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Food Thread: Bread, Champagne, and...Viking Flat Bread?

That is the bakery oven in a chateau called Chenonceau. It was built in the early 16th century, although I imagine the ladies of the house insisted on new kitchens every now and then, but the oven probably didn't change much.

What I found interesting is that there are plenty of people today who bake bread in an identical way. Big, heavy masonry wood-fired ovens hold heat wonderfully, and can produce fantastic quality stuff. Add in the bannetons (the woven-reed bread forms), which look the same today as they did in the 16th century, and what has changed?

Nothing. I'll bet the bread was good!

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Apparently all the cool kids in biomedical research have decided that there is no safe amount of alcohol consumption. They say, with absolute seriousness and tremendous gravity, that the number of cancer deaths has doubled in men because of alcohol.
Alcohol-Related Cancer Deaths Doubled in US
Okay, but why has there been an increase? Has consumption gone up? Has the human male suddenly become more sensitive to the mutagenic properties of alcohol?

And how are they linking alcohol to these deaths?

Typical mushy-brained crap.

And typical biomedical research. If we listened to and acted upon 1% of the crap they pump out, we would be dead from malnutrition, because apparently every food causes cancer!

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Twice a year a lot of champagne goes on sale in France. No idea why, and I don't much care, but I will take advantage of those sales. That bottle was about $27, and delicious! Straightforward flavors with delicious, fine bubbles....exactly what reasonably-priced Champagne should be. Yes, it is comparatively pricey, but Champagne requires more work than still wines, so the premium makes sense.

Sadly, only the big Champagne houses send much Champagne to the United States, and they are the expensive ones. The small "Grower" Champagnes are usually much less expensive and as good, if not better than the name brands!

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This guy cooks like a normal human being. He makes messes and mistakes and tastes his own creations. It's wonderful! Julia Child's Epic Baked Alaska with COGNAC LAVA! probably isn't something I would try, but he's amusing enough that I will watch his videos even if I don't need cooking tips.

[Hat Tip: Bluebell]

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I know...I know... he is really irritating. But...Viking Flat Bread? What the hell is that? I have to know, and admit it, so do you.

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Kindletot mentioned that he is playing with his Japanese Milk Loaf recipe. I had no idea he was an actual foodie who seems to be approaching this with an analytical bent that puts my grunting attempts to shame!

I am playing with the Shokopan recipe for bread, it uses a roux to gelatinize flour, the pre-cooked flour to keep the finished loaf softer and finer crumb. This seems to make a finer crumb than potato bread.

1 Tbsp flour
1 Cup water
1 tsp salt

Disolve the flour and salt into the water and cook it into gravy. At this point you have either a "roux" you can mix your dough with, or you have library paste. Choose carefully
Let this cool, either way.

1 Cup flour
1 Cup water
1 tsp malt

Mix this together to let the yeast activate while the roux is cooling.

Mix the yeast mix together with the roux and then beat in about 5 more cups of flour. It needs to be firm enough to be handle and be smooth, but it will most likely to be sticky.

To handle the sticky dough you might try wetting your hands first, it is not ideal but you wind up not sticking to the dough

Let the dough rise in a warm space to double in size, twice, punching it down each time, and then turn out onto a floured board shape it down to fit in a greased loaf pan.

Let the dough rise again to just crest over the top of the loaf pan. Slit the dough top and bake at 400F for 40 minutes, then turn off the oven and let sit in the oven for another 10-15 minutes, then turn out of the pan to cool on a rack.

This is a recipe I put together while trying to work out a recipe for German brotchen using general purpose baking flour. I am still working on the brotchen

I didn't add any pictures because bread dough is as boring as . . . Well, bread dough.

Wow.

I have made this stuff and it is good. Actually, I have made the rolls, not the loaves, but it should be the same.

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[Hat Tip: Misanthropic Humanitarian]
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I thought France would have good garlic, but the Frogs seem to have the same problem we have in the U.S. At least they don't import filthy garlic from China. Pork is great here, but no game, so send all of your extra antelope to: cbd dot aoshq at gmail dot com.

Who are those poor deluded souls We know who shakes their Manhattans! These are the same people who drink fine bourbon with coke, and probably shake red wine with ice too.

$1,200 for a bottle of bourbon is just stupid, insulting, and a ghastly affront to most people's palates and wallets. I think the sweet spot is $40-$60 for excellent and interesting bottles, and bumping that to $100 gets you an incremental improvement in quality, but nothing mind-blowing. More than that and I think you are paying for hype and rarity, which may look good in your liquor cabinet, but doesn't translate to more quality in the bottle.

The problem...or the solution...is to buy lots of bourbon, take tasting notes, and eventually arrive at your favorites! It should take forty or fifty years, but it is worth it!