What's cooking? (1 Viewer)

[DaveF]

How I cook, according to my wife.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I think us folks that wash the dishes are always critical of those who do the cooking!

I am constantly amazed at how many knives my wife can use for the simplest efforts.

 

[BobO'Link]

Yeah... my wife complains about the "mess" I leave behind when cooking. IMHO it's about the same as what she leaves when she cooks. One of these days I'm going to do a back-to-back meal prep with comparable meals and let the grandkids judge.

 

[Malcolm R]

I think us folks that wash the dishes are always critical of those who do the cooking!

I am constantly amazed at how many knives my wife can use for the simplest efforts.

Yes, I'm always amazed watching cooking shows and seeing all the bowls, pots, dishes, machines they gleefully dirty up, knowing they are likely having someone else clean up their mess.

I'd never cook that way as I'd not want to wash all those dishes afterward.

 

[Josh Steinberg]

I mostly wash while I cook, and usually prefer to use the same all purpose (for me at least) size knives and bowls and cutting boards so that by the time I serve dinner, the only thing left to clean is the pan it was finished in and the tongs that were used to serve it.

 

[DaveF]

I believe the quality of a recipe is measured by the height of its piled up dirty dishes.

 

[DaveF]

I posted that comment ^ to Facebook and my wife gave it an angry face reaction!

 

[DaveF]

In my defense, while my wife is the routine dishwasher, I do a lot of clean up after I do a big cook. I don't want my wife to view my fun / recreational cooking as a negative event.

 

[Mike Frezon]

I clean as I cook, too.

It's kind of built into my DNA. My dad was a big dish washer too. I learned at his side.

 

[DaveF]

Weekend efforts:
Summer Shandy using my sodastream (fizzed lemonade). Ok, but not the same as with Sprite or 7Up.


Bagels: A good first try.


Huge "Country" Breakfast with farmers' market bacon


Bacon Cheeseburger

 

[Johnny Angell]

Summer Shandy using my sodastream (fizzed lemonade). Ok, but not the same as with Sprite or 7Up.

I was wondering, could you fizz real lemonade, homemade lemonade?

 

[DaveF]

I was wondering, could you fizz real lemonade, homemade lemonade?

Probably. You're supposed to fizz the water then add flavoring. But I've found that with care, some flavored water can be fizzed.

 

[DaveF]

I made chocolate chip cookies today. And then added something new: a chocolate fudge recipe, to make chocolate dipped chocolate chip cookies.

I'll be straight with you: these are amazing!

 

[DaveF]

And another go at making bagels. These rest in the fridge for 16-24 hours. I started late, so I'm looking at bagels for lunch tomorrow.

 

[Nelson Au]

Mmmmm, cookies.

 

[DaveF]

Yes. My favorite recipe. Adding the chocolate fudge soon after the bake...

but, it’s soft chocolate meant for ice cream. I need a variation that hardens at room temperature to really do this right.

 

[BobO'Link]

This is what you want:

You can get it at Target and Sams (though it tends to be seasonal at Sams).

 

[DaveF]

I was using dark baking chocolate blended with cocoa powder, butter, whole milk. It’s a great chocolate fudge! But since it’s not just simple melted chocolate, it’s not solid at room temperature.

 

[DaveF]

Another crazy breakfast. Had a remaining bagel, so I toasted / fried it in bacon grease. Then fried a couple eggs.

 

[DaveF]

I legit made bagels!
@Josh Steinberg you should try this and give feedback since you should know from bagels


