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Roasted mushrooms and summer squash. Amatriciana Estiva, a more summery, lighter version of the classic bucatini all'Amatriciana. Main difference is the use of fresh tomatoes (cherry, or as in this case, Lancaster Farms' organic garden gem tomatoes), and draining off a bit of the rendered fat from the guanciale. The pasta used is Setaro's Mezze Rigatoni, one of my favorite brands of dried pasta.

I think it all sounds delicious! My take might be to chop the peppers and garlic more finely than the pancetta so there was a textural difference in the finished pasta, but that may not be what you're after. Let us know the final result!

I get the basic reasoning behind iodized table salt. I've never had a problem with it, really. Great for pasta water, or just kept in a dish for a quick salt addition when needed. I've also really enjoyed other salts over the years. Different sea salts, and while I certainly don't have a 'golden palate' there have been times when I've tasted salt that was definitely 'better' or 'worse' than others. However, recently, the iodized salt has started to really bother me, taste-wise. It's like I can suddenly taste 'it'. There's a distinct metallic tang that is really standing out to me that never has before. I've stopped using it when cooking almost universally, and on the table we've got sea salt in a grinder. It's weird because it's really sudden and pronounced. The other day my wife made pasta, and used sea salt in the sauce but the iodized in the pasta water, and I could taste it on the noodles. Has this ever happened to any of you? Am I becoming a salt snob? Am I destined to die of goiter because I can't stand the taste of iodized salt?

Yep! Only spaghetti. And in fact, spaghetti and egg noodles for chicken and noodles were the only pastas that existed in our house. Mom was a great cook and she made a lot of different things--we always had lots of different veggies and dishes, but she was not known for her international cuisine.

I said at the start of this round of salmon smoking that I hadn't tried the hatchery fish. Well, I have now and there is a marked difference, enough that I added where the fish was from to each vac packed bag. it's not bad. Its different. Much milder in flavor. And soft. Soft almost on the verge of what Id call mushy. Soft enough to nearly be off-putting, to me at any rate. Next time, the hatchery fish will get a way longer smoke , with heat, in an attempt to firm it up more. Tonight I'm going to try it in a pasta dish. Later this week it will go in dip for a function. It's edible, not bad. Just different.

I've made non-wheat pastas with my older philips pasta maker. It is challenging but doable. There are facebook groups dedicated to home pasta making and those folks might be able to help? I don't have facebook, I'm not sure why the groups are more popular than forums which are so much easier but anway... I have been able to gleen some info from them browsing. One in particular is pastafanataholics, which is a collab between the italian company Pastidea and some home cooks: https://www.facebook.com/groups/767285674024266/ There are also german and french groups dedicated to it. Pastidea is an italian company and I'm sure they might have insight how to create corn-only noodles, you can even reach out to them directly, in my experience they have always been helpful but there is a little language barrier. The ingredients suggest it is simply ground corn, and as suggested above it's possible there are trace other ingredients. However, I think their success is likely to do with different methods of processing which would allow it to correctly bind, perhaps specific pressure, temperature, steam, etc. If available to you cheap, you might try using masa, since that corn has undergone nimxtamalization (and might make it easier to bind... ? If you are okay doing so, a little xanthan gum or perhaps something like ground chia/flax might be helpful, too. I once made noodles from wheat flour and avocado, as an eggless-egg pasta, maybe the avocado could be used with the corn flour, too. Lots to experiment! If you do learn something, please get back to us here, I'd be very curious to know

Swiss chard-sweet potato lasagna with different layers made from 1) lasagna pasta 2) sautéed Swiss chard stems, shallots and garlic 3) blanched Swiss chard leaves 4) thinly sliced sweet potatoes 5) bechamel sauce made with bay leaves, cloves, nutmeg and a bit of sugar 6) goat gouda

