Monday, August 17, 2009
Monday, June 22, 2009
Monday, June 8, 2009
good stuff
Just wanted to pass along a search engine that I just spotted. www.bing.com . I was wanting to look at images of wood fired anagama kilns. I clicked on the images menu (left side of page) and then entered "anagama kilns" in the search bar. It literally loaded thousands of photos of pots, kilns, and people associated with my search. Then, if you find something that interest you, just click on picture and it will yield lots of info about the photo. This is good stuff.
I have been focusing on the garden and getting work done for the Studio Tour this coming weekend. I'm trying to stay positive about traffic to the gallery and I think that we will be seeing more folks coming from regional areas close to Mitchell and Yancey counties. Gas pricing going up and the general condition of the economy I'm sure will affect us. Good Luck to all this weekend and may crowds be in your studio.
I have been focusing on the garden and getting work done for the Studio Tour this coming weekend. I'm trying to stay positive about traffic to the gallery and I think that we will be seeing more folks coming from regional areas close to Mitchell and Yancey counties. Gas pricing going up and the general condition of the economy I'm sure will affect us. Good Luck to all this weekend and may crowds be in your studio.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
azaleas, rhododendrons and locus blooms
I felt it would be nice to send everyone a selection of blooms from around the house. Enjoy with your morning coffee or tea. The blooms are begonia, azaleas, rhododendrons, and the white grape like clusters are locust blooms (this makes a very good honey).
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Finally, a good loaf
After many years of trying to develop a sourdough, I think the June Perry info and directions have given me that wonderful crust and flavor I have been looking. You will notice that a little mouse has nibbled on one of the loaves, she is such a bad girl.
Friday, May 8, 2009
kilns, bread, and blogging
The last month has been busy with alot of different items and I have let the blog fall back a bit. I haven't participated very much and have had to spend most the day catching up with the blogs.
I have been able to do some digging on the footers of the kiln. During the fall and winter, the ground is so hard I'd have to blast to dig in the dirt and rock. I started this project over a year ago and I guess it will take another year or so before I even finish the footer. Maria has been pushing me to get us a wood kiln back in the family, but a deminished capacity, my reality of the amount of work helps fuel my reason not to get it done.
Maria is a pyro and loves to fire the kiln, even with all the work involved. She actually has a forty hour work week, a real job, she always says that "I married her for the insurance." But since it is about mothers day, I told her that "I married for love." That and a Halmark card and she is as happy as peaches in cream. Am I not the luckest dude?
June Perry and I have been exchanging ideals and info to find us a good soardough bread to bake. I lived in San Francisco for a while and going to the corner store and getting a loaf of the Boudin Bakery soardough was a pleasure that for me has never been duplicated. June has found a source for the lactobacillius San Francisco bateria and we both have been working with it to see if we can come up with a good substitute, and my first attempt has had some success with the sour qualities present, but weak. More to come with this for ya. Oh yes, the city bakery in Asheville has a decent sourdough available, if you can get there early enough. Follow June's blog for the things that she is doing to get a good sourdough.
Catching up on all the blogging that is going on, I have seen some really good work being shown on these pages, I have gotten more info and up to date imagery and goings on online, than just about anywhere. Thanks to all that share, it lets everyone know that they are not alone making pots out there.
So, make those good pots.
I have been able to do some digging on the footers of the kiln. During the fall and winter, the ground is so hard I'd have to blast to dig in the dirt and rock. I started this project over a year ago and I guess it will take another year or so before I even finish the footer. Maria has been pushing me to get us a wood kiln back in the family, but a deminished capacity, my reality of the amount of work helps fuel my reason not to get it done.
Maria is a pyro and loves to fire the kiln, even with all the work involved. She actually has a forty hour work week, a real job, she always says that "I married her for the insurance." But since it is about mothers day, I told her that "I married for love." That and a Halmark card and she is as happy as peaches in cream. Am I not the luckest dude?
June Perry and I have been exchanging ideals and info to find us a good soardough bread to bake. I lived in San Francisco for a while and going to the corner store and getting a loaf of the Boudin Bakery soardough was a pleasure that for me has never been duplicated. June has found a source for the lactobacillius San Francisco bateria and we both have been working with it to see if we can come up with a good substitute, and my first attempt has had some success with the sour qualities present, but weak. More to come with this for ya. Oh yes, the city bakery in Asheville has a decent sourdough available, if you can get there early enough. Follow June's blog for the things that she is doing to get a good sourdough.
