Date: Mon, 5 Nov 2007 07:34:52 GMT -------------- BEGIN bread-bakers.v107.n031 -------------- 001 - "Doug Essinger-Hileman" < - Re: Sourdough help 002 - "Doug Essinger-Hileman" < - Re: Sourdough in New Zealand 003 - Linda C Subject: Re: Sourdough help Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:06:01 -0400 >I met an American girl online last year and we married on Valentines >day this year on the beach here in New Zealand. We're living here >now but there is one tragedy in the whole story....NO sourdough >bread in NZ to speak of. Alas, I have been exposed to SFO S/D and >nothing else is now good enough!!! :- > >I got hold of a starter here but had extremely poor results. I have >read that local climate had alot to do with it (which I can't >control), but can anyone tell me what other factors come into it? Actually, the local "air" is the largest determining factor, in my opinion. The flavor of the sourdough bread is dependent on the makeup of the yeasties and other beasties, and that varies from locale to locale. You can buy sourdough starter that is cultured and grown in San Francisco, and at the beginning the taste will be just like any sourdough you've had in SF. But if you keep the culture alive, it will eventually replace the SF "character" with the local one. Doug --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v107.n031.2 --------------- From: "Doug Essinger-Hileman" Subject: Re: Sourdough in New Zealand Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 07:06:01 -0400 >using a starter, and then maintaining the starter. Peter Reinhart's >new book, Whole Wheat Breads, also has very complete directions on >creating your own. Happy baking! Reinhart's earlier book, _The Bread Baker's Apprentice_, as well as Daniel Leader's book, _Bread Alone_, also have excellent recipes for making sourdough starter. Doug --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v107.n031.3 --------------- From: Linda C Subject: Bosch Universal Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 06:22:03 -0700 (PDT) Ann Greenberg asked about mixers. Ann, I've never used Cuisinart, but I got a Bosch Universal a few months ago absolutely love it! It makes wonderful dough and good for all my mixing. Linda --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v107.n031.4 --------------- From: RebecB8@aol.com Subject: Re: mixers Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 18:10:06 EDT I have the 525 watt KitchenAid mixer and I had to send it back for repairs. I have had it a little over 2 years and believe me, I would never ever recommend KitchenAid products to anyone. They are just riding on their name. I think that all the new products are made in China and are a piece of junk. I spoke with a repair center and the guy there told me that he has a lot of KitchenAid mixers in for repairs. Most are the newer models. molly in salt lake city. --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v107.n031.5 --------------- From: "Gardner, Meryl" Subject: celiac recipes Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 21:16:52 -0400 I have just been diagnosed with celiac disease, and need to shift from baking "normal" ABM breads to baking ones which are gluten-free. Any recipes would be most appreciated. [Editor's note: please send these to the list.] In addition, if anyone is willing to share tips for dealing with other aspects of celiac, e.g., recommendations for substitutes, suggestions for eating in restaurants, ideas for handling family meals, etc., please send them to me offline. Thank you! Meryl (gardnerm@lerner.udel.edu) --------------- MESSAGE bread-bakers.v107.n031.6 --------------- From: Mike Avery Subject: Re: Mixers Date: Sun, 28 Oct 2007 09:52:04 -0600 Ann Greenberg Asked: >I have been using a KitchenAid Classic mixer for about 5 years. It >works well, but sometimes overheats and/or stalls when it is mixing >6 cups of flour. I thought of buying a stronger Kitchen Aid, but I >don't like the ones where the bowl moves up and down (too little >room for adding ingredients). I had been considering getting a >Bosch or Electrolux, but then I noticed that Cuisinart came out this >year with a stand mixer that looks quite good. > >I would like to know if anyone has tried the new Cuisinart and what >their experience has been. I have owned and used all but two of the mixers you mentioned. I have an original KitchenAid K45SS mixer I bought in 1978. It still gets regular use and I love it. My only regret is that I didn't the larger 5 quart model with the bowl that goes up and down. Since I use the plastic shield to add ingredients, the clearance is the same. On the other hand, I was never sure 1/2 a quart more capacity would have been enough. But the K45, now sold as the Classic, has been a workhorse. Almost every time I've heard about someone having trouble with a KitchenAid I also hear that they made a number of huge batches of whole wheat bread in a row, ignoring KitchenAid's load limits, the decrease in capacity when using whole wheat flour and their "make two batches of bread and then let the mixer cool off for 45 minutes" guideline. If you can live within the KitchenAid's load limits, it's a great machine. When I opened a commercial bakery I bought a 55 quart spiral mixer and a 30 quart Hobart. I needed something to mix small amounts of frostings and to do test bakes with. A friend sold me her Bosch Universal because, as she said, "Everyone tells me they are great, but I HATE it!" So I tried it. And my staff tried it. And we ALL hated it. I sold it on eBay for more than I paid for it. It tends to overheat and overwork dough and its beaters are very fragile. With the KitchenAid, I'll take bread out of the freezer and put it in the KA's bowl to beat the butter. It's noisy, but the KA makes short work of the butter. Bosch warns you not to use butter that is cooler than room temperature. And even that warning was inadequate. We went through several sets of beaters. I still needed more capacity than the KitchenAid, so I bought an Electrolux DLX. It is one of the newer ones with the upgraded motor. It was sold for years and years as the MagicMill, and I am not at all sure it needed a larger, or stronger, motor. But I love it! I can mix 11 pounds of starters, and have encountered no load limits - it if fits into the bowl, the machine handles it. I haven't used the plastic bowl and the beaters yet, but I have been very happy with the dough hook as well as the roller/scraper. The machine has an awful manual, but the mixer really, really works. The timer is very nice. A few weeks ago I made two large batches of bagels back to back and the DLX never faltered or overheated. They've been made for a long time, and there are stories about 50 year old DLX's still going strong. Highly recommended, despite the price and the negative review in Cooks Illustrated. The bowls are wide open, so they are easy to add ingredients to, and to scrape down. I really like the mixer, and it is displacing my long time favorite KitchenAid K45SS. I haven't used the Cuisinart, but did some searching on line. People who buy them seem to love them. They seem to be what was sold in England as the Kenwood mixer for many years. DeLonghi bought the Kenwood mixers, and the current Cuisinart seems to be a re-branded DeLonghi. Kenwood mixers enjoyed a reputation for extreme ruggedness and durability, so chances are good the Cuisinart would be a workhorse. The number of name changes gives me a bit of pause. In your shoes, what would I do? If I had a lot of KitchenAid accessories, I'd lean towards a larger KitchenAid since the accessories are costly and can not be used on different brands of mixers; If I didn't have a lot of KitchenAid accessories, I'd lean towards the Electrolux DLX. While the Cuisinart has the potential to be a long lasting workhorse, it really is a new mixer and I'd rather see someone else determine how reliable the mixer is. Mike Mike Avery mavery at mail dot otherwhen dot com part time baker ICQ 16241692 networking guru AIM, yahoo and skype mavery81230 wordsmith Once seen on road signs all over the United States: Substitutes and Imitations Send 'em to Your wife's Relations Burma-Shave --------------- END bread-bakers.v107.n031 --------------- Copyright (c) 1996-2007 Regina Dwork and Jeffrey Dwork All Rights Reserved