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Chicken fried steak, fried chicken, pork chop on a stick. There's lots of great examples of breaded meats. What are your favorites, why are they your favorites, and where are the quintessential examples of each?

hello all, does anyone know where i can go to purchase european style bread flour? i tried calling a few stores - Pusateri's, Whole Foods, Loblaws - but no luck. i checked quickly online and found King Arthur, which does not seem to deliver to Canada. any help would be appreciated. thx, s

So, I'm currently in my Amsterdam Hotel (Okura) looking over my room-service breakfast. Among the more normal thing is a small box of chocolate sprinkles. The box clearly shows that I am supposed to put it on my toast. The one bit of English reads "Pure chocolate sprinkles for bread." Can someone help me out here. What's the deal? Do I butter the toast first? Bruce

Hi All, I am working with BBHasin on a class for eGCI teaching Indian breads. ANy favorites that you would like to learn about?

Hi, I'm wondering if the pastry experts can help me with a conundrum that I've had since I started baking bread fifteen years ago. I'm not a commercial baker and have always been fascinated by those soft breads served in Asian bakeries - the very soft crusted baked barbecued pork and other buns in Chinese bakeries, the golden very fine soft-crust Japanese breads that go by a variety of names such as Milk Bun, Butter top, English loaf, etc. I have no problems creating the hard crust for breads like French loaves, foccacia, etc. but I simply cannot get a long-lasting soft crust like the Asian bakeries. I was told to use lots of butter in a pastry kitchen where I previously worked and it worked for a while but after the bread cooled, it became [permanently] hard-crusted. Perhaps it's the quality of the flour that I use? Can anyone help?

Pita Bread (Khobz Arabi) 3 c Bread flour or All Purpose flour 1/2 tsp Instant yeast (or 1 tsp Active Dry yeast combined with a Tbsp sugar and ¼ cup warm water till foamy) 1/2 tsp salt 1 c warm water (reduce the water by ¼ Cup if using Active Dry yeast) Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then add the yeast (or yeast/water mixture) and add the water slowly while stirring with a plastic or wooden spoon until everything is combined into a ball. You might need more or less water than the 1 cup. Once the dough comes together, transfer it to a floured surface and knead for a good ten minutes until it is soft and elastic. Roll the dough into a log and cut it into five equal parts (cut into fewer pieces if you want bigger loaves). Form each piece into a ball and put them all on a floured baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and let them rise in a warm place for about an hour or until almost double in size Preheat your oven to 500F (270C). If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven to pre-heat thoroughly. Flatten each dough ball and with a rolling pin form it into 1/8 inch (3mm) thick round about 6 inches (15cm) in diameter. After rolling all the dough, cover and let them rest on a floured surface for 15-30 minutes. If you have a baking stone then bake them on the stone by sliding the dough rounds onto the stone and baking till they puff up like balloons (about 2-3 minutes). Leave them in the oven no more than one minute after they puff up even though they might not have much color on them. This will insure that the bread will be soft and pliable once cooled. If you do not have a baking stone in your oven, place the rounds on a baking sheet (making sure they are not touching) and bake in the oven until they puff up As soon as you remove the baked bread from the oven, place in a container, flatten gently and then cover with a damp towel. Keep stacking the flattened baked bread on top of each other and covering them. Store the baked bread in a well sealed plastic bag. Never let the baked bread cool uncovered or it will harden Keywords: Bread, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, eGCI ( RG707 )