Rana pasta ,refrigerated noodles and filled pasta has been around here for a few years https://www.giovanniranausa.com/products.html Ive not looked too closely at it , as its significantly more expensive than Contadina /// buttony /// Trader Joes // other store brands . I thought it was just a marketing '' Hand Made Italian Artisan '' 'then this showed up : my thinking is that the company overpriced its niche , and was trolling for lower end shoppers i.e. Me. then I made some , and discovered the pasta is egg pasta , if you will . Ive made my own pasta , and ravioli in the past w a standard Italin hand crank machine and a cu9isinart . loved doing it. the filled pasta Ive been getting is pasta w/o the egg. Ive never made filled pasta w egg pasta its very different in taste and mouth feel. and this brand has a version w prosciutto I gave it a try mise : same pot , but w less stock. plated , w a little of the broth in the bowl. from time to time when Ive made filed pasta as a plated dish , rather than in a bowl as soup . the pasta needed a little more stock or got sticky the plate : very generous w the EVOO this stuff is terrific ! if you see this or other refrigerated egg pasta as torts or ray's give it a try . needless to say Ive tried several of their version , ad liked them all and indeed I stocked up during this sale .

Strangely enough, this is usually my reaction to "take my mind off things" but this time around was different. "Easy" was the ticket! And continues to be, for the most part, since we're closed up for travel and have no dining room. One benefit of all the vegetable prep I did for our sadly-delayed travel was that I already had asparagus and red bell peppers ready to go. There were cherry tomatoes too, but they don't need much prep. We also still have a variety of tube steaks (Caprese Chicken sausage made by some artisan I've forgotten; Beef Polish sausage from Kiolbassa company, some others) that are simply made to be cut up into coins and added to some dish. One of my back-pocket-I-don't-need-to-think-how-to-do-it recipes is more or less pasta Alfredo. I'll say "more or less" because the proportions may not always be right, and the additions probably make it Alfredo no longer, but it's easy and we love it. Take a bunch of pasta and cook it. I had elbow macaroni and cavatappi, not enough of either to do a full pot of the stuff, or so I thought. I cooked it in as little water as possible in the deep part of the big pot I've kept out for travel. In the shallower half of the pot I sweated chopped onion (already in the refrigerator), the peppers. When they were soft I added the meat coins, browned them, then added the pasta, butter, cream (half and half, in this case) and grated parmesan. The steps, in case anyone's interested, are to add the butter and toss everything in it to be coated with melted butter, then add the cream (about twice as much by volume as the butter, but who's measuring?) and the parmesan (about the same volume as the cream, but whatever it takes to make a thick sauce). Stir and toss. Add the asparagus when it seems the mixture is only a few minutes from being done. Serve. Enjoy. This was the first night's iteration, as we sat with a broken suspension. I learned something important, too: if there's too much cooked pasta, bung the unused cooked stuff into a container and freeze it. I'm pretty sure we've talked before in other topics about reversionary starches. This qualifies. Henceforth I think I'll PLAN to cook too much pasta so it will be ready to use from the freezer. A few nights later, I used more of that pasta for a different iteration of the Alfredo dish. I'm out of asparagus now, and peppers, and tomatoes (I cut up my remaining Camparis and added them to the second dish). I hope I'll be able to find something in a local grocery store before we start driving again, or the road food pickings will be pretty slim!

