brisket, finally

I never make brisket because it's tough to do well.  I've made a couple in my day, 1 mediocre, 1 really bad, but both so long ago, I forget the details.  The challenge of brisket is the long cooking time, about 18 hours with good temperature control.

Some time back I happened on the BBQ Pit Boyz video on brisket.  It's over 18 minutes long and worth every minute spent watching.   I was inspired.  I forgot all my past attempts and ran to get myself a 6 and half pound brisket with a good fat cap.  I did absolutely everything they did on the vid, so this post isn't anything more than a validation of their method.  Mustard coat, good spice rub, refrigerated a few hours, set the grill for indirect, minion method, water bath (I never do water baths, and I think maybe it was responsible for the good temp control I achieved), 225-250° for 14 hours, wrapped it for 2 hours at ca. 150°F, and finally let it rest, still wrapped, for a final 2 hour rest.  Started it Wednesday night and it was ready just in time for dinner Thursday.  Spend the time, watch the video and make this!  Thanks BBQ Pit Boyz.

Fat side up, rubbed, grill set for indirect with water pan.

After about 14 hours cooking at 225-250F

Just look at it!

Pizza dough

Making pizza is as much about the cooking method as it is the dough.  So that's the caveat with which I share this not very special prep.  The baking of the pie is a little different as many will attest to.

But, many still ask for the dough prep, here's mine - and sorry, it's in grams, get an Escali [Note: this is not an affiliate link] for $20 and get over it.  Weigh things when you cook, you'll be surprised how much better your intuition becomes in cooking and in everyday interactions with the world when you know a few common weights.

In addition to a balance, get a bread machine to be a dedicated kneading machine.  These things are about $5 in a thrift store and they are ALWAYS in stock, the kneading is all the same and it's better than a Kitchen Aid, way better.  Oh, and they absolutely suck at baking bread, hence the abundant supply in thrift stores.

To the bread machine pan add in any order:
unbleached white flour, I am dedicated to Montana Sapphire, 575 g
water, 400 g
Adriatic sea salt evaporated from the shell of a tortoise, 10 g (kidding, any salt)
olive oil, 50 g
sugar, 10 g
a pack of INSTANT active dry yeast.  Don't use the bottle, don't worry about price, you're making 4 pizzas worth, don't use the bulk bottle, don't use it no matter what, instant active dry yeast, not the bulk bottle.  Got it?

Set to spin on dough cycle, remove when it looks like the video:


When it's kneaded about 5-10 minutes, dump on counter, flour the ball so it won't stick and store in fridge.  I cut off 1/4 of the ball, about 250 g for a 10-12" pie.  This will stay in the fridge for a week or keep in the freezer for longer.

Enjoy

Tortilla or piadina?

I haven't been thrilled with my tortillas of late and decided to search for a flour tortilla instead of masa to see if I liked them better. I found one of Bayless' many recipes. I wanted to just try a little batch to see what they were like. I made a math mistake and scaled the fat wrong, but the experiment was fun.

I cut lard (20 g, should'be been 10 g) into white wheat flour (60 g) and salt (ca. 1 g) and to this added water (40 g). The 100 g of dough was divided, rounded and pushed into squat 4" diameter disks to rest. I pushed them into ca. 8" discs using a tortilla press and tossed 'em in the fridge (fatty dough sticks, it's easier to handle when slightly chilled) and fired up my gas grill with the cast iron grate.

I cooked them a minute or so each side. We probably should've let them sit a bit, but ate them both immediately. They were really good, but a tad doughy tasting. I may not have aged the dough sufficiently before cooking.

I think these were a success, but they raise a few of questions:
1. This is essentially the same recipe (only white, not wheat flour) as the Piadina of Emiglia-Romagna. Piadina were graciously served to us by dear friends some time ago and I'm not sure if they taste similar because it was long ago. I'll be consulting with them soon when I remake these.

2. Are they satisfactory tortillas? Again, I think they have to be repeated with unbleached white.

3. Are they good? Heck ya, no matter how they're used, they were good.  I'm still not sure if this is the way I want to cradle my taco fillings though.  Again, precooking resting is in order as is the use of white flour.

Here's a couple images of the pressed out tortillas and final cooked product:

Guest blogger Frankie: On the international appeal of meat and potatoes (and cheese)

Relaxing at her Clintonville ranch, Frankie talks about tonight's casserole and the bigger scene in simple foods.

