jimb0

So, honestly I think sourdough is a bit overrated. Is it delicious? Yes. Do I still go to a lot of trouble experimenting with it? Sure. But a lot of the benefits imo are down to just the extended fermentation time it gets. When it comes down to using the mediocre old white flours we all buy from the store, many sourdoughs are barely distinguishable from regular bread outside of the tang. Anyway to your question, well, sure - if you add commercial yeast, you're going to almost assuredly speed up the fermentation time, which means you'll prep and bake your loaves more quickly, before the 'wild' microbes get a chance to work on some of those compounds in your dough. But your starter is still going to be chock full of amylases and proteases that will work on the sugars and proteins in your dough and create many of the same compounds. As mentioned, it'll probably be somewhere in between a standard and wild ferment, but environmental factors can play around with that. Removing the bran and working it back in later is definitely the way to go. What's the temperature you're baking them at? Do you reduce the temp partway through the bake at all?

Maybe a hibiscus cocoa butter shell and a cinnamon ganache. Or, well, I think we could work some pineapple in there with them, too. I made a hibiscus creme pat tonight. Pretty good. Managed to curdle the milk at one point (hibiscus is soooo acidic) but vitamixed it smooth again. As you might expect the custard dulled the flavours substantially to the point where I think you'd have to add rather a lot to really get some flavour out of it.

Yes, though it will probably take substantially longer to rise. Some german breads can be quite dense and adding insurance yeast helps get you the best of both worlds, as it were. Today I did some more cinnamon rolls and two lean sourdough loaves.

Ah nice. If you ever have to do large quantities, I recommend the steam juicer. It's just a set of pans with a silicone hose that drains into a separate container, and you can keep adding fruit until it's full (as it obviously compresses as the juice drains). Works really well for clear, concentrated juices. Couple of years ago I ran a bunch of cactus pears through it - which would have been kind of impossible to juice, otherwise - and it made for a really awesome jelly.

Have you ever tried a steam juicer for this purpose?

I love USA PAN pans; they're my favourite. I don't buy anything else bakingwise, anymore.

I did see that there's a panasonic microwave / convection / steam oven on Amazon.ca. Have you happened to use one of these? I did notice that 'broil' mode was only 1200W, which isn't as powerful as some toaster ovens, but it might not be as relevant as I'd think. There's also a Sharp appliance, which tbh looks really cool, but it seems tiny.

Hotttttt diggity. It's times like this that I appreciate having such an understanding SO.... I've been keeping extensive lists of projects to try, haha.

Ah, that’s fair. Taste is subjective, of course. I find a little knob can just add a background bit of umami, which I enjoy.

I mean, I wouldn't necessarily eat the rind after boiling, it's something that you'd take out, like a bay leaf.

You can very likely grate them on the fine side of a box grater or microplane and use them as seasoning, or boil them to add flavour to a stew (this is common with hard, old parmesan rinds).

Absolutely. But for me personally, I prefer the tradeoff of cooking high and standing and stirring because it gets the mixture up to temp more quickly. Obviously this is subjective.

Of course that's part of it, but a lot of the expensive coffees stem from the substantially increased labour that goes into them, Hawaii included...takes some work to pickup and clean bird poop. My favourite coffees are largely kenyan.

This effect is extremely common and very widespread. It actually almost certainly causes some degree of interference, but you probably don't really notice it. For me it's really only obvious with certain bluetooth headphones, and only when I'm standing on top of the microwave. Plus, microwaves are liable to be tuned slightly differently from model to model.

I know, I was just replying about the wi-fi interference. Unfortunately, EM pollution is a common problem with appliances. It’s hard to know from here whether it’s line noise that the radio is picking up (despite the different circuit) or if it’s actual EM interference (and whether that’s caused by a noisy cap (probably, or similar) or an actual defect). If it’s EM interference there’s probably nothing you can do except move either the radio or the microwave, or put a metal box around most of the microwave.

That’s most microwaves, though, because they operate within the similar 2.4Ghz spectrum as some of the wi-fi protocols. What model is the new microwave? This might be an issue others have noticed.

I did note that temperature is going to be the big determinant once you’ve standardized on a recipe. I don’t buy for a second that room temperature or humidity are going to make much if any impact on caramel production - at least the cooking stage - because the local conditions around the pot are going to entirely supercede anything in the room. Properly and similarly stored ingredients are going to weigh just about the same every time, so again, if you standardize around a formula, you should be able to make a repeatable product. Thermal overrun is a property of cooking almost anything, not just caramels, and thus it should be kept in mind for making any confection, in my opinion. That’s not new. Frankly, I find taking the time to check the texture of a candy far riskier because of how long it takes vs a good instant-read thermometer. I believe a number of those techniques evolved because reading the temperature was slow and difficult in comparison to the tools we have today.

I’ll keep an eye out but at > $50/kg, not sure I’ll be buying it anytime soon I suspect at some point we’ll map out some of the biologies of these pre-digested coffees and recreate them through modifying the fermentation process. Also, I’m willing to bet that at least some of what makes this coffee good is what makes all of their coffee (not that I’ve tried from this place) good - an eye to maintaining the biodiversity of the growing area and producing coffee a little more in tune with the environment. Combine that with their labour-intensive picking and processing methods, and, well.

I feel like your temperatures are going to be the big determinant here. If you have a formula that you really like the flavour of, consider playing around with the temperature a little bit. Make a small batch and start taking small samples a few degrees below your target temperature, working in even rungs up the ladder until you hit a few degrees above. If you get a texture you like, great; if not, you can either dial in the temperature further or modify your recipe at that point.

New coffee order. We've been centralizing around this ethiopian. Not my all-time favourite, but a good coffee nonetheless. I regret not getting more of the Kenyan I got last time as it was phenomenal, full of red fruits. I haven't tried any black honey processed beans, yet; roasted yesterday and will probably try tomorrow. I like buying from this company because they're dedicated to buying ethically sourced beans. Not quite to the point where I'm buying large bags of beans, but I see it coming; I think next month I'm going to start offering coffee (at cost, since it's not really legal to run a business roasting coffee from home) to the neighbourhood, at least during the pandemic.

well I’m skipping supper and going for a run on the treadmill after I’m done roasting coffee.....

as requested

I'll dig one out of the bag in a little bit and cut it open; the shot's just close, though; they're smaller than golf balls.

Fried off the rest of the doughnut dough today. I'm calling them jimbits Currently sitting in a bag of powdered sugar while I figure out what to do with them.

I feel like i'm monopolizing this thread but i can't stop making bagels, send help