BMW's Perfect Potato Soup

[Sepia]

Baguette recipe:

This recipe makes perfect baguettes. Or, they might not be perfect but I haven't tasted any yet. The importance as I've figured out, lies in the poolish.

You'll need:

Dough:
6 dl water (around 30 degrees C)
1 kg of "Finely milled white flour" (blame online translators)
25 g seasalt (if you don't have maldon on your hands, waysa?)
8 g yeast
200 g poolish

Poolish:
1 dl cold water
100g "finely milled white flour"
ca. 2 g yeast (roughly the size of a pea)

Mix the poolish in a mason jar which should be big enough for the riser to double in volume. First water and yeast. Mix untill there are no or few lumps of yeast. Add the flour and and shake the glass untill all is one and one is all. Let it sit 2 - 3 hours on the countertop or through the night in the fridge. Let there be a tiny hole in the jar for gasses to evaporate.

Then, ze baguette:
If you let the poolish rise in the fridge, take it out untill it's room tempered. Bring out everything else too as it gets better if everything has the same temperature. Mix all the ingredients slowly except for 1 dl of water which you will add later. Run your excellent kenwood chef at the lowest degree for three minutes before cranking up the volume to 7/12 for seven more minutes. During these seven minutes, add the remaining water, little by little. Stop the machine when the dough has a smooth surface. Cover with plastic and let it rest for 1 hour and 30 minutes.

After it has risen some, chop it up into 5 lumps (i have no idea what the english word is for this) and roll them round and sweet and let them rest for about 30 minutes on the counter top. Roll them out and make them into baguettes! True baguettes should be 40 - 45 centimetres long and we're making true baguettes here, so go on. Put them on an oven plate covered with a silimat (if you have none and bake much, shell out for it, it's so worth it) and let it sit untill risen to double size. Sprinkle some rye flour on top and cut 5 cuts like this \ into them with a sharp sharp sharp knife or razor. If you have a masahiro vegetable knife you've kept sharp, it's time for it to shine!

Bake them in the lowermost region of the oven at 230 degrees C for 15 - 20 minutes untill golden. For an even sexier crust, put three cups of water into the oven.


Eat.

Chevre if you're vegetarian, foie gras if you ain't and fresh baba ganoush if you're vegan.

[B_M_W]

I'm putting bacon and chicken in mine.

BACON and CHICKEN

...

I have to use them up before I have to throw them out.

I guess if I works for you.

Also, nice recipe Sepia.

[Messier Undertree]

Bacon and chicken are a good combination IMO.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

I'm glad I'm not the only bored person here tonight.

[B_M_W]

Bacon and chicken are a good combination IMO.

I'm not into pork, unless its a slow cooked roast. The rest is marginally okay, and ham is fail.

I wouldn't put pork in a soup ever. That is, unless I was going to pull it out and just use the juice that comes off. Lots of bean soups are ruined by adding pork, IMO, especially ham or bacon.

Don't know how chicken would work for potato soup.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Whaaaaaaa?

No. No no nononono. Pork in soup is more than food. It is Baby Jesus manifest in your mouth. It is the highest perfection human beings are capable of. Green chili pork stew? HELLO, POSOLE?

[B_M_W]

Whaaaaaaa?

No. No no nononono. Pork in soup is more than food. It is Baby Jesus manifest in thine mouth. It is the highest perfection human beings are capable of. Green chili pork stew? HELLO, POSOLE?

just no. Beef, chicken, game meat, sure. Pork, no. Unless its pork roast. Ham is an ABSOLUTE NO.

I have never had a ham soup that was good. Furthermore, I can't eat the stuff.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

If you can't eat it, then it's not an aesthetic preference, therefore whut.

I am not crazy about ham in soup, but PORK SOUP is a whole 'nuther thing.

My friend made ham ice cream this summer, though, and it was surprisingly wonderful.

[Bebek Sincap Ratatosk]

My grandma used to have a cauldron that she filled with soup beans and a huge ham hock... the ham hock was from the Pig we would butcher the week before. It was much fun... cracklins... the cousins playing with the inflated pig bladder and riding around on goats. Uncles, playing horseshoes and Grandma, with her big hat and stringy hair stirring the huge black pot with smoke curling around the sides.

However, the beans were actually good.

[B_M_W]

If you can't eat it, then it's not an aesthetic preference, therefore whut.

I am not crazy about ham in soup, but PORK SOUP is a whole 'nuther thing.

My friend made ham ice cream this summer, though, and it was surprisingly wonderful.

I can't eat it because it IS an aesthetic preference. I spent a week in poland where it was pork (especially ham) day in and day out. I lost several pounds. I haven't liked ham since.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

"Can't" and "Don't want to" are actually two different things.

Also, all pork is not ham.

[B_M_W]

"Can't" and "Don't want to" are actually two different things.

Also, all pork is not ham.

Don't you mean not all pork is ham?

And I know. I love pork roast, cooked in its own juices all day long with onions and carrots, as well as spices and garlic, to the point where it is falling to pieces, and then use the liquid to make an awesome gravy, with which you pour over homemade mashed potatoes.

I like simple.

[Cain]

Bacon and chicken work well with lettuce and mayonnaise in a sandwich.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Bacon and chicken work well with lettuce and mayonnaise in a sandwich.

Yummmmmmmmm.

[Cain]

It is a fairly righteous combination.  A good amount of ground, black pepper goes well with it, too.