jackal10

Not sure it works like that. To get a really open texture we have to break the rules, which were designed to make uniform bread. French baguettes are traditionally made with Type 55 flour, which is quite soft. A harder flour gives a finer textured crumb. Since this dough has a lot of mature starter in it, the acidity is quite high, and a long proof time just results in a sloppy liquid as the acid alters the nature of the gluten.

I'm trying to improve my sourdough baguettes. I want an all sourdough baguette I can make at home with easily available materials, but that is light crusty and flaky with big holes in the crumb - almost more air than bread. The curent ones are still a bit bready, I'm slowly dialling in - there are so many variables. Join me on the journey. The best results so far are with a variation of the "a l'ancienne" method. The theory is that you mix and retard cold so as to allow the maximum autolysis, then shape prove and bake. I'm using soft pastry/general purpose flour 9% protein - Tesco supermarket own brand, and the lowest protein flour they sell. The current formula in grams is Starter Flour 100g 100% Water 100g 100% Clef 20g 20% Ferment at 30C overnight (12 hours) Dough Flour 500g 83% Starter 200g 33% Salt 12g 2% Vit C - pinch Water 330g 55% Total flour 600g 100% Total water 430g 72% Mix cold, and retard in bulk - put in the refrigerator at 4C immediately. Next day (say 18hours) portion, shape and bake (floor of the hot oven of the AGA, about 240C) No steam in this batch. Makes 3 x 330g baguettes This has been the result of much experiment. Still a bit bready, but in the right region, and one where I can perhaps make small changes from. Today's experiment is with shorter proof times. These are times from taking the dough out of the fridge, so include shaping 15 mins - effectively no proof at all. Still surprisingly good, and no flour pick up from the couche, since it was never couched!. The baguette is a bit short as it hit the end of the oven when I slid it off the peel. Nice and easy to handle as well. 45 mins. OK, but not as good a grigne as the zero proof time. Maybe marginally better texture. Dough still tight enough to handle. 90 mins. Dough too liquid to pick up, hence the strange shape, and lack of grigne. Where next? Machine mix (these were hand mixed)? Try harder flour? Jack

I think we have a terminologyh problem here. WHat you have mostly been discussing is the sweet or pudding course. Desert is served with or after the coffee at the end of the meal and might be cheese, or petit four, or fruit or all three. I made damson cheese from the damsons on the tree in the garden. Sliced into small cubes and rolled in sugar as a comfit, they make excellent deserts.

I think you need some indents. Gardemanger....Casserolier are divisions, each under a Chef de Partie and may have Commis chef etc working in them. Tournant is a little different since they are the relief ched who can work any of the other stations. KP or Kitchen Porters are often also plongeurs. You should add Stagiers (students) who are even lower in the heirarchy...

I've known people soak the fruit in strong tea...

Cheese. Refrigeration kills it. Bread ditto Eggs, Jams etc

Sure. Just substitute beer for brandy or rum to soak the fruit in my recipe http://recipes.egullet.org/recipes/r1395.h...cfdf367bc23142d By the time its cooked the yeast will be inactive. I would still anoint it with spirits, though if you anoint it at all.

Yep, I thought so too: braced against the sink, covered in olive oil (as reported of one food critic)... This http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerp.../0471436259.pdf might help. Most food service is still based on the classical french kitchen.

I've had success with the following: The cracker recipe originated from "Flatbreads and Flavours, A Baker's Atlas" by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Douglas, ISBN 0-688-11411-3. My version: High Tech Crackers 3 cups whole wheat flour. I used Marriage's Organic Stoneground strong wholemeal flour, 13.8% protein. Sometimes I add a bit of rye and a bit of spelt 1 tsp salt 1 1/2 cups water Whizz together in a food processor (steel blade) for 20 seconds. Should form a softish ball. Different flours may adsorb more or less water. If it feels sticky add more flour, if dry more water. Process for 1 minute more. Wrap in clingfilm and let rest for 30 minutes at room temperature. Get the oven very hot (300C/575F). These are good to make after Pizza and before baking bread in a brick oven. You will need two large baking sheets. Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Work with one at a time, leave the rest covered with a damp cloth. On a floured surface roll it out as thin as it will go. Add any seasonings or toppings you like and roll them into the dough, for example toppings might be any of Chilli, Coarse salt, Sesame Seeds, poppy seed, Grated coconut, cumin seed, caraway seed, parmesan, cracked black pepper, marmite, etc etc. Its fun to do different batches different and mix them up, so there is an element of surprise. Transfer the rolled out dough to a baking sheet, and cut though with a pizza wheel, roughly into 3 x 3 to make cracker shapes about 4 inches x 2 inches. Not too neatly, as its nice if there is some variation is size and shapes Put in the oven, and check in 2 1/2 to 3 minutes. Meantime start rolling the next batch, and you will soon have a rhythm going. Crackers start to brown from underneath, and when the thinner bits begin to brown on top, they are done. Take them out and transfer to a cake rack or large bowl, and break them into crackers. Put in the next batch... They crisp up as they cool. If they are not crisp enough put them back in the oven for a minute or so. Enjoy!

Xmas cake recipe In my youth it was improved by the additon of "special spice" (good quality hash). Slice thinly if you do this.