We are back in Wellfleet for the next week and a half. My husband booked this visit as a surprise for me, because what has always been my favorite house in town (from the outside, anyway) came on the rental market for the first time. He snatched it as soon as he saw it. We are literally the first people to rent it. It's an old sea captain's house that, according to the sign on the door, was built in 1820 and renovated in 2000. Here it is from the outside And here's the kitchen, where I will be making some meals later this week. That's my weekly tomato share from my CSA piled in the far corner. I guess the crop was abundant this year! My sister and niece are with us for a few days before my sister has to bring her back to NYC for college. My nephew is also here for the whole time, and my husband's brother is joining us later today. The first night it was just me and my husband. We walked into town to try Winslow's Tavern, since we have not been there yet this year. Menu, with some new things for this season We were seated at an outdoor table We ordered the striped bass belly roulade to share. The flavors were nice, but the fried oyster on top was odd and didn't go with the rest of the dish Since this was our only meal where we'd be able to order shrimp due to my nephew's allergy, we also ordered the grilled shrimp appetizer. It was pretty but nothing special, flavor wise. Husband ordered the mixed sea pasta. It was kind of flavorless And, continuing the shrimp theme, I ordered the shrimp pasta even though it sounded really weird. Tempura shrimp on pasta? And it was, indeed, weird. The pasta was good, and the flavors of the tempura were nice, but they did not work together at all. Plus the sauce made the tempura coating soggy. I ended up picking the shrimp out of the tempura batter. We shared a lemon tart for dessert. Again a mixed bag. The curd and meringue were delicious, but the crust was terrible. It was raw tasting. And the compote was incredibly bitter. We just scraped the curd off it and ate that with the meringue, leaving everything else on the plate. Winslow's is always hit or miss, and that meal was no different. The beautiful setting makes up for a lot. My sister, niece, and nephew joined us yesterday, and we headed back to Mac's Shack. Oysters Calamari stew for my nephew Razor clams (nephew requested I cook these at home later this week. He could not eat these at the restaurant as the broth had lobster stock) Spicy tuna mango martini for my niece More niece food: salmon poke bowl and gon jah mon roll Falafel burger for my nephew Tuna with soba noodles and wasabi cream sauce for me Special of lobster pesto gnocchi for my husband Lobster fettuccine for my sister Mac's doesn't really do dessert and we were all stuffed anyway.

I agree with you about the subjective descriptions of F&W's categories. They seem rather arbitrary. I hadn't caught the price info of Newman's Own v Rao's ... good catch. Yes, I'm about to make a big batch of sauce. Just waiting for the second part of the order to arrive. I like having some jarred sauce available because, in no particular order, I don't care to eat the same sauce time after time. Even with a stock of homemade sauce, I'll still whip up something different every now and then, such as a puttanesca, variations of Aglio e Olio, pasta with tuna or salmon, etc., maybe just butter and cheese. Some of the sauce I'll make is going to be given to friends, so there won't be as much in stock as one might think. I'm not a good planner. Sometimes I run out of an ingredient or two, sometimes I want to prepare a dish quickly and on a moments notice. Since I'm a poor planner, I try to plan for my failing ... belt and suspenders, if you will.

True ... Neither potato stuffed dumplings nor pasta filled with sausage is unusual. Just the combo with that specific reference puts it in a different - or unusual - context (and the packaging suggested serving them mixed with Sauerkraut, which we overturned in favor of rosted onions) ...

