Fun Stuff > CHATTER
A Cooking Thread?
Welu:
Made some spaghetti bolognese with a ton of veg (onions, mushrooms, carrots and spinach, oh and tomatoes) and whole-wheat pasta and lean turkey mince. Even though I like a lot of types of vegetables, I'm still picky with a lot of food so even though I know it's hidden in there, it's still preferable to having it on the side and eating the same stuff separately. Also it bulks it out so it's more than enough for two meals for me and my partner. Could probably stretch to three if we can learn portion control.
Tova:
I recently found a neat recipe for salt and vinegar roast potatoes. Where have you been my whole life?
In a nutshell: Scrub and/or peel potatoes, and slice into even 3/4 inch or 1cm coins. Put into saucepan and cover with vinegar (or diluted vinegar). Bring to the boil, boil for five minutes, then turn heat off and let it sit for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Drain potatoes, put into roasting pan, toss with olive oil/fat-of-your-choice, salt and pepper, and put in oven. 20-25 minutes, then flip them and continue roasting for another 10-20 minutes. Keep an eye on them towards the end.
They are pretty good.
LTK:
So on the second go I managed to put a pizza together: it was quite tough, but otherwise tasty. I'm wondering what kind of water-to-flour ratio I should be using, because the measurements I converted from the recipe were 200 ml water and 250 g flour, but that just resulted in a sticky paste that was impossible to knead. The same thing happened on my first attempt and that one was a total disaster, so I looked up another recipe that used 500 g of flour and 250 ml water, so I figured I was safe to dump in an extra 100 g flour and that made it more manageable.
Maybe I didn't use enough yeast - I bought fresh yeast so I used half of the amount listed for dry yeast - or maybe I did use a bit too much flour. I was kneading for more than ten minutes, so I don't think it's that. Anyone have ideas for what I could tweak? Does fresh yeast need more sugar, maybe?
Cornelius:
I think you may be right that your water-to-flour ratio might be off. The recipe I use has about a 1-2 water-flour ratio. However, in practice, I just start mixing my water in a bit at a time, until I have the right consistency - somewhat springy. In general it's somewhat less than half water.
For 1 kg of flour, I have some 2-3g dry yeast. I really should check how much exactly. I don't use any sugar in my recipe. Some oregano, at times.
What you could try, is to activate your yeast before you mix it in. Some lukewarm water, a bit of sugar, and dissolve your yeast in there. Just set it aside for a while; you'll see it growing. If it gets out of hand, put it in the fridge for a while. Although, if it does get that far out of hand, be careful, and adjust your dosage, to avoid it rising too much. (Or if you're brewing, to avoid an excess of pressure.)
Morituri:
Sounds like the water-to-flour ratio is off. But you figured that out on your own.
If you're starting with dry yeast, it may also be best to mix it with the water and a *tiny* bit of the flour (and/or a spoonful of sugar) and let that stand for a few minutes before commencing with making the dough.
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