Quarantine Cooking

[deluxestogie]

When it comes to sourdough starter, geography doesn't matter.

"For this study, the researchers collected 500 samples of sourdough starter, primarily from home bakers in the United States and Europe, though there were also samples from Australia, New Zealand and Thailand."

Intercontinental study sheds light on the microbial life of sourdough

In a study of 500 sourdough starters spanning four continents, scientists have garnered new insights into the environmental factors that contribute to each sourdough starter's microbial ecosystem, and how different types of microbes influence both a sourdough's aroma and how quickly the...

phys.org

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Quarantine Waffle Celebration

Fried chicken Vienna Sausages, grits, waffles with Parkay margarine and Aunt Jimima syrup, and an over-easy fried egg.

What am I celebrating? After a year of isolation alone, it doesn't take much. Today's occasion is that...well...hmmm... I've got it! Today my briefs all came out of the clothes dryer right side out!

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

What better on a cold wet freezing day than a hearty beef stew over spaetzle? Made with leeks, carrots, celery, potatoes, red wine, and house beef stock.

 

[GreenDragon]

So I'm basically trapped in the house; all the major roads and interstates are shut down due to the POLAR VOTEX!

What to do... what to do.... cook!

For breakfast I made donuts from some brioche dough I started last night. YUM!



We have a pink lemonade tree (cross between a lemon and a blood orange it think) in a large pot that produces 15-20 lemons each year. I usually just leave them on the tree and pick them as needed, but with a night of 3F coming up tomorrow I needed to harvest them. So I peeled all the lemons and juiced them. I also took 5 of them and preserved them in salt for use in African dishes (love me some Burbure chicken!). The juice is freezing in ice cube trays and will be used throughout the year. The peels are being candied with a hot simple syrup in a mason jar to be used in all sorts of lovely things.

(In medias res)



When making my stew last night I discovered we were out of chicken stock! So I bought a tray of chicken legs and roasted them in the oven along with some veg, them added them to the stock pot along with two carcasses of whole roasted chickens, some leeks, onions, carrots, garlic, and celery. This will simmer all day, then I'll remove all the solids and reduce the stock into a 4X concentrate for easier storage. The kitchen smells great today!

 

[deluxestogie]

This beanie weenie soup differs from ordinary bean soup (in addition to having wiener slices) by the addition of molasses, brown sugar and a touch of vinegar. It smells and tastes like B&M baked beans.

Before bed last night, I put dried navy beans and water into a small Crockpot, and set it on Low. By morning, the beans were rehydrated, so I switch to High. Once the beans were well cooked, I added the other ingredients.

The croutons are made from baked pizza crust.

Bob

 

[Indianapiper]

So I'm basically trapped in the house; all the major roads and interstates are shut down due to the POLAR VOTEX!

What to do... what to do.... cook!

For breakfast I made donuts from some brioche dough I started last night. YUM!

View attachment 35228

We have a pink lemonade tree (cross between a lemon and a blood orange it think) in a large pot that produces 15-20 lemons each year. I usually just leave them on the tree and pick them as needed, but with a night of 3F coming up tomorrow I needed to harvest them. So I peeled all the lemons and juiced them. I also took 5 of them and preserved them in salt for use in African dishes (love me some Burbure chicken!). The juice is freezing in ice cube trays and will be used throughout the year. The peels are being candied with a hot simple syrup in a mason jar to be used in all sorts of lovely things.

(In medias res)

View attachment 35230

When making my stew last night I discovered we were out of chicken stock! So I bought a tray of chicken legs and roasted them in the oven along with some veg, them added them to the stock pot along with two carcasses of whole roasted chickens, some leeks, onions, carrots, garlic, and celery. This will simmer all day, then I'll remove all the solids and reduce the stock into a 4X concentrate for easier storage. The kitchen smells great today!

View attachment 35229

You continue to impress me sir. I tried making bone broth once and failed miserably.

 

[Indianapiper]

Quarantine Waffle Celebration

Fried chicken Vienna Sausages, grits, waffles with Parkay margarine and Aunt Jimima syrup, and an over-easy fried egg.

What am I celebrating? After a year of isolation alone, it doesn't take much. Today's occasion is that...well...hmmm... I've got it! Today my briefs all came out of the clothes dryer right side out!