its cooler now , so I brought out the iPot and made a concoction Id been thinking about for some time : a ground turkey , creamy , wine-y , something that would go over Rice , or pasta , or a baked potato. Id make enough to freeze in blocks , the way I do w my turkey-redsauce-ragu. mise : I sue this brand gr truly as it comes in 20 oz slabs ( thicker than 1 lb slabs ) , goes on sale regularly and seem less wet than newer entries ( years now ) Perdue , Tj's ) I also wanted to see what would happen in the iPot w ' cream' soups , as ' Hip pressure cooking ' suggested avoiding milk in the iPot ie scorch9hne ? I brushed off the 1 lb mushrooms , coarsely chopped. dumped the turkey slabs in the iPot , added the chopped mushrooms , and the two cans of CofM no salt soup. I reduced 1/2 bottle of Cote d Rhone I got at Tj's this has more flavor than Tj's Coastal Zin. and yes its a table wine , not a chit/chat wine wine reducing Left. Looks yummy already ! the wine went down to 3/4 cups , and remembering the 1 cup rule , added someone salt chicken stock. it was 8 oz for the unit. more on this later . iPot's on low pressure ( mindful of the possible ' milk ' issue , for 30 moon , then quick release. I added no seasoning what so ever . my plan it so salt ( I use a different salt ) and season each batch after the cooking, thus varying each meal. still looking very tasty ! clearly a Cat , possibly a Dog , didn't care for this ! added a little salt , and it was very tasty . I was going to brown the slab , on each side , and the chopped mushrooms for added flavor , but went the lazy route . the idea is ' very easy to put together , tasty , and thick enough for Rice , pasta , baked [potato ' this effort was too thin. I made a mistake by added the extra 8 oz commercial Ck stock. and , Illl pull out the Cuisinart next time to get an easy , much finer dice on the mushrooms. the dice here was wrong. but , I learned Cream of ... condensed soup does not burn in the iPot and once the result is thinking , and more uniformly diced a very nice item to easily make , Vac freeze in blocks and season each time I pull out a block fro the freezer. P.S.: I ended up not using the miso . it might be an add-in for individual servings in the future. P.P.S: there was a very small amount of scorching , after all . in the rim , 1 " x 3 " no more .''sealed up easily w some hot water and a teflon-ish sponge. Ive done many many turkey ragu , similar ingredients : slab turkey , jared tomato sauce and iP'd on high no scorching .

Thought I'd try a different meatloaf: Bobotie (South African Curry Meat Loaf). I guess I didn't pat the loaf shape firm enough as it fell apart when I tried to lift it off the pan. The prep. took sometime, and it was a nice change with apricots, raisins, almonds, and all the different spices that = curry. Roasted zucchini and sweet potato made it a fall supper. I liked salsa with the meatloaf! Had a fair bit of meatloaf left over, but didn't want a full repeat. Dumped in a can of Hunts Thick and Spicy Tomato sauce, and it served us well over pappardelle pasta.

Ahh … @rotuts is correct on the amount of plates and on the location. The picture was the prelude to the Escudella i carn d‘olla, the non-negotiable „lunch“ (~16.00h-21.30h) on the first Christmas day. Over the years I have graduated to play a bigger part of the preparation, and this year I did most of the work (under the watchful eye of my MIL) and all of the service. 24 adults and 9 kids - it was a busy evening … But starting from the beginning: my in-laws have a huge rooftop terrace, and in a sheltered corner the magic starts to happen two days before the meal … In different stages vegetables, organ meats, ears, bones, salted pork products and cured ham scraps are boiled for hours and eventually removed. It yields a rich, unsalted stock not unlike a good ramen base. Some hours before serving, the stock is salted and divided. In the larger part a variety of sausages, potatoes and cabbage are introduced and simmered for some more time. In the smaller part, huge garlic-heavy pilotas (meatballs) are simmered, then renoved and a special kind of pasta (huge shell shaped) filled with sausage meat are cooked. When done, the stocks are combined again and it’s time for service. First course (and what all are eagerly waiting for the whole year): the soup with pasta. You wont believe how much some Catalans can eat of that … Second course: boiled meats (beef, pork, chicken, lamb), ears, sausages, potatoes, cabbage and pilota, served as per request and dressed on the table with olive oil and salt. To be repeated until ~75% full … Third course (cooked in the meantime): roasted chicken with plums, raisins and pine nuts, that were marinated overnight in brandy, white wine and some proto-stock. Simmered until reduced and well caramelized. Fourth course: roasted apples with minced meat filling … Fifth course: coffee, brandy, cookies. Plus the kids reciting Christmas poems and collecting money from the grown-ups … Sixth course: Champagne & the Christmas toast. No complaints (even a foreigner made the soup 😜) ! Bon nadal 🙏

