Tropicalsenior

Maybe these Miso Date Caramel Cookies?

@Ann_T your bread always looks gorgeous but these are really over the top! I would love to be able to get the same sourdough results that you do but because of my oven limitations I just can't get the heat that it needs. I do all my baking in a small countertop oven that only gets up to about 425° . I do have a full size range and oven but I seldom use it because of the heat factor and because I'm so old I've gotten too lazy to clear out everything that I had stored in it every time I want to bake. My little oven gets hot enough to do the basics so I have to live with that. Your new bread baker looks wonderful. How hot does your oven need to be for that? I hadn't finished my first loaf of yeasted gingerbread when I made the second one but the first one didn't go to waste. I Made bread pudding in the instant pot with what was left. It isn't terribly photogenic but it sure smells good. I'll serve it with my favorite caramel sauce, Caramel Silk in a Jar. I make this in the microwave. It is so easy and so good.

No, you need a completed circuit to create the arc. I've done arc welding and I know how dangerous it can be. I don't think that that contraption is anything that I would want in my kitchen.

@paulraphael Thank you so much for explaining this in a way that even I can understand.

I see a price of about $310 quoted in Costa Rican Colones. What price do you see?

Seems to me that it's more of a moron multiplier.

The restaurant that I was talking about starting out putting the crab boil on newspapers until the Press jumped in. They were outraged about being served on filthy newspapers so the restaurant went to big squares of oil cloth printed like newspaper. Then the health department jumped in and tested the oil cloth. It turns out that they couldn't get that clean enough to meet Health standards and they went back to newspaper because it was more sanitary.

It doesn't sound like it's feasible for a restaurant use. It may get there in the future but it's probably got a ways to go yet.

To me the whole idea is appalling. I'll never forget the first time (and only time) that I ever had a crab boil. It was in an upscale seafood restaurant. We were a party of four and decided to order the crab boil. We definitely didn't expect them to cover the table with newspapers and dump it all in the middle. I left feeling that I was wearing more than I had consumed. At least everything could be managed by hand, but spaghetti? Not on your life.

Yes, thank you. I always get that confused. I'm not much of an electrician. In the US 220 is available in most buildings and homes but most of the outlets are wired for 110 and it does take a special plug-in for 220. It looks like they would have to modify it for an American Market and I definitely wouldn't be able to use it here in Costa Rica.

There's always things to be taken into consideration for restaurant use like longevity of the appliance and whether it could stand continuous use. It looks like it runs on the equivalent of 110 Watts. It wouldn't need any massive rewiring like electric stoves would. If it's feasible, it looks like it would be a great opportunity for some bright entrepreneur.

It would be interesting to know how economical this is. As you probably know, there is a war on now against Natural Gas in the United States and so many restaurants rely on it. The quick response of a gas flame is essential for line cooks. This could be a great replacement for natural gas but only if it is economically feasible.

According to a discussion that I just read on Reddit, which you can take for what it's worth, peppercorns should be used within six to eight hours after they have been toasted. The purpose of toasting is to bring the oils to the surface. After that time they will start to evaporate and leave them with less flavor than they had to begin with.

This is my second attempt to make yeasted gingerbread. I used this recipe and modified it a bit. I increased the cinnamon and ginger to one teaspoon each and added one tablespoon each of finally minced stem ginger and Mandarin zest. I also added about 3/4 of a cup of rum soaked raisins. It took a long time to proof but it did finally make up into a nice tall loaf. It's not at all like a traditional gingerbread but it does have a good texture and a great flavor.

Thanks, Mike. I used to be able to buy that in Costa Rica. It was SAF made in Mexico and it was excellent but I haven't seen it now for for about 10 years. The only really good yeast that I can buy now is Fleischmann's. Not the best but when it's all you can get you learn to live with it. So now, like you, I just have to be patient and let it take it's own time. I think probably that's the most important thing that a new Baker should learn. To be skeptical of any recipe that gives a specific time. Every dough has its own rise time and it will be ready when it's ready.

