[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

3 minutes ago, scott123 said:

When you have a heating element under the floor, the floor essentially becomes the heating element.  By placing the foil on the floor, the heat will conduct directly to the foil in such a way that the foil will just become an extension of the floor, and not become the heat deflector that you're looking for.

On the shelf where the steel is sitting, you can put a curve in the foil, fold over the ends into hooks and hang it, like a hammock from shelf wire to shelf wire. That will take it off the floor but still provide a little air between the foil and the steel.

Yeah I was thinking that last part. I’m trying not to make this too much of a process but may end up happening anyway

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

18 minutes ago, scott123 said:

If you don't want to invest in a stone, arrange two pieces of foil into a 15" x 17" rectangle and place it on the shelf under the steel, centering it.  This will direct heat around the steel and send it up to the top of the oven/to the hotel pan. This may not give you stone-like results, but, it should balance out the heat better than what you have now.

You can also trap more steam inside the hotel pan by covering the open portions with foil as well.

The steel is already on the bottom shelf (double oven so the larger oven isn’t as large as a normal one and I need the head room for the lid) so I guess I’ll just put the foil under the rack on the bottom if the oven (the heating elements are under the bottom of the oven). 
 

Good idea about using foil for hotel pan. That was too obvious to figure out, haha

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

1 hour ago, Chris Hennes said:

On my KQ 6qt I use 2 as "low", 5 as "medium", and "however high it seems like the machine won't walk off the counter" for "high". Except for very high hydration, then "high" is 10 and I just hold the damned machine in place.

Ok so I’m a bit conservative. Thanks for your insight. I’ll mess around with it. 

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

1 hour ago, scott123 said:

Not to sound like a broken record  but, as long as you're using whole wheat flour, your crumb will never reach non whole wheat flour heights.

This being said, for a transitional whole wheat flour, that's a phenomenal looking crumb. FWIW, I don't think you're overkneading.  The easiest way to discern overkneading is dough that's gone from smooth, to not smooth, but you can also sort of see it in the finished crust, and I'm not seeing any telltale tearing.

Btw, are you baking on steel?  Steel's conductivity makes it ideal for pizza, but, bread favors the lower conductivity of stone- unless, of course, you're looking for an exceptionally dark base.

Thank you and I’m going to keep trying! Lol

 

Yes a baking steel. Don’t have a stone and not going to purchase one for bread. Just gotta mess around with the preheat time to rein it in. Eventually I’ll be purchasing a Challenger pan. 

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

Does Mod Bread ever state what low speed, medium speed, and high speed is on a stand mixer? Setting 1, 2, and 3? 1, 5, and 10? 

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

On 1/2/2022 at 4:58 PM, Chris Hennes said:

No, it is thin stainless, no point. No heat capacity worth worrying about.

Baking steel is 16x14 and the hotel pan is 21x13 so there is some over hang on the left and right of the steel. Not sure there is a work around there. Probably not a big deal? Not sure how to judge the amount of steam that interacted with dough. 
 

These were Modernist Bread’s sourdough boules I baked today. Crumb isn’t bad, but it’s not where it should be. Too much kneading. Need to get away from the mixer. Used Cairnspring Glacier Peak flour. 
 

As a side note, I also made a same day sourdough using a 100% rye starter (different book) I created over the past 6 days and a few things went wrong that were completely my fault when it came to getting it into the oven, but wow, the rye starter is awesome and something I’m definitely going to keep around. 

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

On 11/14/2021 at 12:27 AM, Chris Hennes said:

Right -- Modernist Bread's main "hack" is to suggest that most hacks don't really work well anyway, and the key is to reduce the volume of the oven so that the moisture from the dough itself functions as the source of steam. So I have a hotel pan that I use as a lid when I'm baking multiple loaves, and use a cast iron combo-cooker when doing just a single boule.

Bought a hotel pan today like the one you use in your sourdough chocolate and cherry recipe. Looks like it should work with my 16x14 baking steel. 
 

Do you preheat the hotel pan with the stone? 