Pita Bread (Khobz Arabi) 3 c Bread flour or All Purpose flour 1/2 tsp Instant yeast (or 1 tsp Active Dry yeast combined with a Tbsp sugar and ¼ cup warm water till foamy) 1/2 tsp salt 1 c warm water (reduce the water by ¼ Cup if using Active Dry yeast) Mix the flour and salt in a bowl, then add the yeast (or yeast/water mixture) and add the water slowly while stirring with a plastic or wooden spoon until everything is combined into a ball. You might need more or less water than the 1 cup. Once the dough comes together, transfer it to a floured surface and knead for a good ten minutes until it is soft and elastic. Roll the dough into a log and cut it into five equal parts (cut into fewer pieces if you want bigger loaves). Form each piece into a ball and put them all on a floured baking sheet. Cover with a damp towel and let them rise in a warm place for about an hour or until almost double in size Preheat your oven to 500F (270C). If you have a baking stone, place it in the oven to pre-heat thoroughly. Flatten each dough ball and with a rolling pin form it into 1/8 inch (3mm) thick round about 6 inches (15cm) in diameter. After rolling all the dough, cover and let them rest on a floured surface for 15-30 minutes. If you have a baking stone then bake them on the stone by sliding the dough rounds onto the stone and baking till they puff up like balloons (about 2-3 minutes). Leave them in the oven no more than one minute after they puff up even though they might not have much color on them. This will insure that the bread will be soft and pliable once cooled. If you do not have a baking stone in your oven, place the rounds on a baking sheet (making sure they are not touching) and bake in the oven until they puff up As soon as you remove the baked bread from the oven, place in a container, flatten gently and then cover with a damp towel. Keep stacking the flattened baked bread on top of each other and covering them. Store the baked bread in a well sealed plastic bag. Never let the baked bread cool uncovered or it will harden Keywords: Bread, Lebanese, Middle Eastern, eGCI ( RG707 )

BREADED ONION RINGS 4 each Giant yellow onions 2 c Flour 1 tsp White Pepper 1 tsp Cayenne Pepper 2 tsp Garlic Powder 2 each Eggs 1 pt Whole Milk Bread Crumbs 1. Peel and slice the onions into 1/4 inch slices. Separate the slices into rings. Put the slices in a bowl of water. (Only use the large ones for onion rings. Use the inner portion of the slices for other things like fried onions for the cheeseburgers.) 2. Prepare the flour mix by combining the flour with the white pepper, cayenne and garlic powder. 3. Prepare the egg wash by combining the eggs and the milk. Buttermilk is a nice substitution. 4. Set up your breading station. Bowl of onions in water to the left, then the seasoned flour, egg wash next, bread crumbs to the right. 5. Using your left hand remove a few onion rings from the water and shake off the excess moisture. Place in the flour. Use your right hand to toss til coated and then transfer to the egg wash. Using your left hand, remove the onion rings from the egg wash and drop into the bread crumbs. Then use your right hand to toss the rings in the bread crumbs until coated and place on a cookie sheet. Repeat until all onion rings are breaded. The basic theory is left hand for liquids. Right hand for solids. Keeps your fingers relatively unbreaded 6. Preheat the cooking oil to 350 degrees. Drop the rings into the oil one or two at a time. Cook 1 or 2 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the fryer and let drain on a paper towel 7. Season lightly with salt (optional) and serve immediately Keywords: eGCI, Side ( RG699 )

I apologize for geeking out a bit here, but do you have any thoughts about the use of indigenous vs. cultured yeasts in making wine? I ask this because I've recently discovered that some of my favorite American Chardonnays (and I don't have many) were made with indigenous yeast.

