Food & Cooking

[Rybo]

I can't even get a starter that I'm confident in.  It never has quite the rise I feel like it needs.  

[Inelastic]

8 minutes ago, Rybo said:

I can't even get a starter that I'm confident in.  It never has quite the rise I feel like it needs.  

Are you referring to the rise of the starter or the dough? What hydration level (water by weight / flour by weight) do you have your starter at? For my starter, I keep it at 100% hydration. Once I feed it, it will rise to 2x the size before it falls. It usually peaks around 8-9 hours when the temp is around mid 70s. Now that it's in the 60s in my kitchen, it takes more like 10-11 hours. If it doesn't rise that much at its peak, then I re-feed it and wait again until it does. At 150% hydration, it takes more like 6 hours to reach its peak, but it doesn't really rise at all since it's too liquidy for the air bubbles to stay put.

[whm1974]

17 minutes ago, Rybo said:

I can't even get a starter that I'm confident in.  It never has quite the rise I feel like it needs.  

Let the Starter get more active after you feed it?

[Rybo]

3 hours ago, Inelastic said:

Are you referring to the rise of the starter or the dough? What hydration level (water by weight / flour by weight) do you have your starter at? For my starter, I keep it at 100% hydration. Once I feed it, it will rise to 2x the size before it falls. It usually peaks around 8-9 hours when the temp is around mid 70s. Now that it's in the 60s in my kitchen, it takes more like 10-11 hours. If it doesn't rise that much at its peak, then I re-feed it and wait again until it does. At 150% hydration, it takes more like 6 hours to reach its peak, but it doesn't really rise at all since it's too liquidy for the air bubbles to stay put.

The problem I run into is that even after several weeks of consistent feeding at 100% hydration, I never get that 2x rise, which leads to...

 

3 hours ago, whm1974 said:

Let the Starter get more active after you feed it?

...I have tried my anemic starter in bread and it just turns into anemic bread.  It's got a decent flavor but the crumb is just tiny and sad.  

 

I'm using unbleached bread flour and pretty heavily filtered water (city water through a 6 phase reverse osmosis filter).  Temps generally hover in the high 70's -- which should be a freakin' feeding frenzy for yeast -- but my starters are always so, so sad

[whm1974]

28 minutes ago, Rybo said:

The problem I run into is that even after several weeks of consistent feeding at 100% hydration, I never get that 2x rise, which leads to...

 

...I have tried my anemic starter in bread and it just turns into anemic bread.  It's got a decent flavor but the crumb is just tiny and sad.  

 

I'm using unbleached bread flour and pretty heavily filtered water (city water through a 6 phase reverse osmosis filter).  Temps generally hover in the high 70's -- which should be a freakin' feeding frenzy for yeast -- but my starters are always so, so sad

How about using whole grain flours? Or Mixed Grain Wholemeal?

[Rybo]

7 hours ago, whm1974 said:

How about using whole grain flours? Or Mixed Grain Wholemeal?

I've tried whole wheat flour a time or two.  Same result.  

[whm1974]

1 hour ago, Rybo said:

I've tried whole wheat flour a time or two.  Same result.  

But still  tastes good right?

[Anghammarad]

my late wife started years ago baking yeast/sourdough bread for us with whole spelt/fine spelt mix... 

 

Depending on the weather the dough needs to rise for different amount of time... until it looks over the rim of the dough bowl can be 30 minutes or 2 hours... 

 

The final produkt though... I carry on baking that bread, even getting the spelt from a mill that only mills local nearly untreated stuff... 

 

the smell when it leaves the oven... mhm... 

 

when cooled off, I sometimes enjoy it with a self made leek cream soup... 

 

if someone wants the recipe... please drop me a PM

[whm1974]

OK I had some Mandu beef dumplings Thursday for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. And some hash brown patties for a snack in the later evening. I used Virgin Oil since that was I had.

