popplers

Bread addendum

Crusty Boule
Originally uploaded by popplers.

Experimented with a second batch using bread flour instead of all-purpose flour. Added a little more salt, and dusted the loaf with a 50/50 mixture of oat bran and cornmeal. This one was baked at 475° (instead of 450°) for about 25 minutes with the lid on + 15 minutes with the lid off. The results were excellent, especially when paired with African Groundnut Stew.

Saturday night food blogging

Nothing like the smell of fresh bread
Originally uploaded by popplers.

Ever since I read The Minimalist column in last week's New York Times, I've been itching to try this recipe. According to The Secret of Great Bread: Let Time Do the Work, you can have an awesome crust without kneading, as long as you are willing to wait. I was intrigued, and when I came home from work on Friday night, I took a look at the recipe and set out.

The ingredients were: 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour, ¼ teaspoon instant yeast, 1¼ teaspoons salt. Add 1½ cups of water, and stir into a "shaggy and sticky" dough. Let rest for 18 hours.

After 18 hours, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Fold it over on itself once or twice, then cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rest briefly. Shape the dough into a ball. Dust a towel with cornmeal, and put the doughball onto the towel, seam side down. More cornmeal on top, cover with a towel, and let it rest for 2 hours. Bake for 30 minutes at 450°, in a heavy pot with the lid on. Remove the lid, and bake for 15-30 more. You're supposed to wait until it cools before you tear into it, but we couldn't resist. It smelled so good, and with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper, it was amazing.

Friday quickies!

• The Boston Globe ran our flamingo pic— woot!
• This New York Times article on the golden age of road maps brings out my wanderlust. I want to head for the wide open spaces, with John Margolies at my side.
• Bill Maher on why we should revisit the Constitution: "Let's not delude ourselves into thinking that this election brought new thinking to Washington. It didn't. It brought Democrats, who are often just Republicans slowed down a step by a sense of shame. But they're not revolutionaries, and they're not really diverse."

Game show quickies for a rainy Tuesday

…in which Ken Jennings (who has a new daughter as of last night) figures prominently…

• Jeopardy!: Ken Jennings answers 5 questions for the Salt Lake City Weekly and the Hartford Courant interviews Alex Trebek.
  
• 1 vs. 100: Ken Jennings on his experiences as a member of "the mob". "[It] has a lot of potential. Saget's obviously in his element with almost no warmup; he has the makings of a great host. The Mob elimination gimmick is clever and addictive, especially if the show is edited to pick up the pace a bit."
  
• Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?: Boston University neuroscience researcher Ogi Ogas uses cognitive science to win big. "The first technique I drew upon was priming. The priming of a memory occurs because of the peculiar "connectionist" neural dynamics of our cortex, where memories are distributed across many regions and neurons. If we can recall any fragment of a pattern, our brains tend to automatically fill in the rest." (Ogi also has an article on the same topic in the Boston Globe.)

Chinatown is fabulous!

Fabulous (1 of 2)
Originally uploaded by popplers.

Went for dim sum today. Alas, the parking karma was not with me this morning, so I drove around for far too long and then resorted to paying for a space in a garage. (I should have given up sooner.) Finally made it to China Pearl and had shrimp dumplings, crispy prawns, and all kinds of yummy goodness. Afterward, we hit the grocery to pick up a few ingredients, and I scored this awesome snack food.

You too can be fabulous, for only $2.09. Some of the many benefits of Fabulous, as listed on the front of the package:

• it's, well, Fabulous
• Fragrant crispy entry
• Best Tasty
• Fragrant thick cheese (???)
• Crispy crispy good flavor

For the illustration on the front of the package, they have paired cheese-flavored crackers with more cheese. Uninspired, perhaps, but a reasonable enough foodstuff to eat with a cracker. Unlike the next flavor of Fabulous… Onion Fabulous.