Post your questions here -->> Q&A Sourdough Bread by Jack Lang (jackal10) Acknowledgements Dan Lepard, for inspiration and and contribution. Charles Lang, whose hands are in the photographs. Brendel Lang for the painting. The Members of the eGCI team for considerable labour and expertise. Samuel Lloyd Kinsey (slkinsey) my fellow instructor. Jill Grey, my partner, for putting up with the mess. Introduction The object of this lesson is to teach you to bake better bread— bread that will be the envy of your non-baking friends—bread so good that people will wonder where it came from! The recipe is archived here. Why sourdough? Because it tastes better. This is the real stuff; not some machine-made pap. You will make bread you just can’t stop eating, and that will spoil you for mass-produced bought bread. Once you have mastered basic white bread, you (or we) can go on to whatever variations you like or request. This is daily bread, fragrant with tastes of the yeast and the grain, and with a crisp crackling crust. Perfect on its own, or with good butter, or jam, or cheese and maybe a ripe tomato. It keeps (in a paper bag, not in the fridge) for close to a week, although you may need to toast it toward the end of the week. Toasted it makes magnificent bruschetta. You can bake weekly, or less often as the bread freezes well. This recipe and technique may seem straightforward, but it contains the results of years of experimentation and optimisation. We’ll make plain, white bread. Once you have mastered that, you can go on to fancier loaves. However (unless you really need the bran) you will come back to this basic bread just because it is so good and so pure. Bread comes in many shapes. English bread shapes European bread shapes This lesson will teach the basic French boule or flattened ball shape. We will also look at baguettes. But you can make any shape you fancy. The same dough works well in a tin, too. You can find more technical details regarding the history of sourdough bread and the composition of the starter by clicking this link. Reading this background history and science is not essential, but very helpful. It will give some insight into why as well as the how. Where to get your starter You basically have three options – 1. Buy a starter off the web or from a local artisanal bakery. One place is here. 2. Order the eGullet starter. You can obtain the special egullet starter by sending a PM to jackal10 with your snail-mail address. The starter will be sent out free, although the cost of the starter and postage is about $10. Please donate at least that much to your favourite charity, and we would appreciate it if you could include the name of the charity and the amount in your PM. Your egullet starter was collected originally in the vineyards of California, but has travelled extensively since. It produces a light, mild bread. When it arrives, it will look like raw dough in a plastic bag How your starter will look when you unpack it. You can leave it in the fridge until you are ready, or better, turn it into your own starter. To do this, add one cup of flour and 1 cup of water and mix to a smooth batter. You can do this by hand or in a food processor. Put the batter into a basin, cover and leave in a warm (80-85F/27-29C) place for 4-8 hours, or until you see bubbles on the surface. Ideally refresh it a couple of times, and you are ready. You can store the starter in a jar in the fridge. 3. Make your own. You can make your own starter and harvest the local wild yeasts with some patience. The key is the remarkable stability of the yeast-lacto bacillus pairing. If you keep almost any fermentable mixture of flour and water at about the right temperature, and when it begins to bubble, feed (refresh) it regularly, you will get the right bugs. Some people add grapes with bloom on them (yeasts live on the surface), rye (high in enzymes), or other things, but that is mostly superstition. How to roll your own starter a) Mix 1 cup flour and 1 cup water to a smooth batter. b) Cover and leave in a warm (85F/29C) place until it starts to bubble (12 hours or so but it can take several days). Don’t worry about off smells or colours at this stage. Skim any obvious muck. c) Refresh it by adding another ½ cup of flour and ½ cup of water and stir. If the volume gets too much for your container, throw some away. Cover the rest and put it back into a warm place. d) Repeat the last step for 4 times at 8-12 hour intervals. The starter should be active, and smell wholesome. Starters can be kept in a closed jar in the refrigerator for months. They may separate into two layers, but just stir them together before use. They will, of course, keep best if used and refreshed regularly. If the starter seems sluggish, refresh it a couple of times (step c above) before use. Starter doesn’t freeze well, but can be dried for a reserve supply. If you need to ship it, make some into a lasagna sheet, or