Complacency

[gwschenk]

Complacency...it'll get you.

I'm doing my usual smoked chicken. Simple. WSM, Stubb's charcoal, dry water pan, two chunks applewood, vents wide open. Takes 1 and a half hours to produce a beautiful juicy smoked bird. Everytime. Time after time. All the time. Like clockwork.

This weekend I didn't even bother to set up the DOT thermometer. At 90 minutes went to the smoker to check the temp and it was 195 in the breast.

It was a little dry. Still delicious. The leftovers made good chicken salad.

[Breadhead]

Repetition can make one's mind wonder... sometimes creating disappointing results.😬 But even an over cooked chicken is darn tasty.👅

[gwschenk]

Breadhead, BTW, I just got back from the Orange County Fair. I saw the winner of the bread contest. It was a loaf of sourdough. Take my advice, enter one of your loaves next year, you'll win going away.

Last weekend I made my pan bread. If I had entered that it would have won something. The loaf of white sandwich bread that got third place was undercooked, and had to thin a crust. Pretty good crumb though.

[Breadhead]

Breadhead, BTW, I just got back from the Orange County Fair. I saw the winner of the bread contest. It was a loaf of sourdough. Take my advice, enter one of your loaves next year, you'll win going away.

Last weekend I made my pan bread. If I had entered that it would have won something. The loaf of white sandwich bread that got third place was undercooked, and had to thin a crust. Pretty good crumb though.

To me bread making and BBQ were things I latched onto after retiring. I've always been a pretty intense guy. I need projects. I don't like being average. Bread making caught my attention mostly because of the science of it. It seemed so way out there that I decided I have to figure this out.🤔 Then I realized that Artisan bread making was really a lost art form that got wiped out when the chemist's figured out how to dry yeast so it could be sold to bread factories and to housewives in small packages. So spending a day or 3 to make extraordinary bread was no longer desirable. Then they invented bread making machines and standup mixers. So the 5000 year old tradition of sourdough bread making was pretty much wiped out in 3 generations.

When I started studying it there were only a few of us. We all traded our knowledge willingly, like I do on AR. We all encouraged each other to go to the next level. We all knew it wasn't the recipe... it was the TECHNIQUES, how and when you touch the dough🤔 My goal back then was to be able to make as good a loaf of sourdough bread as any bread maker in the world. A lofty goal that I knew was impossible. I've NOT reached that goal but I know there aren't many people in the world that can make a more perfect loaf of sourdough bread than me.😎

But like my bread making mentor said, Jacob Burton, no one, no one... knows it all.

I've had people want me to provide their businesses with my sourdough bread, my Brioche buns and my lemon pound cake, but... I'm retired for a reason. I really like helping my son's family and spending time with my grandkids and my dog.

Making the elusive PERFECT loaf of sourdough bread is a guilty pleasure that few people on this earth will EVER be blessed with the time to figure out how to pull it off. Once they do that it is a highly emotional occurrence that will literally make you weep.😂

I've had all of my bread pleasures I need... I have no desire to compete. I prefer to teach.👍

[Karon Adams]

One of the things I love about bread is what brought me to soap 25 years ago and custard, and Ice Cream and Marshmallows. it's always a basic skill that can be tailored to any taste. changing any of the elements of bread creates something new and every addition creates a new kind of flavor. Bread is a magical thing.

[Karon Adams]

splitting an ounce to 28 sections is easy. each one is one gram. 28 grams to an ounce