Bob

Question. When you make waffles, how much do you make at one time? When i follow the package directions I get way more waffles then I can justify eating. Also, I pray your Isolation ends, being alone is maddening for me.

 

[deluxestogie]

Shame on me. I don't own a waffle iron. I always use frozen waffles that are put into the toaster. They taste exactly like butter, syrup and anything else I put on it.

Bob

 

[Indianapiper]

Shame on me. I don't own a waffle iron. I always use frozen waffles that are put into the toaster. They taste exactly like butter, syrup and anything else I put on it.

Bob

LOL! I haven't bought a frozen waffle in years! I love making a great big mess in the kitchen when I cook! Helps me feel like I did something good.

 

[deluxestogie]

I no longer own a microwave oven, since they cause frozen burritos.
I no longer own a coffee maker. Instead, I just use gravity, together with a filter cone.
I do own a simple, two-slice toaster, which cost $7 about 20 years ago, and that I use every day. It just keeps on ticking.
I do own a food processor (hidden in the counter cabinet), which I use on occasion, but only when I need to puree something.
But I no longer own a blender, since they cause milkshakes.
I do most of my cooking on stove burners or in my toaster oven.
I own a very small Crockpot that is guaranteed to produce no more than two extra days of leftovers.
My two pressure cookers are non-digital things. Just old fashioned pressure cookers.
I don't own a mixer. I use a stainless whisk.
I do make my pancakes from pancake mix, in a skillet on the stove.

I don't like having my kitchen counter occupied by contraptions. All of my cutting and slicing and dicing and chopping is done with a 12" chef's knife.

SUMMARY: I am a codger who intentionally purchases groceries that mostly require actual preparation and cooking, rather than easy things. It's my diet plan.

Bob the Old

 

[Iowalez]

I made the nicest, fanciest supper night since the surgery last September: baked salmon with blueberry salsa and baked beans with pork belly from scratch in my new Le Creuset Dutch oven, on my new Frigidaire Gallery fancy stove that does everything but wash the dishes afterwards. The kitchen renovations were finished on February 1st. The renovations on the rest of my house starts on the 22nd. I won't be able to cook like this with everything torn up.

 

[deluxestogie]

Beer Bread

I have not tried this, but it sounded interesting.



"... we came up with this idea to bake the bread with the beer, to leave out the water..."

German brewery pairs with bakers to use surplus beer

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — With restaurants and bars all closed due to pandemic restrictions, a Duesseldorf brewery found itself with 6,000 liters (1,585 gallons) of its copper-colored “Altbier” unsold and nearing its expiry date.

apnews.com

Bob

 

[Brown Thumb]

Beer Bread

I have not tried this, but it sounded interesting.

View attachment 35665
BEER YES.

"... we came up with this idea to bake the bread with the beer, to leave out the water..."

German brewery pairs with bakers to use surplus beer

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — With restaurants and bars all closed due to pandemic restrictions, a Duesseldorf brewery found itself with 6,000 liters (1,585 gallons) of its copper-colored “Altbier” unsold and nearing its expiry date.

apnews.com

Bob

 

[deluxestogie]

Marshmallow Cake

First, I bake a single layer of yellow cake (Jiffy Cake Mix). No icing applied. The morning before I intend to eat this for dessert after dinner, I cover the surface of a single slice of yellow cake with mini-marshmallows, and toast it for about 14 minutes at 450°F. That produces this:

It is not all that sweet, but does have a toasted marshmallow flavor. That then goes into the refrigerator for the day. At serving time, I spread it with sour cream, and top it with a dollop of strawberry preserves.

Surprisingly, this is still not as sweet as yellow cake with either icing or a scoop of ice cream.

Bob

 

[GreenDragon]

Like Bilbo Baggins I had an unexpected party last night of four hungry teenagers. Thankfully I had a few bags of French fries, fish, and shrimp in the freezer, so I whipped up a batch of beer batter for the fish and creole breading for the shrimp. I set up a fry station outside so as to not stink up the house, and proceeded to cook. I kept everything warm in the grill as I worked through the batches.



Beer Batter: 1/2 cup corn starch, 1/2 cup flour, salt, pepper, dash of cayenne and dash of nutmeg.
Shrimp breading: equal parts flour, corn meal, and panko bread crumbs. Generous dash of creole seasoning.

