What is in your cup?

[Stitchawl]

Watching the old "Ft. Ti" movie from the '50's, with a glass of rum!


Stitchawl

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Watching the old "Ft. Ti" movie from the '50's, with a glass of rum!


Stitchawl

I assume the rum assists the quality of the movie?

[VydorScope]

2nd cup of coffee as I finish my lesson... get to teach for the first time in almost a month to day. I love taking vacation... but missed teaching. It will be good to get into it and try to open my students minds and get them THINKING again. Hopefully time off has not turned them back in to mush.

[Latinandgreek]

Earl Gray tea. Be still my beating head.

[Stitchawl]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I assume the rum assists the quality of the movie?

Certainly didn't hurt it any. The number of 'Hollywood' mistakes is appalling! The movie was obviously shot mostly in California, and it's difficult to pass California landscape as an Eastern Hardwood forest. California 'high desert' looks very different from the Adirondacks... Having backwoods wilderness homes of the mid 1700's made from milled lumber, two stories high with stairs rather than a ladder, closets, (heck, we don't even have closets in Japan today!) with a brick chimney, farm fences made of milled lumber rather than split rail, and indoor pumps for water made for a interesting experience. But the best was the repeating flintlock rifles! Shoot all day without reloading. But it was fun watching the show, so I really didn't mind at all.

I think more rum would have helped. Now, to sleep... perchance to dream.


Stitchawl

[CRussel]

Originally Posted by Stitchawl

Thanks! I agree with your assessment. I too have a copy, on my Sony! It is wonderful!



So far, my only dislike to the machine is having a hole in the bottom of my loaf. Messes up my slices when I want sandwiches. I don't have a 'regular' oven, only an Airstream Oven and although I 'can' bake bread in it, I don't care for the way it comes out. It works for round 'peasant breads' and heavy rye or black breads, but not so well for rectangular loaves of the lighter types.


Stitchawl

Hmm. I suspect a different expectation of what is acceptable in a bread maker. We make bread once a week, every week. Usually a rustic Italian style loaf, with about 10-15% whole wheat that is backed free-form on a hot stone at 500 degrees. The result is exquisite. A chewy crust, and a slightly open texture. The process starts the evening before, making a sponge that rises overnight to better develop the flavour.

Now I can't see any way that a bread maker can be programmed for that overnight sponge, and it's an essential to fully develop the flavour. (It's just not as good without, we've tried to cut it out.) And I really can't see the bread maker replicating the crust that you can get with a stone in a very hot oven. The one thing we're still missing is a way to inject steam into the oven. That's a trick commercial bakers can use and home bakers can't completely simulate.

Clearly that oven of yours might have a few problems with our process, and I can see there a bread maker is a great solution for you. And our oven process is only a best approximation of what it really should be, brick lined, wood fired, oven. But I haven't quite figured out where I'd put one of those in our kitchen...

Water in my glass.

[ProfCrash]

I love the bread that I get from my bread maker, it is quite yummy. The crust is great, you can set it for different styles of crust. My main complaint is the bread pan is not a traditional bread pan and the slices are, well, huge. The hole in the bottom is a bit annoying but not so bad. Given that I have a regular electric oven, I could use my bread maker to just make the dough (dough cycle) and then bake the bread in my oven, even on my stone tablet that we normally use for pizza, if I wanted to have a regular loaf.

The bread machine would handle all the mixing, kneading, and multiple risings without my having to pay attention then I could transfer the dough into a pan or pans or stone tablet and make more traditional looking bread. We made three different types of dinner roles for Thanksgiving this way and it was great.

You don't have to use it for the entire process, you can use it to make parts of the process less difficult and time consuming. It is quite nice.

[Aurora W]

Coffee in my great big cup.

All this talk of bread makes me want to find the old bread machine and see if it can still make a decent loaf of cinnamon raisin bread.

[pdurrant]

Coke Zero in my cup. A bit late in the day, but I think it'll be OK.

[ProfCrash]

The Stonehenge bread (page 189) is our favorite so far. There is a Cinnamon Raisin bread in there that I want to try.

[CRussel]

Morning OJ. (Still on the blood oranges. Still liking them, especially considering the alternatives at this time of the year.) About to brew my morning coffee.

Tasks for today -- wash a couple of dogs, then watch some curling while I knit. And actually do a bit of my regular job since I lost so much time to the Telus mess.

