Give us this day our daily bread

Over the last few months I have let my bread-baking lapse (with occasional exceptions to make bagels or pizza) because the local farmers' market has included a stall from Baltimore's Atwaters Bakery, which makes some of the best bread I have had this side of the Atlantic. Whole Foods bread tends to have too-soft crusts and they bag the bread before it is ready, so it continues to steam in the bag. Atwaters has great sourdough, rye, and pumpernickel.

But now that the farmers' market is in hibernation, I am back to the baking and I realized that I did miss it. Baking bread is a form of relaxation for me, and I revel in discovering new techniques. Some great books include the Bread Baker's Apprentice and Clayton's French Bread, the latter of which I used to make some pain complet yesterday. Pain complet is basically a whole wheat bread that is often shaped like challah bread - braided, essentially. Clayton's recipe called for making three loafs, but I decided on one loaf of braided bread and put the rest in a loaf pan in three chunks to make it a semi-pull-apart bread. The bread came out well and has a nice flavor developed from an overnight pre-ferment and a little honey. I use a stand mixer most of the time, rather than hand-kneading, because it keeps me from adding too much flour. That said, you need to get your hands in the dough to make sure it's coming together right. The key is to not be afraid of a wet, sticky dough. In many cases that's okay (particularly some italian breads, like a ciabatta) and will smooth out as it rises.

In general, home baking of bread has limitations and will not usually achieve the same type bread a commercial baker can, for two main reasons: commercial ovens have steam-injection which keeps the dough surface moist and allows the inside to cook a little before the crust forms (which will be crispier), and commercial ovens get much hotter, which yields a thicker, crunchier crust as well. I have gotten close with a few breads, but often you have to cheat a little with a wash of some sort (egg and milk, or just water, or some oil).

Finally, I have been using active dry yeast instead of quick-rise yeast. I think it doesn't yield as high a rise and I may switch to quick-rise, but generally I have been happy with the results. Sometimes the rise just doesn't work the way you want it to, but that is dependent on so many factors (kneading, air moisture, temperature of water used in the bread) that you just have to accept they won't all be winners.

Small experiment

I'm trying my bolognese sauce with Buffalo meat this time around. Just a little experiment to see how it stacks up against the all-beef version I did last time.

Petit Plats ****

I am a big proponent of the idea that there are more bad Italian restaurants than bad French restaurants, because people tend to over-estimate the simplicity of Italian food and end up with bad Chef Boyardee. French food, on the other hand, is known as a complex cuisine that is not to be attempted by any old prol. That said, finding a good, relaxed place for French food is harder, because it is often dressed up to match the complexity. Not so Petit Plats in Woodley Park in Washington DC.

The restaurant offers honest, well-executed food in a neighborhood setting. The restaurant inhabits a row house and offers a comfortable and quiet place to enjoy some great food, such as the veal cheeks, or lemon sole. The wine list offers a good range, and the service is honest and no frills, which makes it a nice change from the overbearing service you get some places. The lemon tart is excellent and, well, tart, not sickly sweet.

For shame, Pizza Hut

I've been marveling at Pizza Hut's new commercials for the line of Tuscani pastas. I don't really believe that they are as grand as they are cracked up to be in the commercials -- maybe it's the snob in me, but I can't help but think that the people on the "hidden cameras" don't know from pasta. But what really gets me is that this 3 pounds of pasta with bread sticks is marketed as the perfect meal for a family of four. So, let's see... that's 12 oz of pasta per person. But actually, a serving of pasta is supposed to be more like 4 oz, so you should get 12 servings out of the Tuscani. If you check out Pizza Hut's nutrition webpage, you'll find out that a serving of the Tuscani pasta is about 500-600 calories, which doesn't sound too bad, except that it has 1200 mg of sodium and between 22 and 32 grams of fat -- or nearly half your daily recommended fat. They argue on their website that:

We believe eating sensibly, combined with appropriate exercise, is the best solution for a balanced lifestyle. To help you further, we've provided here useful links to Pizza Hut nutritional information so you can make informed choices about what to eat.
Pizza can be part of a well-balanced meal. Ingredients in our pizzas include protein, complex carbohydrates, Vitamin A and calcium. And, depending on the toppings you choose, our pizzas have items from all of the four major food groups - meat, dairy, fruits and vegetables, and grains! So take a closer look within our menu for suggestions when counting calories and fat grams.

