Hi Again,
Our ace webmaster, Mark Witt, has re-tooled the recipe tester's Forum so that it is now available to everyone. He has set up pages for Q&A with me as well as between yourselves, and a number of other pages for the sharing of information, philosophy, and my teaching travel schedule. I will try to check in once a week (except when I'm on the road) to respond to your questions, but all of you can feel free to chime in with answers or suggestions of your own. If you want to post photos of your breads you can do so by following the steps to register. Here's the link to get you started. All your questions as to how to proceed will be answered there, including an address for Mark should you have other questions not addressed: http://www.breadtechnique.com/preinhart.html
From now on, those of you who have bread questions can write to me there (if it's an emergency or time sensitive you can still reach me directly at recipetesters@yahoo.com ). This will also allow me to answer these for everyone's benefit--it will become an archive, of sorts, for frequently (or infrequently) asked questions. This is an exciting step in building our baker's network and community. Many thanks to Mark and to all of you who have hung in there!
Also, I wanted to be sure that those of you who have tried or plan to try making the babka recipe from the new book know that it will be even better if you add 1 ounce (2 tablespoons) of vegetable oil in addition to the 3 ounces of butter called for. It will work either way but the oil helps keep the dough softer and more moist.
Finally, I want to let you know that I've lately been using the new EatSmart Scale from Health Tools LLC. It registers down to individual grams, which I really like, plus it is very inexpensive. It comes with a calorie per gram guidebook for most ingredients, so it's very helpful for those of us counting our calories. Here's the website for more info (I understand it is also available via Amazon): www.eatsmartscales.com I don't get a commission on these--I just like to spread the word when I find something I like at a great price.
More soon. Meanwhile, I'll see many of you on the Forum.
May Your Bread Always Rise!
Peter
