Mr Nut Lives Again

Posted on December 29, 2012

Thanks to the generosity of my oldest son, ( Charles ) who is willing to share his data cloud ( where the data is stored ), I will be blogging again.  My blog can be found at  mrnut.net .  It will take some time to learn how to create blogs on the new platform but  by Jan 1, 2013  I will be ready to blog.

À  bientôt,

Mr Nut

Mr Nut has been Evicted

Hello loyal follower(s)

     It is a sad day for me.  Google which manages the Blogger website has cut me off because of my refusal to pay $2.95 a month for the privilege of continuing this blog with pictures.  I guess that I have used up the one Gigabyte of free storage for pictures.  I can't imagine a blog without pictures.

Maybe, in June of 2013 when we will be changing internet provider, I may be able to start again.

As of now, The Misadventures of Mr Nut has to say goodbye to the millions and millions of loyal followers.

Au revoir

Mr Nut

The Yeast Has Died

Hello loyal follower(s)

     Yes it was a sad day yesterday when I FINALLY discovered why my bread was not what it was suppose to be.   Many of the older baking books stressed the need to "proof" the yeast before using it in baking bread.  After all, it is  2012 and the new strains of yeast are fool proof, right?  Wrong.  The last batch of bread  was so bad that I doubt if the birds will eat it.  It was probably April or May of 2010 when my yeast was purchased, when it died completely is not clear.  Therefore, at least four half loaves of bread now in the freezer will be saved for the birds, if they will eat it.
      Today, Thanksgiving, I am making two loaves of Basic Artisan Bread and fine tuning the recipe based on what I have learned during the last two years of trying to be a great Sous Chef.

    One thing I learned the hard way was that it was better to separate the dough into two pieces right after mixing the dough.

When I tried to upload a picture, Google came on and said I had used up my 1 GB of free storage and for a mere $2.95 a month it would let me continue.  FAT CHANCE ! Until I can figure out how to get around this, there will  not be any pictures.

Revised Basic Artisan Bread recipe follows:

À bientôt,
Mr Nut

 Basic Artisan Bread

Oct 14, 2011 revamped 11-22-12

European style: (Crisp-crust; large air spaces)

Inspired by The Basic No-Knead Bread from Jim Lahey’s My Bread page 61 

Modified for 7 qt Cuisinart stand mixer.with speeds from 1 to 12

Yield: Two seven inch rounds

Planning was crucial: Mixing time for the ingredients was minimal. Then the dough was divided into two pieces.  The first fermentation required from 12 to preferably 18 hours.  Each piece of dough was folded unto itself and  “shaped” into rounds and fermented for about another 1 to 2 hours. The longer fermentation tended to result in a more flavorful bread.  Even a 12 hour rise was acceptable. 

   

Ingredients: 

7 cups (35 ounces; 980 g ) Bread flour 

1 tablespoon Sea salt

1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast

1/4 cup Dough Enhancer 

1/4 cup Millet "beads"  

Almost three  cups water 

  

1.In the stand mixer bowl, using the Chef Whisk on speed one, mix the Blue  ingredients.

2. Change to the Flat Paddle at speed 2 and slowly add the Red Ingredient and mix just until you have a  workable dough.  

3. Divide the dough into two pieces. 

4. The first Fermentation: (12 to 18 hours)  Move the dough to  oiled bowls.  Cover the bowls to prevent evaporation and let it sit at room temperature (about 72-75℉ a heating pad helps), out of direct sunlight, until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is  doubled in size. This will take a minimum of 12 hours and preferably up to 18 hours. This slow fermentation makes a more flavorful bread. NOTES: Long low temperature (70s℉) fermentation allows both the yeast and bacteria to feed on the sugars in the dough, which enhances the flavor.

5. Second Fermentation: Remove the dough to a floured work surface.  Each piece of dough was folded unto itself and  “shaped” into rounds.  Set out two 15-inch squares of baking parchment paper. Generously dust them with flour. Place each round into the center of the parchment papers. Generously dust the rounds with more  flour.   Tent the dough with larger bowls. Let them ferment for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

6.  Prepare Oven: 20 minutes before baking time, put a rack in the middle of the oven with the Dutch ovens; preheat the oven to 450°F. If you have a pizza stone place it near the bottom of the oven it will act as a heat sink.

7. Final Dough preparation:  Using the parchment paper as a sling, carefully lift the dough into the HOT pots; take care not to touch the hot pot.  Spray water onto the loaf and Immediately top the pots with its lid. 

