jackal10

At the weekend we discovered that a pizza made with apple and Tallagio cheese is close to heaven: spurdough pizza crust, sliced apple, cheese, then baked in the normal way in a pizza oven.

Fabien boning out the turkey, and showing the layers: Turkey (20lb) ; apple and sausagemeat stuffing;duck; sage onion and sourdough bread stuffing; chicken; potato and wild mushroom stuffing; egg; olive (olives stuffed with garlic). We decided in the end that truffleing the mushroom stuffing would be over the top and dominate the flavours too much. Assembled, it makes a perfectly innocent looking turkey, ready for roasting... Into the smoker. Its the bread oven. We had baked bread (and BBQ buns) the day before, and now the oven had cooled to about 225F. The smoke is from a small fire on the left with lots of cherry wood sawdust...12 hours and 18 hours later, next day. Note the thermometers. Internal temperature is 60C. Its released a lot of juice. Unfortunately I did not get a chance to photograph it carved, before the ravening hordes descended. The smpke plus turkey and stuffing flavours were excellent, from the little bit I managed to grab, it was cooked, but moist and suculent. When we do it again (and we will) I think it might be better to leave out the skin from the duck and the chicken that go sort of flabby. Not being on the outside, of course, they do not go crisp. Making it with just the supremes (skinless breasts) will also be a lot easier.

Marinating and after smoking.. Mixed with Abra's special sauce (Thank's Abra!) it soon disappeared. In fact about 100 people quickly disposed of 20Kgs of meats, 20Kg bread, 50 bottles of champagne and a whole heap of other stuff..all that was left was a little coleslaw...

My attempts: Moon cake pastry, and a strawberry jelly mooncake in the mould. Unfortunately it fell apart when I tried to unmould it Moulded mooncakes; unfortunately I overcooked them. Also Shanghai mooncakes, large and small, and a commercial one.

Nice buns! We made some 60g and some 100g dough weight (roughly 2oz and 3oz finished) I think the bigger ones are going to be better

Sydney Smith on Salad http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/poem2746.html

Use a little oil. EVOO in pump spray bottle (reuse one of the ones cleaning stuff comes in, well washed) is your friend. Spray the top of the dough and your hands. Push your oiled fingers down the sides of the bowl, easing the dough away from the side all round, then invert the dough onto the lightly oiled worksurface. My bannetons are usually fairy full, so the dough doesn't have far to fall. You can use a piece of baking parchment, and invert onto that. Handle the dough gently, but it sounds like your dough is greatly over-proofed. If the dough is over-proofed it will callapse. Underproved it is much more robust, and recovers from handling. Handling the dough cold helps as well. Shaping to boule doesn't involve folding, more a rolling action, like pushing a softball with one hand. If the dough is that soft it wll need support during proof, either a banneton or a couche. If you need it on a workbench then use a sheet of baking paper, and handle it on that. Example in the baguette demo.

Could you cover with white chocolate instead of fondant?

OK potato rolls it is. I plan a variation on Dan Lepard's Honey and Potato bread (in the Handmade loaf book). Sourdough, slightly sweetened with honey. He adds raw grated potato; I'll use cooked mash potato. He makes a crusty loaf; I plan floured buns. I plan to bake Friday afternoon, for Sunday. Size: Following Jasons excellent post, 1.9 oz is near enough 50gms; say 60gms dough weight; Flour 2000g (100%) Sourdough starter sponge 800g (40%) Potato 300g (15%) Salt 50g (2.5%) Honey 100g (5%) Makes 72 For the Q I've ordered 15Kg of pork shoulder and also beef brisket, which I shall smoke cook for 18 hours or so at about 225F, aiming for about 175F. Plain salt and pepper rub; no mopping. Brine or not? Thats about 200g per bun, which should be OK. Might heretically serve apple sauce and sage and onion stuffing as well as hot sauce to confuse the cultures. It is an apple pressing after all. There will also be a Turducken, beans, coleslaw, potato salad and serious cheeses....and of course the pizzas

What a good idea! Do you cook them with the lid down?