stiff dough. For best results always use the same flour, so the bugs can get used to it. Some people keep separate starters for white, rye and for wholemeal (whole wheat). I use white unbleached flour, which has added Vitamin C as an improver. As mentioned above, if your flour does not already have Vitamin C in it, you can add 1/2tsp Vitamin C (Ascorbic acid) but it is not critical. Recovering a sick starter If your starter smells off (cheesy or of peardrops), or has gone sluggish you can recover it by following the procedure for a new starter above, but inoculate the initial flour and water mix with a tablespoon or two of the old starter. Practical Section A typical bread-making timetable is Day 1: 09:00: Refresh starter - Starter ferments - 13:00: Make dough 13:15: Dough kneaded (by hand) -Amylisation- 13:45: Add Salt 14:00 Finished dough - Bulk fermentation- 16:00: Shape -Retard overnight – Day 2 Pre-heat oven, and bake for 40 minutes. Ingredients for 1 loaf or four baguettes. To refresh the starter: 1 c sourdough starter 1 c Strong white bread flour 1 c water For the dough: 1 c refreshed sourdough starter 3 c Strong white bread flour. 1 c water (you may need more -- see below) 2 tsp salt The dough in the illustration is ordinary unbleached supermarket (Tesco) strong white bread flour, 11.7g protein, with ½ cup of spelt flour added for flavour. This supermarket adds Vitamin C and amalyse to their bread flour. Different flours may adsorb different amounts of water. This flour needs a bit more water. The object is to make a very soft dough -- one that has only just stopped being a batter and just holds together. Sourdough Bread Instructions A. Refresh the Starter 1. Mix together 1 cup starter, 1 cup strong flour and 1 cup of water. It should be the consistency of very thick cream. Starter just mixed. 3. Cover, and allow to stand in a warm (85F/29C) place for 4 hours. Starter after 4 hours. After 4 hours or so, it should be bubbly. Temperature is fairly critical, as discussed above. Any hotter than 85F/29C and you start to kill the yeast; any colder and it will not be as sour and will take longer to rise. What we are making here is a sponge starter or poolish. Starters (pre-ferments) can be roughly divided by hydration into wet, batter-like pre-ferments, often called poolish from their origin and dry, dough-like pre-ferments, often called biga, as the technique is typical of Italian bread. Some bakers call a poolish a sponge; others use sponge to refer to all pre-ferments. B. Make the Dough Assemble Ingredients as listed above. The storage jar with the rest of the starter is at the back right, ready to go back into the fridge for next time. The easiest way is to whizz together refreshed starter, flour and water (but not the salt yet) in a food processor for 20 sec. Alternatively mix them in a large bowl: Ready to mix Dough after mixing. Should make a softish dough. The wetter the dough the bigger the holes in the final bread. Different flours need different amounts of water – add more water or flour to get the right consistency. You may need to add up to another ½ cup of flour so that it just stops being a batter and holds together as a dough. On the other hand if it is too stiff then add more water. Plenty of loose flour will stop it sticking too much. If you are making the dough by hand then knead for 10 minutes by the clock. Be rough with it. Lose your temper with it. Take out your frustrations on it. Slam it about. When it is properly kneaded it should feel resilient to the touch. It has been described as feeling like an earlobe, but I describe it like feeling a soft breast or buttock. You should be able to take a pinch of dough and stretch it so thin you can see through it – called the “windowpane test”. When kneaded the dough will stretch without breaking You cannot over-knead by hand. It is possible (but quite difficult) to over-knead if you are using a mixer or a food processor, as the dough can get too hot, and if worked too long and hard the gluten will begin to break down. Finished Dough Gather it together, and wipe a little oil over the surface to stop it sticking, cover it and leave it in a warm place for 30 mins. Resting This pause, before the salt is added, is for several reasons: - It lets the enzymes do their stuff. They begin breaking down starches into sugars to feed the yeast to make a better crust colour. Salt tends to retard this reaction. - It lets the dough (and you) rest and relax after the exertions of kneading. - It allows the flour to complete its hydration, High levels of salt can interfere with this. - It allows time for you to prepare your “banneton” to receive the finished dough. See Preparing Your Banneton below. After 30 mins add the salt and whiz for another 20 sec, or knead for another 10 mins. Oil, cover, and leave for 2 hours or so in a warm (85F/29C) place. The exact time is not critical – anything from about 90 minutes