Barrytm

Jason's , incredible work on your part. Yes, the Miele options seem overwhelming. I assume the Anova will allow you to regulate the amount of steam - When the Gagg, Wolf, Thermador and Miele combi ovens were just starting to get some acceptance, there were a few posts on whether having light steam, medium steam and full steam was enough, or whether you needed more control - I don't think I saw any consensus. I know that light steam is very helpful - it lets you reheat without drying out. Full steam is of course helpful - but I am not as clear as when you would need 40% or 60% - or some other setting.

Jasons, incredible post, I can only guess how long that took, thanks for all the work. I did a tiny version many years ago, not worth linking to, but I also did a small spreadsheet at the time to try to give a cross reference so that if you were using a recipe that was designed for a Wolf combi which calls for Convection Humid, you can determine what setting to use on a Gaggeneau ( Convection plus 30% humidity) combi cooking modes chart

I can't help with the macaroons or pastries, but generally, when baking free form loaves, we want the crust to stay moist for the first part of the bake, so convection, IMO, is not really an advantage. On the other hand, again as to bread, many like to get steam to stay in the oven for the first part of the bake, and in general, gas ovens vent much more than electric ovens, so it is harder to keep things moist. ( yes burning gas does give off vapor, but it vents extremely quickly ). If you think you are going to fill the oven with baked items at one time, convection may help keep the temperature throughout the cavity more even than no convection, though you will probably still want to rotate the pan for many items, like cookies.

Here's pics of the current problem, Looking at the range pic, the recess you see has just 1 3/4" allowance 3" off the floor. It does gain space, to accommodate the gas piping. The pipe you see in the other pic will need to be moved back about 3/4", not hard to do, there's enough play without stressing the installation. You can move the pipe back, though you will have to hit a fairly tight spot where the channel is, or you can have the plumber put the shutoff closer to the floor, that way the flex hose goes under the range towards the wall and then snakes back up in the channel in the first photo.

No problem, that is a pretty inexpensive rental, let us know how it works out . BTW, if your gas guy has not come out, there is not much space in the rear wall of the oven to allow you to mount the pipe in that wall and not hit the range, so many have come up through the floor, and installed the cutoff right at the floor, then attached the flex pipe and snaked that into the channel when you push the range back into position. That is what I did and it worked fine.

The Airsled looks cool, but I just used the plastic furniture slider they sell at hardware stors. Used a crowbar and a piece of wood to lift up each leg and put one on each, then had no problem moving it in and out on the floor. If you had to go up or down, that may be harder.

Looks great, let us know how you like it when it is up and running.

Franci, yes , I made the disk, the cost seemed pretty high for a piece of metal with some holes, and it cut the air some, but it was still constantly moving air, and for cakes the disc is probably a great improvement, but for bread, I think the air was still crusting too quickly. I found another Cadco that was not working on ebay, and am trying to convert it to bake mode ( removed the convection element and replaced it with a bake element ) but have not made as much progress as I had hoped. While it seems like it would be easy to seal the oven, actually it is a challenge in that the door does not firmly press against the existing seal, or the seal itself is a bit worn out.

First, congrats on the new place. As to outdoors pizza ovens, yes , I think gas is the way to go. WFO sound nice, but are a lot of work to fire up, take some time to get to temp, and most pizza cooks so quickly, many report no difference in taste between WFO and Gas. I have an Ooni Koda 16, and while it is nice, I don't keep it outside, and don't know how long it would last that close to the ocean. The Zio is an interesting option and would probably work fine. I have never seen one, but can tell you from using the Ooni, that even if you had a pizza oven that could fit two pies, it is unlikely you would want to cook two at once, they cook pretty quickly, and require turning, so making two at a time would be pretty challenging. Since you can crank one out in 90 seconds or so, it is not a long wait between pies.

There are a number of "tests" in baking that don't actually produce consistent results. Having the starter float is one of those. It works for some , but not for others. For one, floating depends on the amount of air trapped in the starter, and I always wondered how that could be an accurate test because when you spoon out some of the starter, you may displace more air one time than the next. In addition, some make their starters at 100% hydration ( equal weights flour and water ) and others go to 125% - ( more water than flour ) and others use 75% ( more flour than water ), and the ratio of flour to water will impact how much it has to rise before it would float. Generally, once you starter is established you can use it to make bread. Sometimes I make bread with it a few hours after refreshing, sometimes 8 or 10 hours after refreshing, and sometimes I take it out of the fridge a few days after refreshing and it still works fine . The amount of time it takes to give you the desired increase in bulk ferment may be impacted by its strength, but I have never had it fail to eventually lift the loaf. Some suggest that you refresh your starter in a straight sided container, and use it just after it peaks. Others suggest using it before it peaks to get a sweeter flavor, or well after it crests to get a more sour flavor. I wouldn't worry about the float test .

