EVER making pastry is about -100. She in fact has commissioned me to make her a bunch of pate brisee for her freezer. And, just out of curiosity, Kit. Are you by chance a potter? There used to be a wonderful potter of your name at Wallingford.

Pastries from La Brea bakery. But croissant dough is a soft dough (puff pastry is rather dense) so if your dough was dense and hard and the mixer was hopping, it sounds like your measurements were off. After mixing, the dough only needs an hour-long rest before it's ready to roll and it should be a little poofy but not blown up. You used instant yeast, which should be added to the dry ingredients, not the water. Lastly, did you scald the milk before adding to the dough? Signing off for now as I'm on duty to pick up my GS. If you need the recipe from La Brea, let me know. It's wonderful, makes a very pliable but sturdy dough, and is best made within one day. ← It's confusing because I did follow the ingredients carefully, except perhaps the yeast conversion from cake yeast to instant might have been off. I know the rest was as spot on as a cup of flour can be spot on. I did not scald the milk which was pretty near room temperature, but then the recipe said nothing about scalding milk. I have the Silverton recipe in her bread book, and comparing it with the BWJ recipe I notice that hers not only calls for a piece of starter dough from the Country White Bread, but it also calls for 4 1/2 cakes of yeast to 2 1/2 lbs (10 cups) of bread flour as opposed to BWJ's 1 cake of yeast to 3 3/4 cups of ap flour (which should be a few oz more than 1 pound as her book equated a cup at 5 oz) - so the formula for Silverton's seems to have considerably more raising power. And she says nothing about scalding the milk either. Am I to take it that scalding the milk is always a good idea whether or not called for in a recipe? I also notice that neither BWJ or Silverton calls for dissolving the yeast in the milk or scalding the milk. As a novice bread baker, I tend to follow the recipe rather literally, but it looks as if there's a lot of background these recipes take for granted. I appreciate the benefit of your experience. BTW: I took the dough out of the fridge (it had said to rest it there overnight) and put it into the oven with the oven light on and it does seem to be softening up a bit after 2 hours. It would be interesting to hear how successful others found the BWJ recipe.

Yes, thanks, it would be useful to have the recipe in weight measures. I think I need to scrap what I have and begin again. It's really confusing when you are teaching yourself to bake. It would be so much easier if ALL recipes had weights included. I picked the recipe in Bkg w/Julia because so many here said it was a good one. The recipe says, "Put the yest, flour, sugar, salt, and 1 cup milk into the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook." So I did. I did THINK about the salt/yeast/death issue, but heh, this was a Julia endorsed recipe, so I just did it. Clearly wrong. About the flour. I understand that a cup of flour's weight depends upon how it is put in the cup. And as I have a scale I could bypass that, but even the question of how much a cup should weigh is confusing. What weight should I use as standard for the different kinds of flour? As nearly as I can tell the Bkg w Julia seems to call for 5 oz/cup, Reinhardt 4 oz/cup, Silverton 4. As BWJ called for scoop and sweep in the intro, that's the method I used. But I suspect there was too much flour. Yeast? The Julia book does not say how to substitute active dry for cake yeast - though it does say that when substituting SAF for active dry to use 25% less SAF. So I turned to Beranbaum; typically, she has a convenient little highlighted conversion chart: "To convert recipes calling for fresh compressed yeast to instant yeast: Use 0.32 times the weight; or, for 1 packed Tbs (21 grams) fresh yeast, use 2 tsp instant yeast." OK. Was I wrong to assume that 1 oz compressed (fresh) yeast [as called for in the croissant recipe] is equivalent to 1 packed Tbs fresh yeast? Because I did assume, based on Beranbaum, that using 2 tsp of the instant would give me the equivalent of the oz of fresh yeast. It's not that I didn't do my homework, it's that I did it dummy-style, I guess. When I go out today I will buy some compressed, fresh yeast if I can find it. But even so, the recipe instructions call for just putting it all in the bowl together. No proofing with sugar in water or milk. Oh, it's all so confusing, so intimidating! Sugarbuzz, I do have Nancy Silverton's book, but that recipe would have called for making some country white bread so I could use some of that dough in the croissant dough - just absolutely too much for my first try, even though I wouldn't have had to start with the grapes as I have some sourdough starter (thanks Jackal) in my fridge. I've put her on the shelf for a later try. Or could I have skipped making the country white and just popped in some of my sourdough starter after refreshing it? I think baking and breadmaking are really difficult when you are teaching yourself. Perhaps breadmaking most of all. I used to make a loaf from Joy of Cooking when my kids were young and I've used Jackal's sourdough recipe with an acceptable result. With your help croissant dough will not defeat me. Edited for typo

