Can I interest anyone in some FOOD?

[theodoric]

Maybe we have a lurking food scientist here who can answer my new question:

I've been making a lot of pizza crusts recently and I've noticed a weird inconsistency. My favorite recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of sugar, which I sometimes substitute with an equal amount of honey.

When I use the sugar I end up with a standard pizza dough, but whenever I use the honey I'm surprised to find my dough doesn't rise nearly as much. What gives? Is it a ratio problem? I always thought honey to sugar was 1:1.

I prefer using honey because I think it adds a little depth to the flavor of the crust, but it'd be sweet if I could use both honey and get the kind of rise sizes I experience with organic white sugar.

And in case anyone's interested: agave nectar works just fine. The dough isn't as flavorful as the honey-sweetened, and it's a bit cakey, but that's apparently normal for agave nectar.

It's baking; it's alchemy, really. You will likely need to change your ratio, adjust other ingredients to compensate for using a goo (technical term, I know) rather than a dry sweetener, and you might also need to adjust your oven temp upward (IIRC, honey takes longer to brown than sugar) and lengthen your baking time.

Do one thing at a time and see what happens, rather than change a bunch of variables at once.

Good luck.

[pissedpissedofferson]

It's baking; it's alchemy, really. You will likely need to change your ratio, adjust other ingredients to compensate for using a goo (technical term, I know) rather than a dry sweetener, and you might also need to adjust your oven temp upward (IIRC, honey takes longer to brown than sugar) and lengthen your baking time.

Do one thing at a time and see what happens, rather than change a bunch of variables at once.

Good luck.

Thanks, but I think I've got most of those bases covered already. I guess my question is why would honey seemingly feed yeast less than the sugar-syrup made by the usual recipe?

I was under the impression that yeast loved natural sweeteners, the less processed the better, so I'm semi-worried that there's something off about the Trader Joe's brand honey I've been using.

I'd rather not spike the dough with more yeast. I'm a proponent of the low-yeast retarded-rise-time method, I've found it turns out a softer and more pliable dough. I guess I could fiddle around with the amounts of the other ingredients, but honey's a strong enough flavor that I'm wary of overloading the dough with it.

Anyhoozle, in spite of my problems with honey I'd still recommend it over dry sugar. Even if there's something off about my TJ's honey it continues to taste a lot better than just the ultra-refined flavorlessness of sugar. Turbinado and brown sugar exempted.

[Harry Bongers]

Anyone have any experience with a propane and charcoal all in one grill/smoker? I can buy a brand new one from a guy for 50 bucks and I suspect the conventional grilling won't be the best but for 50 bucks having the smoker option might be worth it. It's a Brinkmann if that means anything to anyone.

[crlygrl]

I'd buy that for 50 bucks... how bad can it be?

Also, check this out: http://smittenkitchen.com/ FOOD PORN

[theodoric]

Thanks, but I think I've got most of those bases covered already. I guess my question is why would honey seemingly feed yeast less than the sugar-syrup made by the usual recipe?

I was under the impression that yeast loved natural sweeteners, the less processed the better, so I'm semi-worried that there's something off about the Trader Joe's brand honey I've been using.

I'd rather not spike the dough with more yeast. I'm a proponent of the low-yeast retarded-rise-time method, I've found it turns out a softer and more pliable dough. I guess I could fiddle around with the amounts of the other ingredients, but honey's a strong enough flavor that I'm wary of overloading the dough with it.

Anyhoozle, in spite of my problems with honey I'd still recommend it over dry sugar. Even if there's something off about my TJ's honey it continues to taste a lot better than just the ultra-refined flavorlessness of sugar. Turbinado and brown sugar exempted.

Honey contains bacteria - a lot of bacteria (which is why you never feed it to babies and young children). The bacteria kills a lot of the yeast, so of course it's not going to interact as vigorously as straight granulated sugar.

I would try Pasteurized honey, which should kill more of the bacteria that then TJ's (probably) unfiltered, non-Pasteurized honey you're using. I still don't think it's going to be a straight 1-1 replacement for granulated sugar.

[Harry Bongers]

I'd buy that for 50 bucks... how bad can it be?

Also, check this out: http://smittenkitchen.com/ FOOD PORN

Transaction done.

So I own a smoker. Now what?

[Berliner]

Can you make lox?

[Gene George]

Can you make lox?

Lox is cold smoked, so unless it has a firebox and chimney that's long enough to allow the smoke to cool down, no.

You can make hot smoked salmon though.

