nismaratwork said:
Wow... I just meant that I enjoyed some of his shows, not that Alton Brown should be a messianic food-figure. No one should learn to cook via TV, so these things should be approached with a ready knowledge of food.
I know what you meant. I'm home about every day, and when the weather is bad, it would be nice to have some informative cooking shows on TV. Unfortunately, the Food Network falls far short of that mark. I learned basic French cooking, canning, pickling, etc from my mother, and learned how to manage meals for large groups from my grandmother, who cooked for a large log-driving crew every day for years.
For an example of what a cooking show *should* be, see if you can get 'hold of Michael Jubinsky's "Artisan Bread" Lesson on DVD, sponsored by King Arthur Flour. It's only 50 minutes, but it is packed with tips and tricks. My wife attended a milling and baking seminar last summer, and bought that DVD - it was well worth the investment. She now makes the best French bread ever.
Some critical tips:
~ keep your dough wet, and resist the temptation to add flour to reduce stickiness
~ don't man-handle the dough or knead it - stretch it using its own weight, fold it, and turn 90 degrees and repeat
~ don't dip your measuring cup into the flour. Use a scoop to get the flour out of the cannister, and dust it into the measuring cup for a fair measure. If you plunge the measuring cup into the flour, you'll end up with far too much flour because you have packed it tightly. Alternatively, you can weigh the flour.
~ those slashes on French breads aren't decorative - you make the slashes to relieve pressure during baking, to avoid "blowing out", deforming the shape of the loaves.
There's a lot more in that DVD, so if you'd like to make great French bread, the lesson is a "must-have".