My favorite sticky bun from Standard Bakery in Portland ME is 400 miles away. What makes them special is that they use croissant dough, not brioche. So I've decided to do the deed and make croissant dough for the first time. And I need help. I'm using the recipe in Baking with Julia. Yesterday I did the first stage, mixing flour, yeast, milk, salt, sugar. As far as I can tell, it hasn't risen at all. Is it supposed to be visibly risen before you do the butter thing? I certainly don't want to go through adding the butter if my base dough won't fly. I think these are the two possible sources of the problem, if it is a problem: --My house is pretty chilly. The kitchen was probably about 65f. --I didn't have any active yeast, so I checked in Beranbaum who suggested subing 2 tsp of instant yeast for 1 oz of the active. When I saw the dough didn't appear to have risen, I did do a sugar water/yeast check to be sure it was alive and it grew foamy. --I did add the salt and yeast to different parts of the bowl, then whisked it about before adding the milk. Oh, and one other odd thing, when I was kneading in the KA, the bowl kept "hopping" and jumping off the the spindles that hold it in place. I had to manually restrain the bowl during the kneading period. The resultant dough seems rather dense and hard. Could my flour measurement be off? This recipe doesn't give weight measurements so I used a scoop to fill the cup and then swept it level.

It's at Fairmount and N. 22nd, alongside the Eastern State Penitentiary historic site, Thursdays from 3 to 7 p.m. At this point, Earl is the only vendor showing up, and that will probably be for only a few weeks more. ← Thanks. That's the same day as Clark Park where I often go for Northstar. I'm really really into Northstar's peaches and plums, fall fruit less so as I go pears more than apples. I'm not super wild for the veggie stands at Clark Park except for the stand with the little girl. (Their tomatoes were great this year.) So it would be good to make a loop that includes both NS & Livengood. RTM is great, but I hate the crowds on Saturday and usually pass it up for 2nd Street which has both Sommerdale and NS. Also, this year there are some farmer's market stands in front of the Henry School on Thurs at 3, just across from Weaver's Way. They're pretty good, but I usually go to Clark Park for NS.

I have one of those which I hardly use; instead I use my little cheap Japanese slicer all the time, propping it over a bowl where all the lovely little slices of cucumbers, etc fall. Edited to add: The new toys on my list are a convection/toaster oven and a self cooling ice cream maker.

Thanks for this thread. Oh, you've all reminded me of the drama of it. I will regale my gd with it next time she comes to cook with me. She loves it when I make whipped cream by hand; she'll flip for the zabaglione! Now what will I put it on for her. What's your favorite? I can't encourage her to simply eat it by the spoonful!

Consider scanning the indexes into your computer. ← Except scans would produce pdf's or images, not word documents. For me the key to the index's is that they be searchable by contained words. ← I have a cheapo HP scanner that will scan either as an image or as a document that I can even make alterations to and file as a WP document. Once it's on my computer that way, I can do a search on any ingredient and find any document that contains it whether I have typed in that document or scanned it. At most it requires some formatting. I've scanned in numerous recipes from books I don't want to ruin in a kitchen accident. There is a problem if something is printed in multiple columnes on the page, as indexes often are. In that case, simply mask off all but the column you are scanning, then move to the next column and repeat. It's a bit more work to scan the page in 2-3 go's, but not difficult if it's important to have the indexes in your computer. Sometimes if there's something on a page I don't want, I cover it with postits.