todays NYTimes Food section goes over 5 foos myths : https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/08/dining/kitchen-myths.html for review purposes : 1 ) Truth or myth: Never use soap to wash a cast-iron pan. '''' The prohibition against soap comes from a time when all soap was made with lye, which could eat through a patina in minutes. And it’s true that most of the time, soap is unnecessary. Most of your cleaning power should come from hot water and gentle scrubbing or brushing, the way cast-iron pots like Chinese woks and Indian kadai are traditionally cleaned. '' 2} Truth or myth: Pasta cooking water should taste as salty as the ocean. '''' To test the myth, I cooked eight batches of spaghetti at salt levels ranging from none to Pacific Ocean (3 percent) to Mediterranean Sea (4 percent). I can confirm that seawater is too salty. As I worked my way up from a teaspoon to a tablespoon of kosher salt per gallon, the pasta was noticeably undersalted, and its flavor got lost in the finished dish. I most liked water that tasted as salty as a light chicken stock, or two tablespoons per gallon of water. ''' 3) Truth or myth: Always wash rice until the water runs clear before cooking. ''' For the indica rices (jasmine and basmati), the difference between unwashed and rinsed rice was imperceptible. For the japonica, to my taste the washed rice had just a microdose less starch, taking it from already excellent to perfect. ' 4 ) Truth or myth: Have all of your ingredients prepared and your cooking oil heated before starting to cook. ''' But for slower food, like soups and stews, it’s perfectly fine to start the pan over low heat, and turn the heat to high only once everything is in. Diced vegetables like onions and celery take longer to cook than minced aromatics like ginger and garlic, so put the vegetables in first. They will soften, and then turn golden, and then — quite a lot later — caramelize. (Speaking of: Another persistent myth in American cooking is that it takes 8 to 10 minutes to caramelize onions, which is pretty much impossible unless you are a restaurant chef and stirring onions over high heat is your only job.) ''' 5 ) Truth or myth: Always brown meat at the beginning of the cooking process, to ‘seal in’ the juices. ''' If you’ve ever spent an hour patiently browning chicken thighs in batches, only to move to the next step and find you’re about to submerge them in liquid that will reduce the skin to flab, you may have wondered what all that work was for. Many traditional stews are built without it: a Central American jocón, a West African mafe and a Provençal daube all skip browning and rely on other ingredients to deepen their flavors. '' the whole article might be behind a paywall. its possible your public library card may be used , through the libraries site online to view the NYTimes , WSJournal and other newspapers . of course , if you live in a country that shuns P.L. , you might be out of luck.

@Midlife that would be interesting to see if there was any difference warming here is to room temp , at the highest . but by the room itself . no other heat source and most of the time , I just use the EVOO right out of the refrige the EVOO final temp will be the temp of the salad the soup , the pasta dish , etc.

@HonkmanI wish I had that salad in front of me right now for breakfast. Marking this to try! Thawed out some walleye to fry along with some mushrooms, spinach and Mac and cheese Roasted a turkey quarter--you can tell I'm much more interested in the side dishes lol: Squash, stuffing and mashed potato patties. The usual ramen noodle cabbage salad with some roasted chicken mixed in --except I also added several spoons of this: My mom recommended it to me and now I'm also addicted. Calling it a salsa is a bit misleading IMO. It's oil based. All different kinds of roasted nuts: peanuts , pumpkin, sesame and sunflower. Garlic, lime and chiles too. I'm putting it on everything lol. Ham, cheese and onion paninis to go with Breakfast with the most delicious eggs that my mom brought me from her neighbor in Colorado. She babysits his chickens when he's gone. Oh and some crawfish boudin which is my favorite Roasted quail with salad and a spicy puttanesca pasta It's turned super cold which I'm not minding a bit so soup! And cornbread--half cheese and jalapeño, half plain and ham and beans from the freezer Walleye and bumblebee canned seafood chowder of sorts and cheesy bread Fried chicken night Last night I made a batch of Grammy's Rice Salad, fries and more BLT's

