Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

[mysty]

7 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

Does any Cooler remain that is still of a doughy disposition?  🥸

 

I still keep some boxes of dough in the fridge for those early morning munchy requirements.  Wifey’s eyes start drooping at 1am’ish and so I’m left to the log fire and streaming TV, ……. and the draw of the dough.  So I reach into the fridge and pull off a handful of dough and flatten it out and make a small pizza enough for three or four mouthfuls.  They are not elegant or sophisticated, but when the pizza beckons it is best not to resist.  And do believe me  … the dough with a “less is more” topping does hit the mark.

 

The current boxes are so energetic they have been trying to liberate themselves from their boxes even though they are in a cold fridge.  And they are 5 day sour-dough-lite.  

 

This will all seem very weird to those that love dough, but they are 75% Caputo 00 long ferment (blue bag) flour and 25% Caputo fine ground Semolina ….. with … wait for it 100% hydration.  Plus a large shot of Berio Rustica cloudy unfiltered extra virgin oil, some course Marldon sea salt, yeast and topped with some rustic passata with oregano some sugar and salt and some hard mozzarella and a mushroom. 

 

All of this is deeply boring to those that are untainted by dough obsession.  But as things are currently so depressing here in the Homeland I thought I’d share a picture of my lonely singleton-pizza that with a large jug of rustic Puglia lifted the spirits beside the fire. 

 

Jeff x

 

 

 

Myster still makes his pizzas based on the original recipe as supplied by the artist in dough....Jeff!  thank you for providing, what continues to be, one of our favourite meals!

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe fun day all!

[zqtchas]

[dawntrdr]

1 minute ago, zqtchas said:

 

Who let the dogs out?

[TrulyBlonde]

2 hours ago, mysty said:

 

Myster still makes his pizzas based on the original recipe as supplied by the artist in dough....Jeff!  thank you for providing, what continues to be, one of our favourite meals!

Yes, I will be making baguettes and pizza soon. Winter is around the corner. We moved from Colorado to Idaho and there is more humidity and lower altitude which will probably mean I have to adjust recipe just a bit.

I am currently in the midst of cleaning up drywall dust, granite and slate dust, and overall construction debris. Almost done:)

[UKCruiseJeff]

2 hours ago, TrulyBlonde said:

Yes, I will be making baguettes and pizza soon. Winter is around the corner. We moved from Colorado to Idaho and there is more humidity and lower altitude which will probably mean I have to adjust recipe just a bit.

I am currently in the midst of cleaning up drywall dust, granite and slate dust, and overall construction debris. Almost done:)

 

On the topic of baguettes.

 

You wont believe me but all that altitude stuff and and humidity stuff is reassuring but I promise you is almost entirely unnecessary

 

For what it is worth.  Ditch the blender it is totally irrelevant to bread making and if anything damages bread.  Adding more water and letting water get on with it improves your baguette more than anything else.  

 

Simply  put.  Use very high protein strong flour (15%’ish or more) in a bowl say 80% of flour volume with 20% light high protein rye flour into a bowl and mix with water at the highest hydration you can simply using a scraper to combine and no more.  Start with say 70%.  So  1kg of flour mix with 700ml water with salt and yeast. Put it in the fridge and forget it for a day or more.  Don’t worry that you know you can’t handle it because you will be using baguette tins and so you will get the baguette shape.

 

Then pull off and a couple of in-bowl stretches and put in a perforated baguette tin and bake in an oven with some steam.  I’ll happily explain how to add steam simply to make what will be a domestic oven into a French bread oven.

 

I mean not to teach anyone how to do anything only just share what I have learned by myself having been overwhelmed be black-art rubbish from experts wishing to make “their art” into something that no one else can do.  It’s all largely BS.

 

Making extraordinary bread is really, really easy if you ignore almost everything you read and learn from people who want to make it seem like their bread comes from their magic.

 

I have overstepped the topic but happy to add any pictures and my own journey from baguettes, through bagels through pizza and even onion byalis etc etc and don’t start me on flatbreads ….

 

Dough isn’t just for early morning munchies or for experts … even peasants like me can do it..  Every single person reading this thread can make a baguette better than anything they have ever tasted in France.

 

Jeff

 

 

Edited September 15, 2022 by UKCruiseJeff

[QueSeraSera]

Come to the cooler & you will work up an appetite!

Acknowledging how very good fresh baked bread is, my mind then turns to the topic of butter.  And how delicious the butter I've enjoyed in both Scandinavia and, more recently for me, Ireland, is.  I have to believe there is great butter made in the USA (c'mon Vermont!) but I haven't found it yet.