to 3 hours will work. Temperature is more critical than time. Rested Dough The dough will have expanded a bit. Don’t worry about whether it has doubled or not. A lot of nonsense is written in some cookbooks, resulting in much overproved dough. The dough will also have got a bit softer and wetter. Turn out onto a floured board. Dusting the board with flour Now handle gently - don't knock all the air out. The time for rough handling is over. Take the sides and fold to the centre. Folding the dough Folding the dough like this (you can also fold top to bottom as well) gently stretches the gluten and the bubbles forming in the bread. Dan Lepard's technique for his wonderful bread is to repeat this folding operation every hour for up to 5 hours during an extended bulk fermentation phase, resting the dough between times. When the dough is ready for shaping bubbles are clearly visible if you cut a small slit in the top of the dough with a sharp knife. Turn the dough over and shape into a ball. As you shape it try and stretch the surface a bit so it is taut. Shaping the dough Put it upside down (on its stretched, taut surface) into a cloth lined basket (called a banneton). The top of the dough in the banneton will be the bottom of the finished loaf. Preparing Your Banneton Traditionally, bannetons are made of cane or wicker, lined with linen, but you can improvise from a basin or a basket and a tea-towel or a piece of muslin. Ideally they are porous, so the outside dries slightly to help in crust development. Dough in the banneton Don’t worry if the top surface of the dough in the banneton is uneven: it will even itself out. Put into the fridge, covered with a cloth, overnight. In the fridge The dough is soft and needs the support of the basket. You could bake it after letting it rise for a hour or so, but its easier to handle, and gives a better crust if you keep it in the fridge (retardation) for between 8 and 24 hours. The cold will practically stop the fermentation, and so timing is not critical, and it gives you back control in that you can bake the dough when you want, rather than when the fermentation dictates. I’m lucky enough to have a brick bread oven that has a brick floor that holds the heat. The shell of this one I imported from France, from a company called Four Grandmere. If you are inspired to build your own, Dan Wing’s and Tom Jaine’s books are given in the references My oven Inside the oven You can approximate a similar environment in a domestic oven by putting a pizza stone or a layer of quarry tiles or engineering bricks on the lowest shelf to provide bottom heat. You are aiming for 440F/230C or even 500F/260C, as hot as most domestic ovens can manage. Heat the oven at least an hour before you want to bake to allow time to stabilise, and for the heat to soak into the tiles or equivalent. (If you have a wood fired oven you will need to light the fire about four hours before baking.) My oven heating up If you have an oven thermometer, check the temperature of the oven. You are strongly advised to do this as oven thermostats are surprisingly inaccurate. Thermometer When ready to bake, take the dough out of the fridge. Some advise letting the dough return to room temperature --a couple of hours or so, but I find I it better and easier to cook these very soft doughs straight from the fridge. The cold dough is stiffer, handles easier and spreads less. The dough from the fridge Again, don’t worry that it does not seem to have expanded much. Most of the expansion will be in the oven (called oven-spring). This will result in a lighter and better-shaped loaf than if the expansion is from proofing when some of the gas may leak out. When ready to bake, turn the dough out onto a baking sheet and remove the cloth. (For the wood fired oven we use a peel, lightly dusted with dry polenta meal so the dough does not stick.) Slash the top firmly with a very sharp knife. Professional bakers use a razor blade on a stick, called a “lame”. Slash quickly and decisively – it is a slash not a cut. Don’t mess the dough about. Spray the knife blade with cooking spray to prevent it from tearing the dough. The slashes allow the dough to rise in a defined way, and lessen the resistance to expansion by making weak points in the crust. In ancient times the pattern of slashes identified whose bread it was in the communal oven. Here a slightly careless slash has caught the dough on one side, so the finished loaf will be a bit uneven and rustic. Into the oven: Just loaded: 20 minutes later, and halfway through the bake. Most of the expansion has happened. Our loaf is the one on the left. The pattern on the rye bread on the front right is created by using a banneton made from coiled cane. No cloth is used in that sort of banneton. Bannetons can be obtained from any good baking supplier. The ones shown come from Four Grandmere and the San Francisco Baking Institute. