slkinsey

For a long rise like this, it also may help to use a small amount (maybe 1/2 tsp) of diastatic malt powder. This contains enzymes that will gradually break down some of the starch in the flour into sugars that the yeast can use for food.

I haven't tried it with this particular recipe, but experience suggests to me that using a poolish or biga won't make a dramatic difference in this recipe given the length of the rise. It is also worth pointing out that those of us who are used to working with natural leavening (aka "sourdough") will likely find most any straight white flour/water/commercial yeast dough to be underflavored. The same would be true for those who prefer herbed breads or breads made with specialty grains. I think there is something to be said for the flavors of a well-fermented straight white flour/water/commercial yeast dough, though. It's just not going to have the same impact as the others.

One of the things that happens in a long bulk fermentation is that the gas produced by the yeast exceeds the dough's capability to contain it. This is why the dough at this stage is very delicate and spongey, and why it has a tendency to collapse dramatically when agitated. When you reshape the dough, you give the bread another chance to contain the fermentation gasses and inflate. One thing that the folding does -- even miminal folding such as suggested for this technique -- is to help provide a better structure for containing the fermentation gasses. One tip for shaping extremely wet doughs: I have found that the best way to do this is to flour the board, gently turn out the wet dough into a rough oval, roll the dough up the long axis into a "cigar," then roll the cigar up its long axis. At this point, the dough should have enough structure for a quick, light turn to stretch the gluten across the top. As always with wet doughs, if you want the big holes and irregular crumb, it's best to handle/deflate the dough as little as possible when shaping.

To the best of my knowledge, this is not entirely correct. AFAIK, "rapid rise yeast" is actually a strain of yeast that was created to rise faster (i.e., have faster metabolic activity) than regular active dry yeast. It may also be more finely granulated, and thus an "instant yeast," but other "instant yeasts" like SAF Red are not necessarily "rapid rise" (in fact, some of instant yeasts, such as SAF Gold, are specially formulated to be slow-rising). With respect to the wetness of the dough, I think others have pointed out that the wetness will depend on the gluten content of the flour. The higher the gluten content, the more dry the dough will be for a given percent hydration (I note that most everyone who complained of an overly soupy dough and/or a wet crumb in the finished loaf used AP flour instead of bread flour). This is why, as Mark Bittman suggests, one should view the recipe formula as an approximation and adjust the dough with additional water or flour until a target texture is achieved. There is no way to assure that the wetness will be the same unless the same flour is used (there is also the effect of humidity and how wet or dry the flour is before it is used, but this should be fairly negligible in a three-cup recipe). Today I am experimenting with combining this technique and my usual "workday bread" technique. I fermented the dough for 18 hours, then this morning I formed the dough into a boule and put it into a cloth-lined banneton. I put a plastic bag around the banneton and put the whole works into the refrigerator to retard. I'll take it out while I'm preheating the oven once I get home this evening. This, I've found to be a good method for having a proofed loaf ready to go into the oven when you get home from work.

One issue with the Northern Tools grinder: As previously mentioned, it is extremely heavy and heavy-duty. Every part is thick metal. . . except one: the on/off switch. This is made of plastic. Because the grinder is so heavy it's not going to move if something bumps into the plastic switch. No, what's going to happen is that the plastic switch is going to crack and break -- which is exactly what happened to mine. Apparently this is not an uncommon problem, because when I called Northern Tools to order a replacement switch, the helpful customer service rep told me that it was back-ordered and that there were already several orders pending.

Yea.

The bakelite knobs on Le Creuset pots are notoriously crappy. Mine is continually slipping off the lid entirely. I've been meaning to replace it with a brass drawer pull from a hardware store.

I thought this was an interesting discussion in its own right, so I split it off. I wonder if the Daisy started off more or less with two different meanings, one being a sour with a short squirt of seltzer and the other having a float of chartreuse and no seltzer. It also seems that this drink went through a kind of re-definition at some point, much like the flip.

Well, to be precise, of the 23 recipes you have there, 16 of them have a squirt of fizz water added at such time so as to make the drink have light carbonation, 3 use a squirt of seltzer in the beginning to dissolve the sugar, and 4 have no selzter at all. The "float some Chartreuse on top" recipes all seem to flow from William Schmidt whereas the "squirt of seltzer" recipes seem to flow from JT.

It's always hard to know exactly what they meant by "dash" in those old books. Clearly two dashes from a dasher bottle such as those used for bitters would be a minimal amount. On the other hand, a quick dash from an open bottle of maraschino liqueur could easily amount to a half teaspoon or more.

Seems like just about all the recipes you cited include a squirt of soda water. Or am I missing something?

