TDG: Desperate Measures: Cooks and Bakers

[Fat Guy]

Mamster uses bread-baking as an excuse to buy new gadgets.

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[JFLinLA]

Mamster:

Great article. How go the bagel experiments? Have you "solved" the mystery of different types of malt? Keep us informed.

JFLinLA (Jody)

[mamster]

I haven't done another batch of bagels yet, JF, or any bread in the last couple of days, because I ran out of the supermarket yeast I'd been using and am still waiting for my pound of yeast from King Arthur. I did, you'll be glad to hear, take that as a signal to try making a sourdough starter. I don't think it's growing yet. If there are any microbes in there, I think they're laughing at me.

[SWoodyWhite]

Taking Mamster's analogies in reverse, when I get around to baking I'll finally find out what a woman's breast feels like.

[jackal10]

Its not bakers that worry about precision measurements, but patissieres - that is a science.

Baking is much more about woking with a living, alive dough that feels like flesh...

[jogoode]

When ever I consider trying to make bread, I'm discouraged because of my crappy oven. The Hearth Kit can't cure a bad oven (the internal temperature fluctuates uncontrollably), can it?

[mamster]

Yes, it can. The Hearthkit is basically a big hunk of clay. Stick a big hunk of clay in your oven and two things will happen: (1) It will take longer to preheat. The time it takes your oven to preheat is mostly spent heating the walls of the oven, not the air. (2) When the heating element goes off, the oven will cool more slowly. That's because you've got a big-ass hunk of clay in there radiating heat. Even a pizza stone will help smooth out the temperature fluctuations; the Hearthkit is just heavier.

[fifi]

Great article! I can really relate. I, too, am a cook, not a baker. However, I venture into that swamp on occasion. I, too, look at the King Arthur catalog and drool over the cool gadgets. But this is the first time I have ever heard anyone else admit that watching the dough go around with the dough hook on the Kitchenaid is a cool thing to do. The first time I tried it, I was so fascinated that I over-kneaded the dough. My kids came in and found me staring into the bowl, totally transfixed. (MOM! Snap out of it! It's just dough for chrisakes!)

[mamster]

The dough hook rules. If I were a pirate, I would cut off my hand and replace it with a dough hook. The other hand I would replace with a whisk. I would work in the galley and say "arrr, hands off me mise en place."

[fifi]

Now that I have gotten up off the floor and respiration has returned to normal...

Mamster, you have just created a new fixation. I will be spending the weekend brandishing wisks and spatulas while yelling "AAARRR!" My son will be visiting and I am sure he will be suitably alarmed. I, of course, will not explain.

[Blond007]

Mamster,

I didn't see the original discussion, so maybe am being redundant (my usual state) but malts go like this:

Diastatic Malt comes in powder and liquid, and is used in breads as a sweetener, to feed the yeast, and as a preservative (longer shelf life.)

Non-Diastatic Malt is used in the water you boil bagels in, to give them a shiny crust. Sugar can be substituted, if necessary.

Hope this helps!