Mapo Ragù Momofuku style, NYT. This ragù can be used over rice cakes, pasta or rice, last night I served it over pasta. The kale came from the pot on the terrace that the woodchuck managed to overlook as he destroyed my pot of romaine and curly leaf lettuce. This is a relatively quick ragù to put together with no long cooking involved, the meat was pork but I think most minced meat would work equally well. The Gochujang said hot on the label but this was not particularly fiery, it also included Sichuan peppercorns. I’ve made several different versions of this type of meat sauce, this is pleasant but I’ve preferred others. Dessert was a small slice of peach cake made with local peaches, half almond flour and half all purpose, adapted from a BBC recipe called Bakewell Cake, this is a 6” cake rather than the 8/9” version.

We measure pasta 4 oz per person normally. I would say that our sauce is not all that heavy and for two, we find that one cottage cheese container's worth covers it nicely. Except that I am now eating gluten-free pasta and it's more like 5 oz dry weight. My pasta doesn't bulk up like the regular pasta I guess. I cook the pasta in two different pots...for one thing, I like mine rather al dente...and I say about Ed's pasta that he likes his al mushee.

After 20 years with the previous owner's kitchen it's my turn. Here are some ideas I've had: Induction cook top. Separate ovens. Definitely doing this, not sure of brand. Salamander? Not sure about this: I am wondering about toasting peppers, finish dishes. I have gas, would it be worth it? Combi oven. Fairly sure about this, sure a Rational would be nice, but I don't have that much money in this design. Pull-out fridge? Not sure about this: Seems like a source of breakdowns. But having a fridge next to the cooktop would be deluxe. Separate baking / cooking counters: Different heights, different surfaces. Combi oven is baking, Convection oven is cooking. Rolling butcher block: Not sure about this. Pot filler: Definitely, I cook a lot of pasta. Deep double sink: How deep? Don't know. Fridge: Frankly, I don't need a huge fridge. But the next owner might/would. Should I leave space for a SubZero and fill in the extra space? And where is John Talbott these days? I always enjoyed reading his Paris column...

Rhubarb The "original" mac & cheese contains potatoes, served with apple sauce on the side (one can actually spoon it on top of the whole thing, or anywhere on the plate), and the pasta is longish. The pasta and potatoes are cooked together in cream, then the cheese is added when done. In German speaking countries it's called "Alpine mac & cheese". Many people like it best with some crispy-fried Speck. I make it seasonal with rhubarb. The tartness is refreshing and palate cleansing. --- It's finally warming up These organic strawberries are all different shapes and sizes. I just need the taste. White stuff is full-fat quark that's been drained. This Queen comes with a green crown. --- From Pakistan