8.  Baking: Bake on the lower rack for 30 minutes. Remove the lid. Using the parchment paper, lift the loaf from the pot and remove the parchment paper. Place a piece of aluminum foil on the oven rack.   Then place the loaves on the aluminum foil (If the top is  browned to your satisfaction, cover the loaves with foil and finish baking.).  Bake for 25 to 35 minutes longer, (watch  the tops for brownness) until a skewer inserted in the thickest part comes out with just a few crumbs on the tip (or until the center registers about 200-205°F on an instant-read thermometer). Then bake for 5 minutes longer to ensure the center is baked through. Note: the appearance of the loaves is more important in determining the doneness of the loaves than the internal temperature (from Cook's illustrated magazine, May-June 2011 page 31).  Cool  thoroughly on a wire rack. 

9. SERVING AND STORING: Cool before slicing and storing. The flavor improves after several hours of storage. To maintain the crisp crust, store in a large bowl draped with a clean tea towel or in a heavy paper bag. Or store airtight in a plastic bag or foil: The crust will soften, but can be crisped by heating the loaf, uncovered, in a hot oven for a few minutes. The bread will keep at room temperature for 3 days, and may be frozen, airtight, for up to 2 months.

Crunchy Cashew Coleslaw + Hot tub

Hello loyal follower(s),

Saturday I was informed by the manager of this house that we were going to have informal dinner guests on Sunday.  They are our friends from Wetaskiwin Alberta Canada who winter in St George.
Therefore, i volunteered to make some fresh bread for the informal dinner.

This was the Basic artisan bread from Jim Lahey's
book.

The crumb was good but some larger whole would be more desirable.  My dough was rather stiff this time, maybe a wetter dough would have yielded larger holes.








     My "skills" were also demanded of me by Cyndy as she requested my efforts at making Crunchy Cashew Coleslaw for the informal dinner.  I followed the recipe to the T and afterwards   commented that cutting the recipe in half might have been a better approach.   This was her secret desire all along, since she had put a square around a numeral 4 which was located in an obscure  location on  the recipe, which was to mean do half the recipe.  I swear the woman-ease  method of communication is a probably always be a mystery to me.  Anyway, it was a great recipe and will be added to Mr Nut's favorite recipes.    

The recipe for Crunchy Cashew Coleslaw follows this blog.

Our hot tub has been giving us problems with leaks lately, thus I needed to disassemble all the stuff that was built around it to make it fit into the yard better.

The hot tub was installed one foot below the ground surface with the step up around the tub.  This just had a more appealing look.


Not it was time to strip away all  the decorative stuff to get at the leaky pipes.

Age is catching up with me, since removing all the surround stuff wore me  out. It was time for a nap.



But first, it is time to go workout at the athletic club.



À bientôt
Mr Nut

Crunchy Peanut Coleslaw

From tasteofhome.com by Judy Madsen of Ellis Idaho

8 servings

Dressing

12 cup reduced-fat sour cream

1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise

1/2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoons tarragon vinegar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon white pepper

1/2 teaspoon rice vinegar

The main ingredients

2 cups finely chopped cabbage

1/2 cup chopped cauliflower

1/2 cup chopped celery

2 tablespoons finely chopped onion

2 tablespoons chopped green pepper

2 tablespoons finely chopped cucumber

1/4 cup chopped cashews

In Zucchini season: 

Use 1 cup cabbage and 1 cup Zucchini instead of two cups cabbage.

Directions

1. For dressing, in a small bowl, combine the Red ingredients until blended.
2. In a large bowl, combine the Blue ingredients. 
3. Add dressing and toss to coat. Sprinkle with cashews.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust (a flop)

Hello loyal follower(s)

      Yesterday was Pizza day at our house (every Friday).  I really like the pizza  crust recipe we got from our daughter Susan, but I wanted to try something else.  Thus working off a recipe from the internet I changed enough things so I could claim ownership to the recipe.  The dough was divided into two pieces to yield two thin crusts.  As a  thin crust this was a flop, it was so bad that I threw away the second piece of dough.  Maybe as a regular crust it might of worked, but it was tasteless.  Granted,  I probably over precooked the crust, maybe skipping the precook step might of worked.  But I was not going to try it.

      Today it was almost 10AM when I crawled out of bed (I read in bed way to late last night).  Anyway,  after breakfast it was time to make Broccoli Cheese Soup for a late lunch and to have around for next week. We had lunch just in time for my  PM nap.  When I awoke from my mandatory nap I was informed that we would be having "dinner" guests tomorrow evening.  Therefore, it was time to make some good Basic Artisan Bread for tomorrow.

