Cooking (not just dinner)

I have nooooooo issues with no knead . except for one. The super heated Dutch oven terrifies me. I’ve been scalded by steam and picked up too hot pans without a towel. The thermal mass used in no knead bread makes me shiver.

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I love your wife. Want!!!

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We have a faux Big Green Egg and it is amazing for pizza. The first time we tried it, I made homemade dough and froze up the extra.

Since then, we discovered that our grocery store sells frozen pizza dough that’s just as good. We buy that and keep it in the fridge, and jar sauce in the pantry. Homemade everything is nice but cooking it on the grill is really the “secret sauce” that elevates it.

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Yeah, I’ve definitely learned to not let perfect be the enemy of good when it comes to cooking. Not every meal has to be grown from scratch or take 36 hours to complete. There’s a reason why post-WWII housewives embraced all the modern conveniences, including semi-prepared food options. Feeding a family is a Sisyphean task…literally.

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Its literally the easiest thing! Just mix it and then walk away. “Set it, and forget it!” :slight_smile:

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Dîner, just cooking.
I just thought I’m one of the lucky people. Apart from being of the age (again) you start loosing people you love. Or watching people you love losing people they love. Witch is part of living, but not always easy to handle.
Apart from SAD and blowing a big project. Which seemed very nice, but not hand able next to daily things, like a family. The only effect is I can’t buy the things I need as easily I want. (Need I say, not want. But luckily I nearly never want something I don’t need). But the car seems all right for a while, same with the washingmachine, etc.

And, this is the point I try to make. Making a round, ‘harvesting’ :wink: Let say picking weeds, while listening to all the birds singing, the potatoes I bought, the union is own grown. And look at the ramson (Allium ursinum), first time I can harvest from it. \o/

I’m really one of the lucky people.

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I don’t know what the weather was like where you are, but it was really nice here and we were able to have our evening meal outside for the first time this year. I’m making bagels for breakfast tomorrow morning, so I’ll make some dough tonight and get up early to bake them.

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I need to give you my bagel recipe. Well, technique, not recipe.

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Shit dawg, imma gonna go make bagels.

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It’s also been a good day because I found out that my translation work is straightforward enough that I can listen to audiobooks at the same time - I’m coming toward the end of a long project (about 130,000 words at 4,000 - 6,000 words per day), and I’ve had one day off since February, so having something else to think about stops my brain from going into screensaver mode. (It’s a series of technical specifications for a polar research vessel, and right now I’m translating the specifications for furnishings inside different kinds of laboratories - shelves, chairs, tables, cabinets etc. Right now means the last few days).

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(out of likes)
Nice, but strange wheather. Warm, so we could also eat outside. We did, courtesy to the five year old. With sweaters on, the whole day no sun seen, but I think something around 17 degrees celcius.
Bagels, such a good idea.

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Two cups flour, two cups hot water.

Hold at 140F for a few hours in a water bath.

Add in the yeast, salt, and rest of the flour to bring it to a 56% hydration level, and proof overnight.

If you are a Brewer you will notice exactly what I’m doing and why.

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Bread flour, not AP?

And proof at 95F, or what?

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Here is the sekret.

The texture of flour when used to make bread degrades with heat (so I’ve found), but this is largely due to starches being snipped into smaller sugara via alpha and beta amalyze.

The net result is you use a portion of flour and water to up the flavor at a high temp, and add in the rest later to compensate for texture issues. Think of it as a week long biga build, but compressed into two or three hours (flavor wise).

I’ve seen pics of your starters, this is superfluous to the art you are already creating :smiley:

Eta

Proof at like 65f. When I open my bakery I may name it Contrarian.

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Bageley goodness:

I didn’t use the method @japhroaig suggested (I’d already made the dough by the time I’d read it), but I’ll try it that way next time. These worked out well, in any case.

I managed to freak my Republican FIL out a little more yesterday - I was listening to the autobiography of Malcolm X and he came into the room during one of the parts where Malcolm X talks about the opinion he had of white people earlier in his life. :smiling_imp:

“…the collective white man had acted like a devil in virtually every contact he had with the world’s collective non-white man.”

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Well those look damn fine, if I do say so myself.

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  1. My mom had those same plates when I was a teen!
  2. Those bagels look fantastic!
  3. What kind of cream cheese should I bring over? :wink:
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Brother Malcolm likes your taste in books AND your bagel making skills!!!

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I made a crustless quiche for supper.

8 egg whites, one yolk, 3/4 cup lite mozzarella, 1/4 cup milk, along with onion, basil, garlic, sun dried tomatoes, and a sprinkling of parmesan on top.

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I used this thing to make beef and broccoli stir fry but me and my roommate ate it all before I got around to taking pictures. It came out pretty amazing.

I doubt I’ll be taking Chinese takeout off the list any time soon but I was still surprised at how well it came out. I used an entire onion, a crap ton of garlic, and a green bell pepper that weren’t actually called for and they were nice additions.

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