Awkward Wealth

[Walt34]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jon-nyc Indeed, there is a wealth of knowledge in this thread.

Yes, but it is awkward for the ignorant.

[38Chevy454]

I would rather be wealthy of knowledge than knowledgeable about wealth.

[NW-Bound]

There are two main tangents to this thread. One is about bread making, and the other is about cars.

As I have never made bread, I do not have much to add there, other than that I like French baguette, and I have read that it takes some tricks to obtain the crunchy crust, something about adding steam to the oven or misting the bread during baking. Any comment?

About cars, I am not into that, so do not have much to add either. However, I just remember that I happened to run across a Bricklin recently while traveling in New Brunswick, and did take some photos of it. Surely, some people here would remember the Canadian-made Bricklin which was said to be the inspiration for the DeLorean.

Wikipedia said that less than 3,000 Bricklins were made before the company went bankrupt with much controversy involving the then Premier of NB Province. The car I saw had the serial number of 1956. It was said that each car cost $16K to make in 1975 ($68K in 2014 dollars), but was sold for only $5K to be price competitive.

[Amethyst]

I like that...so wealthy, you don't knead bread! Is there a whole-wheat version, or does using whole wheat flour cause kneadiness?

Amethyst

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki Breads? 1 1/2 cups warm water, 1 tsp salt, 1 tsp yeast, 3 1/2 cups bread flour, let sit for 10 hours covered, turn out and allow to rise in a pan for an hour, bake at 425 for 45 minutes. Not really everything in it, but.... oh wait - you said threads, not breads. what were we talking about?

[splitwdw]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound There are two main tangents to this thread. One is about bread making, and the other is about cars. As I have never made bread, I do not have much to add there, other than that I like French baguette, and I have read that it takes some tricks to obtain the crunchy crust, something about adding steam to the oven or misting the bread during baking. Any comment?

You can get a crusty loaf by adding steam in the first 5-10 minutes of baking. I have a gas oven. Don't know if you can use an electric oven.

Place a cast iron pan on the floor of the oven. Preheat oven, spray the dough with water before placing in oven, use a long handled soup ladle or long spout kettle to dump water into the cast iron pan and quickly close the door. Caution because dumping water in hot cast iron pan can shoot out and burn you.

You can also try spraying water inside the oven during the first 5-10 minutes. I've never had much luck with this method. Caution, do not have the light turned on inside the oven. If you hit the bulb with water you can shatter the bulb.

I also have a bread oven made from clay that you dampen with water before placing bread inside and placing in oven. You can make a bread oven from clay flower pot and clay saucer. I'd have to look up the directions for how to make it. Pretty sure you have to season the inside, similar to cast iron pot before you bake bread in it.

[photoguy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw You can get a crusty loaf by adding steam in the first 5-10 minutes of baking. I have a gas oven. Don't know if you can use an electric oven.

Adding water to make stream never worked for me in my gas oven. I think it vented too quickly.

In addition to a clay pot, you can cook the bread in any covered container where it will steam in its own moisture. I've used a dutch oven, casserole dish, turkey roaster, etc. Just take off the lid midway through baking.


Sent from my Nexus 5 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by splitwdw You can get a crusty loaf by adding steam in the first 5-10 minutes of baking. I have a gas oven. Don't know if you can use an electric oven. Place a cast iron pan on the floor of the oven. Preheat oven, spray the dough with water before placing in oven, use a long handled soup ladle or long spout kettle to dump water into the cast iron pan and quickly close the door. Caution because dumping water in hot cast iron pan can shoot out and burn you.

The one (and so far, only) time I tried making bread, it was a recipe from Julia Child's The Way To Cook bible. It was for a French loaf, and Julia said to take a cup of water and toss it into the bottom of the oven to make the steam, and quickly close the oven door. I followed her instructions. (I was using an electric oven)

My bread had issues with the rising (it had a decent airiness to it, but it sagged out to the side instead of having enough dough stiffness to rise), but the crust was decent. I don't know if the "toss water and hurry up and close" method worked or not, but it would definitely make a larger amount of steam - in a much shorter period of time - compared to a cast iron or misting method.

Not saying it's better - just offering what I think Julia had suggested (that is, I think that's what she had advised. It was about 16 years ago when I tried making it, and my memory may not be perfect).

[Andre1969]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NW-Bound About cars, I am not into that, so do not have much to add either. However, I just remember that I happened to run across a Bricklin recently while traveling in New Brunswick, and did take some photos of it. Surely, some people here would remember the Canadian-made Bricklin which was said to be the inspiration for the DeLorean. Wikipedia said that less than 3,000 Bricklins were made before the company went bankrupt with much controversy involving the then Premier of NB Province. The car I saw had the serial number of 1956. It was said that each car cost $16K to make in 1975 ($68K in 2014 dollars), but was sold for only $5K to be price competitive.

I've heard of the Bricklin, but have never seen one in person. I'm surprised they cut the price to $5,000. Even though 1975 was a long time ago, $5,000 didn't really get you a whole lot of car back then. My grandparents bought a new Dodge Dart Swinger that year, and my Mom bought a new Pontiac LeMans coupe. Each of those was around $5,000.

I used to think it was weird that a 6-cyl compact and a V-8 mid-size would be so close in price, but one day I looked them up in an old car book. A slant-6 Swinger was around $3510 base price and a V-8 LeMans was around $3590. So, by the time you added a things we take for granted today, but were optional in those days, such as power steering, power brakes, a radio (I think even AM was still optional), air conditioning, and so on, it was easy to get them to around $5K.

