i have been laminating doughs for some time. working cold butter etc. today a chef freind preped croissants for us using softened butter which he spread upon the dough like frosting and then proceeded to lock in. the result was respectably good. has anybody done laminations like this? kinda goes aganst the grain but i'm trying to stay open minded...
Just curious but I caught an interesting article in the NY Times about alkali ingredients (specifically baking soda and lye). The author contends that baking baking soda creates a reasonable substitute to lye (while not as strong as lye, baking does make the baking soda stronger than unbaked baking soda). As a professional geek, I find this very interesting. I know that there are many here who make their own pretzels and bagels. Thoughts?
Here is the article:
I signed up yesterday for the SFBI Artisan II. I will probably need to rent a car. If anyone else is interested I probably could provide a ride.
email: HMerlitti@aol.com
I really appreciate RobynNZ and Daizy_A and SylviaH who encouraged me a lot to make a sourdough bread. I almost gave up on this. I would not know how good they are if I quit. Thank you so much!( bow)
I never made a starter from scratch.I had a lot of trouble. RobynNZ helped me from A to Z. Thank you for all you work, Robyn. She transfered to Japanese for me when I didn't understand eventhough she was busy and tired she had had such a hard time. Many thanks to you, Robyn.(bow)
REPRINTED WITH PERMISSION
An interesting article I ran across and I thought it would be worthwhile to post - if nothing else for consideration of the process of milling in the modern era.
To all my Jewish friends I would like to wish a Happy New Year. Rosh Hashanah.
Allan
I bake sourdough using a recipe that gives me two loaves. In order to create steam I bake each loaf under a metal bowl for the first ten minutes, which gives great results. The problem is that the oven only has room for one loaf at a time, when the bowl is there, so the second loaf has to wait til the first has baked. This means that it tends to overprove. What would be the best thing to do with it whilst I'm waiting? Should I put it in the fridge or just a cooler room - our kitchen is warm as the stove is an Aga and is on all the time. I would welcome any thoughts.
The news about the huge quake in NZ is not good. We have lots of members in that region and I'm hoping they are all safe and dry.
Eric
