1. Harvest my rapidly growing basil and keep drying it for use in all things ragu (this is kinda done/in progress and not new but cool to me).
2. My mother just made us a free form Challah that was amazing. It reminded me that one not always braid said bread just because. A free form boule took on a beautiful newness. I'll be making it regularly for the kid's lunches. Thanks Ma.
3. As the weather cools down, I'll be cranking up direct grilling, i.e., roasted roots.
4. Hunting for some good cucumbers to try out some pickling recipes found on Twitter (@1kitchen1girl).
5. More Firedome pizza! No new mods, far from perfect, but, it's done. Despite the dearth of posts, I've been trying lots on it and I think I've got it as good as it'll go - and I'm happy with it (almost).
6. Been watching pretzel making vids on YouTube and I'm almost ready to break out the lye. I can't wait!!
7. School's starting and the largely European teachers of my girl's school are in for some treats. Overnight baking and all.
Ambitious list, stay tuned.
Alton's vid on pretzels using NaHCO3, he wimps out on properly using lye.
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7 comments:
That is an ambitious list!
Don't forget you can puree and freeze basil too. We always make a big batch of pesto sans cheese and freeze it in and ice cube tray for easy sauces.
I've frozen it in the past Rachel. Pesto without cheese is a pretty handy staple.
By accident, I recently left a few sprigs in my office, went on vacation and saw the dried twigs when I returned. Delicate, so different from the big-manufactured dry, and surprisingly fragrant. I think I'll try a season dry.
Um Dave, something you left off your list: Have Jim over for dinner......
See #5 (if you can stand pizza again).
Once my basil starts to look peaked, I pulled the whole plant and hang it upside down in the garage. Save the woody stems for smoking fish.
It's about pretzel making season, I can't wait, I been trying to figure out a way of getting the lye solution on the bread w/o dipping it, so messy.
Cheers.
Andrew
Dave-did you score some lye? I'd love to give it a try! I did some pretzels this summer with baking soda dip, not the same. No guts, no glory, I guess!
Andrew, nice idea on the inverted full plant drying. I'll be pulling them all at the end of the season.
Andrew Too, I recall you asking about a sodium salt some weeks back but didn't think it was sodium hydroxide (lye). I thought it was something else I can't recall. Anyway, lye is trivial to find. Most common is Red Devil and it's often in ACE Hardware type stores, but lots of other places. I have tons I can give Trish to take in for you.
I used to use in soap making. I'm still watching vids, but I think it's a simple straight dough, 1 rise, configure to a pretzel, let rise a bit, dip in lye, place on parchment, top with seeds/salt and bake away.
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