Not creme de menthe

Me: When did you get the idea to prepare and serve us Tater Tot Casserole?
Frankie: Yesterday at camp (Kids in the Kitchen, OSU's Camp Recky) we made it and split 1 casserole for two tables. We had 2 or 3 tables and 1 piece each and you won't believe how good it is!
Me: How much cheese?
Frankie: A lot! We used the whole bag yesterday.
Me: What goes in first?
Frankie: First the meat, then the tater tots and then cheese and then it's cooked.
Me: Should I cook the meat first?
Frankie: Yes and I'll put it together.
Me: [meat is browned and Frankie places it in an even layer in the baking pan] How many tater tots go on top?
Frankie: Rows of 5 until it's filled, then tons of cheese.
Me: Toss it in the oven.
Frankie: No you, it's too hot for me [I toss it in].
Me: Do French kids eat tater tot casserole?
Frankie [exasperated]: I don't know, and could you make me a bigger lunch for tomorrow?
Me: Peanut butter, jelly then peanut butter?
Frankie: Duh.
Me: Got it.

Voilá
Fin

petite brioche

In four acts, here's our breakfast brioche. Recipe is here, only this time I baked at 375°F and used half white wheat and half unbleached white. I like all unbleached white better. This time I was testing out my mini parchment scheme. It worked swimmingly. Despite the yolk glaze dripping below to the bottom of the breads, no stick to the paper. All popped out. Here's a few images of the morning.

The dough had been in the fridge yesterday and taken out last night at 11 to warm up all night on the counter. The dough was scaled to 60 gram pieces, rounded and plopped in for a 20 minute proof.

After their proof, a painted yolk glaze.

After about 25 minutes at 375°F.

Inside they're very tender. Still, all unbleached white would be better. After all, there is nothing healthy about these.

Wouldn't these be a killer bun for sliders?

mini molds

Ah, I remember why I don't make brioche much. When I do the final glaze, the glaze drips below the edge of the bread into the loaf pan and makes the bread stick. When a beautiful loaf comes out of the oven, nothing is more anger-provoking than that kind of complication. So, a better mold - a mini too. I like to make small breads to share, especially such rich ones.

I recently tried cupcake wrappers, but these suck for breads, they don't release. Here's my yet untested solution. Wish me luck. Parchment never fails, it always releases a bread. I'm going to line my little muffin trays for the loaves tomorrow morning.

Cool huh!

Brioche

They disappeared minutes after baking.
I'll replace this image when I remake them.

I don't make brioche enough. Recipes vary, but it's essentially a yeast-leavened pound cake. I made a bunch this morning to give to Frankie's teachers. Not all of the rolls made it to school. 500 Feet out of our driveway, Frankie and I spied a yappie Jack Russel. She was tagged, running in the street and we decided to use the bread to aid our rescue attempt. Frankie placed bits of her roll in the street; the dog snatched it and ran back to bark at her. Similar schemes played out for the next 20 minutes until a neighbor drove up and told us we'd never get her. The dog lived 2 houses down and rules the street. She was totally playing us. At least we gave her breakfast.

Recipe
Sugar, 50 g (1/4 C)
milk, 160 g warm (1/2 C)
eggs, 3 yolks, 2 whites
softened butter, 57 g
canola oil, 57 g
yeast,  1 pkt rapid rise (7 g)
salt, 7 g and (1.5 t)
just enough flour, 420 g (3 C unbleached white)
...to make it stick together (I spun the dough in a bread machine for 5 minutes). Ferment 1 h at room temp, chill for 5-24 hours, let warm at room temperature the night before baking (or at least 2-3 hours at room temperature, form into 60 gram rolls, proof 20 minutes in cupcake tins, paint with yolk, bake 350°F about 30 minutes, makes 12-15. Distribute to loved ones.

Focaccia tip, tie down the rosemary with a fastener of dough.

Hand rolled semolina pasta filled w ramp, ricotta & walnuts and Baparoma baguettes to accompany dinner

All to be served w/ minted pea puree and grilled lamb. Perfect. Simple.

Crusty breads in a pan using passive steam

Recently I was poking around Ruhlman's Ratio and noticed his raving of the cooking a boule in the covered, then uncovered, pot as the most valuable part of Lahey's no knead bread. I've had some luck with this, but the results weren't always consistent, but I think it's because of the hydration level of the dough inside. I wanted to explore this more.

Last weekend I made a sourdough starter. I don't know if this really counts as a sourdough starter, but it's close enough. I made a poolish of 1:1 flour:water (w/w) and a ca. 1/8 t yeast and let it ferment overnight, dumped out all but ca. 50 g and refreshed a few times over the next few days with 1:1 flour:water (100 g each) and by the 2nd-3rd refresh, considered it a starter. Purists, go stomp on grapes or dissect a rasin or whatever it is you do to get a starter, I'm busy.

