dabrownman's blog

Just ate this one plain before the apprentice could get at it.

When we baked our version of hanseata's ungodly, great and wonderful bread, we said at the time that it was the best bread we have ever baked or tasted here:

These nice looking and good tasting rolls are some thing we normally don’t do since rolls are usually reserved for holidays and bread is served for dinner otherwise.  We wanted a 50% rye SD knotted roll that also used the WW Joe Ortiz cumin starter we like so much.   So we mixed together our standard rye starter and the WW Joe Ortiz one.  It sat in the fridge after the 8 hour build for 4 days while we decided what to do with it.  We probably should have refreshed it again but no time was available.

After pinching off 100g of this combo; Yeast Water and Joe Ortiz’s Cumin, WW Sourdough starter for the donuts and English muffins this past Sunday, we used the remaining 230g of combo starter to make some semolina, durum atta and white whole wheat based herbed bialy’s that had a filling of home made chorizo, caramelized onions, 4 cheeses; brie, aged cheddar, pepper jack and pecorino cheese. The herbs were basil and cilantro.

What a beauty with the cilantro sprinkled on top.

The last time we made English Muffins the kjknits way we took her SD version and added yeast water.  gmakaing made some for her grand daughter and also fried some as donuts!  What a great idea.  Her grand daughter really liked them and they disappeared fast.

Look at that color and the nice DO we got at the Estate Sale down the street.

When I was in architectural school so long ago, way before 4 legged apprentices were allowed in the kitchen, one of my best friends, a fine designer, was of Creole decent from New Orleans - the heart of Creole Country.  Cajuns weren't well thought of in New Orleans and scarcely seen then.  His wife was and still is a Cajun from the bayou country around Lafayette - the heart of Cajun Country where Creoles were shunned and hard to find.  It’s not that they hated each other, after all they were both French based to the core, but it was a bit like thick oil and thin vinegar

I was commenting on txfarmer's very nice 30% rye sandwich bread that we use left over cream to make ice cream in AZ when it is scorching hot in the summer - instead of pechy scones like she does.  The batch finished yesterday, after a 2 day process, came out better than usual because we managed to have most everything on hand to put it over the top.

The first day is used to make the ice cream base:

After getting back from Houston where it rained cats and dogs, I had to bring it back to Phoenix since we have been dry for a year.  It has rained just about every day since returning.   It is monsoon but yesterday, we had to get nearly 1.5" of rain at home where we only get 7" a year.  The clouds were ominous.

Then they got orange in a pinkish way as the sun set.

My SIL, brother and niece really pulled out all the stops for tonight's dinner In Houston.  We drove from Lee's Summit, MO. to their home two days ago.

My SIL had brought back some home grown tomatoes from Wellington MO.  She had some French baguettes and ciabatta in the freezer.  My brother cooked up some wild sockeye salmon on the grill.  SIL made some Sandy Capellini.

For this bread you make your own starter using some WW flour, ground cumin, a tsp of milk and some water that is built up over 3-4 days.  sweetbird did a similar boule that shows how to make it here:

 http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/27528/joe-ortiz-pain-de-campagne-wonderful

We were feeding the yeast water on the 3th of July and didn’t want to throw any YW away.  With the 4th of July the next day and knowing it would only be my apprentice and I for dinner that night, we decided to have some rib eye steak kabobs, veggie kabobs and garam masala rice and beans.