Wenslydale. However the apple pie has no bottom crust, otherwise its an apple tart. "Apple pie without cheese is like a kiss without a squeeze." Mustard optional

I wonder if humane trapping and relocating a mouse (needs to be miles, btw) is more humane than a quick death in a snap trap. The mouse is pitched into a strange environment, another mouse's terratory, away from its family, probably to die a slow death from starvation or be caught by the local cat.

Lots of other regional baking specialties as well: Baps, black bun, scotch (mutton) pies, bannocks, barley and oat breads, oat cakes to name a few

I love my AGA. Wouldn't think of anything else, although I agree anout back-up. Yes, it has its moods, and for cooking large amounts of foods needs a certain amount of foresight, or rather learnt technique - you tend to cook in the ovens rather than on the hot plates. However the ovens are both hotter and cooler than convetional ranges - I have a 4 oven model and the hot oven is really hot, the coolest perfect for sous-vide, LTLT and drying. They are self cleaning and always ready as well. Its also virtually indestructible, which suits me.

oooh, another UK baker. Baking traditions in Scotland are a little different to England

You should hear the psychic scream that vegetables scream as they are pulled from the ground or torn from the plant...

say 20 tables @ $50/day $1000/day, Not bad!

I wonder if they are any relation?

I went to the Chinese supermakert and all they had was a) garish coloured agar agar powder red and green. They had run out of blue. Obviously chemical dyes that I'm not sure I want to eat. b) somthing that looked like transparent (or red or green) crinkly stuff. How do I use it? I think the agar-agar powder I usually get has buffers and acidity regulators in it. What flavour combinations do you reccomend? I saw a recipe for strawberry with a cream centre. Any others? or should I do a mooncake version of the multi-coloured jello mould Rachel featured at the Pig Picking?

This is traditional: Sunday - roast beef or lamb (or chicken or even a ham) Monday Cold meat - salad, pickles Tuesday Cottage pie or Lasgne or Spag boll Wednesday Croquettes or rissoles or filled pancakes (from the remains of the cottage pie or the bolognaise sauce) Thursday Soup (bones and trimmings) baked potato Friday Curry or meat and potato pie (remnants of stock pot)

I think they thought of it themselves... What do you think of their jelly mooncakes? I'm not at all sure about using jello as skin. To me jello should be served in paper cups, with cream and party hats...

With all respect I pour booze on my cake, and I like it. Never had problems with sogginess or getting the marzipan to stick. - its not that much booze, and it soaks in well. I do brush the cake with apricot glaze before putting on the marzipan. Of course, it has to be good booze. If you wouldn't drink it don't put it on the cake/

There will, of course be squishy pan de mie (tin white bread) available, Baguettes for those who want, and to go wiith the cheeses, the pates etc. Chocolate bread by special request. Pizza ia the main atttraction, everything else is side show, but I can probably use the same dough for pizza as the white rolls, although I do like the suggestion of potato bread. What does a hamburger bun weigh? Size? 80gm/3 oz? Or would smaller be more attactive, bearing in mind the Q it is part of a much larger buffet, and will be replaced, as the afternoon goes on by rare roast beef I'm allowing 15Kgs/35lbs meat (raw before BBQ) for about 150 people, with the usual proportion of kids, say about a third. I'll also BBQ a turducken...

For this year's Apple Pressing party, since I've now figured out how to smoke in the bread oven, I thought I would do some BBQ - pulled pork and beef brisket, as well as lots of other stuff. Feeding about 120 people. Doing the meats is no problem, nor is the coleslaw. However what has me stumped, not being native to where these are served, is what sort of bun to serve it in. I wil, of course be making these from scratch, probably sourdough. White or wholemeal? Soft or crusty? Seeded or plain? Milk, butter, egg or sugar in the dough? Shape? Round, flat, long, or a section of baguette? and most imprtantly, size? My current inclination is to serve a mix of white and wholemeal buns of different sizes, with a flour crust.

It is? That must explain it then.. Squire is an ancient honorific, in the sense of assistant and apprentice to a knight (presumably the bar owner). Squires served their knights and ladies at dinner, so is an appropriate and ancient form of address. It flatters the server by making the assumption that they are nobly born, and thus eligible to become a knight. Better than "Garcon" or "Boy" (as in "another chotapeg, boy!") at any rate