Looks nice. Just checked out the video on Amazon, loved how she pronounced the name each time.

SLB, a hipster may not be able to help you make a new grate, but you might check Craigslist or other online list of services - to find someone local who is good at welding. The best would be someone who has experience brazing ( which is not welding ) and brazing is better suited to repairing cast iron. Welding can work too, but it requires a bit of skill . Depending on the number of cracks, it could be fairly inexpensive repair. Agree on the drip tray, that was the selling point for me.

SLB, what I found was that using a sheet pan on the second rack was a little too far, using the broiler pan, which is bit of a pain to locate in the pantry, puts it up higher, though not as high as the top rack.

I have the RNB 30, though I think when I was looking, the RCS was only offered with the sealed burner, or , I was just confused and thought that all RCS's were sealed, that is why I went for the RNB. If the only difference is 1 higher powered burner, that would be hard to justify for me, since I tend to not even notice whether I am using the 15,000 or the 18,000 burners. As to the simmer burner, on the RNB ( and may be true for the RCS ) you can turn the grate a quarter turn, and it lifts it up slightly, so that you get a lower simmer. The manual says to not use the top rack for broiling, instead use the second rack and the broiler pan, that puts the food a little farther from the broiler element than on the top rack, though I often just use a sheet pan on the top rack, and check it often and rotate. The area of the broiler it is pretty small, so you definitely need to rotate the sheet pan, otherwise the items right under will brown more quickly than those not directly under the broiler. I think you will be happy either way you go.

Great looking pasta board. I make pasta usually once a month - normally fettucine and linguine, then freeze them wrapped in plastic wrap. One trick I saw posted online was to use the pasta machine to crank out the pasta in a sheet, then hang the sheets to dry ( I used to let them dry hanging from the oven racks with the oven off - except that the last time I did it, I came back a little while later and one of the dogs had eaten them off the rack, now I place the rack on boxes on the counter ). After they are drying 20 to 40 minutes, the sheet starts to feel leathery, at that time you can cut into fettucine, or linguine, of whatever shape you are using, and that way when you wrap them up in plastic, the noodles don't stick together) .

Paul, nice setup, though you may want to try something similar to what Bert did with covering most of the grill with aluminum foil, so the heat is directed up to the area where the stone is, and then it would probably work a little better if you could find a longer piece of steel, so that there was a gap between the bricks and the pizza stone, that way, some of the heat would go up into that gap, and give more upper heat. As to Scott's point, the Ardore is a nice little oven, but the owner of the company sold the business earlier this year, and the new owners have decided not to distribute propane or gas ovens to the US. It was originally listed for a higher number , with an introductory price of $600, but that price expired, and it was listed at $1,000 for a short time, before they stopped selling it to the US. They still offer the wood fired Pizza Party ovens in Europe , but I am not sure if they are offered in the US .

Paul, unfortunately, a grill is not a great place to make pizza, since most of the heat is from the bottom, you run the risk of burning the bottom before the top browns. Some have marketed items that are supposed to help make a decent pizza in a gas grill. https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=20334.0 That is from a post years ago, Bert subsequently made an MPO2 , I am not sure if he made an MPO 3, but as you can see, what he suggested was using foil to block most of the grate, so all of the heat of the grill was confined to the area where the pie was cooking. If Bert does not still offer an MPO model, you can try to do something similar with two pizza stones, and firebricks for the walls. Another option is the OONI, the Karu is about $330 if you go with a wood version, gas in an extra $90.

For the Thermador, how does it handle low temperature simmering? My recollection was that it would turn the burner on and off intermittently to get a low simmer. Some are fine with that , others found the noise of the clicker igniting the flame every few seconds upsetting. I am sure you have heard that dual fuel is more expensive, whether it is worth it is up to you. I had one of the first dual fuel Vikings, and it had some pluses and minuses, though thrilled it bit the dust, and I bought a gas Bluestar and love it. If you are fine with electronic controls , you may want to look at an induction - my understanding it that it is quicker to respond than gas, and would give you the electric oven. I also have a combi and love it. While they can be pricey, I use it as an electric convection oven far more oven than combi or steam mode, because it heats up far quicker than the Bluestar, and normally I am not cooking enough to justify heating the entire Bluestar oven, so I hardly ever use the oven on the Bluestar.

For the nonstick pans, next time you get a cardboard box, cut up rounds that fit your pans. I cut then slightly oversized, then put a number of slits and 1 or 2 inches long around the outside so the cardboard will conform to the shape of each pan, works great to keep them from scratching each other.

