Gift Idea - Parson's Daughter

It is a challenge to come up with gifts during the holiday season.  We were quite proud of ourselves when we came up with the idea of an assortment of vintage candy.  We were about to order some candy on line - then receive it - then try to package attractively even though talent is limited. . . .

Tah, Dah!  We know where to find some vintage candy and special candy and a person with talent to package it attractively!

Sharon Jeffer owns and operates "The Parson's Daughter".  When I mentioned my idea, she suggested I bring a container and she would fill it.  "Make it look abundant," is her motto.  I found two autumn-themed serving bowls (one never has enough bowls!) and made a selection of fun candies and chocolate.

When we made the selections, Sharon kept a running tab so that I could stay within my budget.  While she was packing, she saw we were still under budget, so she found a couple of items I had missed that added oomph to the package, so she included them, too.  She still stayed well within my budget.

Among other things, there are pop-rocks, flying saucers, wax bottles, chocolate coated sunflower seeds, giant jawbreakers, bubblegum, Beechman's Gum, Mexican hats, chocolate babies, beach rocks, rock sugar crystal, peach-schnapps cordials, jelly belly surprises (you cannot tell by color - it may be popcorn flavor or it may be mud flavor, for example), and a box of sea salt chocolate caramels.  

Sharon did not charge for the packaging and presentation.  What a deal!!!

I think these will be well received! 

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Partly Whole Wheat No-Knead Bread

The world conspires to guilt white-bread eaters, so I've been trying to figure out a good proportion of white to whole wheat for No-Knead Bread.

I tried this one with 

356 grams high-gluten flour,

120 grams white whole-wheat flour.

A tiny bit of yeast (maybe 1/4 teaspoon) 

1.5 teaspoons salt.

336 grams of water.

This gets mixed together and covered (with a glass plate, in this case),

 and placed in a cool place over night,

and then into a warm room.

 When doubled, the oven was preheated to 425º with the corningware pot and lid preheating, too.

When heated, the bread was dumped into the hot pot and covered with the hot lid.

This strategy traps the moisture.

A "real" baker has a steam-injected oven.

Some folk put a pan of water in the oven to add moisture. Others spritz the oven and dough.  (I have heard of shattered oven windows, though, from the water hitting the hot glass, and I'm not ready to replace the oven!)  The heated, covered pot is so much easier.  You can use corningware, cast iron, a dutch oven.  It just needs to be heavy and have a good lid. (Make sure the knob on the lid can tolerate the heat.)

After a half-hour, the lid was removed for the last 15 minutes.

Total cooking time was 45 minutes.  

Bread was 200º when done.

Crust is crisp.  Crumb is chewy, but the holes are still smaller than I hoped.

It was tasty.

Next experiment will be with just white flour to see if I get the texture I am looking for.  (Or I may try an even wetter dough - this was 1/3 whole wheat, 2/3 bread flour, and then 70% by weight of water.  Maybe the whole wheat needs more water???)

If you have any suggestions, please send them. . .

New Toy - All-Clad 3 Quart Saucepan

The latest toy arrived today.  America's Test Kitchen uses a lot of All-Clad, and when I saw this pan with the "helper handle" that seemed like an excellent idea.  We measured various pans already here, and this size, 3-quart, seemed to be the one with the most potential uses.

It's quite heavy, even when empty, since it is constructed of two layers of steel around an aluminum core.  The handle is a bit awkward, but the helper handle is wonderful.

The first test was soup - tortellini im brodo.  This is made with homemade chicken stock, carrots, sliced ginger, and Bertolli dry tortellini.  Excellent!

(To the right in the above picture are homemade Altoids™.)

(You can find the directions at my webpage.)