For those who are not determined to have new cookware be pristine these All Clad seconds are a great deal. You might not want to give them as wedding gifts, but if you're buying for yourself and don't mind a negligible scratch or so, these are great. I got a bunch a while back and whatever marks were there are now lost amid my dings of relatively careful everyday use. Until Nov 6 they have a 20% discount on their normally low prices, bringing the cost down to about half of retail. I've found the salespeople very helpful and I suggest you call rather than use their online sales machinery as the 20 % sale is not noted on the website. I just ordered two 12" pans (one non-stick, one not) for about the price of one at regular retail. I'm assured that if they're too scratched etc for my taste I can exchange them. My only relationship with them is as a customer.

Oh the lovely pics! Where and when is the Fairmount market? I've been going across town to Clark Park on Thursdays. Fairmount would be half the distance. Of course, it's late for this season.

I have only one Cuisinart pan, a 5 - 5 1/2 qt saute pan (about 12"). I love it. I use it almost daily. I use it to ccok pasta for 1-2 people, to make soups, stews, braises, caramelize onions, etc. Sometimes I even saute in it. The Cuisinart saute pan is so deep, about 3 1/2", I find it the single most useful pan in my kitchen as it is so versatile. When making soups, large volume sauces (tomato, bechamel), stews or boiling water for pasta, the width makes for quicker cooking, quicker liquid reduction, etc. than a deeper pot of the same volume would. And yet it is deep enough to braise veal or lamb shanks, chicken, etc. Note that neither AC nor Caphalon would multi-function like this. Mine, unlike the ones I currently see, has a copper sandwich disk on the bottom, so heats pretty quickly. The round, hollow handle does not heat up too much for just shifting about on the burner. It's main defect imo is that the disk bottom on my pan does not quite reach to the outermost edge and if I do not move the pan about on the burner from time to time it will develop a hot spot on my uneven burner, perhaps more the fault of the stove than the pan, but whose stove doesn't sin. All that said, the rest of my batterie is AC, Caphalon, LC, Copper, and cast iron (or even a couple old very thick aluminum pieces I confess to still using for their super performance.) Depending on your cooking habits, you may find the 5 1/2 qt saute pan fills a niche that none of the other major brands does. I would definitely advise, however against buying their frying pan which I also had and gave away as it had a tendency to hot spot on the sides when the flame went up them. What other brands does that store carry?

Consider scanning the indexes into your computer. I use Word Perfect in lieu of Word. It includes Quickfinder that will list all files containing whatever words I search. I can use this to bring up any recipes I have on my computer. From what I have read, the new Google search engine that searches your computer, as opposed to the web, might also work for you. Maybe someone more computer savvy could comment on the Google search. edited to add: Laptop & wifi kept well away from any splashing and dusting. I find working directly from the computer useful only for simpler recipes of the everyday cooking sort. When doing a complex recipe or working on a dinner party, I do printouts so that I can make modifications and notes to make the recipes clearer or easier to follow. It allows me to schedule the steps within and/or among the recipes into a useful sequence.

Ditto to everything above, specially with thanks to those who made it happen. I want to note the particular pleasure of sharing good food and wine with people who enjoy enjoying good food and wine.

How beautiful they look. But dont eat them yet! These are my favorite fruit, and I find that they taste best when they look worst. The skin becomes translucent, sometimes a bit wrinkled, and they are very soft to the touch. Heavenly. Just cut and spoon it out, slurp slurp slurp. I don't think you need to leave them on the tree til they are absolutely ready to eat as they will store well at a cool temperature. I never refrigerate them as buying them in the store it's a matter of waiting for them to ripen, hovering anxiously. Perhaps if you have a big crop, you may be more into retarding the ripening and then selectively readying them to eat. Above all, do not eat them out of hand til the skin at least begins to be ranslucent. How I envy you your treee!