Good grissini are part of going to a good Italian restaurant. I don't know when or why they started offering those puffy doughy things but it's a trend that I certainly don't care for. The best that I have ever had was in an Italian restaurant in Reno run by a Greek family. It was also where I learned to love good pizza. The recipe that I linked to says that it will make seven dozen and I didn't need quite that many so I made pizza with 2/3 of the dough. It's not as good as the restaurant in Reno but it worked out just fine.

I would also check out the hardware stores. Take a lid with you and check out the wooden dowels. You might find one that fits perfectly and you can cut some little plugs from that. Or possibly you could find some brass screws that would fit in the holes. You could also cover them with duct tape.

When we were there we stayed in the Miraflores District and we loved it. So much to see. One shocking thing though, while I was in one of the markets an older lady came up to me and tried to sell me a gorgeous little baby.

Finally, success in something. These are true crispy grissini. A little more well done than what I intended but somehow or other I got tied up on EG and wasn't paying attention but that's an easy fix. These I will be making again.

This is an article I found on epoxy and food safety.

I would use an epoxy. Here in costa rica , we can buy something called poxi pol that is almost like An epoxy putty. Should be permanent.

Oh, I'm not going to give up. I've been reading every yeasted gingerbread recipe on the internet and I've got my eye on one right now that I want to try. Unfortunately, it was the cinnamon in this recipe that took the flavor over the top. And it was the cinnamon that made it fail. If I had had another 2 days to let it rise it might have gotten there. From all the reading that I have been doing, I think I have figured out some things that I can add to get more flavor. One Baker in Australia put rum and Brandy extract in hers. Another used anise seed. I have powdered Ginger, stem Ginger, candied ginger, and fresh ginger. So I can use the combination of ginger to get a stronger flavor. Yes, I looked that up and ginger doesn't inhibit the yeast. I have a specific reason for wanting to make the yeasted Gingerbread. We both love gingerbread and my body no longer tolerates sugar. If I eat very much sugar I get severe leg cramps at night. I don't know why but sugar in a quick bread bothers me but sugar in a yeasted bread doesn't. Go figure. And I have a severe sweet tooth that sometimes just demands to be indulged.

This is my bread baking for the last couple weeks. Last week I made sourdough bread and rolls. The Stars aligned for me and it was some of the best that I've made. Didn't do anything different so I just got lucky. Few days later I made Italian breadsticks (grissini). They were okay but not a recipe that I will repeat. They were more chewy than crispy. Carlos love them so they weren't a total failure. Then I made yeasted gingerbread loaf. That was a fiasco. I started it at 7:00 in the morning and it wasn't ready to go in the oven until 4:00 in the afternoon. It just wouldn't rise. I thought maybe my yeast had gone flat but I decided to do some internet research and found out the problem. I've always had problems with very sweet dough rising but I found out that there is a limit to how much sugar you can use for the amount of flour. This recipe had double that sugar. Further research revealed that cinnamon is also a yeast inhibitor. Who knew? The most you should use is one teaspoon for 3 cups of flour. This recipe has two tablespoons. So this time it wasn't me, it was a bad recipe. It tasted good but it wasn't worth it. So yesterday it was back to the basics. Just plain old baguettes. Nothing fancy but they taste good.

I probably should explain, again, my extreme aversion to sauerkraut. Every fall my little German grandmother would make sauerkraut. My grandfather grew mountains of cabbage and she would process it in five or six 10 gallon crocs in her basement. All through September and October her house would smell of fermenting sauerkraut. It was worse than the city dump on the hottest August day. There was no power on God's green earth that would make me enter her house until all of that had been canned and put away in hermetically sealed glass jars. Even then, her house didn't return to an acceptable olfactory level until she started baking hundreds of springerly cookies for Christmas. But that's a horror story for another day. To make a short story long, I don't know if sauerkraut will go rotten in the refrigerator. To me it's just rotten cabbage to begin with.

It's a beautiful old city with lots of History. One funny side note. Years ago the city fathers commissioned a statue, similar to our Lady Liberty for the plaza in front of the presidential Palace. They wanted a statue with flames coming out of her headdress. The word for flames in Spanish is llamas. They chose a Peruvian Sculptor and told him what they wanted. Yep, you guessed it. It's a beautiful statue with three little animals sitting on her head.