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What's cooking / VT cookbook merge


trimandson

Do you like to cook ?  

55 members have voted

  1. 1. Do you like to cook ?

    • Yes
      47
    • No
      8


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That does look good Hiney, cheers. Though I'm not mainland UK so delivery might make them expensive. I'll definitely check them out before a re-stock though :thumb::)

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For the year to come, I have 'inherited' a bread making machine from my brother. I have had a go today with one of the 'already mixed' efforts from 'Hovis' but, whilst it doesn't appear to be too bad, it hasn't risen quite as much as one would expect a loaf to (the top's a little sunken).

Any ideas? Too much water, perhaps? Bearing in mind that the only other ingredients to the packet mix are supposed to be water and butter/marge (optional) - I did add some marge.

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For the year to come, I have 'inherited' a bread making machine from my brother. I have had a go today with one of the 'already mixed' efforts from 'Hovis' but, whilst it doesn't appear to be too bad, it hasn't risen quite as much as one would expect a loaf to (the top's a little sunken).

Any ideas? Too much water, perhaps? Bearing in mind that the only other ingredients to the packet mix are supposed to be water and butter/marge (optional) - I did add some marge.

You don't need a machine. You certainly don't need a packet mix. You don't need marge.

Just some strong bread flour, and some real yeast (Tesco and Sainsbury will both let you have some from their bakery section - Sainsbury charge a few pence and let you have whatever you want to pay for, Tesco give it away but will only let you have a small amount). And apart from salt, that's all you need, assuming you already have access to an oven.

Nine quid gets you this. That's instructions (and dvd) on making bread, pizzas, foccacia. Baguettes. Loaves. The lot.

Dan Lepard has a blog where he shares recipes, ideas, whatever, on bread and lots of other baked goods.

Sell the machine, buy the book, get some yeast, and off you go.

You might want a couple of baking stones to make your pizzas professional standard. A couple of discarded quarry tiles will do, or Bertinet suggests asking at graveyards for granite offcuts.

I make my own pizza now. My son describes it as the second best pizza he's ever eaten. Bastard.

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You don't need a machine. You certainly don't need a packet mix. You don't need marge.

No, Peter, I don't need a machine but I have been given the use of one (for that, substitute that I have been instructed to look after my brother's property).

The question I was asking was to deal with the scenario with which I was faced; I was not looking to instruction for general home baking (yet).

...

Sell the machine...

It is not my machine - machines are not intrinsically the devil's work (though generally they are, I'd admit). :winkold:

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You don't need a machine. You certainly don't need a packet mix. You don't need marge.

No, Peter, I don't need a machine but I have been given the use of one (for that, substitute that I have been instructed to look after my brother's property).

The question I was asking was to deal with the scenario with which I was faced; I was not looking to instruction for general home baking (yet).

Yes, I understood that.

The answer remains the same.

Just because you've been tasked with looking after a bread machine doesn't mean you have to use the ****.

Put the machine in a cupboard, and make some bread.

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Yes, I understood that.

The answer remains the same.

Just because you've been tasked with looking after a bread machine doesn't mean you have to use the ****.

Put the machine in a cupboard, and make some bread.

You are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and I claim my small holding. :P

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I was about to mention Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ;). That blokes lost it by the way. This week he spent an hour evangelising bread like it was some mystical magic art lost to the modern mind.

At one point he compared sourdough making to alchemy.

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Yes, I understood that.

The answer remains the same.

Just because you've been tasked with looking after a bread machine doesn't mean you have to use the ****.

Put the machine in a cupboard, and make some bread.

You are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and I claim my small holding. :P

I am not, but you may claim your prize regardless. Whatever land you can fence before daybreak, marked out by the javelins you throw from the walls of Malvern town, observed and measured by the High Sheriff of Worcestershire or at least a local school janitor, shall be thine, my son.

Off you go, then.