I have a 5 1/2 qt Cuisinart saute pan that's about 12x 3 1/2" deep. It's one of my most useful pans even though I live alone. In addition to all the things one typically makes in a saute pan, because of the depth, I can use it to make stews, soups, and even cook pasta in it. I was lucky enough to get one while they were still making them with the copper disc bottom which may now be phased out. I looked at the large AC saute pan and rejected it because I thought it cumbersome in the relation between the handle and pan and didn't like the shallow sides. Besides I have an old restaurant gauge 14" aluminum saute pan that I haul out when I need something that wide. Remind me why we all stopped using aluminum to cook on? I notice a lot of restaurants still use aluminum. Hasn't the "causes altzheimers" been debunked?

Not a big baker? Can you say MIX? I'm really enjoying all your answers. All the more for picturing my DIL mixing her own colors for cake decorating. Alana & Cherie, I took your suggestion and checked at WF when there today. ZIP at the one I go to. K8 & Ludja & Jeanne, I'm in awe of your inventiveness. When I do decorate, I go with fruits, nuts, chocolate, flowers, etc. I find them more attractive than colors anyway - and tasty, too. As for my DIL, while we all enjoy the food arts, it's just a chore for her to get through. Her considerable talents live elsewhere. She's decided to use the stuff that's easy to find. I will, however, suggest to her the alternative to decorate with royal icing and fruits, nuts, candies. I'm sure the kids would love candies atop their cupcakes.

Thanks. I've forwarded on the web address and suggested a local natural food store. I wouldn't even begin to suggest making natural colors from beets or blueberries to someone for whom cooking is a martyrdom suffered only for the need to feed her family. Mostly I suggested that the once a year my DIL sends in cupcakes without objectionable food colorants would be spitting in the wind. After all. How many of the other 15-20 mothers are going to be using natural food colors?

← Thanks for the reply. It pretty much confirms what I suspected. In her cooking she does use organic foods and Tom's toothpaste, etc. I think her quandry is what to use to decorate the obligatory birthday cupcakes for school that's the tradition where my gs goes to school. While I share her general suspicion of industrial dyes in our foodstuffs and her desire to use organic products, I confess that I compromise when it becomes too inconvenient to follow the regimen. I keep a fast line on meat and dairy, aspire to local and/or organic fruit and veggies, limit use of processed foods, but if I had to decorate a cake in colors I'd just it! And I confess, I just can't bring myself to use those ugly unsuphered dried apricots.

Neat trick! Thanks.

Could someone clarify for me the question of the coloring agents used in the gels for tinting frosting? I do recall seeing discussions about the non-desirability of some coloring agents but didn’t pay too much attention as I don’t use much processed foods and my own baking doesn’t often call for coloring the frosting. My grandson is now in kindergarten and from time to time there will be cupcakes to decorate. My DIL is super concerned with the quality of the food she gives her kids, buying organic only. Are there any coloring agents out there that will satisfy her? I checked at Fante’s and the color gels they carry have FD&C Color or US Certified Color. Which tells me nothing. Perhaps someone here can clarify this issue and even suggest where DIL can find child-friendly colors.

Actually, many of us do both. I buy lots of cookbooks, but I'll still grab a recipe off the net from time to time. First most of the time I cook out of my head unless I'm doing something unfamiliar. But much of what's "in" my head came from studying cooking in books. A recipe here and there off the web is not a substitute for a book which reflects a knowledgeable writer/chef putting together a coherent package of which the recipes per se are only one part. One of the most important and useful things I've learned from cookbooks (versus at my mother's knee or recipes from here and there) is the idea of a repetoire of elements to be used in different dishes. For example, I may have a recipe for making preserved lemons and then use it in a wide range of dishes including various braises or salads or even try it out in a savory bread. (Hmmm, there's an idea.) I read them to expand my repetoire of techniques and building blocks. A gastrique or lemon infused oil can be part of many dishes. When you read a cookbook whether about a food region or a particular chef, it gives you a sense of the characteristic way that area or person puts together elements cooking. Grabbing a particular recipe from the web (or out of a cookbook for that matter) doesn't do this. Well, you may say, what if Google or Yahoo or whatever puts whole books or chapters online? I can only offer one person's opinion that it would not equal the book as object. Perhaps it is my age and having grown up in a book culture, but I do NOT find even my laptop (which is portable of course) a satisfying substitute to curling up with a book. Being able to research recipes for particular food or dish online or grabbing a recipe here and there has not curtailed my cookbook collecting. It probably stimulates it. When you write your book, I have no doubt, judging by your posts that I read and your website, you will have a point of view and context for your recipes. Your commitment to your work and ideas and desire to share them is strong. edited to add: I just found this article on copyright to throw into the mix: here