I'm taking the plunge into milling my own flour to use in breads, sweets, maybe pasta etc. I have no experience....I've never even seen a home mill in person until last week when I became the very, very proud owner of a Komo Fidibus XL 600 watt grain mill. The glass tube on the right is a sifter that attaches to the mill when you remove the bowl. There are inserts for the sifter down in front that are different sizes. I think it's so pretty. Which is a good thing since it will be living on my kitchen counter a lot I'm well stocked with many different kinds of heritage and ancient grains: The manual that came with my mill says that you can also grind spices, legumes and coffee beans. I've read online that you can also do rice which must be true because the manual also says that if you need to clean it for some reason (meaning you milled something oily that isn't recommended) you are to run long grain rice through. So, the last few days I've been googling and reading and watching videos online and also reading through the following books: The manual that came with my mill doesn't say to do this, but I read online that it was recommended to run a couple cups of grain through and then discard the flour--just to make sure it's all clean and working right. I'm glad I did because it gave me a little chance to play with adjusting the mill from fine to coarse and in-between. I used this kind: Rule #1: Turn the machine on and THEN dump your grain in the bowl/hopper. Oh it smelled SO good. Clean and sweet and a bit nutty. You adjust from fine to coarse by turning the bowl/hopper--to the left is Fein (fine) and to the right is Grob (coarse)--it's made in Germany and comes with a 12 year warranty. I was a bit confused at first. You see that black dot on the bottom of the bowl/hopper? I assumed that meant that if you want it the finest grind you can get that you move it all the way over until it can't move any more (the bowl/hopper has "clicks" that you can feel to make your adjustments). That isn't the case. When I put it clear to the left and turned the machine on, the stones were touching/grinding together. You don't want that. I had to click to the right about 6 clicks to get it to stop doing that. I couldn't figure out why it wasn't calibrated like I thought it should be until I started thinking about the grinding stones and how they heat up during use. The more you use it, the warmer they get causing you to maybe need to adjust lower to get to the finest setting you can. Trust me, you know immediately if you need to adjust up so that the stones don't hit each other. Side note: After opening the bag of grain I decided to see if the Vacmaster would seal it up for me again. It worked! That will come in handy! Anyway, I've stocked up on yeast. But, then after reading a bit online I decided it would be wise to make a starter. I've never done that either. Frankly, it seems daunting. All the feeding and then throwing some of it away and then feeding again. I don't have children....but I have something similar, it seems, in a jar on my counter now😛 I'm starting with a very basic recipe from a book listed above called The Best Bread Ever. It's called Simple Wheat Starter. It uses some AP flour, some whole wheat flour (I used the hard red shown right above here), water and a pinch of yeast. Here is is just after I made it: Question: Could I have used the whey that is in my fridge that I saved after making cottage cheese in place of the water? Here it is right before I went to bed last night Right now the bubbly part has doubled, but see that bit of liquid in the bottom of the jar? Well, it's about an inch tall now. I was concerned but after reading online maybe that's normal for such a starter like this? It smells very sweet and good. I'm going to feed it again here in a bit. Sigh. I'm nervous. The starter is supposed to be ready to use by Wednesday morning. I could use major pointers on starters. And , pretend you're explaining it to a 4 year old so that I can understand 😁 ********************************** Now, I'm going to jot down a few thoughts, questions, things I found online etc. Later, after I have my own experience, I can either debunk or support. Yesterday, for me, a half cup of the hard red winter wheat berries netted roughly a cup of flour. BUT it was "fluffy". The hard wheat might be better for breads and the soft wheat might be better for pastry and sweet things. Spelt might be better for pastry items too. In a recipe that uses store bought AP flour, if you sub fresh milled flour you usually have to increase the water. Or, you generally use 3 T. less of milled flour per cup of flour in a recipe. If using spelt flour you might use 2-4 T. MORE per cup in a recipe. I have a great video where the person making the bread uses no measuring at all. Just goes by feel. I want to get to that place and be like him! Using the autolyse method seems like a good way to go. Is that the same as kneading for a bit, and then resting for 10 mins and then kneading again? Also, while kneading, have a bowl of water to dip fingers in to reduce sticking to hands. Vital wheat; I ordered some. Should be here the end of the week. Do I need it? I dunno. I've read that it helps with rising when milling your own grains. Then, I've also read that there is enough gluten so why would you need to add more. Is there more gluten in hard wheat than soft wheat? Need to do more research on this. So, that's what I've been up to. Anyone have a mill? Anyone that can answer my billions of questions? I'll post here with successes and failures. I hope others join in.