You can pre-order from among several kinds of turkey ("regular," free-roaming, organic, wild, heritage, etc.) at Citarella. That's where I usually get mine. Word to the wise: pick it up on Tuesday, not Wednesday.

Discussion on the Daisy split from this thread. The Cosmo (1934) seems to have just been another name for a Gin Daisy; looking through other Daisy Recipes I see that it is nothing out of the ordinary daisy-wise. Its just a Gin Daisy, so the chances are that it wasn't changed from another spirit. Although non-bartenders, and I don't mean that in a derogatory way, might have trouble coping with the idea, the Cosmo (1934) is not that different from the Cosmo (1988). Bartenders do this kind of swapping around of ingredients all the time; it sometimes seems like they prefer this than to actually make a cocktail properly. Gin swapped for Vodka, albeit Absolut Citron. Cointreau stays. Lemon juice changed for Lime Juice. Raspberry Syrup changed for Cranberry (its just for colour remember). As for correlating recipes, and by this I assume you mean a Gin Daisy that is also entitled "Cosmopolitan, the answer is no (not yet!-) Doesn't a Daisy clasically have a short squirt of fizz water?

Interesting. How does the tech work? Where is the light source?

Yea, it's an okay sub for Gran Marnier. Similar to GranGala.

Marie Brizard is one of the best makers of liqueurs for mixing. Apry, their apricot brandy, is especially good. Most of the best bars in NYC use MB orange curacao. I think their white creme de cacao is pretty good as well. Info on their complete line here.

I think roses are also sometimes dyed. You want to make sure before you buy the roses. And make sure you buy them from someone you can trust to tell you the truth.

Rye?

All: Let's keep discussion in this thread focussed on BLT Burger. If we want to expand into a general discussion of Laurent Tourondel and his ventures, or name recognition and NYC chefs, that's what other threads are for. I'm happy to split selected posts out on request. Carry on.

It's not surprizing that the Calorie Restriction diet isn't finding too many fans among the members of a culinary society. Still... a lifetime of constantly hunger, seriously reduced libido and meals of salad and quorn doesn't sound like something that would be worth another 10 years. One thing to clarify: what makes the Calorie Restriction diet different from eating disorders like anorexia is that a) it doesn't fit several of the key diagnostic criteria for Anorexia Nervosa, such as "intense fear of gaining weight" and "disturbance in the way in which one's body weight or shape is experience"; and b) although the diet is predicated upon around 30% fewer calories than normal, there is a central focus on getting adequate amounts of all the required nutrients, fiber, etc. Today's NY Times, perhaps influenced by the NY Magazine article, ran an article on Calorie Restriction in today's Science Times. Two "elderly" monkeys are compared: Rudy, who was raised on Calorie Restriction and is actually slightly older, appears to be the picture of health and vitality, with a shiny coat, upright posture, attentive demeanor and smooth skin. Matthias, who was raised on a normal diet, is stooped and lethargic, with a paunch, sagging skin and thinning hair.

Personally, I'd leave Arkansas off that list. I think the culture there (at least the parts where I've spent time) is more Southwest than South. And, although this does violate the "whole state rule," it's really only the top part of Florida. Much of Florida further down has very little to do with Southern culture.

Re Kansas City, I think any city that's a major cattle drive stop isn't part of the same South as Alabama, Tennessee, etc. Cowboy culture isn't Southern culture.

That kind of goes along with what I said above about areas in other states that are just on the other side of the states I defined as "the South." There's definitely some bleedover. But I think I'm safe in suggesting that Texas, as a whole, doesn't belong in the same cultural/cuisine continuity the way that Louisiana and North Carolina do -- despite the fact that Louisiana and North Carolina are much further apart. Hmm. I've been to the Dallas/Fort Worth area a number of times, and never thought it had anything that reminded me of what I think of as "Southern culture" as it would be found in e.g., Georgia or Tennessee.

No. Cowboy food is not Southern food. I think most people from Texas would agree that, with respect to culture and cuisine, Texas is a region unto itself.

With respect to culture and cuisine, I see some continuity in the swath of land that starts in Virginia, goes down the coast, cuts across the top of Florida and ends in Louisiana. This would encompass Virginia, Kentucky, North and South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana and the top of Florida. States like Arkansas, Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, etc. seem more "Southwest" than "South" to me from a cultural and culinary standpoint. This is, of course, if one is going to define it on a "whole state" basis. Clearly the parts of the surrounding states immediately adjacent to the above-named states will share many of the same traditions (the same is true, for example, of the areas in Italy immediately adjacent to the borders of Emilia-Romagna). But I don't feel that the states as a whole are reflective of what I think when I think of "Southern culture and cuisine."