I HIGHLY recommend Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's book on Charcuterie for a great overview on curing and smoking.

[Harry Bongers]

Can you make lox?

Lox is salmon cured with a brine.

But I could smoke salmon. I think my first project will be pulled pork.

[Harry Bongers]

Lox is cold smoked, so unless it has a firebox and chimney that's long enough to allow the smoke to cool down, no.

You can make hot smoked salmon though.

I HIGHLY recommend Michael Ruhlman and Brian Polcyn's book on Charcuterie for a great overview on curing and smoking.

Cold smoked lox is scottish salmon or nova lox. As I understand it lox is straight up brined. I might be wrong, I'm not an old Jewish guy. Get Charles Star in here.

Gravlax is dry brined with a spice mixture and weighted down.

That book looks great. Thanks for the tip!

[Gene George]

Lox is salmon cured with a brine.

But I could smoke salmon. I think my first project will be pulled pork.

Gravelax is cured in brine only but smoked "deli" lox is brined and cold smoked.

Just saw your post above. Seriously the book rules.

[crlygrl]

Smoke some whitefish while you're at it! I think it's even better than lox.

Also, smoked peppers seem like a fabulous idea.

[Gene George]

Smoke some whitefish while you're at it! I think it's even better than lox.

Also, smoked peppers seem like a fabulous idea.

Good smoked cod beats all. I'd really like to build a cold smoker but it's another level of pain in the butt entirely.

I always throw some jalapenos in with whatever I'm hot smoking just on general principle.

[arruns]

Thanks, but I think I've got most of those bases covered already. I guess my question is why would honey seemingly feed yeast less than the sugar-syrup made by the usual recipe?

I was under the impression that yeast loved natural sweeteners, the less processed the better, so I'm semi-worried that there's something off about the Trader Joe's brand honey I've been using.

I'd rather not spike the dough with more yeast. I'm a proponent of the low-yeast retarded-rise-time method, I've found it turns out a softer and more pliable dough. I guess I could fiddle around with the amounts of the other ingredients, but honey's a strong enough flavor that I'm wary of overloading the dough with it.

~1/4 of the amount of honey is water so adjust the liquid accordingly. Honey browns faster so keep an eye on it or temp down 25°. Add 1/2 tsp baking soda per cup of honey to add air as the honey will make the dough more viscous and lacks the air seeding qualities of sugar. You may want to go half and half honey and sugar.

[MrDys]

A friend of mine has turned me on to making everything a wrap. The simple construction element makes whatever you're throwing together seem slightly upscale.

I made some breakfast taco wraps for dinner tonight:

Fried mushrooms
Scrambled eggs
Diced onions
Shredded Colby cheese
Chopped basil picked right from my herb garden

Threw it all together in a whole-wheat tortilla, throw on a dab of hotsauce and eat. It's f'ing delicious. Wraps!

Edit: Speaking of my herb garden, does anyone have any good ideas of what to do with chives? They're growing like crazy, but the only thing I know to do with them is put them in baked potatoes...

[pissedpissedofferson]

Arruns - Sweet! It works. My standard recipe only calls for 2 teaspoons of sweetener, so I just mixed a pinch of baking powder into the dry ingredients. Now I've got all the good ol' airiness with no change in the flavor.

Edit: Speaking of my herb garden, does anyone have any good ideas of what to do with chives? They're growing like crazy, but the only thing I know to do with them is put them in baked potatoes...

Pork and chive dumplings, chive compound butter (great on rolls), potato salads, risotto, anything with cheddar cheese only gets better with chives, and you can work chives into just about any pasta dish.

Poke around Epicurious for more ideas, they're like Recipezaar or Allrecipes only all of their recipes come from gourmet magazines, so you don't get that soccer mom riffraff element.

[Gene George]

so you don't get that soccer mom riffraff element.

What! Chives go great in Tuna Helper.

[pissedpissedofferson]

What! Chives go great in Tuna Helper.

Mm-mm! You know it's good if the first 2 directions are:

1.) Buy a can of Pillsbury biscuits.
2.) Fill a 4 quart saucepan with vegetable oil.

[yumitree]

Mm-mm! You know it's good if the first 2 directions are:

1.) Buy a can of Pillsbury biscuits.
2.) Fill a 4 quart saucepan with vegetable oil.

[YOUTUBE]Er84GjiiVEg[/YOUTUBE]

[Cameron]

That look she gives the camera right after she adds the pepper is amazing.

Also, why are they making macaroni salad at 11 at night?