This article in the NYTimes illustrates how complicated copyright can become in a culture like ours that is so self-referential. We're surrounded in our daily lives with so many items that are copyrighted, patented, or trademarked, that we may soon have to get permission to take snapshots to send without Christmas cards! As for recipes, I'm waiting for the first brouhaha when some chef makes a legal claim over something presented on a TV demo by another chef! We're fast losing all sense of the "commons" or that part of the environment that belongs to everyone by virtue of belonging to the community. Just look at what's happened with water being "branded." Even at today's prices, some people spend more on a gallon of water than a gallon of gasoline. The question I keep wondering about it how long protection of intellectual property extends? For example. When I buy a book I can give it away, lend it out, sell it. When I buy a computer, ditto. But it is, I believe, technically illegal for the person I bought it from to use the software I've installed on the computer. And even granting that someone who wrote a bit of music played as a cellphone's "ring" has a right to be payed, how far does that extend? If it inadvertently intrudes into a documentary made in a public space is it just that the filmmaker should pay for it? Personally, I'm annoyed at the promiscuous broadcasting of logos, jingles, advertising images, and junk music that one can't escape from. It's ironic that by planting all these into the public space corporation create a right to be recompensed when a creative person, willy-nilly, includes those images in his/her own work. Can I sell a photo or painting of a city skyline if it includes some corporate logo? Or must I pay them for their having cluttered my view with their logo? Perhaps we should all pay a fee to Maillard whenever we make something that depends on achieving that! And what about all those restaurants (and home cooks) making little cones of this or that in imitation of Keller's salmon amuse? Surely at some point, sounds, sights, ideas enter the culture and don't require a change of money at every manifestation. We need a balance that will enhance and expand our culture not stifle it. And what we often lose sight of is that few of the real writers and artists benefit very much while those in charge of the machinery of production and dissemination benefit greatly. It's a bit of bait and switch. The arguement for copyright, patent, etc. usually rests on protecting and encouraging creativity, but the big profits go elsewhere. The Hidden Cost of Making Documentaries

Perhaps because it is so very complicated. Even before the Google/Yahoo brouhaha began. Understand that I am all for protecting the work of artists and writers. But keep in mind that all too often the copyrights actually belong to corporate entities and not the writers and artists. (Hence the move on the part of many musicians to self-produce.) I know that the original period of copyright protection under US law was considerably shorter than at present. Materials are kept out of the public domain for ever greater periods of time, extending long beyond the lifetime of its creator. For example, we all want to see that intellectual property is protected, but the fact is that the time span of that protection has been considerably extended, so that very little will be going into the public domain at the rate we're going. Also, such property rights are becoming so expansive that even parodies are now being sometimes characterized as property thefts. And if you throw patents into the mix, the issues multiply. Do you know, for example, that some people are obtaining patents (or at least trying to) on genes and that any researcher who wants to do research on, say, genes that might be implicated in diabetes, etc., would have to have permission, pay frees, etc. to the patent holder. (Not sure what the status of this issue is at present, but last I heard it was happening.) It's a thoroughly complicated issue and as far as I can judge, there's no obvious right side. It would be good if someone with a grasp of the legal ins and outs of this were to help us out to understand it. I think I've seen something about copyright on Findlaw's site: http://writ.news.findlaw.com/