Dough
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons ice water (9 ounces)
2 tablespoons malt syrup (or 4 teaspoons molasses)
2 2/3 cups (14 2/3 oz) bread flour
4 teaspoons vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons instant or rapid-rise yeast (or 2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast)
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 cup (1 1/4 oz) cornmeal
Boil
4 quarts water
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oz) sugar
1 tablespoon baking soda
DESCRIPTION
New York Bagels for All! It doesn't get any better than the crackly-crisp shell, tender chew, and subtle malty flavor of a New York bagel. So what do you do if you don't live in New York?
This recipe requires refrigerating the shaped bagels for 16 to 24 hours before baking them. This recipe works best with King Arthur bread flour, although other bread flours will work. Vital wheat gluten and malt syrup are available in most supermarkets in the baking and syrup aisles, respectively. If you cannot find malt syrup, substitute 4 teaspoons of molasses. The bagels are best eaten within a day of baking; fully cooled bagels can be transferred to heavy-duty zipper-lock bags and frozen for up to one month.
HIGH-PROTEIN DOUGH
Lots of gluten is key to achieving that jaw-working chew, so we used relatively high-protein bread flour supplemented with vital wheat gluten. a powdered form of the protein that is sold in most supermarkets.
COLD FERMENTATION
Proofing the dough overnight in the fridge allows it to develop an especially complex mix of flavor compounds.
ROUGH HANDLING
We roll, stretch, and twist the dough to shape it into rings – actions that help tighten the gluten network and thus yield a bagel with substantial chew.
A BETTER BOIL
Adding baking soda and sugar to the water in the boiling step helps encourage consistent browning.
STEAM TREATMENT
Baking the bagels on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet (set on a baking stone) and adding a small amount of boiling water creates steam that leads to a crisp, delicate crust.
Cook's Illustrated 2015 Annual, pg 88
DIRECTIONS
Day 1
Stir ice water and malt syrup together in 2-cup liquid measuring cup until malt syrup has fully dissolved.
Process flour, wheat gluten, and yeast in food processor until combined, about 2 seconds.
With processor running, slowly add ice water mixture; process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 20 seconds. Let dough stand for 10 minutes.
Add salt to dough and process, stopping processor and redistributing dough as needed, until dough forms shaggy mass that clears sides of workbowl (dough may not form one single mass), 45 to 90 seconds.
Transfer dough to unfloured counter and knead until smooth, about 1 minute. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces (3 ½ ounces each) and cover loosely with plastic wrap.
Working with 1 piece of dough at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, form dough pieces into smooth, taut rounds. (To round, set piece of dough on unfloured counter. Loosely cup your hand around dough and, without applying pressure to dough, move your hand in small circular motions. Tackiness of dough against counter and circular motion should work dough into smooth, even ball, but if dough sticks to your hands, lightly dust your fingers with flour.)
Let dough balls rest on counter, covered, for 15 minutes.
Sprinkle rimmed baking sheet with cornmeal.
Working with 1 dough ball at a time and keeping remaining pieces covered, coat dough balls lightly with flour and then, using your hands and rolling pin, pat and roll dough balls into 5-inch rounds. Starting with edge of dough farthest from you, roll into tight cylinder. Starting at center of cylinder and working toward ends, gently and evenly roll and stretch dough into 8- to 9-inch-long rope. Do not taper ends. Rolling ends of dough under your hands in opposite directions, twist rope to form tight spiral. Without unrolling spiral, wrap rope around your fingers, overlapping ends of dough by about 2 inches under your palm, to create ring shape. Pinch ends of dough gently together. With overlap under your palm, press and roll seam using circular motion on counter to fully seal.
Transfer rings to prepared sheet and cover loosely with plastic, leaving at least 1 inch between bagels. Let bagels stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
Cover sheet tightly with plastic and refrigerate for 16 to 24 hours.
Day 2
One hour before baking, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position, place baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 450 degrees.
Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet and spray rack with vegetable oil spray.
Bring 4 quarts water, sugar, and baking soda to boil in large Dutch oven. Turn burner down so it’s not roiling before adding bagels.
Transfer 4 bagels to boiling water and cook for 20 seconds. Using wire skimmer or slotted spoon, flip bagels over and cook 20 seconds longer. Using wire skimmer or slotted spoon, transfer bagels to prepared wire rack, with cornmeal side facing down. Repeat with remaining 4 bagels.
Place sheet with bagels on preheated baking stone and pour ½ cup boiling water into bottom of sheet.
Bake until tops of bagels are beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. (10 minutes in my oven.) Using metal spatula, flip bagels and continue to bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes longer. (I added more water.) Remove sheet from oven and let bagels cool on wire rack for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.
NOTES
Toppings
Place 1/2 cup poppy seeds, sesame seeds, caraway seeds, dehydrated onion flakes, dehydrated garlic flakes, or coarse/ pretzel salt in small bowl. Press tops of just-boiled bagels (side without cornmeal) gently into topping and return to wire rack, topping side up.
For Everything Topping, combine 2 tablespoons poppy seeds, 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, 1 tablespoon onion flakes, 2 teaspoons garlic flakes, 2 teaspoons caraway seeds, and 1/2 teaspoon coarse or pretzel salt.
Using Active Yeast Instantly | Cook's Illustrated

Using Active Yeast Instantly | Cook's Illustrated

We wondered if there might be enough moisture in a bread dough to allow us to swap active for instant yeast.

www.cooksillustrated.com

We wondered if there might be enough moisture in a bread dough to allow us to swap active for instant yeast.
We prefer instant (or “rapid-rise”) yeast to active dry yeast in bread recipes because it’s easy to use. Active dry yeast package directions call for blooming the yeast in warm water for about 10 minutes before adding it to other ingredients to remove the dead cells that surround the live yeast. Instant yeast granules aren’t surrounded by dead cells and can be mixed right into the dry ingredients.
We wondered if there might be enough moisture in a bread dough to allow us to swap active for instant yeast. To find out, we made fast-rising doughs (our Easy Sandwich Bread), slow-rising doughs (No-Knead Brioche), relatively dry doughs (New York Bagels), and wet pizza doughs (Thin-Crust Pizza) with both instant and active dry yeasts. We used 25 percent more active dry yeast than each recipe called for in instant yeast to make up for the volume of the dead yeast cells. In both batches, we mixed the yeasts right into the dry ingredients. In all cases, there was no discernible difference in the rise of the breads. However, the breads made with active yeast had a yeastier (though not offensive) flavor.
The takeaway? We still prefer instant yeast, but you can substitute active dry yeast in all recipes by using 25 percent more of it.”