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You are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and I claim my small holding. :P

I am not, but you may claim your prize regardless. Whatever land you can fence before daybreak, marked out by the javelins you throw from the walls of Malvern town, observed and measured by the High Sheriff of Worcestershire or at least a local school janitor, shall be thine, my son.

Off you go, then.

You are now my old prep school headmaster. :winkold: :P

The deeper you dig...:mrgreen:

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I was about to mention Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ;). That blokes lost it by the way. This week he spent an hour evangelising bread like it was some mystical magic art lost to the modern mind.

At one point he compared sourdough making to alchemy.

Excuse me. I haven't seen the programme, but it sounds like the geezer is bang on the money.

Breadmaking is being lost, and also recovered.

I was told by a real bread bakery owner that he's recruiting Hungarians, since their country is being swamped by firms making cheap plastic bread and the demand for real artisan bread is decreasing so they can't find work for all the skilled artisan bakers.

Sounds like a descent into hell for them, but a rope to the surface for us. Possibly.

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I was about to mention Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall ;). That blokes lost it by the way. This week he spent an hour evangelising bread like it was some mystical magic art lost to the modern mind.

At one point he compared sourdough making to alchemy.

Well, the old Fearnley position is that people tend to ignore the obvious believing that the 'apparent' consumerist 'simple' is better, quicker, simpler and cheaper.

In order to countermand that nonsense, he tends towards the extreme - I think it's fair enough.

What is alchemy, anyway? :winkold: (It depends what version of Oblivion one has and whether one has installed any Alchemy mods...).

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You are Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and I claim my small holding. :P

I am not, but you may claim your prize regardless. Whatever land you can fence before daybreak, marked out by the javelins you throw from the walls of Malvern town, observed and measured by the High Sheriff of Worcestershire or at least a local school janitor, shall be thine, my son.

Off you go, then.

You are now my old prep school headmaster. :winkold: :P

The deeper you dig...:mrgreen:

If your headmaster told you that, then you should report him for undermining the laws of property, which as we know keep our country stable.

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Excuse me. I haven't seen the programme, but it sounds like the geezer is bang on the money.

Breadmaking is being lost, and also recovered.

I was told by a real bread bakery owner that he's recruiting Hungarians, since their country is being swamped by firms making cheap plastic bread and the demand for real artisan bread is decreasing so they can't find work for all the skilled artisan bakers.

Sounds like a descent into hell for them, but a rope to the surface for us. Possibly.

The evidence is stacking up Hu-sorry, Peter ;)

Well, the old Fearnley position is that people tend to ignore the obvious believing that the 'apparent' consumerist 'simple' is better, quicker, simpler and cheaper.

In order to countermand that nonsense, he tends towards the extreme - I think it's fair enough.

What is alchemy, anyway? Wink (It depends what version of Oblivion one has and whether one has installed any Alchemy mods...).

I do like Hugh, though I prefered his older shows rather than the particularly evangelical stuff he's banging out now (I think an hour on the wonders of bread is pushing it...).

Alchemy is associated with the creation of gold from other materials isn't it? If you'd have heard Hugh bang on about sourdough you'd think gold from lead was pretty damn ordinary compared to making sourdough ;).

For some reason this reminds me of something Will Self said a while back, about societies fascination with food reflecting something wrong with the character of the society. I wish I could link a vid, but apparently isn't online :(

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If your headmaster told you that, then you should report him for undermining the laws of property, which as we know keep our country stable.

Our prep school was (supposed to be) a bit 'right on' (no uniforms and the like - not Summerhill but certainly different!).

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I think bread machines are great.

Chuck in flour, salt, yeast, oil and water/milk and let it do the business.

I think pre-cooked curry sauces are great. Just open the jar, chuck it into the saucepan, let it do the business. Great.

Or possibly not.

Rob, you have a discerning and fastidious taste for real home cooking. If someone offered you a "machine" to make your curries, would you

a) gratefully accept their generous offer, or

B) tell them to stick it up their **** arse, sharpish.

Why is real bread different to real curries?

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