Mahlzeit - Food without Borders

 I decided to expand the list of topics here. Going forward I will also write about products I tried and things that I try. So far I have only written about what worked for me. So here we go. For 2 years I argue with myself, if I should get a smoker or not and then which one to get. I think I resolved question 1, I want a smoker. Coming to a conclusion what I get exactly is a very different story. I ordered a smoking tube off the internet. With cleaning it did cost me about 17$.  Now can I turn my broken Grill into a smoker with this? Nope. At best it for cold smoking. Let's start at the beginning. I bought a bag of wood pellets, a mix of cherry and others which are supposed to be nice flavors for fish.  I filled the tube with the pellets and now I need to light them. I have an emergency gas lighter, but that one didn't work that well. The flame just didn't stay on long enough. Ok, somewhere I have matches, where there wood is actually 20cm (a little less than 8") long...

This bread came out great. 2 cups of whole wheat strong flower (14%) 1.5 cup warm water Mix for 15 minutes with the dough hook on low. Cover and let it sit for 60 minutes on a warm place. Back on the mixer it goes. Add 3/4 tsp of salt, 2 tsp active dry yeast, sourdough starter (see note 1). I had to add 2 more tbsp of flower to get it less sticky. Mix for 15 min on low, cover and let it stand for 3h. One more time in the kitchen machine for 5 minutes on low. Flower a banneton, add the dough, put wrap it with a plastic bag, I used a target shopping bag, into the fridge for 14-15h. Put a DO into the oven and preheat the oven to 495 F, with the DO inside. Once the oven is at temperature, still wait 20 min. Take out the DO (protect your hands, that thing is HOT, HOT, HOT) Add parchment paper, flip over the banneton, cover and back in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Then uncover and reduce the temperature to 435. Bake for another 20 min. Remove and onto a cooling rack it goes. 😊. Let it coo...

 This cake is a really heavy cake We need  125g dark chocolate (100% cocoa Ghirardelli) 25g dark chocolate (80% cocoa Ghirardelli) 100g milk chocolate( something good like Milka or Lindt) 80ml heavy cream 60ml coconut oil (use good quality and tasteless) Butter Biscuits slices (best are Leibnitz) 10 drops of good vanilla extract Optional: 2oz rum This is good for 2 of the forms below. Line any form with strong aluminum foil. Make sure to have some foil left over on the side. we will need it to cover. I found 2 small ones, that are perfect. Cut the chocolate into small pieces. Except the biscuits put all the ingredients into a frying pan and melt them. Keep steering with a spatula. Heat must be the lowest level. Even then remove the pan often and keep steering, so nothing burns. Cover the bottom of the form with the melted chocolate, add a layer of biscuits. Repeat the process until the form is full.  Fold over the sides to cover it and then put it into the fridge for a fe...