Thanksgiving

All the usual things, with a few new ones: walnut bread a la the no-knead recipe, and a delicious and tasty Peppermint double chocolate from Chloe

jailhouse

headed to jailhouse to get our grimpe on. Sent whipping boy using the sequence I worked out last time, so now I can move on to longer and steeper things: Soap? Junkie? maybe even Fugitive? Whichever it is, I'm going to need to steal some serious beta.

Gold Wall

We headed out to the Gold Wall with Zoe and Jana, a friend from work. It was a bit of a high gravity day for me, but we had a lot of fun. Jana got stuck with double belay duty while Chloe and I saw to the little imp. The Gold Wall is great, but not particularly baby friendly.

jailhaus!

Chloe had Friday off, so I took a vacation day to go climbing. It was a pretty hot and greasy day, but it was great to get outside. We did one of the warm up 11s, then off to Whipping Boy, where I figured out a workable sequence for the crux, then back to the 12 to the right of the warm up. If I stop eating cookies and lower my plugra intake, I figure I can send in another couple of visits. I have to admit that it's a little discouraging projecting the crag warm ups, but that's the way to get better!

No Knead Bread

This weekend I finally got around to trying the famous "No Knead Bread" technique by Jim Lahey and introduced to the world by Mark Bittman in the New York Times. I had talked to a guy I know from the climbing gym about it after a day climbing at Jailhaus, and he loves it. Seeing as he is a pastry chef and Chez Panisse alumnus, I hold his baking opinion in very high esteem. On Monday I headed to what turns out to be a truly fantastic kitchen place called the Chef's Warehouse. It's just a stone's throw from where I work, and is absolutely off the scale fantastic. They have *everything*, and I ended up buying a lot of stuff that I hadn't planned on. Ramikens? $1 each! Gourmet Standard pots and pans (rated by Cooks Illustrated as performing as well as my beloved all clads)? 60% off. Le Creuset at bargain prices? Check. Knock off le creusets for those of us that think $170 for a 3 quart cast iron pot is absurd? Check (I went with the Cuisinart knock off).

Anyway, with the pot in hand I got to work. I was using the Cook's Illustrated Version (pasted in below in case that page goes away). I really like the parchment trick. The first two loaves were so-so. Good, because any fresh baked bread from the oven is hard not to love, but not exceptional. The third loaf, however, was great. A perfect crust, and very minimal effort. Here's what I have learned so far: that second rising is not strictly necessary. Whole wheat flour, and specifically the whole wheat flour from Trader Joe's, does not work as well as plain unbleached white flour.






Ingredients
3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces), plus additional for dusting work surface
1/4 teaspoon instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons table salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water (7 ounces), at room temperature
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mild-flavored lager (3 ounces)
1 tablespoon white vinegar
Instructions



1. Whisk flour, yeast, and salt in large bowl. Add water, beer, and vinegar. Using rubber spatula, fold mixture, scraping up dry flour from bottom of bowl until shaggy ball forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 8 to 18 hours.


2. Lay 12- by 18-inch sheet of parchment paper inside 10-inch skillet and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Transfer dough to lightly floured work surface and knead 10 to 15 times. Shape dough into ball by pulling edges into middle. Transfer dough, seam-side down, to parchment-lined skillet and spray surface of dough with nonstick cooking spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until dough has doubled in size and does not readily spring back when poked with finger, about 2 hours.


3. About 30 minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position, place 6- to 8-quart heavy-bottomed Dutch oven (with lid) on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour top of dough and, using razor blade or sharp knife, make one 6-inch-long, 1/2-inch-deep slit along top of dough. Carefully remove pot from oven and remove lid. Pick up dough by lifting parchment overhang and lower into pot (let any excess parchment hang over pot edge). Cover pot and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 425 degrees and bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove lid and continue to bake until loaf is deep brown and instant-read thermometer inserted into center registers 210 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes longer. Carefully remove bread from pot; transfer to wire rack and cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.

jailhaus

Went to jailhouse with mike, tom and tony. Got smacked around on a few things and will probably project Whipping Boy.