Xmas Cake Derived from the seventeenth century Plumb Cake. Plumbs mean raisins, as in Plumb Duff. Make in October/November for Xmas. Traditionally made before "Stir Up Sunday", the last Sunday before Advent, when the collect begin "Stir-up, we beseech thee, O Lord,", reminding the congregation its time to make the Xmas cake and pudding. 12 oz Sultanas or golden raisins 12 oz currants 8 oz stoned large raisins 6 oz glace cherries 4 oz candied peel, chopped 12 oz Flour 12 oz Unsalted butter 12 oz Soft brown sugar 6 eggs, beaten salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp mixed sweet spice 1 tsp grated nutmeg 1 tsp cinnamon 3 oz blanched almonds, chopped Lemon T Brandy Soak the fruit overnight in the brandy. Prepare a 10 inch round or 9 inch square cake tin by lining with two layers of greasproof or silicone baking paper, brushed with melted butter. The paper should stand proud of the tin somewhat. Tie a double alyer of newspaper round the outside of the tin. Preheat oven to 375F/170C In a food processer whizz the butter until light, then cream with the sugar. Add the beaten eggs slowly, and beat in. Sieve together the flour, pinch salt, spices. baking powder. Fold into the butter and egg a spoon at a time. Mix in the fruit, almonds and lemon. Add a few drops of vanilla or almond essence if you like. Make a wish. Spoon into the cake tin and bang to remove air bubbles. Smooth the top and sprinkle with a few drops of water. Bahe at 325F/170C for 3 1/2 hours. Check after an hour or so, and cover with some more paper to stop the top getting too brown. A skewer should come out clean. Leave to cool in the tin, then turn out and wrap in greasproof paper and put in a tin with a ticghtly fitting lid. Poke a few holes in the top of the cake and pour in brandy (or sherry). Seal the tin. Every week for at elast a month pour in some more brandy Traditionally covered in marzipan and then royal icing, decorated with seasonal figures and motifs and mottos. Keywords: Cake ( RG1395 )

I might just manage a little Stilton, or some other well chosen cheese..to finish the red wine and intoduce the sweet wine

In England we do NOT put eggs in potato salad, except for the raw egg yolk in the mayonnaise. Heinz salad cream is also OK. Chopped Chives a must. Anything else, and its something else.

Its actually not that hard, especially with a food processer and ready made paste. I just poached the egg yolks and dried them in a sieve. The wrapping is a bit like making a cake - cream butter and sugar, add flour, chill to set up. The rest is straightforward, albeit sticky, but floured hands help.

GBP £12.50-£15 for a tin of 4.

I had the andoulette at Lipp, and the croque Monsieur atDeux Maggotts. Very nice, but I was throwing up for the next three days. Maybe coincidence

Like mooncakes...even better warm.

I'm not remotely Asian, but I do like mooncakes. Spurred on by Teepee here is my first attempt at a Shanghai mooncake] Teepee's recipe for all butter crust. Found some tinned sweetened lotus nut paste in the local Asian supermarket. "Wu Chung" brand from Taiwan. I think its right stuff as it has a picture of a Shanghai mooncake on the tin. Teepee's instructions are 100g of paste to 50g of wrapper. The egg yolk is a cheat. I could not find preserved duck eggs, so this is a hens egg poached in salty water and a little Madeira standing in for Mirin. A little flour on the hands makes it easy to handle. Here it is half wrapped. I also tried making some mini ones - 10g wrapper and 7g filling and about 3g of egg yolk. The teaspoon is for size comparison. They are about an inch across. Here they all are before going into the oven, and after cooking. They cracked a bit. Passable approximation: big and mini The mini ones are a great success. I can see all sorts of uses, including petit four. You can eat one or more without the overlaod of a ecen a section of a full size one, and they are much more economical, having 5-7g instead of 100g of filling.

Some bakers disapprove of their use, since they leave characteristic dimples on th bese of the bread. These people think the only true way is in a floured linen couche, and then baked directly on the oven floor. I find a piece of silicone paper makes handling much easier.

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Abra, not sure I agree. The rate limiting step is the conduction into the centre of the meat. Since turduckens can be cooked sucessfully I don't see any difference in cooling it in smoke. There is no difference between cooking in a 225F oven and cooking in smoke at the same temperature. If anything the smoke will help preseve. I agree its different from cooking a large piece of meat, that one can assume is reasonably sterile internally, with the contamination on the surface. A turducken has been chopped and exposed all the way through, and its poultry with its inherent bacterial loading. I might stick a couple of silver forks into it to conduct the heat to the inside quicker. The objective would be to get the centre up to temperature within say 4 hours.

I was thinking of doing a smoked turducken from scratch for the Apple Pressing this year. I think that might be good.

Is Charlie Browns still next to the Sunnyvale Hilton, just off 101 at the Moffat field exit by the blue cube? I've had sone very acceptable beef there. When I was co,,uting regularly there I would get off the plane, collect thehire car, drive down 101 check in, eat there and then sleep...

No there is no decent food at the airport. Good duty free shopping though. It will take most of your time to find your way. For those that remember Pauline Reage's novel, it always amuses me the airport is at Roissy.

Introduce your boyfriends grandma to the fine practice of cookie dunkin. Its what dentally challenged and true gourmets have been doing for generations. http://www.biscuit.org.uk/dunk/ http://www.abc.net.au/science/k2/moments/s97177.htm http://www.firstscience.com/site/articles/dunking.asp http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/...3927774,00.html Lest you think this is frivoulous, Len Fisher is at University of Bristol, a collegue of Peter Barham, and one of the leading food scientists in the UK; they advise Heston Blumenthal