I don't knead it anymore

About four years ago the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, had a series of concerts featuring up-and-coming artists. One of them was baritone Thomas Meglioranza. We enjoyed his concert and I started reading his blog where he tells us about his concerts, what he eats and what he cooks.

One of the recipes he raved about was bread that is easy and spectacular. It has flour, a lot of water, salt, and a bit of yeast. You mix (without kneading) the ingredients together and let it rise for 18 hours. Then you form it into a ball, let it rise again, then cook it in a Dutch oven that you've had in the oven while you've preheated it to 450°.

The result is supposed to be a loaf that "is incredible, a fine-bakery quality, European-style boule."

I gave it a try. I wasn't convinced. The dough, batter almost, was probably too wet. It kind of soaked into the towel it was sitting on for the second rising and didn't dump into the hot casserole. I guess it deflated way too much on the way to the pot and ended up a flat, tough loaf.

I was discouraged and never got around to trying it again.

A couple of weeks ago Duck Duck Gray Duck blogged the recipe. I got inspired to try it again.

I had better luck this time but I still think I need to adjust something. The loaf still ended up flatter than I hoped for. For the second rising you're supposed to form the dough into a ball. It was so soft there was no way that it would maintain a "ball" shape. It stayed flat.

But at least this time the dough didn't soak into the towel and easily went into the Dutch oven. The result was a flatish loaf that tastes very nice. And has a crisp crust.

Here's the batter dough after the first rising:

Here it is, formed in a "ball," ready to rise the second time:

Dumped into the much-too-large Dutch oven (the recipe says to use a 6 to 8 quart Dutch oven, which I did...I'll try our 4 quart one next time):

The baked loaf:

The inside of the flat loaf:

I wonder what I should try next time. A little less water? A smaller Dutch oven? (Yes.) Well, those are about the only adjustments possible. Wish me luck.

The recipe came from The New York Times and the accompanying article tells you about the theory of the process.

I hope everyone out there will give it a try and will tell me what I can do to make it even better.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

I HAVE A CLOCK IN THE BATHROOM THAT I CAN SEE!

Jerry bought me a clock on Saturday on our way to see "The Good Soldier Schweik."

It's made by the same folks who made our Coffee Please! clock.

Up to now I've been using a little travel clock that often got hidden from the vantage point offered by Jasmin.  Here we have a view from Jasmin with the little clock sitting on the tissue dispenser.

An improvement, huh?

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A dish towel hanging on the spotty dishwasher.

A bonus (since we're in the kitchen)! A pot holder.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

Another Jay Strongwater turtle box (the one in the middle, you've already seen the one on the right). His shell is tiger eye (so is the sphere on the left).

Santa dropped this off a year or so ago.

Turtle Tchotchke Tuesday

A herd of Swarovski crystal turtles.

Santa left the one on the left on Christmas morning. He usually doesn't leave two turtles. We must have been extra good this year.

Chuckbert and Mr. Bears go shopping

We needed to get out of the house so we took a little shopping trip to La Jolla yesterday. We got carried away and came home with a little tchotchke.

It's a cube made by Jack Storms of dichroic glass encased in pure lead crystal.

It's on a stand that rotates so we can look at it from all directions. Here's a view from a less glittery direction.

Pretty even when it's not showing off, huh?

Here's another view that shows more of the construction of the piece.

It sparkles (even in very dim light) and shoots rainbows around the room when the sun is shining on it.

It's very nice!

We need to stop shopping for a while now.