Monday, January 31, 2011

Egypt: Next 24 hours

The protesters are planning a very large demonstration of some sort tomorrow (Tuesday.)

Today, the 'government' (as it is) successfully shut down every non-military/non-financial internet provider. They've also been kicking out/detaining/confiscating journalists and their equipment.

I really hope that doesn't mean that the 'government' is planning something very bad between now and tomorrow. But I can't help thinking it.

UPDATE: Here's Google not being evil: They set up a voicemail-to-Twitter service for Egyptians to Tweet even without internet access.

Sunday, January 30, 2011

60 Minutes—Wow.

What the hell is this WikiLeaks piece about?

Steve Crofft is accusing a new media guy of doing the same thing that 60 Minutes built its reputation on in the old media. And 60 Minutes has been going steadily downhill for a long, long time.

How hypocritical.

Saturday, January 29, 2011

Free, Open Source Software works for me.

That is all.

Blogger (free) + Open Office (Open source) + Textwrangler (Open source) = I can do something with this for free.

Experiment in Recipes

Hrm, let's see if this works.



Overview

No-Knead

Baguette-Poolish

Quick Sourdough French



Sheet 1: No-Knead


Recipes—Breads
Chefs-Resources.com













Recipe: No-Knead Bread








Yield: 1 Loaf



Date: November-06


Portion Size:


Chef: Jim Lahey, ATK



Scale:




















AMT UNIT INGREDIENTS
PROCEDURES





3 Cups Bread flour







0.25 TS Instant yeast







1.25 TS Salt



























































































































































































































1. In a large bowl combine flour, yeast and salt. Add 1 5/8 cups water, and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.

2. Dough is ready when its surface is dotted with bubbles. Lightly flour a work surface and place dough on it; sprinkle it with a little more flour and fold it over on itself once or twice. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.

3. Using just enough flour to keep dough from sticking to work surface or to your fingers, gently and quickly shape dough into a ball. Generously coat a cotton towel (not terry cloth) with flour, wheat bran or cornmeal; put dough seam side down on towel and dust with more flour, bran or cornmeal. Cover with another cotton towel and let rise for about 2 hours. When it is ready, dough will be more than double in size and will not readily spring back when poked with a finger.

4. At least a half-hour before dough is ready, heat oven to 450 degrees. Put a 6- to 8-quart heavy covered pot (cast iron, enamel, Pyrex or ceramic) in oven as it heats. When dough is ready, carefully remove pot from oven. Slide your hand under towel and turn dough over into pot, seam side up; it may look like a mess, but that is O.K. Shake pan once or twice if dough is unevenly distributed; it will straighten out as it bakes. Cover with lid and bake 30 minutes, then remove lid and bake another 15 to 30 minutes, until loaf is beautifully browned. Cool on a rack.












Sheet 2: Baguette-Poolish


Recipes—Breads









Recipe: Baguette (Poolish Technique)






Yield: 3-4 Loaves



Date:

Portion Size:


Chef:


Scale:
