Catching up on all the blogging that is going on, I have seen some really good work being shown on these pages, I have gotten more info and up to date imagery and goings on online, than just about anywhere. Thanks to all that share, it lets everyone know that they are not alone making pots out there.
So, make those good pots.
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Our daily bread or dough
Chef Boy-r-de in a box got me going. Shakey's Pizza then kicked it up a notch, (before Emeril), then the Pizzerias of Chicago, New York and San Francisco became a measuring stick for good pies. How was I to get one here in Bakersville, NC? My kitchen and yours is all the tool's you will need. Plus there is a renaissance in cooking at home and the information access online didn't hurt.
For me the basis for making good pies rested in the dough and its ingredients. Bread flour or high gluten flours (semolina) works the best for what I want in a dough. I'm looking for a finished crust that is light, chewy, Swiss cheese textured, with a slight crispness to the surface. Most of the pies I make at home are with Pillsbury bread flour, because of access, I can buy it in town. One other flour that is very helpful is to have on hand is rye flour. It adds strength and flavor to the crust, plus it is the basis for sourdough if you want to go further with doughs.
Intermission: Books you need to have access to:
The Tassajara Bread Book (my copy is from 1970), by Edward Brown. Julia Child's The Way to Cook, Artisan Baking Across America by Maggie Glezer, FlatBreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid and the Culinary Institutes of America's Baking at Home and Baking & Pastry cookbooks are excellent reference tools and will just plain make you hungry to read any of them.
Some highlights that I use to consistently get the crust I want, (if you don't eat the outside crust, go buy yourself a red baron pizza and turn on a TV somewhere). Julia Child says that to get that chewy crisp crust you will need to increase the amount of moisture in the dough, it should be sticky when it is mixed, (most recipes say form a ball with the dough hook, letting it pull away from the sides). From this ideal I use this method to create my dough:
2 cups of warm water
1/2 Cup of Rye Flour (level )
3 1/2 cups of bread flour (level )
1 Tlbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 pack of yeast
Attach the dough hook to mixer, add the water to the bowl, add the rye flour (start mixer), add 1/2 cup of bread flour, add the yeast and salt, ( I let it mix for a minutes to let the yeast dissolve), add the 3Cups of flour and lastly add the olive oil. Let mix for 20-30 minutes, It should be smooth and have a bit of shine to the doughs surface and just a slight amount of a ball of dough should be on the hook, but the dough will be almost like a batter. After mixing, I take and pour extra olive oil around the inside of the bowl wall with the dough in the bowl, and using a plastic spatula, I turn the dough over and over to coat it and the bowl. I cover and let rise till doubled, punch it down with the spatula and clean the sides into the middle of the dough and let it rise again, I don't worry about it again till time to eat, This dough will make about three 10-12 inch pies so I take about a third of the dough and drop onto a well floured board and round it up and onto itself, forming a ball. Picking it up I quickly by pushing dough into the center from the bottom as you are holding the dough, producing a smooth top surface. Then I put it down on the board, then using my finger tips I take the area just inside that outer part(rim) and flattening it, you will have a little hump in the middle, which I punch down with fingers. I flour the dough and turn it over, flattening it with my palms and fingers till it is about 10-12 inch wide. I leave a bit of untouched dough on that outside part to hold in the sauce and ingredients and so I can chew on and admire it. I dust a peel with cornmeal, lay the dough over onto it , add the sauce, cheese then ingredients, The meats and such will not get done if they are under the cheese. A little carmalization on top is needed.
For baking: Use a silicon carbide shelf rather than a cordite shelf, Heat the oven to 500-550F for about a half hour before you start the pies. This crust will get big bubbles, so look at the pie early and watch for big bubbles to start, I use a metal spatula's edge to bust the bubbles, the bubble pushes the ingredients to one side or the other leaving just a little sauce.
My sauce:
Tomato Puree 1-10.75 ounce can put in a food processor (put the can in the trash, not the processor)
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 of a large onion diced
6-8 leaves of Basil chopped
1 tsp of salt
Process till all is pureed. Let set for a little while before use. I put my sauce on with a pastry brush. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
This I make when its a special thing:
Crushed roma tomatoes with salt to season
tear the basil over the crushed tomatoes on a pie
Take buffalo mozzarella and cut thin slices and place them sparingly on the sauce. Bake in a hot oven for about 5-8minutes. And sorry, I enjoy a local microbrew, those boys are good at it.