According to Wikipedia, the '74 Bricklin used an AMC 360 V-8, while the '75-76 used a Ford 351. I'm surprised they'd use a 360 as the basis for a sports car. I'm not too up on my AMC engines, but by '74, I don't think there were any really high performance versions of the 360 around. My uncle had one, in a 1976 Jeep pickup. It was good for pulling tree stumps, and off-roading, but was anything BUT fast.

I don't think Ford was getting much performance out of the 351 by '75-76 either, but at least that was a lighter, smaller engine, and better suited to an exotic car.

Interestingly though, the Wikipedia article said that road tests of the time showed the Bricklin compared favorably to the Corvette. So maybe Bricklin took those boat-anchor engines and hopped them up some? Plus, by that time, Corvette performance had really fallen off. Around the '74-75 timeframe, the fastest US production car was not the Corvette, not the Camaro or Firebird, but, get this...the Dodge Dart Sport/Plymouth Duster, with the high-output Mopar 360 (not to be confused with the AMC 360, which was a totally different engine)

[JoeWras]

I've made bread the old fashioned way. It is a lot of work. I'd love to resurrect my grandmother's recipe, but it very clearly called for cake yeast. I believe it was key to her unique bread. This stuff is now impossible to find. Anyone know of sources for it?

Today, I just use a bread machine, once a week. Better than nothing. And don't tell the gluten police. I actually add gluten to my mixture.

[LoneAspen]

Quote:

Originally Posted by JoeWras I've made bread the old fashioned way. It is a lot of work. I'd love to resurrect my grandmother's recipe, but it very clearly called for cake yeast. I believe it was key to her unique bread. This stuff is now impossible to find. Anyone know of sources for it?

Red Star sells it - Their web site below has a place to enter your zip code to see if there's a place close by that sells it.

Cake Yeast | Red Star Original

If no luck with that, try seeing if a local specialty grocer, or maybe a Whole Foods or Sprouts, could get small batches for you.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by brett Who cares what someone else drives or how they obtained it?

Quote:

Originally Posted by brewer12345 I tend to agree. Never understood the obsession with cars.

Some do, but I'm not one of them. In fact, I don't really understand the whole obsession with "stuff"...

[FUEGO]

Aldi had the white wheat on clearance this morning for $0.49 cents a loaf. Feeling rather rich, I splurged and picked up 2 loaves. I'm wealthy enough to outsource my breadmaking.

[MooreBonds]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Aldi had the white wheat on clearance this morning for $0.49 cents a loaf. Feeling rather rich, I splurged and picked up 2 loaves. I'm wealthy enough to outsource my breadmaking.

Does Aldi's have much on clearance by you? I've shopped 3 different area Aldi's near my house, and about the only thing I've ever seen on clearance have been the whole, bone-in hams after Easter and Christmas.

[GTFan]

Man I love Aldi's, I'd buy everything we need there if only they kept it all in stock.

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jon-nyc Although i dont want this to devolve into a discussion about who among us can afford a decent kitchen scale. That would be awkward.

I just upgraded to a new digital scale with a tare function. Finally!!!

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by photoguy Adding water to make stream never worked for me in my gas oven. I think it vented too quickly. In addition to a clay pot, you can cook the bread in any covered container where it will steam in its own moisture. I've used a dutch oven, casserole dish, turkey roaster, etc. Just take off the lid midway through baking. Sent from my Nexus 5 using Early Retirement Forum mobile app

I bought a small hand pump garden sprayer. Fill it with hot water and douse the sides of the oven 3 times in 1 minute intervals right after putting loaves in.

The loaves need to be steamed right away before the skin stiffness.

[AnIntentionalRoad]

Quote:

Originally Posted by FUEGO Aldi had the white wheat on clearance this morning for $0.49 cents a loaf. Feeling rather rich, I splurged and picked up 2 loaves. I'm wealthy enough to outsource my breadmaking.

Sorry, that's not actually bread. That's bread-flavored food stuff.

[CaliforniaMan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnIntentionalRoad Sorry, that's not actually bread. That's bread-flavored food stuff.

+1 Great comment! Made me laugh! I am glad I didn't post about our making "bread" using a waffle iron.

[MBAustin]

Quote:

Originally Posted by calmloki Baking bread when it is hot has a bit of challenge - do you bake at night before throwing the house open to cool or get up with the dawn..

And then there are those of us who live where it doesn't get cool enough to "throw the house open" from April until October...sigh. Last night it got down to 68 which at least meant it wasn't hot to walk this morning. Progress!

[calmloki]

Quote:

Originally Posted by AnIntentionalRoad I bought a small hand pump garden sprayer. Fill it with hot water and douse the sides of the oven 3 times in 1 minute intervals right after putting loaves in. The loaves need to be steamed right away before the skin stiffness.

I use my covered cast iron pans - chicken roasters or slant sided cook pots - and throw 3-4 ice cubes in on the oven rack after I put the bread in. I imagine it makes for a bit longer steam time, but who knows!

In an alliterative addition to the bread and auto digressions, I've been playing with my new-to-me 1997 buttless bimmer - a 318ti. Not many around now, and even fewer with the very impractical cloth California roof. The 318ti was BMW's cheapest car back then, a hatch to which America said "Eh. Meh". Gonna feel real fine parking it next to the ranks of more common luxury cars down south, which only cost their owners 20-30 times more money to buy.