10/17/11 Karaoke Lover



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What a computer nightmare I set myself up to this weekend. But… perhaps wiping my HD didn’t show full insight into the tools I had available. Anyhow, a foolish waste of time. Thanks to Mike for saving my butt.

Aside from that, not much to blog about. Really enjoyed all your replies to the last strip, more specifically — about making bread and chocolate. The flavor of the bread I made is all good, and the consistency is nice to each but a bit crumbly. I might try more gluten, soak my whole grains a bit first, and then knead it a bit longer. I’m still fiddling with the chocolates. My girlfriend makes almond milk from scratch, and so we have lots of leftover almond pulp. I’m currently trying to make a sort-of vegan almond pulp toffee, then dipped in chocolate. Fun to play.

25 Comments

  1. Filipe

    Ah Lent milk! People used to drink that around here when they took religion seriously. You probably can make vegan almond brownies with the leftovers (I’ve only tried them with full almonds).

  2. pastordan

    You might try letting your bread rise a little longer as well, perhaps half an hour. It also pays to buy the good flour, too. King Arthur’s good, so is the stuff you can get at Costco, believe it or not.

    And what on earth is Dmitri up to?

  3. Christopher

    @Filipe, Lent milk! Amygdalate! Almond brownies, mmmmmm. Excellent idea.

    @pastordan, rise longer. Okay. I read not to let it rise too much. Hm. I’ll try both. And yeah, we used Bob’s Red mill, but are switching over to King Arthur. And Dimitri? Up to sumtin maybe. 😉

    @Herander, dang, those lines behind him/her were a mistake and I forgot to delete them. Will do!

    @TsunamiJane, Alla Pugacheva-1983 Million Roses

  4. pastordan

    Not too much long, Christopher. If it rises and falls back, that’s usually too long. But you can usually let it rise an extra half-hour, even an hour, without doing any harm. You can also try a second rise, if you’re not doing that. But whole grains can be crumbly anyway.

  5. Christopher

    @Leland, did you read Wednesday’s script already? 😉

    @PastorDan, I let it go about an hour. I’ll let it go a wee bit longer and then give it a second rise. Should I do a full 10 minute kneading in between rises? (and also, a final shorter rise once in the pan)

  6. Prairie

    Perhaps the bigger issue for Dmitri is discretion, rather than cash, @frank

    It would be funny if Dmitri went back into the room to discover the eebs had filled it with flowers. 😀

  7. Rana

    No, don’t knead it after it rises. “Punch” it down (really, just sort of gently squish it down with your fist) then let it rise again.

    (Love your strip, both the artwork and the writing… figures that it would be bread that would get me to comment!)

  8. JKCarroll

    Rana, no! He needs to be firm! Punch that dough! Show it who is in charge!! You brought the elements together, you mixed the materials, you introduced the spark of yeast! IT’S ALIVE! And all because of you!

    You brought it into this world. You can take it out.

  9. stevegallacci

    Clearly Dimitri must be doing something VERY right for her to get so – distracted – . Sort of makes you wonder what might happen if one of his future attempts with someone else fails. I’d suspect he’d just take it in stride, but the other party might not be so forgiving, especially if there was a big build-up.

    Dough talk makes me want to do some bread again, nothing fancy, just home-built yeast bread. hmmmm

  10. pastordan

    What Rana said. You punch it down, and you might knead it for a minute or two to rejuvenate the yeasties. The best idea is not to rely on time so much as the condition of the dough. You can track it to make sure it’s exactly doubled, or press down on it gently with two fingers. If the imprint stays, you’re good to go.

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