I have included the flop of the pizza crust so you can see what was involved.

À bientôt

Mr Nut

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Dreamed up by Mr Nut

"A healthy whole wheat crust that comes out soft and chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside. Use with your favorite pizza toppings or pizza recipes."

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 teaspoon white sugar

1/2 cups warm water (110 ℉)

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup Bread flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a stand mixer with the paddle blade, dissolve 1/2 teaspoon sugar in 1/2 cup warm water. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon yeast over the top, and let stand for about 10 minutes, until foamy.

1. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon salt into the yeast mixture, then mix in 2/3 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup of the Bread flour until dough starts to come together. 
2. Switch to the Dough Hook and knead until all the flour has been absorbed, and the ball of dough becomes smooth, about 5 minutes.
3. Place dough in an oiled bowl, and turn to coat the surface. Cover loosely with a towel, and let stand in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
4. Preheat the oven to 425℉ 
5. When the dough is doubled, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 2 pieces for 2 thin crust, or leave whole to make one thick crust. Form into a tight ball. Let rise for about 45 minutes, until doubled.
6. Roll a ball of dough with a rolling pin until it will not stretch any further. When the circle has reached the desired size, place on a piece of parchment paper. 
7. Brush dough with olive oil , cover with plastic wrap and let it sit for ten minutes
8. Partially bake the crust for three minutes.
9. Top pizza with your favorite toppings, such as sauce, cheese, meats, or vegetables..
10. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes (depending on thickness) in the preheated oven, until the crust is crisp and golden at the edges, and cheese is melted on the top.

MEDITERRANEAN BRAISED GREEN BEANS

Hello again loyal follower(s)

       Monday was a first for me, I made two recipes at the same time; Salisbury Steak (see last blog) and Mediterranean Braised Green Beans.  The bean recipe was a new recipe, and I followed it very closely, or sort of closely.
      Again Cyndy and I critiqued the results while soaking in our hot tub around midnight.  we both felt there was too much olive oil (5 ounces) and the sauce was good except it was too watery.  The recipe was for 4-6 people (they would have to have large appetites).
    Therefore I have rewritten the recipe for two older adults.

Recipe follow at end of blog:

If this recipe turns out as well as I suspect it will then be added to my favorites.

   Last night Cyndy and I  saw Guys and Dolls at the Dixie State College.  It was a good production, with exceptional casting.

     I have written about a great (favorite) pancake recipe for Flax and Whole Wheat flours.  Lately I have been having trouble with my pancakes, until I remembered that Baking Powder has a limited  shelf life.  Our container of Clabber Girl  double duty baking powder was personally signed by Abe Lincoln and could no longer pass the test below.
"Moisture and heat can cause baking powder to lose its effectiveness over time, and commercial varieties have a somewhat arbitrary expiration date printed on the container. Regardless of the expiration date, the effectiveness can be tested by placing a teaspoon of the powder into a small container of hot water. If it fizzes energetically, it is still active and usable." (from Wikipedia)

    It appears that my curly hair is slowly reverting to it's normal mess.   The curls have been fun but will probably last for a couple more months.

À bientôt
Mr Nut

MEDITERRANEAN BRAISED GREEN BEANS

Modified from Cook's Illustrated, September-October 2012

Serves maybe four old folks as a side dish.  

To quickly create braised green beans that are ultra-tender but not mushy or blown out, we first cook them in baking soda and water, to partially dissolve the pectin in their cell walls and let water enter to soften their fibrous skins. We then add tomatoes to neutralize the soda and let them simmer gently in a low oven.

A dollop of yogurt spooned over the beans adds nice tang. To make a light entrée, serve the beans with rice or crusty bread.

INGREDIENTS

1 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil 

1/4  cup finely chopped onion

1/2 teaspoon minced garlic

Pinch cayenne pepper

1/2  cups water

1/8  teaspoon baking soda

1/2  pound green beans , trimmed and cut into 2- to 3-inch lengths

1  teaspoon tomato paste

5 ounce) diced tomatoes , drained, chopped coarse

1/4  teaspoon salt

1/8  teaspoon pepper

1/8  cup parsley flakes

Red wine vinegar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 275 degrees. 
2. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in Dutch oven over medium heat until shimmering. Add 1/4 cup onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 3 to 5 minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon garlic and pinch of cayenne pepper and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup water, 1/8 teaspoon baking soda, and 1/2 pound green beans and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. POUR OFF ABOUT HALF THE LIQUID, then stir in 1 teaspoon tomato paste, 5 ounces tomatoes and their juice, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.
3. Cover pot, transfer to oven, and cook until sauce is slightly thickened and green beans can be easily cut with side of fork, 40 to 50 minutes. Stir in 1/8 cup parsley flakes and season with vinegar to taste. Serve warm or at room temperature.

