Prime Junta
RPGCodex' Little BRO
- Joined
- October 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540
This site is almost perfect, but it's sorely lacking a thread on cooking. Perhaps role-players live on Twinkies and Pepsi?
Anyway, those of you who do like to (or have to) cook at home, care to share some tips, tricks, recipes, discoveries, bravuras, and what not?
I can start: The Baking Stone!
I got mine here [ http://www.hukka.fi/leivinkivi_en.html ] but there are plenty of alternatives; Weber is marketing one for their grills, for example, which is just about exactly the same thing.
This is basically a flat piece of soapstone that you put in the oven and heat up before baking on it. It turns a regular electric oven into something uncannily close to a wood-fired baking or pizza oven. We mostly use ours for various types of flatbread -- Arabic bread, manaqish, pizza, and so on -- but it works great for all kinds of baking. You get crispy crusts with an even bake.
Tip:
Also use a bread shovel -- otherwise you'll have to remove the stone from the oven to add or remove things you're baking, which is a hassle, not to mention you risk a burn.
Another tip -- good with or without a baking stone:
Pizza turns out best when baked in several stages. First bake the crust without any toppings until it starts to bubble. Then add the tomato sauce, and bake until it no longer looks wet. Then add everything but the cheese, and bake until it looks almost done. Then add the cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and bake until the cheese melts and the edges get a bit of color.
If you bake two or three pizzas at once, you can swap them in and out of the oven as you go through the stages, and all will be ready at almost the same time.
Anyway, those of you who do like to (or have to) cook at home, care to share some tips, tricks, recipes, discoveries, bravuras, and what not?
I can start: The Baking Stone!
I got mine here [ http://www.hukka.fi/leivinkivi_en.html ] but there are plenty of alternatives; Weber is marketing one for their grills, for example, which is just about exactly the same thing.
This is basically a flat piece of soapstone that you put in the oven and heat up before baking on it. It turns a regular electric oven into something uncannily close to a wood-fired baking or pizza oven. We mostly use ours for various types of flatbread -- Arabic bread, manaqish, pizza, and so on -- but it works great for all kinds of baking. You get crispy crusts with an even bake.
Tip:
Also use a bread shovel -- otherwise you'll have to remove the stone from the oven to add or remove things you're baking, which is a hassle, not to mention you risk a burn.
Another tip -- good with or without a baking stone:
Pizza turns out best when baked in several stages. First bake the crust without any toppings until it starts to bubble. Then add the tomato sauce, and bake until it no longer looks wet. Then add everything but the cheese, and bake until it looks almost done. Then add the cheese, drizzle with olive oil, and bake until the cheese melts and the edges get a bit of color.
If you bake two or three pizzas at once, you can swap them in and out of the oven as you go through the stages, and all will be ready at almost the same time.
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2006
- Messages
- 8,540