[ProfCrash]

So far today, baking bread in the bread maker, baking brownies, doing some laundry (sheets and clothes), eating far too many bagels (but the taste good).

On the to do lost: Play some Zelda, finish laundry, go to the grocery store, go to the gym, eat left overs.

[ProfCrash]

Skim Milk with my Panang Chicken leftovers. The Hubby makes his curries from scratch and it tastes just as good today as it did yesterday.

I am in the middle of making a Cinnamon Raison Oatmeal Walnut Wheat bread. It is a new recipe but it sounds amazing.

[Stitchawl]

Listen, children, to a story
That was written long ago,
'Bout a kingdom on a mountain
And the valley-folk below.

On the mountain was a treasure
Buried deep beneath the stone,
And the valley-people swore
They'd have it for their very own.

Go ahead and hate your neighbor,
Go ahead and cheat a friend.
Do it in the name of Heaven,
You can justify it in the end.
There won't be any trumpets blowing
Come the judgement day,
On the bloody morning after....
One tin soldier rides away.

( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxQUH7EVqH4 )

Good morning, everyone! More sunshine, more cold weather, more blue skies, and another day for another ride! Sounds like a plan!

Fortnum & Mason's "Royal Blend" tea beside a bowl rice, miso soup, and tsukemono to break my fast and get me ready to face the day. Fortnum & Mason's rock!

Originally Posted by CRussel

Hmm. I suspect a different expectation of what is acceptable in a bread maker. We make bread once a week, every week. Usually a rustic Italian style loaf, with about 10-15% whole wheat that is backed free-form on a hot stone at 500 degrees. The result is exquisite. A chewy crust, and a slightly open texture. The process starts the evening before, making a sponge that rises overnight to better develop the flavour.
Now I can't see any way that a bread maker can be programmed for that overnight sponge

It can't be, but there is a 'work-around' that is used by hundreds of bakeries in New York City...(and probably every other city with small ethnic bakeries.) It's actually illegal for them to do so, but they use left-over bread ground up and worked into the dough as it's being kneaded. This adds that depth of flavor that is usually missing in home made breads that don't use an overnight process.

Clearly that oven of yours might have a few problems with our process,

It would. The machine also doesn't do a good job of making Jambalaya, but I wouldn't expect it to do what it isn't designed to do. However, it seems to do that which it IS designed to do and do it well. And it gives me the option, should I desire it, of letting the dough mature in the fridge overnight and cook in a regular oven if that was wanted. I like options.

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

I love the bread that I get from my bread maker, it is quite yummy. The crust is great, you can set it for different styles of crust. My main complaint is the bread pan is not a traditional bread pan and the slices are, well, huge.

They really are huge, aren't they! I'm in the habit of making two sandwiches for myself, but I can see that this is a habit that will change now! It's just too much for me to eat! I'm also going to make a slicing jig so I can make consistently thin slices. For buttered toast or French Toast I like thick slices, but for sandwiches I prefer a thinner slice.

I could use my bread maker to just make the dough (dough cycle) and then bake the bread in my oven, even on my stone tablet that we normally use for pizza, if I wanted to have a regular loaf.

I've found I prefer to do that when making my rye bread. For some reason I like a round 'boule' type loaf of dark rye, so I made the dough in the machine, let it rise in a spring-form cake pan to give it some height, removed the sides and put it into the Air-Stream oven. Gave me exactly what I wanted as a finished loaf... except for the scoring on top... I can't get that to come out the way I wanted!

Originally Posted by ProfCrash

So far today, baking bread in the bread maker, baking brownies, doing some laundry (sheets and clothes), eating far too many bagels (but the taste good).

Bagels have always been a problem to find here. But now that CostCo has opened, they are selling them and they are GOOD!!! Not quite New York City Kosher bagel bakery bagels, but close enough. Unfortunately, they have only been selling them by the dozen! We've frozen half, but still, six bagels are too many for two people!

I'll have another mug of Fortnum & Mason tea and get ready to greet the day!


Stitchawl

[ProfCrash]

I had two bagels today. My Hubby had two bagels today. It doesn't take us long to go through bagels.

Yogurt as a dessert. I was still hungry after the huge helping of left overs and decided that yogurt would be better then chips and guacamole.