I plopped a 100 g of the starter into water (300 g) and unbleached white flour (Montana Sapphire, 500 g) and salt (9 g) and let it knead in a bread machine.* The first rise went overnight and formed it into a boule and placed it in a covered sauce pan to proof until "double," always a tricky estimation on a sourdough - in this case 5 hours, but it's tough to overproof a sourdough, so don't fear. I baked it in a simple 3 3/4 qt sauce pan covered for 40 minutes at 425, removed the cover and baked until brown on top.

*Bread machines are abundant and about $5 in any thrift store.

Notes to me
-Cast iron isn't needed for this capture of steam (steam from the dough alone is referred to by some as passive steam), in this case, I only used a medium heavy saucepan.

-Cooking like this, as in the Baparoma steam pan, doesn't even require the oven to be preheated

-This covered/uncovered method appears incredibly robust compared to any baking on a stone or other surface I've tried (with regard to spring and crust).

-I don't like the size of the Baparoma steam pan and may fabricate my own covered aluminum/ss/? pan, more efficiently sized for the oven based on this and ongoing expts.  Lowes has some conveniently sized pieces of metal to work with.  I'm thinking about 24" long and cylindrical with a slightly flat bottom and loose fit lid ...

-If anyone has ever heard of another term for passive steam in this context, please let me know via the comments, thanks.

(Did anyone catch the white squishy hot dog rolls in the background of the first image?  Hah, I'll eat anything.)

Roasted Legumes: lima bean edition

Given my recent fear of the purported evils of high glycemic foods, I've been interested in anything to prevent my 2 pm attack on the vending machine for that 2 oz pack of Cheese Its I lust for. Some time ago, I posted an interesting snack of roasted cannellini beans. They were a great roasted legume and clearly a good snack even Atkins might approve of.

I've dabbled with the recipe since then; some problems during roasting caused irregularities in the final bean. Some were soft, others ethereal and crisp. This time, I chose Lima to practice with. Aside from over salting them, the texture on these is what I was looking for, uniformly crisp. I think the key is overcooking the bean prior to roasting.

A pound of small lima beans were cooked overnight at barely a perk on the stove. They were overcooked but still hanging together. See final pot of cooked beans.

cooked very well, no al dente here

I drained the beans (carefully, they're kind of fragile) and dumped them in a big roasting pan, squirted them with olive oil and sprinkled salt (mistake, they were cooked in salted water and didn't need this final dash of salt). I didn't work to hard to break up the plopped pile o' beans. As the oven dried them out, I started giving the pan a shake every 30 minutes or so. Eventually all the beans separated into their own crispy goodness and the batch was finished in about a couple hours. Here's the final product. For those couting calories, the oil added prior to roasting was only about 20 grams per pound and the dry-roasted weight about 90% of the starting bean weight. So, I'd estimate a 30 gram sample (1 ounce) to be about 90 calories, 22 grams carbs and 7 grams fiber. Other beans would definitely be good too, but cook them well for a uniform final roasted texture.

final product (go away Cheese Its!)

The Baparoma Steam Pan and my first baguette with it

I recently learned of a pan called a Baparoma steam pan. The company is out of business and the pans can only be found for sale used. I scored one recently on Ebay, pricey. It was $80, but I've been pursuing crusty baguettes for too long not to get it. It's a historical artifact to me.

It's a simple idea.  Two tablespoons of water in the bottom (far left pan, 15 ml center, 7 mL on either side), the middle pan goes on top of that, the baguette sits in the middle of the second pan and the lid goes on while the loaf proofs.  Uncover, dock the loaf, cover and place the assembly into a 425F oven for 20 minutes, then take off the cap and let it cook another 10-12 minutes, remove and crackly, shiny goodness.  A near flawless baguette.  Superior volume, crackly razor-sharp crust, lovely taste.

Nice ears from the oven spring

Frickin' perfect

So, why am I pissed?  It's a crutch.  A (low output) link from a pro steam deck oven to a home oven that I haven't been able to duplicate in any of my attempts.  I'm frustrated.  Look at the damn perfect loaf.  Just frigging awesome.  So. Angry.

PS I learned of this at The Fresh Loaf, one of the best bread baking forums I've ever read. I think mostly home bakers, but pretty darn skilled bakers and nice people.

Was it worth the $80? To me? Knowing the result, I'd have paid 10X that. Now I need to crack it and figure out a home oven workaround.

simply sublime

sorry for the mediocre image

During the great 2011 baguette giveaway The Kate was kind enough to stop by and give me some precious loot - Jam!!  This one,  now depleted, was Strawberrry.  It was sublime and got our mornings off to a special start.  Thanks Kate.

My version of the famous and rare Baporarma steam pan (more later)