[Cooking with Myhrvold and Migoya's Modernist Pizza]

9 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

Pretty much all of their sauce recipes are based on the size of a can of tomatoes, not on how much sauce you need for a given pizza. I always have lots of leftover sauce.

Oh definitely more than what’s needed for the pizza, but in this case it’s enough for 8 Detroit pizzas, lol. The Neapolitan sauce is enough for 4. That’s reasonable. I was more concerned I messed the math up because it’s all percentages. 

[Kitchen jobs you hate beyond reason]

Grating cheese. 

[Cooking with Myhrvold and Migoya's Modernist Pizza]

My first ever Detroit Pizza and the first style my 3 year old actually ate all of. So regardless of how I think it went, it might be the best pizza I’ve ever made 😂 

 

Looks great!

Didn’t have white Wisconsin brick cheese so had to get yellow  

I went with the 150g of sauce. Next time going to do a little more  

There’s some frico  

My only issue is the crumb. Seems too tight. I used Cairnspring Glacier Peak bread flour but I’m not sure it was the flour this type of pizza.

Still delicious. 

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

9 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

Because it still has plenty of food then. Feed it when it’s hungry  

See I don’t disagree at all. It’s funny because if you do a quick search, almost everyone says to feed it at peak or just after. Happy to cut my feedings to one per day. Just started a 100% rye starter based on Sourdough: A Treatise. The initial mixture calls for soaking wheat bran in hot water for a few minutes, straining the water, and using that for the first 24 hour fermentation. Looking forward to how it turns out. 

[Cooking with Myhrvold and Migoya's Modernist Pizza]

@Chris Hennes

 

the detroit pizza sauce makes a lot or pizza sauce, right? I didn’t mess something up?

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

6 hours ago, Chris Hennes said:

In the feeding regime I was describing there, it "peaked" at 12-14 hours, and by 24 was nearly exhausted. I wouldn't bake with it at 24 hours.

Ok, same, but why don’t you feed it at peak? I know Mod Bread shares that 24 hours seems to be a good feeding schedule based on the acidity levels and 12 hours can create a weaker starter, but I’ve always followed the recommendation to feed it at peak or just after. I guess that doesn’t matter as much and paying attention to peak is only important for baking purposes?

 

Thanks, just got Mod Bread and doing an initial skim. 

[Baking with Myhrvold's "Modernist Bread: The Art and Science"]

On 11/15/2017 at 1:23 PM, Chris Hennes said:

Every 24 hours, give or take fifteen minutes. What are the actual weights you are using (levain/flour/water) to feed? 

Sorry to bring this up 4 years later, but is your starter peaking at 24 hours or is it completely fallen? 

[Show us your latest cookbook acquisitions!]

6 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Pasta?

 

Missy Robbins new book called Pasta

[Show us your latest cookbook acquisitions!]

Good Christmas! Pasta arrives tomorrow too. 
 

[Dinner 2021]

Duck dinner with friends last night. Sweet potato puree, garlic green beans, ganache sauce made with 70% dark chocolate
 

 

[Cooking with Beer]

Figured I’d give an update as the party was this past weekend. 
 

Philly Cheesesteak egg rolls with cheese made with a New England IPA

 

Soft Pretzel Nuggets made with Fat Tire Amber ale, with an Oktoberfest beer cheese dipping sauce

 

IPA Beer Battered Fried Chicken with a Porter maple syrup and waffles made with a Lager

 

 

The only thing I was personally disappointed with was the beer batter for the chicken. You can see in the picture, it just isn’t the right call. Should have just done a normal flour breading. 
 

The egg rolls will be making a return for next year along with the pretzel nuggets. 

[Cooking with Myhrvold and Migoya's Modernist Pizza]

41 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

Chris, I can't say your most recent topping with corn kernels appeals to me, but the Neapolitan Pizza Dough with Poolish is what I've been tweaking for my last several pies.  Leftovers tonight!  My yeast may be old but I finally got the rim I was looking for by increasing the yeast to 3%.

