Little Chef: February 2008 Archives
Ok -- updates!
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
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I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
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On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.
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I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
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I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
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Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.
He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
Well first, Happy Birthday to me :D
Second - updates!
In the last month I've made bread, killed my sourdough starter, started another seed culture, cooked with the little guy, painted another mural, was ill for two weeks, and am healthy again!
I'll start with the seed culture/sourdough starter. I killed it. I killed it good!. I started a new one a few days ago, and it is starting to smell like beer. That's a good sign :D I have two more days of cultivation before I convert it to a barm. The barm is the actual sourdough starter. I've asked some questions and done some research on how to preserve your barm, so some will be dried, and another bit will be frozen. when you really want bread, you realize you are about a week from being able to make sourdough.
-----
I finished the second wall in the little guy's room. A continuation of the space scene, this wall is more detailed, little planets, stars, more colors. I'm quite happy with it. It was greeted with an "ISH" and finger point.
-----
On the cooking front, I made carbonara a few days ago. I was 'trying' to be a little healthy and made it with whole wheat pasta. well, the cheese, bacon, wine, and garlic were on point. The pasta was just weird. The texture is different, and the flavor was really strong, almost to the point of overpowering. I know, it seems weird that pasta can overpower the raw garlic and cheese, but it did. I think I will make this again, but make some homemade pasta with white wheat and AP flour. See if that comes out with a better taste/texture while still getting some whole wheat in the diet. Carbonara is a simple recipe to make, and it looks fancy when done.-----
I attempted to make sourdough whole wheat bread. It was a whole wheat brick - a two pound brick - massive bread baking failure on my part. I will attempt this recipe in the future. On the up side - I made a great sourdough bread with cheese mixed in. It came out incredibly good, but I was in a hurry and cut into it a little early (it smelled SO good). Well, I now know why a full size boule is supposed to rest for 2 hours. The first slice was perfect, the second slice was perfect. Warm, cheesy, full of goodness. Then the next slice ran into gooey, sticky, steamy, raw dough. Yeah -- it wasn't done cooking. I freaked out, what should I do? Do I put it back in the oven, do I throw it out, do I just leave it? I opted to leave it alone.
The carryover heat from the initial bake cooked all of the bread. the exposed uncooked dough even cooked up. It was a little tough and deformed there, so I cut that part out, and the rest of the bread was cooked. Lesson - Let the bread rest for 2 hours - it's still cooking!
-----
I got a new banneton, so I now have a round one for boules, and an oblong one for ... um.. rustic loaves?
-----
Lets see, what else can I talk about. The Little Chef! He's really coming along for a 2 year old. He runs into the kitchen and tries to pull the tower over to the counter. Last night, he was mixing his goldfish with flour, salt, and Swedish fish. He loves the spice drawer. We are at the point where he will open the spices and sniff them, then he puts the lid back on and puts them back in the drawer. He helped me make a spice run for some pork a few days ago. I gave him around 7 jars of spices on the counter, he chose to use 4 of them. It was a little strong, so I added some flour to balance it out, but overall, it was quite tasty. He's quite fond of the turmeric, I think the bright yellow color is attractive. I think he used turmeric, cinnamon, cumin, and the cajun spice mix. It was very cute and he was incredibly happy.He has learned *poof* -- I was making some bread while he was in the tower, so I looked at him and did the magician hand thingie - flour flew off my hands. He now will say poof and make the hand gesture. It's so cute. He will even dip his hands in flour and make a tiny little cloud. I think we are a few months away from him actually making bread dough, but he enjoys watching me make it, and he LOVES to eat the final product. He has a little "daddy bread" radar. He would run off with the entire boule if we let him.
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