The chemical reactions that cook food mostly happen below 175F. For those standing at a stove, it's really convenient to cook at a higher temperature to get faster reactions--but often at the expense of making the food less healthy or requiring more human attention, etc. A quick example of cooking below 175F is a breakfast of steak and eggs. I fill a 24cm pot with water and then sous vide steak at 59C (138F). On another Control Freak, I put a few large eggs in a 20cm saute pan at 59C (138F) as well, using slow intensity, and I cover the pan. This holds the eggs at a temperature where the yellow is still runny but the food is safe to leave on the burner for a while. After the steak is fully cooked (45 minutes to an hour) I come back and turn up the temperature on the eggs to 79C (174F) and let them cook at that higher temperature for 3-4 minutes while I plate the sous vide steak (optionally seared on each side really quickly). Then I plate the deliciously- and consistently-cooked eggs onto the top of the steak. Breakfast is served. As for other foods, I cook veggies and pretty much everything else at <175F temperatures. I sometimes put a little water in the bottom of the pan to help with spreading around the heat--and then drain it from the pan before plating. Sometimes I turn up the temperature for a minute right at the end for charring effect for people who like that. But mostly I just start cooking a half hour or so before people or myself are going to want to eat--and then get up maybe once or twice to stir for a few seconds. And when I do meal prep and prepare several days of meals in advance, I use the same trick. I just put the already-prepared food (which itself usually wasn't quick-cooked originally) into a saute pan and maybe add a little water. Then I put a lid on it and turn the temperature to somewhere between 60C (140F) and 70C (158F) depending on the food and how "hot" I want it to feel when it's done. Then I walk away and it's ready to eat a little while later. [I've even done this with frozen dinners from the grocery store; it's amazing how much better frozen meals taste--especially ones with chicken or the like in them--when warmed up at 60C/140F instead of using the microwave instructions.] Some foods require a little higher temperature. When I make brown rice for example, I basically simmer the rice in water at around 93C/200F. But honestly a good rice cooker is better-optimized for rice, so I reluctantly prefer rice-cooker-cooked rice where available. As for pasta, well, I need ~100C (~212F) for that kind of cooking. And for foods which require a few temperatures or methods, I tend to use a few pans at different temperatures and then combine everything at the end. Being able to hold an already-cooked food at a precise temperature which won't "cook" it any/much more is pretty great to be able to do. But I rarely do "quick cooking" of meats or other foods by using temperatures above 100C. I understand why it's economically important for commercial kitchens to do so. But most of my food is made in advance (either 30-60 minutes before mealtime or in big batches and then reheated on the cooktop).

@palo, this was my query https://duckduckgo.com/?q=compare+Zojirushi-Bb-Hac10+with+Zojirushi+bb-pac20&t=newext&atb=v376-1&ia=web One result from BreadmakerGuides The biggest difference is the size of the bread loaf (and the amount of dough) that these Zojirushi bread machines can prepare and complete. The BB-HAC10 can only make 1 pound loaves. The BB-PAC20 can make 1.5-lb and 2-lb loaves, but it cannot make a 1-lb loaf size. Your choice between the two depends on the loaf sizes you prefer and the number of people you need to feed. Another difference that might be important is the gluten-free course of the BB-PAC20 Home Bakery Virtuoso. The BB-HAC10 mini bread maker does not have a gluten-free course and its manual has only one gluten-free recipe for brown rice bread. The BB-PAC20 is a much better choice for baking gluten-free bread. Bread machine bakers who dislike the rest step of Zojirushi bread machines, take note: the rest cycle of the BB-HAC10 mini bread machine cannot be cancelled. However, the rest cycle of the BB-PAC20 Home Bakery Virtuoso can be turned off by pressing and holding both the time up and time down buttons for longer than three seconds (until the display shows “REST OFF”). This is a small point, but it might be useful information to someone. BB-HAC10: Advantages It mixes and kneads dough for bread, pizza, cookies and pasta. Delay timer can be used to make fresh bread for breakfast. Small 1 pound bread loaf size makes it suitable for one person or a couple. Its compact design takes up less counter space than other bread machines. BB-HAC10: Disadvantages Loaf size is too small to be practical for a large family. The LCD is not backlit and might sometimes be difficult to read. It does not have an automatic dispenser for adding additional ingredients. The rest cycle, which warms the ingredients before mixing, cannot be cancelled. Individual knead, rise and bake cycle times cannot be reprogrammed according to personal preference. Kneading blade does not collapse, leaves a small hole in the bread loaf.