 

 

 

I have to ask:  what is taco meat?  My disclaimer of living though a Neapolitan cholera epidemic still applies.  If you don't know how cholera is transmitted, it is not like COVID.

 

 

 

Have you tried cooking the pizza and sauce first and then after 4 or so minutes taking it out, adding the cheese, and putting it back in for 2 minutes?

[Cooking with Myhrvold and Migoya's Modernist Pizza]

2 minutes ago, Chris Hennes said:

Neapolitan Pizza Dough with Poolish

 

In this variant of their Neapolitan dough they make a poolish, then add it to a dough that has much more yeast than their normal dough, which is then cold-fermented for a day. It was fine, but nothing spectacular, and was less convenient than their normal low-yeast 24-hr room temp Neapolitan dough. For the toppings I basically cleaned out the fridge. I wanted to improve upon the Tex-mex pizza I posted about last week, so I took their Neapolitan sauce and added quite a lot of dry chile to it, used both fresh mozzarella and chunks of cheddar cheese, and topped with taco meat, fire-roasted poblanos, corn, and black beans. I liked it, though it was over-topped for Neapolitan-style pizza.

 

Would love to serve this in Naples and watch people’s reactions. 

[Cooking with Myhrvold and Migoya's Modernist Pizza]

6 minutes ago, Gnulio said:

Cooking Temperature? I usually use the Nuvola with almost the same idratation and never had a chewy pizza.

850+? Cooked in my Ooni on high flame for 60 seconds. 
 

I think I may have overkneaded a touch in the machine. It felt a little “tight” when I tried to open the skins, even after 5 hours of proofing at RT in balls. 
 

Chewy may not have been the word as that may sound more negative than I mean it to be. The cornicione wasn’t as airy. 
 

It may be how it’s supposed to be. I wish I took a picture of it. It looked great and would better explain what I mean. 

[Cooking with Beer]

1 hour ago, Dr. Teeth said:

I cook with beer all the time.    It never occurred to me to put it in the food.

 

17 year old thread and nobody made that joke yet.   What’s up with you people?
 

Seriously though, I put beer into waffle batter.   Usually less hoppy lagers or wheat beers.   Adds depth and carbonation.

Thanks for the waffle idea. Thinking mini chicken and waffles. Incorporate the beer in the waffle batter, brine, frying batter, and maybe some maple syrup 

[Cooking with Beer]

Friend is hosting a beer draft (like a fantasy football draft, but for beers that people bring). He asked me to help cook sone appetizers so I’ll be doing tgat as well. Everything needs to incorporate beer, my rule. 
 

So far I have:

 

Soft pretzel nuggets with a dough that incorporates beer (a lager), with a beer cheese dipping sauce (Oktoberfest beer). 

 

Philly Cheesesteak egg rolls where I’m going to use sodium citrate to make a melty cheese made with a white cheddar and a local New England IPA

 

Not an appetizer, but a beef stew made with Guinness 

 

Maybe something beer battered and fried

 

That’s all I have so far.

 

Appetizers are tricky and I don’t want to really incorporate any more cheese. If you think of something please let me know. 

[Cooking with Myhrvold and Migoya's Modernist Pizza]

Mod Pizza’s Neapolitan with Caputo Nuvola

 

I think next time I’m going to take this from 62% to 58% with this Nuvola. Touch chewy. Not unhappy with it at all though. Killer pizza. 

[Preferred flours for homemade pizza dough]

Made the Neapolitan dough with Caputo Nuvola and have that proofing. 
 

Just started on a Direct Artisan Dough with 60% Cairnspring’s Expresso T85 and 40% Trailblazer Bread Flour. Using the ingredients and amounts from Mod Pizza, but using some of Dan Richer’s methods from his Joy of Pizza (don’t recommend the book actually, I returned it). This will be interesting to see how it comes out. 

 

Edit: Artisan Dough came together incredibly well. Wasn’t expecting it to be this great tbh. I also did a non-autolyse of mixing the water, yeast, and flour to a shaggy mass and letting it sit for 30 minutes. Wanted to give these flours all the time they needed.