JoNorvelleWalker

A bit of leftover dry aged prime ribeye. I could easily have enjoyed the bowl of David Chang's ranch dressing on good bread without having prepared all the other stuff but it would not have made as pretty picture.

No word from Ecuador? Meanwhile my Bolivian friend reports her sister's neighborhood is surrounded and no one is permitted in or out. Her parents are OK.

I wish you were 46 miles closer.

Thank you! I went with English Puddings.

We made it through decalcification. I think the problem is flora or fauna living in the tank this time of year.

My Hamilton Beach 932 citrus juicer lives on my counter, and not for its looks.

Decalcifying now. May need to preform the @Shelby maneuver.

Bread was good. I can't say why.

CSO Whole Roasted Branzino, a favorite of mine: Lots of bones but that is part of life. When people are eaten by fish they probably say the same.

Oh, it's like radicchio, right?

Anna, did you use nice, thick, whole milk buttermilk? If the dressing is too thin I would try adding extra mayonnaise. What is Treviso, other than a town near @teonzo? Google was not much help.

If it's not one thing it's another. Tonight's loaf is baked from frozen dough, from a double batch before. A few moments into baking the CSO started beeping and shut down. Thankfully I have a spare. Meanwhile the Zojirushi has been reconsigned to utter darkness in the bedroom. I began to remember why I stopped using it.

I too love the look but I wouldn't buy one.

No word @Panaderia Canadiense? Please don't let us be worried if you can help it. I was describing my bread disaster to a Bolivian friend this afternoon. She told me this week's The Economist had an article about a friend of hers who began the street barricades in Bolivia. She added more somberly that a schoolmate of hers was killed in the demonstrations. According to The Economist article, in Bolivia garbage trucks and food deliveries are being allowed through but nothing else. I can't find any current news of the situation in Ecuador. My friend added that her parents have been told not to turn their lights on at night. Her family is no stranger to such events. Her grandfather was imprisoned twice. Once as a prisoner of war in Paraguay and then as a political prisoner in Bolivia. Georges Remi wrote about these events in his graphic novel The Broken Ear, in which his protagonist Tintin was saved from the firing squad only by ethanol. Ethanol solves a multitude of problems. And I wonder how much courage I could summon if I were called on.

I found my manual: "How to Enjoy Your Home Bakery Traditional". Oh for the lost days of full size, full color operating instructions that one can read. And I must apologize, I misspoke, there is a dough setting. Inexplicably the dough setting includes a 20 minute preheat. Which is probably why I never used it. But on the Home Made setting the preheat may be turned off. Even though -- like it or not -- the heat is on during kneading, as the Zojiushi thumbs its nose at you.

Me too!

I've dared not open mine. Can't wait to hear!

How does an Instant Pot relieve one "of most of the stirring"?

Aren't you going to tell us what it is?

Thanks. If I can find the manual I'll try to check on that.

I did the autolysis in the KitchenAid because I wanted to change only one variable at a time. And a good thing I did because the Zojirushi would have heated up the dough.

My machine is circa 1995. There is no dough cycle. I was using the homemade cycle.

A promise is a promise but these are perhaps the weirdest loaves I've shared. And as with everything there is a story... I decided to try my bread machine for mixing. It had not seen the light of day for many moons. Not wanting to confuse too many variables I used my usual recipe and mixed to a "shaggy mass" in the KitchenAid. After thirty minutes I transferred the dough to the Zojirushi. After some while the Zojirushi was beginning to develop some gluten strength. But then the machine shut down saying it was hot. And indeed the dough batter was hot. Apparently Zojirushi activates the heating element even when preheat and bake are turned off. Ritual suicide is too good for the designer. Only thing keeping me from hauling the whole mess to the dumpster was the light in the parking lot burned out. I ran the hot sticky dough several times though my PolyScience 300 to cool it down. Then in an attempt to dirty every appliance in the kitchen, and some not in the kitchen, I removed the dough to the Precise Heat Mixing Bowl -- not to heat the dough but to mix it in the baby bowl with the teeny tiny dough hook. Indeed in the small bowl the dough hook achieved some purchase that I can't get with the 8 quart KitchenAid. I then carried on as normal with folds and resting. The resulting baguette was not a pretty sight but it was quite tasty. Have not yet cut into the boule.

Tonight's dinner was supposed to have been whole roasted branzino from the CSO recipe booklet (p20). I ordered all the ingredients from amazon.* All were correct except the organic fennel...for which they sent a leek. There was no message asking if I wanted a replacement. Obviously you can't roast a branzino with fennel if you only have a leek. I called amazon and was connected to an agent immediately. Exceptional customer service. I explained the situation. She said she'd never cooked with fennel and I described the recipe. There was still a delivery window for tonight! I placed my order for organic fennel and the representative credited me for all the extra charges. My exhilaration was short lived. Organic fennel is out of stock. The shopper suggested basil. But no. Had they no inorganic fennel? Once again defeat snatched from the jaws of victory. But the customer service was quite pleasant, really. *all but I couple things that I had, and one fished from the garbage.

I bought the hard copy of Simple and it turned out to be his only book I didn't like. I usually read the hard copy from the library before ordering the Kindle.