Why I Oughta...

With a healthy sourdough starter, I figured I should dive right in and bake some bread.  My first attempt was one of the more simple breads:  Pane Cafone.  Turned out pretty good for a first attempt.  Pane Cafone (Country Man's bread) - Produces One Round Loaf 1 Cup Starter 3.5 Cups 00 Flour 1 Cup Water 2 teaspoons salt 1.  Knead starter, flour and water for 5 minutes and let autolyse (have flour absorb water before salt has time to draw it in).  Mix in salt and knead for 2 more minutes.  2.  Cover bowl and proof for 8-12 hours at room temperature.  3.  Punch down and form round loaf without slashing the top.  Proof for 2-4 hours.  4.  Pre-heat your baking stone at 450 for 30-45 minutes. 5.  Bake on pre-heated stone at 450 for 15 minutes. 6.  Reduce temperature to 350 and bake for an additional 45 minutes.  Turning once or twice.  7.  Cool on wire rack. Here's my round dough loaf a...

During the run-up to Christmas, we HORDE both Peppermint and Chocolate-Covered Peppermint Joe-Joe's from Trader Joe's.  They made my 2009 Favorite (Holiday) Things List , and should be on there every year.  Starting at Thanksgiving, every 10 days or so, when Nat (and sometimes I) head to TJ's, we grab at least one box of the cookies and usually two.  To be clear...we eat a lot of these, but so do our guests and most specifically our nieces and nephews.  But...still...we *do* probably eat too many cookies from the end of November to January 1 each year.  I'll admit that! Well...this year, there was a run on peppermint Joe-Joe's.  Our TJ's ran short and was out on two different occasions we went.  My sister went one day and they, too' were out.  Bummer.  But...on a random trip to the Park Ridge TJ's, we ran into this mysterious beast:  The Astounding Multi-Flavor Joe-Joe's package.  Inside, there were four flavors: Pepper...

Last week, I went to our Sears Essentials - which is really just a KMart - to pick up an ornament box. These are tubs that have special dividers that allow for an orderly packing of all of one's ornaments.  Unfortunately, they didn't have any.  The guys there said that I had to go to an *actual* KMart, not just one dressed up as a Sears Essentials.  Bummer. But...as I was nosing around the holiday section, I came across their Christmas Village display.  And...what did my wondering eyes did appear, but a bunch of heavily discounted buildings from Lemax and Department 56.   Lots of them without boxes, some with boxes, but ALL of them at rock-bottom prices.  I'm just a novice when it comes to this whole Christmas Village deal, but the structures that Sears had on display weren't the same as the ones at Menards. I made a promise to myself that I wouldn't go crazy and buy up a bunch of buildings but this stuff was cheap.  Really cheap.  Especially...

It wasn't all fun and trains at Christmas this year, as I was quite the lucky guy!  My in-laws gifted me a JawHorse.   Talk about an awesome gift!   On occasion, I've borrowed my father-in-laws JawHorse to build various things like our deck.  This is a perfect addition to my workshop in the basement.  Don't know what a JawHorse is? Not to make this a total commercial, but.....It is a portable workstation/clamping tool that does just about anything.   It holds boards, doors, projects and with the extension that they got me, even a full 4X8 sheet of plywood.  That's pretty rad. But...the real key is that this thing allows someone to work by themselves.  This thing is basically another "set of hands".  No more relying on others to help hold boards when I'm cutting, the JawHorse does that for me. Those of you who've tried to build something solo, you know how difficult it can be.  Just "holding" the end of a board while you cut is...

Just like last year , I'm going to document my Favorite (Holiday) Things.  But...I'm not Oprah, so don't look under your chairs - all of you readers won't be getting these these things from me!  Here they are, in no particular order. 2010 Favorite (Holiday) Things 1.   Bass Pro Shop and their free photos with Santa.  We went to Marshall Fields on State Street and had the Babe sit with Santa.  And they proceeded to get us for $20 for the photo.  However, when we were in Bolingbrook, I took the Babe to see Santa at Bass Pro .  And sure, they *tried* to upsell me on photo key chains and such, if you say "no thanks", they let you out of there with a nice photo for free! 2.   Our new blowmold Santa, sleigh and reindeer.  I picked him up this year after eyeing the pair for a few years.  The plan is to add a reindeer each year and eventually get a full set just like Clark W. Griswold.   Just waiting for the prices to drop! 3. ...

It's alive! Look at all those bubbles!  That's a wide-mouth quart mason jar and the starter is all the way up to the top lip.  That's a lot of growth.  Right after I feed the jar, I split it into 2.  If all goes well, I'll have 2 starters to work from for those occasions when I'm doing a lot of baking.  Just a few more feedings (and thin-ings) and we're on our way to dough.  Lots and lots of dough. Sourdough Starter:  Day One Sourdough Starter:  Day Two

Looks like we might have something, here!  After feeding the starter some flour and water, I'm seeing some bubbles. This *should* double in size in the next day.  After a bit of thin-ing (dumping of some of it to remove acidity) and feeding, we should be on our way to the finest breads and pizza skins in the land! Sourdough Starter:  Day One