I completely filled these two baking sheets with food. This is all that was left!

 

[deluxestogie]

That sounds tasty. It also sounds like a perfect opportunity for a lightly tutored, batter-and-fry-it-yourself gathering. But then, I suppose that nobody was feeling thin afterwards.

Bob

 

[Iowalez]

I work from home and still stay isolated, except for my day laborers from the Mission one day a week to do the house renovation work. For the past month or more, I've been obsessed with mastering country loaves made with natural levain. Sourdough in the US, but this is with young, fresh starter. I was going by the Tartine Bread book mostly. I almost got the big irregular holes I'm after. But I wasn't getting the gluten development in the wet dough from just folding. I threw a lot of failed bread in the dust bin. I went back to the recipe that gave methe closest results.I watched a couple excellent videos. I got some Italian mother yeast culture and started a second starter with that. And I got some new flours. I'm baking inside a Le Creuset dutch oven, and I'm using convection bake at 450 degrees F. Rice flour stopped the dough from sticking to the linen couche fabric in the basket I proof the loaves in.

I'm quite happy with today's bread: it made fabulous toast with butter and raspberry jam. I still want bigger holes in the crumb, but the complex taste and tenderness is there. Today's loaf is part Montana Wheat natural white and white wheat flours, Bobs Red Mill Artisan Bread flour, Occidental bread flour, Winona Patent flour, and a little fine oat and rye flour, with 10 grams of gray Celtic sea salt 2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten, and half a teaspoon of commercial yeast, along with 241 grams of both starters used together. The dough was not as wet this time, intentionally,, and I'm very pleased with the oven spring I got. The crumb is respectable but still not perfect.

 

[smallwanderings]

No-knead sourdough bread

No Knead Sourdough Bread

Our original contribution to the no-knead bread revolution: substitute live sourdough starter for instant yeast to create the ultimate no knead artisan bread loaf.

breadtopia.com

A very informative website about baking bread with a lot of different recipes.

 

[GreenDragon]

I work from home and still stay isolated, except for my day laborers from the Mission one day a week to do the house renovation work. For the past month or more, I've been obsessed with mastering country loaves made with natural levain. Sourdough in the US, but this is with young, fresh starter. I was going by the Tartine Bread book mostly. I almost got the big irregular holes I'm after. But I wasn't getting the gluten development in the wet dough from just folding. I threw a lot of failed bread in the dust bin. I went back to the recipe that gave methe closest results.I watched a couple excellent videos. I got some Italian mother yeast culture and started a second starter with that. And I got some new flours. I'm baking inside a Le Creuset dutch oven, and I'm using convection bake at 450 degrees F. Rice flour stopped the dough from sticking to the linen couche fabric in the basket I proof the loaves in.

I'm quite happy with today's bread: it made fabulous toast with butter and raspberry jam. I still want bigger holes in the crumb, but the complex taste and tenderness is there. Today's loaf is part Montana Wheat natural white and white wheat flours, Bobs Red Mill Artisan Bread flour, Occidental bread flour, Winona Patent flour, and a little fine oat and rye flour, with 10 grams of gray Celtic sea salt 2 tablespoons of vital wheat gluten, and half a teaspoon of commercial yeast, along with 241 grams of both starters used together. The dough was not as wet this time, intentionally,, and I'm very pleased with the oven spring I got. The crumb is respectable but still not perfect.

My wife has been on a similar journey lately trying to get the large holes in her sourdough. She has had the most success when she has the hydration just right (weighing both flour and water) and a long slow rise overnight in the refrigerator. She has a grain mill that she can grind her own flour with, but half the time she just uses King Arthur flour with good results.

This weekend's batch:

 

[Indianapiper]

Beer Bread

I have not tried this, but it sounded interesting.

View attachment 35665

"... we came up with this idea to bake the bread with the beer, to leave out the water..."

German brewery pairs with bakers to use surplus beer

DUESSELDORF, Germany (AP) — With restaurants and bars all closed due to pandemic restrictions, a Duesseldorf brewery found itself with 6,000 liters (1,585 gallons) of its copper-colored “Altbier” unsold and nearing its expiry date.

apnews.com

Bob

I am fascinated by this. I wonder if the beer was Filtered or unfiltered. If it was unfiltered they could have used the yeast in the beer to leaven the bread.