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until it is a good colour. You might need to rotate it after 30 mins. Let the bread cool to warm before you slice it. Hard to resist the temptation to slice into the loaf too soon, but it needs time to finish cooking and for the structure to firm up as it cools. I like an open texture, as it gives more room for the butter. The crust is a little thick as the bread was slightly over baked. That completes the basic bread lesson. Variations on the basic recipe/technique I’d advise practicing plain white bread before trying variations. When you get that right you can get fancier. You might not get it completely to your satisfaction the first time, but as you go on your baking will improve. There are infinite variations possible. Crust Variations: My brother prefers a flour dusted crust. These were the other loaves in the bake: To get this effect, lightly dust the banneton and the top of the dough with flour before putting in the dough. The legs in the top of the picture are my sister-in-law, painting the scene. I’m the one sitting down; my brother is loading the oven. The dough is slashed in a feather pattern. To achieve this, make alternate slashes from each side of the loaf to just over halfway across. This pattern was tought to us by Ian Duffy, then of the San Fransisco Baking Institute. This is a loaf with 25% rye flour. For a shiny, thinner crust, put an empty pan in the bottom of the oven and pour a cup of boiling water into it after you have put the bread in the oven (be careful of the hot steam), and shut the door quickly. The idea is to provide a burst of steam, which gelatinises the outside of the dough. Professional ovens have steam injection for this purpose. Alternatively (but not as good) you can paint the bread with water before it goes in the oven, or use a garden sprayer. (Be careful not to get cold water on the oven light or it might shatter.) The baguettes below are made like this. Other crust variations you can try: Brush with milk or cream Brush with egg glaze (egg yolk+milk) Toppings (stick on with egg-wash or water): Porridge oats (oatmeal) Muesli Poppy seeds Sesame seeds Grated cheese Flavours and additions Add with the salt, but you might want to chop them and then hand-knead them in – the food processor chops them a bit too fine Onions (soften in butter first), Hazelnuts, walnuts Olives, Sun-dried tomatoes (oil-packed?) Caraway seeds Dill weed Raisins Smarties or M&Ms Seeds: Pumpkin, sunflower, sesame Flour variants: I’d recommend replacing only 1/3-1/2 of the plain strong white flour with: Wholemeal (whole wheat) (will not rise as much) Granary (has added malt) Rye flour (makes a sticky dough) For dark rye add 1 Tbs black treacle (molasses). Some like caraway seeds as well. Spelt (ancient wheat) (Poilane is reputed to use 1/5th Spelt. This was the example bread). “Mighty White” (steamed, corned grains) For a sweet bread: add sugar and butter with the fruit. Saffron for Easter. Baguettes Baguettes, that typical French loaf, are long thin loaves made with a soft, white dough. Because they are thin, they are baked at a higher temperature but for less time. The dough is delicate, and needs supporting continuously during proof and baking. You can get special pans for this. I’ve now thrown away my tin baguette pans (the ones in these pictures) and instead use a silpat baguette form (from www.demarle.com). You can just see it in the crust variation photo. Much easier and no sticking. To Make Baguettes from the Finished Dough Divide the dough into four, at the shaping stage: Roll and stretch into long cylinders, tucking the end in neatly. Cover, put into a large plastic bag, like a dustbin liner so that they do not dry out too much, and put in the fridge overnight. Next day take them out, and slash the tops. Put them in the hottest oven you can, and throw half a cup water into a pan or onto the oven floor. Beware of the hot steam! Bake until golden, say 30 mins Let cool on a rack. Enjoy with cheese and a glass of wine, or maybe some good soup. References Dan Lepard Baking with Passion - Dan Lepard - A great book. Website: www.danlepard.com. Joe Ortiz The Village Baker ISBN 0-89815-489-8 wonderfully evocative. Bread Builders. Hearth loaves and Masonry Ovens - Daniel Wing and Alan Scott. The definitive book on building and using brick bread ovens. The Bread Baker's Apprentice - Peter Reinhart Breads from the La Brea Bakery - Nancy Silverton Elizabeth David English Bread and Yeast Cookery ISBN 0-14-046791 is, like all her books, masterly for its time. Tom Jaine, Building a Wood Fired Oven for Bread and Pizza. Prospect Books ISBN 0907325 Web resources www.danlepard.com www.fourgrandmere.com (Click on the Union Jack to get the English version). www.sfbi.com www.demarle.com www.sourdoughhome.com http://samartha.net www.sourdo.com www.faqs.org SLKinsey is a contributor- a good resource. Post your questions here -->> Q&A

