Hi everyone, 

    I'm fairly new at this, and don't have many recipes to share as yet.  I'm still working through the basics- I'm one of those ppl who like to master the foundations before getting fancy.

So currently I'm working on mastering pizza crust... like this guy :Jeff Varasano's NY Pizza Recipe  .  Although I'm not brave enough to cut the safety interlock off my oven's cleaning cycle lol. 

    I rather think I'm going to go with the dual baking stone concept to make a mini intense convection oven inside my conventional electric oven.  Looking on craigslist, I was able to spot some Pampered C's baking stones for sale cheap... though I have not gotten them yet. And I need a pizza peel... ah, the challenge of low-to-no budget baking...

    One thing I found very interesting is Mr. Varasano's description of what he terms "poolish"... he reccomends starting with a commercial (mail-order) sourdough Italian culture.  Has anyone here had experience in this area?  Has anyone in my area come up with a sourdough culture they would share a cup of?  I'm not sure of what would germinate in my kitchen, but pretty sure it woud be something odd.  I'm in Baltimore, MD btw.

thanks in advance!

Ihave tried several of the bread recipes in the Fr. Dominic book series with poor results.

 My most recent attempt produced a very dry, dense, tough bread which tasted OK but was very disappointing. I ate theree slices the rest went in the waste can.

 I must be doing something wrong because I can't believe that anyone could win a state Fair Prize with this loaf as claimed in the book.

 Can anyone share some comments as to why I seem to get such poor results?

   Bob F
 

I got this machine secondhand off ebay about 3 years ago and mine didn't come with a dough hook. Even though it says you don't need it, I was able to get one cheap on ebay a couple months back. I just tried to use it on a double batch whole wheat oatmeal bread and so much of it got stuck to the bottom (and stayed there) and I had to keep "helping" it. I finally ditched the hook and put on the usual spatula and roller.

Since the directions for this machine are vague and since it's not an overly intuitive machine (steep learning curve), maybe I wasn't using it right? Like, am I supposed to tighten the middle hook? Am I supposed to use it with the spatula (I'm assuming that the two holes on the side hook are to hold it)

Can someone enlighten me?

Melissa

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Custom cakes made from scratch using organic ingredients
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