Well, the past few weeks, New Years Resolutions notwithstanding, I've been very unmotivated. Sure, I'm up and off to work as usual, and I've been plugging soundly away there. I'd hope they have no complaints. No, this is at-home, looking around at the projects and the things I could be doing, and instead I sit on the computer, wasting time. Lots of time on Facebook (which is a bit like a party and catching snippets of conversation). Catching up in bits & pieces with friends from high school. Dreaming up ways to better market Common Ground (I think I have a pretty good list, too). But er, nothing specifically productive.
I haven't even felt like knitting. A whole week, and I managed a few inches on the sweater cable, which is not a whole lot. I really would like it to be magically on the stockinette brain-dead part, but there are too many decisions to be made still, and hard parts.
Today was a slight change - I'm still arguing myself into doing things, but at least I'm starting to win. I made it out for a 25 minute swim, with lots of breaks. I dropped off D's dry cleaning. I washed the car, made cabbage for tonight's potluck, made steel cut oatmeal for breakfasts this week, and got some bread dough rising. I finally replaced the broken plastic piece on the mini (aka "the princess"). I think the only reason I managed the stuff on the car was the lack of rain - and the fact that this was within the 2 weeks of coming home that I felt I had to get it done. You know how it is - when you have broken something, there's a certain period of time where it bugs you enough to want to fix it. once that time passes, it becomes background noise, and something else broken distracts you. I figure it's about two weeks.
Will the motivation stay? Will I finally get back into the studio? Will I pick back up the knitting? Time will tell...
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Bread Cheat Experiments (WIP) - using Pizza Dough
Just before Christmas, my neighbor had a Solstice Party that had loads and loads of delicious baked goods. One item that was revealed was a lovely loaf of bread that the baker (Rick?) had made using 2 pizza doughs from New Seasons (my best guess is that this was a total of 2 lbs of dough). He'd baked it in a dutch oven, along the lines of the no-knead bread dough recipes. I thought this was brilliant, and I've been experimenting to recreate it... with some success.
Damien brought home some dough from Schmitza (2 bags of their largest size - 28 oz), and off I went
Attempt #1: It's best if you remove the bottom...
I used Cooks Illustrated almost-no-knead-dough as a reference, but this created some issues. First and foremost, it had me lower the rack to the lowest setting. This, combined with my oiling the pan, resulted in a "burnt-crispy" bottom, as D would say. The top looked great, and the rest of the crust - that which wasn't burnt-crispy - was delicious. So, we cut off the bottom and rapidly consumed the loaf.
Notes: 450F (Cooks' suggested 500F preheat, and then lowering to 425, but I followed NYT for this instead). Preheated dutch oven & lid(which is seasoned, and tends to burn off its seasoning - less than ideal and tends to flavor the bread with a rather smokey taste). I lined the dutch oven with Aluminum foil in an attempt to keep the seasoning from flavoring the bread too much. I 'm not sure if this helped or not, or if it contributed to burning. Baking times: 450F covered for 30 min, 15 min uncovered.
Attempt #2: Using Calphalon 12" Everyday pan (anodized aluminum, no non-stick coating). Did look on-line to check on oven-safe-ness, with limited success.
Again using 450F, preheating the pot, and baking covered for 30 min, and uncovered for 15. I added parchment paper underneath the bread to help reduce sticking, which did work nicely, though 450F is pushing it (the box said 420 was the max...)
If I'm going to ever do the no-knead bread dough more frequently, though, I'm really going to have to get an enameled dutch oven with an oven-safe knob, not a plastic one that will die above 400F. I've wanted one for a while, and Cook's Illustrated likes the Travertina (?) from Walmart, of all places, as an economical alternative to Le Crueset. This may actually get me into a Walmart for the first time in Portland, like, ever.
And the verdict is...BURNT CRISPY. Doggonit. I think the no-knead dough, with its GOBS more water, bakes differently on the bottom in this situation. I'm thinking, actually, that maybe I should be baking this, well, like normal bread? What a concept. Maybe it is time to roll out the pizza stone again.
Sigh. Pictures later.
Damien brought home some dough from Schmitza (2 bags of their largest size - 28 oz), and off I went
Attempt #1: It's best if you remove the bottom...
I used Cooks Illustrated almost-no-knead-dough as a reference, but this created some issues. First and foremost, it had me lower the rack to the lowest setting. This, combined with my oiling the pan, resulted in a "burnt-crispy" bottom, as D would say. The top looked great, and the rest of the crust - that which wasn't burnt-crispy - was delicious. So, we cut off the bottom and rapidly consumed the loaf.
Notes: 450F (Cooks' suggested 500F preheat, and then lowering to 425, but I followed NYT for this instead). Preheated dutch oven & lid(which is seasoned, and tends to burn off its seasoning - less than ideal and tends to flavor the bread with a rather smokey taste). I lined the dutch oven with Aluminum foil in an attempt to keep the seasoning from flavoring the bread too much. I 'm not sure if this helped or not, or if it contributed to burning. Baking times: 450F covered for 30 min, 15 min uncovered.
Attempt #2: Using Calphalon 12" Everyday pan (anodized aluminum, no non-stick coating). Did look on-line to check on oven-safe-ness, with limited success.
Again using 450F, preheating the pot, and baking covered for 30 min, and uncovered for 15. I added parchment paper underneath the bread to help reduce sticking, which did work nicely, though 450F is pushing it (the box said 420 was the max...)
If I'm going to ever do the no-knead bread dough more frequently, though, I'm really going to have to get an enameled dutch oven with an oven-safe knob, not a plastic one that will die above 400F. I've wanted one for a while, and Cook's Illustrated likes the Travertina (?) from Walmart, of all places, as an economical alternative to Le Crueset. This may actually get me into a Walmart for the first time in Portland, like, ever.
Sigh. Pictures later.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