 

Since I use Butter for frying eggs for sandwiches, I did figured out that I had to increase the temperature slightly to properly fry the dumplings and hash browns. However while Virgin Olive's smoke point is higher then butter, but not that much higher so I'm thinking of using other cooking oils and shortenings for frying other items besides eggs.

 

Now I have a skillet and yet to own a deep fryer. So what are my choices for such cooking? I've been reading up on using them, but have limited experience with frying. Other then eggs of course.

 

What do you use? 

[Sir Asvald]

We used to deep fry but not anymore. Last time we deep fried was 4 years ago?

[whm1974]

7 minutes ago, Sir Asvald said:

We used to deep fry but not anymore. Last time we deep fried was 4 years ago?

Well I'm thinking of using either Lard or Peanut Oil to pan fry foods. For frying eggs, butter works fine.

[Letgomyleghoe]

I use a wide semi deep copper pan, and regular vegetable oil for deep frying, it's a specific type of pot, but i forgot the name of it.

 

as for regular pans, copper when i want something easy to clean, cast iron when i want to cook a nice meal. 

 

(edit:) for oil I use vegetable and avocado, butter, and occasionally when i have it rendered pork/beef fat.

[whm1974]

5 minutes ago, Letgomyleghoe said:

I use a wide semi deep copper pan, and regular vegetable oil for deep frying, it's a specific type of pot, but i forgot the name of it.

 

as for regular pans, copper when i want something easy to clean, cast iron when i want to cook a nice meal. 

 

(edit:) for oil I use vegetable and avocado, butter, and occasionally when i have it rendered pork/beef fat.

I only used Lard a few times in my life. Fried eggs, and I rather have butter for that. I have to other Dishes for Lard or Suet.

[DoctorNick]

I mainly use olive oil when pan frying. Sunflower oil when deep frying. I hardly ever deep fry.

[Dylanc1500]

Cast Iron skillet with crisco and a stick of butter.

[LAwLz]

Maybe it's because English is my secondary language but I am having a really hard time following this thread.

When you say fry, you mean like in a frying pan, right? Coat the pan in some type of fat and then put food in it so that it cooks.

When you say deep fry, you mean submerging the food in some kind of fat until it is cooked and has a crispy outside. Correct?

 

Are you asking for suggestions on how to cook hash browns and dumplings?

 

If that's what you are asking then it depends on how you want them. Regular fried food and deep fried foods are essentially two different dishes. To me they are so different asking "fried or deep fried hash brown" is like asking "steak or hamburger".

 

 

I don't deep fry stuff. It's messy and getting rid of the oil is a pain in the ass. I typically use a frying pan, non-stick, and then some of this stuff:

 

Not sure if it's a Swedish thing or not. In any case, it's a mix of canola oil and butter which means it is 80% fat. It behaves and tastes like butter when cooking with it, but the oil makes it liquid. It's basically like pre-melted butter. It splashes way less than oil too which is a big plus.

[Moonzy]

A wok -asian theme plays is background-

[whm1974]

4 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Maybe it's because English is my secondary language but I am having a really hard time following this thread.

When you say fry, you mean like in a frying pan, right? Coat the pan in some type of fat and then put food in it so that it cooks.

When you say deep fry, you mean submerging the food in some kind of fat until it is cooked and has a crispy outside. Correct?

 

Are you asking for suggestions on how to cook hash browns and dumplings?

 

If that's what you are asking then it depends on how you want them. Regular fried food and deep fried foods are essentially two different dishes. To me they are so different asking "fried or deep fried hash brown" is like asking "steak or hamburger".

 

 

I don't deep fry stuff. It's messy and getting rid of the oil is a pain in the ass. I typically use a frying pan, non-stick, and then some of this stuff:

 

Not sure if it's a Swedish thing or not. In any case, it's a mix of canola oil and butter which means it is 80% fat. It behaves and tastes like butter when cooking with it, but the oil makes it liquid. It's basically like pre-melted butter. It splashes way less than oil too which is a big plus.

Yes I mean frying pan for Frying and deep frying for submerge  foods in fat/oil.