Well, I hope you will try this and get out there and make them good pots and pies.
For me the basis for making good pies rested in the dough and its ingredients. Bread flour or high gluten flours (semolina) works the best for what I want in a dough. I'm looking for a finished crust that is light, chewy, Swiss cheese textured, with a slight crispness to the surface. Most of the pies I make at home are with Pillsbury bread flour, because of access, I can buy it in town. One other flour that is very helpful is to have on hand is rye flour. It adds strength and flavor to the crust, plus it is the basis for sourdough if you want to go further with doughs.
Intermission: Books you need to have access to:
The Tassajara Bread Book (my copy is from 1970), by Edward Brown. Julia Child's The Way to Cook, Artisan Baking Across America by Maggie Glezer, FlatBreads & Flavors by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid and the Culinary Institutes of America's Baking at Home and Baking & Pastry cookbooks are excellent reference tools and will just plain make you hungry to read any of them.
Some highlights that I use to consistently get the crust I want, (if you don't eat the outside crust, go buy yourself a red baron pizza and turn on a TV somewhere). Julia Child says that to get that chewy crisp crust you will need to increase the amount of moisture in the dough, it should be sticky when it is mixed, (most recipes say form a ball with the dough hook, letting it pull away from the sides). From this ideal I use this method to create my dough:
2 cups of warm water
1/2 Cup of Rye Flour (level )
3 1/2 cups of bread flour (level )
1 Tlbs olive oil
1/2 tsp salt
1 pack of yeast
Attach the dough hook to mixer, add the water to the bowl, add the rye flour (start mixer), add 1/2 cup of bread flour, add the yeast and salt, ( I let it mix for a minutes to let the yeast dissolve), add the 3Cups of flour and lastly add the olive oil. Let mix for 20-30 minutes, It should be smooth and have a bit of shine to the doughs surface and just a slight amount of a ball of dough should be on the hook, but the dough will be almost like a batter. After mixing, I take and pour extra olive oil around the inside of the bowl wall with the dough in the bowl, and using a plastic spatula, I turn the dough over and over to coat it and the bowl. I cover and let rise till doubled, punch it down with the spatula and clean the sides into the middle of the dough and let it rise again, I don't worry about it again till time to eat, This dough will make about three 10-12 inch pies so I take about a third of the dough and drop onto a well floured board and round it up and onto itself, forming a ball. Picking it up I quickly by pushing dough into the center from the bottom as you are holding the dough, producing a smooth top surface. Then I put it down on the board, then using my finger tips I take the area just inside that outer part(rim) and flattening it, you will have a little hump in the middle, which I punch down with fingers. I flour the dough and turn it over, flattening it with my palms and fingers till it is about 10-12 inch wide. I leave a bit of untouched dough on that outside part to hold in the sauce and ingredients and so I can chew on and admire it. I dust a peel with cornmeal, lay the dough over onto it , add the sauce, cheese then ingredients, The meats and such will not get done if they are under the cheese. A little carmalization on top is needed.
For baking: Use a silicon carbide shelf rather than a cordite shelf, Heat the oven to 500-550F for about a half hour before you start the pies. This crust will get big bubbles, so look at the pie early and watch for big bubbles to start, I use a metal spatula's edge to bust the bubbles, the bubble pushes the ingredients to one side or the other leaving just a little sauce.
My sauce:
Tomato Puree 1-10.75 ounce can put in a food processor (put the can in the trash, not the processor)
1-2 cloves of garlic chopped
1/2 of a large onion diced
6-8 leaves of Basil chopped
1 tsp of salt
Process till all is pureed. Let set for a little while before use. I put my sauce on with a pastry brush. Bake for 8-10 minutes.
This I make when its a special thing:
Crushed roma tomatoes with salt to season
tear the basil over the crushed tomatoes on a pie
Take buffalo mozzarella and cut thin slices and place them sparingly on the sauce. Bake in a hot oven for about 5-8minutes. And sorry, I enjoy a local microbrew, those boys are good at it.
Well, I hope you will try this and get out there and make them good pots and pies.
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