Tropicalsenior

@Norm Matthews I'm glad that you enjoyed the video. His other videos are well worth watching. I subscribed to his channel years ago and I have learned a lot from watching them. He keeps things simple and explains why something works in language that isn't so technical that it goes right over the head of most home Cooks. It's good to pay particular attention to his videos on shaping bread and slashing. I've learned that there is a small window when the bread has risen enough to slash. You don't want it to rise too much because you wanted to have enough to give it oven spring so that your slash opens deeply in the oven. I found giving it a good mist of water when I first put it in the oven and maybe 5 minutes later keeps the crust soft enough that it will continue to open up. What I got from the article on preferment was that almost all the methods, biga, poolish, Masa Madre and sourdough combinations are all preferments. I think that I have used them all with varying results and success. Now, I prefer to just keep it simple and mix up flour, water, and a little yeast and leave it overnight. The next day when I make my bread I subtract the amount of those ingredients from the total amount of ingredients in the recipe. It hasn't failed me yet.

Maybe this video, 50 Ways to Kill Your Starter will give you some inspiration. Seems that it's a lot tougher than we think it is. I found this when I cleaned my freezer today. It looks like I might be back in business. I thought that I had tucked some in there as a backup when my starter was going good but until now I couldn't find it.

@Norm Matthews almost all of my bread baking has been trial and error. I've developed my own method of doing things and I don't have the technical know how to explain why it works but it does work for me. I'm happiest with the results that I get from the simplest bread recipes. When I was trying to make sourdough bread, I came across a YouTube Channel called Baking with Jack that explains sourdough inside out. He's a little tough to take to begin with because he's pretty intense but he does have a lot of common sense advice on maintaining a sourdough starter and using it. For a beginner it's well worth watching the whole series. I also learned a lot from him about shaping bread and slashing it. I'll start you off with this video about sourdough myths. I also found a good article about preferments that you might be interested in. One thing that I have learned in my old age is that many home Bakers make a big mistake in the amount of yeast that they use. A lot of us think that if a little yeast will make it good, more yeast will make it better. It's just not true. The less yeast you use and the longer the rising time, the better the flavor and the better the texture of the bread. Bread baking is a game of patience. You have to let it do its own thing in its own time.

At one time I worked for a business that was a combination of butcher shop, fishmonger, Deli and Catering kitchen. It was a huge building. One day a lonesome little shrimp got dropped down a little floor drain that was hidden under a work table. We were closed for 48 hours while we hunted for that little sucker. It was amazing how much stench one little morsel can create.

Well, they've stopped selling fresh English muffins in Costa Rica. I haven't made them in years but I thought I'd give them a try. They are a little too thick and a bit overdone but not too bad for the rush job that they were. I had to try one and it was fine.

@Norm Matthews I've created more starters than I can count and I've always had good luck just with flour and water but eventually I, too, neglect them and they die. I'm not a good babysitter for sourdough. Also, I have the disadvantage that I make all my bread in a small countertop oven. I have a large oven that will reach the high temperatures but because of the tropical heat here I don't like to use it. I have also started using the preferment method and although it doesn't give me a full sourdough flavor it does make a big difference. The day before I make my bread I make a mixture of one cup white flour, one teaspoon yeast and about 3/4 of a cup of water. I usually make it about 18 hours before I am ready to bake. It may not be the best bread in town but I'm certainly happy with it. This was today's result. These are some rolls from last week.

Because of my age limitation I often make my meal in stages and this sounds like an excellent recipe for that. I would say that you could probably make the chicken and the sauce in the morning, heat the sauce and reheat the chicken in the sauce. I would probably make double the sauce to make sure that it covers the chicken while you're reheating. Or if you're worried about the chicken not getting hot enough, you could pop it in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes before you return it to the sauce.

I wouldn't even have questioned it. I would immediately take it back to the store for refund or replacement.

I don't ever let them get that black before I use them. They are still quite firm when they are good and sweet. These are some that I bought Saturday and they are nice and sweet for eating but I would probably give them two more days before I use them in banana bread. They will still be quite firm but I put them in his zip-top bag and squash them and they are completely ready to use. I showed two bananas with the peel. Sorry I couldn't show you the other banana because I ate it.

Not a terribly good picture but I snapped this this morning in the supermarket. As you can see, not a single piece of chicken in view.

In Costa Rica that dish would be called Pollo con Arroz (chicken with rice). In a Arroz con Pollo there is only about a tablespoon of chicken in that much rice. It is the national dish here that is served at every type of gathering. Weddings, funerals, baby showers, everything. The way they make it, I swear, one chicken will feed 40 people. And the traditional accompanyments are potato chips and Coca-Cola.

I've been using this recipe for Microwave Lemon Curd for years and it is thick enough for cake filling and it can be frozen.

They look pretty close to the little bananas that I get here in Costa Rica. They probably aren't quite ripe yet but they will be in two or three days. The riper they are the sweeter they get. You can wait until they get quite dark before you use them. I found that the easiest way to mash them is just put them in a zip top bag and squish them.

That happens a lot here in Costa Rica. About 20 years back there was a pizza restaurant that opened in a little kiosk across the street. All the ever seem to have was ground beef, sauce and cheese despite showing about 20 items on their menu. Their basic pizza wasn't really all that bad and we would request it with anchovies and they were always out. As we got to know them better we found out that they didn't even know what anchovies were. They had just taken somebody else's menu and copied it verbatim.

I was glad to see that this topic has come up because Carlos and I were discussing it the other day and I had no idea that Frito pie had been around so long. The reason for our discussion was that the cevicharia down the street has added new item to their takeout menu. It is a bag of picaritos (triangular corn chips) topped with ceviche. It sounds pretty gross to me, but then I'm not a fan of either item.