Linda, While some suggest the machine can be counterproductive because it can be overly aggressive, I have used it at a friends house, and it worked fine, and I would not make fun of you for using it. I am not a professional sharpener, but have more equipment than many of them do and have spent tons of time sharpening all sorts of edges, including plane blades, chisels, bandsaw blades, as well as kitchen knives, and have made my own blades. My suggestion for using that machine is to find a method to determine what is sharp enough, and when a knife is dull and needs to be resharpened. Once you are comfortable with that, you will know when to use the Chef edge on the finest slot and get the blade back to sharp pretty quickly. One problem is that if you don't keep a blade fairly sharp, you run the risk of hurting yourself when using it ( there is an adage that a dull knife is more dangerous than a sharp one, because you have to put more pressure on it to cut, and it can slip). If it gets too dull, then you will have to use the coarser wheels, which can change the shape of the blade. The other problem is if you sharpen too regularly, or too aggressively, you can shorten the life of the knife. There are several ways to test sharpness - some try to slice paper, the type of test you use is not as important as you becoming familiar with what is sharp enough for you. My favorite way to check is the fingernail test. If you hold the knife like this, but upside down so that the spine just rests on the top of a fingernail, and then try to wave the knife from side to side ( not in a sawing motion like you were cutting, but instead like you were trying to push something off your fingernail, ) you will find the knife moves pretty easily. Then flip it so that it is in the same orientation as the image and gently rest the edge on the top of your fingernail and repeat the test. If the knife moves easily, with no scraping of the fingernail, or digging into the nail, then the blade is dull. You would then take it to the sharpener and run it through the finest stone 2 or 3 times on each side of the slot, then repeat the test. If you don't notice any improvement, then go to the medium stone and repeat. You should get it so that the knife feels like it is catching on the fingernail with no downward pressure other than the weight of the knife. You want to check it all along the edge from the tip to heel, because the knife can dull unevenly. Keep going back to the medium stone, I think they call it stage 2, and draw it through a few times on each side, then retest. Once you get it sharp all along the edge, then do a few passes on the finest stone , it is called the 3rd stage or honing stage, then repeat the test to confirm it is still sharp. Then use the knife as you normally would until you start to feel it is not sharp, and if you think it is starting to get hard to use or dull, then do the fingernail test, and if it does not feel like it should, you should be able to go to the 3rd stage or honing stone, and get it sharp in a few strokes. If you have some really dull knives, you may have to use stage 1 , the most aggressive stone, but generally you want to stay with the less aggressive stones.

You are getting lots of good advice. Some learn well by reading a book, others can learn from a video, others really benefit from in person. While an in person class can be very helpful, I suggest you pick a book and work your way through it before you go to a class you have to travel to attend. That way you will have a good idea of the basics before you go to class, and the instructor can help you improve. My suggestion is Bread by Jeffrey Hamelman, and check out his videos as well, and take lots of notes of your successes and failures.

I have one of the older models, marketed as a Magic Mill , and I used the hook once, and then put it in the attic. I use the roller for everything from whipping cream to kneading bread. The roller can handle any volume of bread that will fit in the bowl, though you will need to turn the adjustment knob for larger loafs. One tip is to manually push the roller into the center a few times at the outset of the kneading to make sure everything gets incorporated. After that , it will knead dough all on its own, and I am sure you will love it.

Shelby nice loaf. I think that spring berries will give a little more lift that winter berries, so that could explain part of the difference. I think both loaves look fine, and obviously, they tasted great, which is the thing that matters. Yes, the second loaf was definitely overproofed, but if you make it exactly the same way, and put it in the oven when the volume is a little less than in your photo, meaning let it rise a little above the rim, it should be great. Of course, if you vary the amount of flour, water, or even type of berries, you can't use that level of volume as when to go into the oven. Some say they bake enough that they can look at the texture of the dough to tell when it is ready, but I can't do that at all.

I have a number of different mills, and with most of the better ones, they do not require that you run the berries through more than once. I don't know that it would hurt to run it twice, but I never do. I have used the Komo, and have had no problems with bread rising when running the berries through once. For a few loaves, i tried a coarser grind to see how it changed, and it did not change the final loaf in terms of rise, but there was a different mouth feel.

Shelby, first congrats. I saw that the flavor is great and that is the primary thing. If your choices are a good looking loaf that tastes like cardboard, or an average looking loaf that tastes great, go with the second every time. Turning to your photo, it is hard to see, but it looks like the edges are slightly higher then the rest of the loaf. While that could be lack of gluten development, it is also a classic sign of hydration that is too high. Decreasing water is the best solution, as you add flour, you run the risk of changing the ratios of yeast and salt. Are you doing stretch and folds after kneading ? If not , why don't you try stretch and folds every 20 minutes after kneading - you should be able to feel the dough develop strength between each set of stretches. Hamelman does it here at about 5 minutes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnxiawZoL4A&t=1s a Here is a much better view of it since it is a smaller amount, and you can see how it develops between each set and that will tell you whether it is a hydration or gluten development issue.