Post your questions for the Sourdough Bread course here.

Do you find that the recent trend towards healthy greens is successful? I love them, but am wary of trying a recipe that only takes about 30-45 mins and includes red wine, for instance. And do you prefer one sort of greens or do you mix? I have also tried to make spoonbread and never have I come close to the ethereal, light dish my grandmother made. I have produced a fair approximation of plaster of paris and sheetrock compound. Is there any hope?

Thank you for taking the time to answer our questions, Ms. White. Along with the whole sweet/not-sweet cornbread question comes the argument about "Southerners never use yellow cornmeal; Northerners never use anything but..." I was raised (in Chicago) to bake a slightly sweet yellow cornbread for breakfasts, and a savory version, still yellow, as a 'goes-with' for lunches and dinners; what's authentic in terms of Southern tradition?

I was raised in a Southern family. My grandmother made cornbread in a hot cast-iron skillet to which bacon drippings had been added. This cornbread was never sweet. I always thought that only Yankees added sugar to their cornbread batter. But lately, I've read where "sweet cornbread" is a "Southern Thang," like "sweet tea." And recently, a friend told me somewhat rudely that "only you Southerners have to put sugar into everything -- nowhere else in the country is the food so sweet." (Clearly she has not spent much time dining in Vermont.) So I want to know about sweet cornbread being "Southern." Is it?

Right now, Dahlia Bakery have a special corn bread available. It's a regular wheat loaf, but with whole kernels of corn baked in. I'm sitting here eating a thick slice, smeared with butter and topped with a pinch of salt, and it's fantastic. I think it's an August special, so get some while you can. Wow! - S

How do you know when a homemade sourdough starter is ready to roll? I made the sourdough starter briefly discussed in the intro to Classic Sourdoughs by Ed Wood. It was 1 1/2 c. flour and 1 c. water sitting out at room temperature. After about 2 1/2 days (I stirred it down twice a day), it was about like bubbly muffin batter so I fed it with 1 cup flour and 1 cup water. Then it bubbled up to about twice the volume. In the book he says it is ready when you have one to two inches of foam on the top. Now I'm thinking beer foam or something like that. Instead I have a bubbly muffin batter. It is definitely alive in some sense as you can kind of see things moving if you stare at it long enough. Am I ready? Also, the book's recipes either specify a liquid culture or a sponge culture. It doesn't say which type I made but am I right to assume it is a sponge culture? You can kind of pour it (I needed to divide it because it was bubbling over the container) but it isn't as liquid as some sourdough starters I've had in the past. Thanks for any help you can give me! Nanette http://cookingincolor.blog-city.com

If a recipe calls for breadcrumbs, which should you use - fresh or dry. I came across this twice in the past few weeks - once with meatballs and the other with crabcakes. Is there some rule that I don't know about? Thanks in advance johnjohn

Michael, In "The Making of a Chef" you wrote about a bread you made involving chilis and cornmeal. I don't suppose, somewhere in your notes, you have a more information than what was in the book ? That bread sounded fantastic ! Thanks for all the wonderful books - I've read all of them over (and over and over) ... currently re-reading "Soul of a Chef" in preparation for my second visit to The French Laundry, next month. Reading about the care and effort put into the food made me appreciate it so much more when I ate there last year. - S

I have garden fresh tomatoes and basil, and I want to make a bread salad. Should the bread be slightly toasted? Make a vinigrette, or just evoo for dressing? Greek olives? Cucumbers? Garlic and green onion? or red onion? HELP!!!!

who produces the best bread in austin? central market? some bakery i wish i knew about? bread alone? i personally have not a clue but would love to hear what others think, so i can go try it thanks, casey

