Fun Stuff > CHATTER
A Cooking Thread?
LTK:
--- Quote from: Cornelius on 19 Mar 2018, 12:21 ---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.)
--- End quote ---
Yep, already did that. The yeast is a brown clay-like substance and I put a half-teaspoon of that in 200 ml water with a tablespoon of sugar. I didn't actually see it foam as suggested, butsome of the brown bits started to float to the surface so it was definitely somewhat alive. I read the water was supposed to be 35 degrees; the first time I put it in water that was about 50 (the recipe said 'warm water') so that might not have helped. Hence I couldn't just add the water bit by bit, as the yeast was already dissolved in it. Using half the water would also mean I'd only end up with half the yeast.
The dry yeast used in the recipe was also measured in teaspoons, but it's probably denser when dry (or less dense?), so I would have been better served with a measure of weight... Oh well. I'll keep 2-3 g of yeast per kg of flour as a guideline for next time.
Cornelius:
30-35°C is good, 50 is too hot, so it may have been that.
Usually, I only take about a quarter of my water, to get my yeast started - if I bother at all; my baking yeast doesn't really need it.
Ignominious:
You don't need sugar for pizza dough so knock that out of your recipe. About 2-1 flour to water is good. Remember that if you think you need to add water to a dough mixture, always add half of what you think you might need, mix and then reassess. Also worth adding a bit of olive oil to the mixture instead of the water, particularly of you like a crispy crust.
However, if you're the sort of person with a bit of spare time each day and a touch of discipline, try this recipe that's worked well on another forum I frequent.
--- Quote ---500g of 00 flour in the bowl
Then add
10g dry yeast
10g sugar
10g of salt
Mix
1 glug of extra virgin olive oil
Mix
300ml of cold water (might want a bit more, no more than 25ml)
Mix then knead (doesn't need to be too much)
Put in an oiled tub let it rise in the fridge - Edit
Knead
Then just repeat the last 2 steps for four days.
I'm cooking it on a seasoned medium weight baking tray for roughly 15 mins at 280 in the top oven, I've also used the frying pan method, I have to say the oven works better for me. The fan oven produced terrible results. Also I'm making granma slice (base - cheese - sauce).
--- End quote ---
Aimless:
Today, I butterflied some chicken breasts and sliced them up so they were really thin, salted them and spread some tasty very soft blue cheese all over them, rolled them up into two thick sausage-like things, wrapped them in bacon and then tightly wrapped them in clingfilm, cooked them at 60 degrees celsius for a while and then finished them off quickly in a hot frying pan in order to brown the bacon. Served with slow-baked butternut squash, herb-marinated artichoke-hearts, a creamy slightly tomatoey chicken velouté and a little lemon. Think it needs a little finely chopped rosemary and I def. want to try it out with chicken thighs. I don't really like chicken breast but it was on sale :o
Aimless:
--- Quote from: LTK on 01 Mar 2018, 13:01 ---I made chili using dry beans - kidney and black. Soaked them overnight and cooked them in the chili for 1.5 hours, but they were still significantly tougher than canned beans and some of the black beans were pretty grainy when chewed. It was still good to eat, I didn't break my teeth on them or anything, but I still think I didn't quite get the intended result.
Does anyone cook with dry beans regularly? What's your experience?
--- End quote ---
Salt the water in which you soak the beans, about 1 tbsp per litre. Makes for creamier, less tough beans.
I usually cook them separately and then add them to the meat towards the end. Peas and lentils I usually cook together with the meat.
When everything's done, heat some oil in a skillet, toss in some garlic, onions, cumin, coriander seeds or whatever spices you like, let it brown a little and then mix it into the main dish.
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