French Onion Salisbury Steak

Hello loyal follower(s)

   Before I get into the heavy stuff,  after eight months postoperative my energy level has improved.

When we moved to  our home in St George in  1994, there was only desert behind our home.  How there are about 48 houses behind our house and many trees and shrubbery.  Moisture was hard for the birds etc. to find and the birds would fly off with tomatoes for their young. The fence around our garden is in the background on the left in this picture.  To combat that problem and  to protect our plants from  the sun we built walk-in inclosure over the garden area.  Because of the many trees and fountains in some of the yards the garden was not getting enough sun and the birds on longer are desperate for moisture.  Therefore, last winter (while in pain) I salvaged the 2x2s from the enclosure and built four planting boxes out of the 2x2s.  One of the boxes in on it's side in the foreground of this picture and one has already been put in place along the wall. This month  my stamina has sort of returned and I could do one to two hours of this kind of work.

   What has been more hazardous has been my return to a more active involvement with the working of OUR kitchen.  Cyndy (my wife and opponent in the kitchen) suggested I try a recipe she found in a magazine called Cuisine At Home.   Also, I wanted to try another recipe from Cook Illustrated.

      Cyndy took this picture as I was just getting started, and no the floor is not dirty YET.  I think I will save the discussion of the second recipe; Mediterranean Braised Green Beans for next time and just discuss the results of the French Onion Salisbury Steak.

     I followed the recipe except when I made an error.  The results were what you would expect if you overcook the meat even while following the recipe.  The sauce would have been great if only the red wine was used instead of both red wine and sherry.
       Cyndy and I did a postmortem analysis of the results as we soaked in our Hot Tub in our backyard around midnight.  We concluded that it would be better if the Salisbury steaks were done on the grill and the sauce was done separately in a skillet.  It would be better to use   to thicken the sauce instead of all-purpose flour. Since I formed and floured the Salisbury steaks ahead of time and kept them in the refrigerator.  Big mistake the really stuck together, also  the flouring sort of soaked into the meat.  The much changed recipe follows this blog.  It will not become a "favorite" recipe until I try the revised version.

I do not like to brag, BUT last Sunday my boss and opponent in the kitchen requested that I make Apricot-Glazed Chicken Breasts for our dinner guests.  Cyndy made the side dishes.  I worked hard on the project and had everything ready to go.  There was extra time so I decided to take a nap.  It was time to start the cooking when I awoke from my nap.  Upon entering the kitchen area I found my opponent had usurped the  use of the oven.  Thus the "Oven War" began again. We sort of worked things out and had a temporary armistice in time to enjoy our friends, dinner and especially the great side dishes Cyndy made using the oven.

Recipe follows:

À bientôt,
Mr Nut

French Onion Salisbury Steak

Based on Magazine Cuisine At Home

Makes 4 steaks;Total time: 45 minutes

The original recipe called for using a skillet for browning the steaks, however doing the steaks on the grill allows for better control of the “doneness” of the meat.  

FOR THE  STEAK

1 lb. ground chuck

1/8 cup minced parsley flakes

2 tablespoons minced red onion

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon coarse black pepper

FOR THE SAUCE

1 teaspoon olive oil

2 cups sliced onions

1 teaspoon sugar

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 tablespoon tomato paste

1 14.5 oz can beef broth

1/4 cup dry red wine

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

INSTRUCTIONS

1  Combine the red ingredients, use your CLEAN hands.  Divide into four  oval patties,  about three quarters  thick.

1. Fire up the grill including the braising burner if you have one.  While it is heating;
2. Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a high sided skillet at medium heat.
3. Saute the green ingredients for about five minutes.
4. Add the Blue ingredients and saute about one minute
5. Stir in the Rose ingredients and bring the sauce to a boil, reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer for eight minutes.
6. NOW back to the grill, using the braising burner, braise each side of the salisbury steaks for one minute.
7. Transfer the steaks to the regular burner of the grill and cook until the interior temperature is at 115-120℉ (should only take a couple minutes)
8. Add the steaks to the sauce and continue simmering the sauce for a TOTAL of ten minutes.
9. Remove steaks from sauce and thicken the sauce with Wondra  to your liking.