AMT UNIT INGREDIENTS
PROCEDURES












1.5 Cups Bread flour
Poolish



1.5 Cups Water





0.75 TS Bread machine Yeast














2.5 Cups Bread flour
Dough



0.75 Cups Water





2 TS Bread machine Yeast





2 TS Salt



























































































































1. In a large bowl combine Poolish ingredients and stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and sticky. Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest at least 12 hours, preferably about 18, at warm room temperature, about 70 degrees.
2. Dough: Combine water and yeast, and add to Poolish.
3. Add the flour/salt combo in four batches. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest about 15 minutes.
4. Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Now wash up the bowl.
5. Knead for five minutes.
6. Now oil the mixing bowl lightly (too much oil will make the crust soft) and put the dough into it. Cover with cling film. Set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and leave the dough to develop and rise. This part is called the 'long knead' in french (sorry, can't remember the original french expression). After 30 minutes, you should lift the dough out of the bowl, stretch it out, and put it back in (in a heap). REPEAT two more times (total of three long kneads.)
7. Divide the dough into four portions, and shape roughly into sausage shapes. Dust all over with a little flour, and cover them with an oiled piece of cling film. Leave to re-rise for 30 minutes
8.Roll, stretch and flatten each potion into a long rectangle, fold lengthwise. Repeat the rolling and folding.
9. Set 0ven to 450º. Roll and stretch each loaf into a long, thin baguette. Place them on a greased baking tray.
10. After 30 minutes, the loaves should be noticably fatter. Boil a kettle, and put an inch or so of boiling water in the bottom of a deep roasting tin. Put it in the oven on the bottom shelf, or directly on the oven floor (be careful with that!). Shut the over door.
11. Spray the baguettes with water until they are really wet, and slash them three times diagonally. Put them in the oven on the top shelf. Spray again after five more minutes, and again after five more minutes. Remove water tin.
12. Check for done-ness after 20 minutes. Once done, cool on a rack.


Sheet 3: Quick Sourdough French


Recipes—Breads
Chefs-Resources.com













Recipe: Quick Sourdough French Bread








Yield: 2 Loaves



Date:



Portion Size:


Chef:




Scale:




















AMT UNIT INGREDIENTS
PROCEDURES
















2 Cup White flour
STARTER





2 Cup Warm Water (85º to 90º F)









Dry culture from “starter package”

I use 1 TS bread machine yeast.















2 Cup Starter Sourdough (see above)
BREAD BATTER





1 Pkg Dry Yeast







1 Cup Warm Water (85º to 90º F)







3 TS Sugar







1 TS Salt







5 to 6 Cup White flour












































NOTE: This is great if you're into creating and









maintaining your own starter/sponge for sourdough.









I personally usually go with the quicker, easier









“poolish” or “biga” starters.




















Also, I think the addition of sugar is frowned upon…




















Finally, there doesn't seem to be much “quick” about this.








STARTER:

Combine ingredients in a warm bowl. Stir with a wooden or plastic spoon until smooth. (Traditionally, always go only clockwise or only counterclockwise.)

Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm, draft-free place (80º F) for 36 to 48 hours. (I think this could be done in 18 hours or so, since the rise will start to collapse eventually.) Consistency should be bubbly and pancake-batter-like. Store in refrigerator.

Remove starter/sponge from the refrigerator and allow to reach room temperature.

Measure out 1.5 cups of the starter into a warm 2 QT bowl. Return remaining starter to the refrigerator.

Add 1.5 cups of flour and approximately 1 cup of warm (85º F) water and mix well. Should be consistency of light pancake batter. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let proof for 8 to 12 hours.

After proofing, measure out the amount called for in the recipe and return the remaining batter to the starter; stir and refrigerate.




BREAD BATTER:

Prepare the starter per the instructions above; After 12 hours (5th step above), mix the sugar, salt and about 5 cups of flour in a separate bowl.

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup of warm water.

Add sourdough batter and yeast and mix well

Allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes. Turn out onto a floured board and knead, adding up to another cup of flour so it doesn't cling to the surface. Knead until smooth and elastic.

Put dough into an oiled bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover and let rise until double in bulk (1.5 hours) (I start the oven at this point at 350º + F).

Turn onto a floured board and divide into two pieces, and knead each piece slightly. Shape into loaves. Place on oiled pan (I use parchment). Cover and allow to rise.

Brush tops with water (I use a mister), and bake at 350º F for 40 minutes, brushing tops again during baking.




Tuesday, January 25, 2011

Interesting experiment

SOTU with infographics.

Actually a pretty good idea, though it opens up all sorts of politicization issues for those in power. I'd like to see it continue, though.

Liberal Media Bias

So…

CNN will be airing the President's State of the Union tonight, as well as the Republican response. And then, they'll air Michele Bachmann's special response as well.

How balanced.

Friday, January 21, 2011

Targets

Via C&L:

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More about this later.