While I agree with the thrust of their comments above, telling people in commercials that 3 lbs of pasta feeds four people is misleading at best.

Griffin Tavern & Restaurant *

Oh, we so wanted to like Griffin Tavern in Flint Hill. We were on our way to Thornton Gap in the Shenandoah Valley for a Sunday hike and had blown through Front Royal's cornucopia of fast food. When Leslie spied this tavern in a victorian house on a hill, it seemed like the fates had brought us what we needed -- good, honest tavern food to fortify us for the trek ahead. We should have gone to KFC.

The tavern is pleasant looking and has seating on the wrap-around porch that gives a nice view of the hills (occasionally punctuated by the roar of motorcycle engines). The special of the day was open-faced meatloaf sandwich that was luke-warm by the time it finally arrived and didn't seem very special at all. I had a passable lentil soup with a weirdly textured and not very spicy curried shrimp salad sandwich. All this was washed down with watery ginger ale. Not worth the time or the money, which is too bad, because it is in an idylic spot.

On the plus side, the tacos from Taco Bell in Middleton, VA were excellent -- crispy taco, lettuce that wasn't soggy, and meat that wasn't swimming in grease.

Head to Head Tasting: Aberfeldy 12 vs Dewar's White Label

Aberfeldy is not a particularly well known single malt, mainly because the Dewar brothers founded the distillery in 1896 to produce malt for their blended whisky. Hence today's head-to-head tasting of Dewar's White Label -- one of the most popular blended whiskies in the States -- and one of its primary constituent malts. The two have an identical straw or pale gold color. the Aberfeldy has some sweet, light sherry on the nose, perhaps some faint bubble gum, whereas the Dewar's has a little more of a plastic note with almonds (it should be noted that I tasted both these whiskies as single malts -- neat and then with water added, whereas I normally drink the blended malt on ice, which impacts the nose and flavor). The Aberfeldy is thicker and more oily, whereas the Dewar's has a clean flavor that is a little short, but one can definitely drink it neat.

After adding water the Aberfeldy develops a flat waxy or plastic smell, perhaps some biscuit or baked good, and is less oily on the palate. The Dewar's nose dies away a bit and becomes fuller on the tongue. When I have drunk the Dewar's on ice it has a bit more smoke which I didn't notice as much with just water added. Neither one blew me away, but try the Dewar's on ice and you will find a fine drink for relaxing with after a long day at work.

Macallan Tasting

Last night I attended a Macallan tasting in the City Tavern Club of DC in Georgetown. Apparently this is a pretty regular event, but it took an email from the Chicago Tribune of all places for me to find out about it. As you might expect, the event is a gathering for people to sample whiskies (for free, natch) and hear about the distillery and the whiskies from the brand ambassador. Of course, Macallan, like others, is hoping to recruit new drinkers of whisky and the Macallan in particular. There were about 130 people at the event jammed into seats around cocktail tables. I was wondering what the Macallan hoped its yield would be for such an event, i.e., what is their measurement of success -- one new drinker? Ten? I don't know and didn't have a chance to ask because we were ushered out at the end to make way for a second sitting that evening.

The event itself lasts just about an hour (there is 30 minutes of hors d'oevres and the Macallan 10 year old fine oak prior to the formal presentation) and consists of tasting four more Macallans, so there isn't a lot of time to linger over each drink, so my impressions are highly superficial. After the 10 y.o., we tried the 12 year old sherry oak, the 15 and 17 year old fine oak, and wrapped up with the 18 year old sherry oak. The 15 and 17 year olds seemed a little too light to me, particularly the 15 year old lacks a bit in character. The 18 year old is a substantial and tasty scotch and I would definitely drink it again. I would not, however, buy it purely based on price. At about $120-130 a bottle, it is far more expensive than other great 18 year olds on the market (like the glorious Highland Park). This is largely due to the sherry oak casks that Macallan directly sources and the manner of distilling through many runs (Macallan says they only use 16% of the spirit run in the final product, the rest is recycled through the distillery).

I applaud the Macallan for this evening and for exposing people to their whiskies.