OK, here's an issue that's bugged me for awhile. I occasionally run across recipes calling for "thin white bread"--particularly for appetizers. (But today I see a similar note in the new Fine Cooking in a berry pudding recipe. But I digress...) Mention is frequently made of the Pepperidge Farm bread. I swear, I cannot find this stuff in the northwest. I even did a web search looking for distributors, etc. but no luck. I'm sure there are decent substitutes for those rare occasions when you NEED a thin white bread. But I'm just wondering if I'm a crazy person....Has anyone else seen the PF around the NW? And does anyone have a favorite substitute? MySiuMai

Trio has been throwing around the idea of eliminating bread service for some time now. We currently serve three rolls, a sour dough, a country white, and a toasted farro sour, all of which we produce onsite and all of which I feel are good, but not in line with the cuisine in terms of inventiveness. And more importantly I challenge the fuction of the bread itself within scope of the food at Trio. Bread rarely compliments the dishes except on rare occasions. The bread service itself has been elevated due to the variety, freshness, and condiments (fresh vermont butter) but I feel it is time to move on, for the sake of the food, the experience , and the movement. So, how do you all feel about bread? Is it expected when dinning? Does the history of bread require it to be present at every meal? Is it habit? Why do you eat bread at a restaurant? Satiation? Boredom? Again, habit? What makes good bread service? What meals have you consumed without bread? After much conversation we have come up with what we think is a good replacement to bread service. Something that will facilitate satiation, combat boredom, sooth habit, and add a layer of complexity to the dinning experience. Each course will be served with a snack intended to mimic the flavors present in the dish. This snack will be left on the table while the diner waits for the next course. The idea is the snack will echo the flavors of the previous course. It would be removed just before the next course arrived. Let me give an example. Our current 4 course menu reads ... Chilled English Pea Soup eucalyptus ice cube, preserved lemon, melon with this course we would serve each guest a small bowl of crunchy eucalyptus peas to enjoy with and after they consume their soup. Wild Striped Bass bee balm, summer squashes, garlic with this course thin wafers of sweet garlic Puffed and Poached Elysian Fields Farm Lamb raw peanuts, sasafrass aroma with this course a savory sasafrass scented peanut brittle the same format would be followed with the tasting and the tour menu options. It seems like another avenue for creativity and the layering of complexity to the experinece. Any thoughts?

Zucchini Bread 2 eggs 1 c sugar 1/3 c oil 1-3/4 c flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp baking powder 1-1/2 c grated zucchini 1/2 tsp vanilla turbinado sugar Beat eggs, then add and beat sugar, then oil in stand mixer. Combine dry ingredients and add to mixer a cup at a time alternating with zucchini. Stir in vanilla. Pour into loaf pans, sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake at 350 for about 50 minutes. Keywords: Bread ( RG556 )

I'm going to bake some bread on my grill tonight. A friend made this at a cook-out-in (this is when a cook-out is planned but moved inside because of our rotten weather this spring) and it was very good. Much better than the overcooked beer can chicken. Why don't people use meat thermometers? I made some dough this morning with lots of olive oil and garlic, rosemary, and chives in the dough. It is proofing in the fridge right now. Has anyone ever baked bread on the grill? Any advice? I was going to build a very hot fire and bake the dough over indirect heat.

My friend and I have been getting together weekly to make different curry dishes and try out new recipes. Generally we will make chapatis along with the meal to have with apricot chutney. We are wanting to try other breads to go with our meals - any suggestions? Also, I was making a cucumber raita to go with cumin scented chicken. I was wondering first of all how hot this is supposed to be - our recipe called for 1 fresh green chilli seeded and chopped (along with 1/2 a cucumber, 1 1/4 cups yogurt, 1/4 t salt and 1/4 tsp cumin)? The reason I asked was because in spite of the presence of the chilli, it didn't seem inordinately hot to me (I suppose the yogurt has a cooling effect). Second, is raita only a meat accompaniment? Thanks for any help! Matthew