Hi All,
Instead of 'baking stones' or quarry tiles I use kiln shelves purchased
from a local ceramics supplier. These are much cheaper and stronger (and
heavier). Mine are 2cm thick. Maybe too thick to bake a loaf, but I always
bake 2-3 at a time. I paid us$20 each for half-sheet sized stones.
Also, maybe this has already been discussed, but I'm curious about high
gluten flour. My one complaint about Reinhart's Pizza book is that it
doesn't give a recipe for making high gluten flour (hard to buy) from vital
wheat gluten (easy to buy). From what I can tell, adding 4% vital wheat
gluten (50% protein) to bread flour (12% protein) puts one in the ballpark
of high gluten flour (14% protein). Has anyone else tried this? It has made
my loaves taller and nicer, although the crumb is chewier and not crumbly
(I also use wet doughs).
Lastly, has anyone tried hand-pulled noodles? On the web there are various
recipes that call for pastry flour through high-gluten flour. Thus far,
pastry flour has done the best for me, but its still a mess. Its not
baking, but it is part of the mystery of wheat (like pulled strudel dough).
Also, flour or oil can be used to keep the noodles from sticking. I've
tried oil, but I imagine that wheat or rice flour might also work. Anyone
tried it?
thanks,
raj
Lurker Lurks Less