Fun Stuff > CHATTER

This thread is about Baking.

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David_Dovey:

--- Quote from: Slick on 04 Jan 2010, 06:07 ---It is tofutti "Better Than Cream Cheese" which is pretty decent. You can find that stuff most places in Canada so I assume it is ubiquitous but you might have trouble finding it in Oz.

--- End quote ---

I have seen it in a few different supermarkets around here but it is basically a crapshoot so you may have to try a few different places.

Professor Snuggles:

Slick:
I kind of wish we could delete the last two posts here?


Anyways, I have just baked a simple pear thing.
-Pastry scraps, rolled thin to cover a bottom of a pie tin
-One pear, sliced, tossed with three tablespoons or so of blackcurrant jam plus two tablespoons honey
-Pear slices laid on top of pastry, remaining scraps rolled to form a cover
-Many steam vents cut (pears are watery!)
-Baked 35 minutes @ 350ºF
-Chocolate sauce (butter and chocolate chips melted) drizzled over top
-awesome.

Miles:
Do any of you guys bake regularly enough to use a starter (Pre-ferment?)? I've been baking a LOT of bread recently but i've been using dried yeast, and i've heard from some people that using a starter is a much more frugal option if you're baking on a regular basis.

Is it difficult? Any experiences to share?

Slick:
I use what I call a pre-ferment, but by that I just mean that I start my yeast going the night before. Usually the word starter, as I've seen it, has been used in the context of a sourdough starter, a symbiotic culture of yeast and lactobacilli (ohhh fancy words!).
For my pre-ferment/overnight starter, it is cheaper because you can get away with using a quarter teaspoon of yeast for a batch of bread, because it'll reproduce as you let it ferment overnight. I'm not sure exactly what 'biga' is, but it is what they call this pre-ferment when talking about italian baking, and it is basically flour and water and a little yeast left overnight.
For a sourdough starter that you keep alive perpetually, it is a bit more of a commitment. I made one of those two years ago, but I let it die, frankensteined it back to life, and then got terribly ill, but as long as you're not famously stupid (I am famously stupid when it comes to harming myself), you'll be fine. To grow your own is a lot of work but a lot of fun a hell of a lot of rewarding. What's easier than growing your own, however, is just getting someone else's, as it'll be stronger and more certain. There are communities dedicated to spreading sourdough starters around, I think you can actually mail order san-fran sourdough starter from people who want to share it.
Making sourdough is cheaper because you don't have to buy yeast, but yeast is not that expensive if you buy it in bulk, which you should be willing to do if you're willing to use a sour starter. You will want to be baking bread at least once or twice a week if you've got a starter, and you do need to feed it even if you aren't using it. Also, some cultures are robust and you can leave them alone when you're on vacation, but mine was weak so I needed people to feed it while I was away.

Anyways! Starting a little yeast fermenting overnight gives you richer flavour and a culture with some culture and uses less yeast, keeping a sourdough culture alive is great if you are baking at least weekly and you can find people near you who will share their goods with you.

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