[airborne spoon]

i have a cast iron pan i fry stuff in from time to time. If it will be in there for a while then ill use grapeseed oil for its high smoke point its also the oil i use when i need to reseason a pan because i cooked something in it that took off some of the glaze.

[asquirrel]

The secret to really good frying is having the ability to quickly re-heat the oil once you add something. Some people do this with Cast Iron (high thermal mass), others have overbuilt heater coils. Natural gas is simultaneously great and dangerous. Any splashes or spills = fire. But, it does have the energy to quickly re-heat oil when you add your food.

 

I know you weren't asking, but when you buy a cheap deep frying unit from a store, they have anemic heating elements, so when you drop fries and other goodies in, the oil temp drops so much that your food can come out oily or soggy if you put too much in at a time (far less than a 'full' basket worth!). If you tripled the heating element capacity (and managed to circulate the oil fast enough to not cross the flash point) then you'd stop having that problem, even in the small fryer, because the oil temp wouldn't drop so far.

[whm1974]

2 minutes ago, asquirrel said:

The secret to really good frying is having the ability to quickly re-heat the oil once you add something. Some people do this with Cast Iron (high thermal mass), others have overbuilt heater coils. Natural gas is simultaneously great and dangerous. Any splashes or spills = fire. But, it does have the energy to quickly re-heat oil when you add your food.

 

I know you weren't asking, but when you buy a cheap deep frying unit from a store, they have anemic heating elements, so when you drop fries and other goodies in, the oil temp drops so much that your food can come out oily or soggy if you put too much in at a time (far less than a 'full' basket worth!). If you tripled the heating element capacity (and managed to circulate the oil fast enough to not cross the flash point) then you'd stop having that problem, even in the small fryer, because the oil temp wouldn't drop so far.

Thanks so much. I do have a cast iron skillet. I could use that instead of using a deep fryer. My Apartment is small and so have limited kitchen space for yet another cooking appliance.

[asquirrel]

Just now, whm1974 said:

Thanks so much. I do have a cast iron skillet. I could use that instead of using a deep fryer. My Apartment is small and so have limited kitchen space for yet another cooking appliance.

sure, many people have successfully deep fried in a cast iron pan. Do have a lid for it, in case you screw up and the oil lights on fire. Google cooking oil fires and learn how to slowly move the lid over the top to put the fire out (just slamming a lid down on it will NOT put the fire out). I am not saying you will screw up...but...respect the danger. Plan to fail. Then, when you don't, you're set for the day your concentration slips. :)

[whm1974]

I watched a documentary on some Tribe(s) a while back in the northwestern in what is now the US that harvest wild Pacific
Salmon on their way to their hatching grounds to spawn. It  mentioned that the Tribe(s) caught, gutted, and smoked said fish for Winter. The food will last them for a whole year, along with with whatever other foods they also found. Stuff such as Kelp, Berries, Venison, or what have you.

 

I am under the impression that the Peoples living their didn't Brine or Salted what they fished. Just simply hanged the Salmon from sticks high up in the "smokehouse" and used green wood to hot smoke the flesh. Well that is the impression I get  anyway.

 

Now does anyone know any more about this subject?  

[whm1974]

6 minutes ago, Caroline said:

Brining or curing is more of a 19th century thing, also american (as in the continent) natives were kind of isolated from the rest of the world so they're often portraited as more primitive than europeans or asians. If they had tons of wood then why not use it to smoke food?

I'm not sure just how exactly Native Americans would have Salted, Brine, or Cured their  Fish and Meat. AFAIK they didn't have access to large enough amounts to Salt to do these things.

 

Well the Northeastern Tribes would have Maple Syrup of sorts and they could have used to that and hung the pieces up and smoked that. No clue if that will work or how it would tasted.

 

Other then find a salt lick or brine pond, and use that that is.

[Jeppes]

I have a hard time believing smoked salmon would stay edible for 5-6months without freezing it or drying it to a rock while smoking. Fermented salmon could store better but I would rather keep a hole open in a lake through a winter