[Will Work for Tiramisu]

A few years back we did a road trip in France (a big loop starting in Paris, down the Seine, Normandy coast, St Malo, then up the Loire Valley back to Paris).  Driving through the rural farming area south of Normandy, we stopped in a little town at intersection of two roads (famous for 1000 year old oak with TWO shrines built into tree hollows), and a lady in a dusty old store directed us to her brothers' butcher shop.  He had fresh, small baguettes (made by his cousin in next town over), cut in half and slathered some Normandy butter on them, and a thin slice of local ham.  As we drove away we unwrapped and tore into them, and we were all smitten by how anything could taste so good.  Normandy is a great place for cows, lots of rich grass, and the pigs are fed on chestnuts and apple pomace and God knows what else (lost tourists??).  I never looked at butter the same way again, and we still try to have some of the good stuff on hand, and just use the American commodity butter for baking and general slathering.  Which, given our ages, we should really be out of the slathering business!  

[UKCruiseJeff]

If you are able to find it, President butter is widely available and their slightly  salted spreadable is 100% butter and made in Normandy.It’s a lovely French butter.

 

I hope you can smell this and can enjoy the crunch of the crust and the soft fragrance of the very aromatic crumb.  It has been nowhere near a mixer and there is absolutely no need for that silly kneading.  I do the opposite.  A mixer and kneading is the enemy of bubbles. The less I do the better are my baguettes.  

 

This is what my plain ones look like …..

 

Edited September 16, 2022 by UKCruiseJeff

[TrulyBlonde]

2 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

Come to the cooler & you will work up an appetite!

Acknowledging how very good fresh baked bread is, my mind then turns to the topic of butter.  And how delicious the butter I've enjoyed in both Scandinavia and, more recently for me, Ireland, is.  I have to believe there is great butter made in the USA (c'mon Vermont!) but I haven't found it yet.

I purchase Kerry Gold butter. You can find it in the dairy isle. So much better than regular stuff here.

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

Come to the cooler & you will work up an appetite!

Acknowledging how very good fresh baked bread is, my mind then turns to the topic of butter.  And how delicious the butter I've enjoyed in both Scandinavia and, more recently for me, Ireland, is.  I have to believe there is great butter made in the USA (c'mon Vermont!) but I haven't found it yet.

I haven't figured out the secret yet.  Almost any good restaurant serves the most incredible butter, but nothing that I buy in the stores comes close.  Have tried President and Kerry Gold, plus all the touted ones from Vermont etc. – nada.  [And I'm not talking about the herb blends some restaurants do – they are lovely too, but I'm talking about plain rich flavorful real butter.]

[Grand Duchess]

Now you have me salivating, can smell this all the way to Switzerland 😋

If you get a chance of visiting the lovely town of Saint-Malo in Bretagne, visiting la maison du beurre Bordier (www.lebeurrebordier.com) is a must. Best butter ever. They have a bistro too.

[mysty]

Greetings Coolers!

 

Today's funny.....

 

 

Have a great safe fun day all!

[pf778c]

13 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

I have to believe there is great butter made in the USA (c'mon Vermont!) but I haven't found it yet.

Well, not the easiest to lay paws on, but here you are - Animal Farm Butter

[highplanesdrifters]

Plugra!

 

@UKCruiseJeffthat baguette is a thing of beauty.

[UKCruiseJeff]

44 minutes ago, highplanesdrifters said:

Plugra!

 

@UKCruiseJeffthat baguette is a thing of beauty.

 Thanks so much for the kind word.

 

There is a baguette for every cunning plan.  This is my baguette when I’m thinking of having a cheese baguette.  Just my plain old baguette with onion/Nigella seeds.

 

I do so hope you enjoy it and thanks again.

 

 

[drron29]

This one needs to be read with a Canadian accent.

 

 

 

[mysty]

19 minutes ago, drron29 said:

This one needs to be read with a Canadian accent.

 

 

 

 

Cheeky Drron! 🤣

[zqtchas]

[Stumblefoot]

1 hour ago, mysty said:

 

Cheeky Drron! 🤣

Yes.  Perfect actually.  
 

What makes the accent so helpful is how one is able to read the first sentence as a question.  It’s the perfect setup for the actual question posed later.

[mysty]

31 minutes ago, Stumblefoot said:

Yes.  Perfect actually.  
 

What makes the accent so helpful is how one is able to read the first sentence as a question.  It’s the perfect setup for the actual question posed later.

 

Seriously?  I don't know what you're talking aboat! 😏

[highplanesdrifters]

4 hours ago, UKCruiseJeff said:

 Thanks so much for the kind word.

 

There is a baguette for every cunning plan.  This is my baguette when I’m thinking of having a cheese baguette.  Just my plain old baguette with onion/Nigella seeds.

 

I do so hope you enjoy it and thanks again.

 

 

Enjoy is an understatement.  You sir are my hero!

[mysty]

We enjoyed a Myster Classic pizza tonight.   He prefers his pizza fully loaded...bacon, chorizo, shallots, sliced olives, mushrooms and loads of mozzarella.  Baked on a pizza stone and transferred for cutting.

 

[Stumblefoot]

27 minutes ago, mysty said:

We enjoyed a Myster Classic pizza tonight.   He prefers his pizza fully loaded...

‘atta boy!

[Host Jazzbeau]

41 minutes ago, mysty said:

We enjoyed a Myster Classic pizza tonight.   He prefers his pizza fully loaded...

And one assumes he prefers his mysty fully loaded as well!  🤣