Comments for Dave's Kitchen

Comment on Batter-fried Fiddleheads: a Spring Preview by Shannon

Shannon — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:23:13 +0000

Thank you SO MUCH for this recipe. They came out PERFECT and I can’t wait to share them with my family for mother’s day!

Comment on Pain au Levain: my Introduction to Artisan Bread by Juergen

Juergen — Tue, 08 May 2012 20:59:59 +0000

You really don’t need $5 bags of King Arthur flour to feed your starter. The cheapest all-purpose flour available to you will do just fine.

Remember that the flour only serves as food. What you want to achieve is a very active colony of yeasts and bacterias that are capable of rising your dough. You can achive this with cheap flour.

Once the starter is active and alive and added to your final dough, it will naturally rise your dough (assuming you use more expensive bread flour with a higher protein content for your final dough). A higher protein content will make gluten development easier and assures a stetchy and springy dough.

For feeding I always use ultra-cheap all-purpose flour with a protein content of 11%. For making my final dough I switch to more expensive bread flour with a protein content of 12% and add about 20% of starter activated with the cheap flour mentioned.

Using expensive flour for feeding is a waste of money.

Comment on Cabbage, Waffles and Corn Chowder: a Cooking Recap of Winter 2012 by Nancy

Nancy — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 20:13:04 +0000

You should bring some with you when you come for Cinco de Mayo.
Please?

Comment on Homemade Cream Cheese a.k.a. Spreadable Yogurt by Dave's Kitchen » Cabbage, Waffles and Corn Chowder: a Cooking Recap of Winter 2012

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 18:58:10 +0000

[...] tasty, and hearty enough to keep me on me feet. I eat it for breakfast, smeared with plenty of yogurt cheese and the peach butter that I canned last [...]

Comment on Pain au Levain: my Introduction to Artisan Bread by Dave's Kitchen » Cabbage, Waffles and Corn Chowder: a Cooking Recap of Winter 2012

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 18:37:57 +0000

[...] still making whole wheat leavain bread, every other weekend or so. It’s coming out pretty good every time, though I’m still [...]

Comment on Soy Burgers: the Tao Restaurant’s Big Veg by Jessie

Jessie — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 01:16:02 +0000

The Tao of cooking was, and still is, one of my favorite cookbooks. Sally’s Soy Burger is second to none. I make it all the time – it’s a family favorite.

Comment on Ben Shaw, Poultry Farmer, Garden of Spices Farm by {backyard-to-kitchen poultry} Rooster Nuggets | FROM SCRATCH CLUB

{backyard-to-kitchen poultry} Rooster Nuggets | FROM SCRATCH CLUB — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 10:03:03 +0000

[...] was surprisingly easy as usual; I loaded up the boys in a poultry crate, drove the 15 minutes to Ben Shaw’s on-farm processing facility, deposited my crate outside the door and went on my way. A couple of hours later I returned, wrote [...]

Comment on Chicken – Chorizo Chili by Crystal

Crystal — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 21:34:14 +0000

When do the bay leaf and cooked chorizo enter the picture?

Comment on My Simple, Mini Christmas Dinner by EJ

EJ — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 03:30:03 +0000

Sounds delicious, Dave.

Comment on Pain au Levain: my Introduction to Artisan Bread by wilkinsr

wilkinsr — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 00:04:37 +0000

Geez, I don’t know how many loaves you bake each week, but you may want to scale back on the amount of levain you keep as a pet. I keep my starter in the fridge with a weekly feeding schedule. I generally scale a 100 grams of starter with 50 g of flour and 50 g of water. The activity level is low, but when I’m ready to go, I activate the levain at room temperature with a 3 times a day feeding schedule over a four day period. Right now, I’m getting ready to make an Italian levain with 100% starter (50g), 100% bread flour (50g), and 50% (25g) water. Costco sells 50lb bags of high gluten flour pretty cheap and it’s a good alternative to feeding with King Arthur Bread Flour .