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| Sourdough (rec.food.sourdough) Discussing the hobby or craft of baking with sourdough. We are not just a recipe group, Our charter is to discuss the care, feeding, and breeding of yeasts and lactobacilli that make up sourdough cultures. |
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OT Help! Anybody Ever Enter Contest?
Every year the local newspaper has a recipe contest. Finally my wife tells me to send in a recipe. I sent in Sourdough Kalamata Olive Pepper Jack bread recipe. Then I get a call and am told I am a finalist... Bring your food to the mall on Saturday. I've never done this. It certainly was a case of the Heisenberg uncertainty principal that they picked this recipe, (maybe they are tired of banana nut breads). So.., What do I do? Does one cut the bread in advance, or bring a bread knife and hope the judge doesn't hit a major artery? Should one include a spread like cream cheese to mask the otherwise bizarre flavor of rosemary and jalepeno? Seriously. Any advice is welcome. I don't want to look like I'm not a professional contest entrant! Ed Bechtel |
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"Ed Bechtel" > wrote in message = ... > ... recipe contest ... I sent in Sourdough Kalamata Olive Pepper=20 > Jack bread recipe ... I am a finalist... Does one cut the bread in=20 > advance? I never entered a contest, but every now and then I take in a couple of loaves to the folks where I used to work. It is quite amazing to see=20 how they will butcher and/or tear up an uncut loaf, even though I have left cheap serrated knives and bread boards there from time to time. My recommendation: cut several slices in advance, maybe up to half the loaf. Package the bread, particularly the slices, so drying out does not occur. Bring an attractive bread board. (An electric knife can, in the right hands, cut quite beautiful slices, = even if the loaf is still a bit soft, which I think it should be, though = perhaps not everybody would agree.) > Should one include a spread? A bit of butter with a cheap spreader might be good. It should be attractively packaged in a disposable container. Like the bread board,=20 it might or might not be put into play. So I guess you will post a picture of your entry/presentation before it is ravaged by the judges? --- DickA |
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"Dick Adams" > wrote in message ... "Ed Bechtel" > wrote in message ... > ... recipe contest ... I sent in Sourdough Kalamata Olive Pepper > Jack bread recipe ... I am a finalist... Does one cut the bread in > advance? I never entered a contest, but every now and then I take in a couple of loaves to the folks where I used to work. It is quite amazing to see how they will butcher and/or tear up an uncut loaf, even though I have left cheap serrated knives and bread boards there from time to time. My recommendation: cut several slices in advance, maybe up to half the loaf. Package the bread, particularly the slices, so drying out does not occur. Bring an attractive bread board. Why not take two loaves? One for display and one cut. Graham |
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Well done, Ed,
I bake for local village fete competitions, nothing too serious but I have learned a few pointers. An excellent presentation, that looks good and is very convenient for the judges, is to make both a big loaf and a batch of little rolls from the same dough. That way bread is available for tasting without having to cut the loaf. Pay special attention to the visual aspect. If the loaf or rolls are slashed, be extra precise in your slashing. Take great pains to ensure even glaze, if used. If you're scattering seeeds onto the bread make them as even as possible.The best (if a little messy) way to obtain an even spread is to sprinkle the seeds from about 3 feet above the bread. I just put them on the kitchen floor and the scattered seeds that bounce are easy to sweep up. If you're really serious about this, bake 2 loaves and 2 batches of rolls and take the best looking with you. You can eat the rest<g> If you can, bake the bread on the morning of the competition, freshly baked bread has a much better appearnce and taste. Whatever you do, don't let the bread look underbaked, pale bread is not appetising to most people. If your local competitive bakers are anything like the ones in these here parts, be prepared for petty jealousies, snide comments and backstabbing character assassination and, if you think you have a chance of winning as a newbie, park your car, with the engine running, close to the car park exit in case a quick escape is needed.<g> Don't assume that the judges know anything about the finer points of bread. If the rules allow it, I normally have a small dish of butter and a little bowl of EVOO for the judges and a dish of cream cheese would be a good idea. Don't pack your bread in plastic bags or wrap, for transport, they can destroy a crust's crispness in an hour or 2. Use towels. HTH Love John |
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Ed Bechtel wrote:
> Seriously. Any advice is welcome. I don't want to look like I'm not a > professional contest entrant! Ask in rec.food.preserving. Many of those folks are fair contest entrants and may have seen breads, even though bread is kinda OT for them. B/ |
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Ed Bechtel wrote:
> Seriously. Any advice is welcome. I don't want to look like I'm not a > professional contest entrant! Ask in rec.food.preserving. Many of those folks are fair contest entrants and may have seen breads, even though bread is kinda OT for them. B/ |
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"Ed Bechtel" > wrote in message ... > > Every year the local newspaper has a recipe contest. Finally my wife tells me > to send in a recipe. I sent in Sourdough Kalamata Olive Pepper Jack bread > recipe. > Then I get a call and am told I am a finalist... Bring your food to the mall on > Saturday. > > I've never done this. It certainly was a case of the Heisenberg uncertainty > principal that they picked this recipe, (maybe they are tired of banana nut > breads). > > So.., What do I do? Does one cut the bread in advance, or bring a bread knife > and hope the judge doesn't hit a major artery? Should one include a spread > like cream cheese to mask the otherwise bizarre flavor of rosemary and > jalepeno? > > Seriously. Any advice is welcome. I don't want to look like I'm not a > professional contest entrant! > Congratulations! I suppose I would bake 2 loaves and then slice several slices or half the loaf that looks the worst :-) And bring a knife to slice more if they want more. You can arrange it all on a suitable plate. Actually I might bake 2 on Friday and then get up at the crack of dawn and bake 2 more on Saturday -- just in case there is a crisis Sat morning you will have backup bread. If you think that cream cheese enhances the flavor of the bread then I would bring it. So do the rest of us get the recipe so we can contemplate rosemary and jalapeno together :-) You need to tell us all where the mall is so anyone local can wander over, stand in front of your bread and make suitable complimentary comments about it ... Ellen |
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"Ed Bechtel" > wrote in message ... > > Every year the local newspaper has a recipe contest. Finally my wife tells me > to send in a recipe. I sent in Sourdough Kalamata Olive Pepper Jack bread > recipe. > Then I get a call and am told I am a finalist... Bring your food to the mall on > Saturday. > > I've never done this. It certainly was a case of the Heisenberg uncertainty > principal that they picked this recipe, (maybe they are tired of banana nut > breads). > > So.., What do I do? Does one cut the bread in advance, or bring a bread knife > and hope the judge doesn't hit a major artery? Should one include a spread > like cream cheese to mask the otherwise bizarre flavor of rosemary and > jalepeno? > > Seriously. Any advice is welcome. I don't want to look like I'm not a > professional contest entrant! > Congratulations! I suppose I would bake 2 loaves and then slice several slices or half the loaf that looks the worst :-) And bring a knife to slice more if they want more. You can arrange it all on a suitable plate. Actually I might bake 2 on Friday and then get up at the crack of dawn and bake 2 more on Saturday -- just in case there is a crisis Sat morning you will have backup bread. If you think that cream cheese enhances the flavor of the bread then I would bring it. So do the rest of us get the recipe so we can contemplate rosemary and jalapeno together :-) You need to tell us all where the mall is so anyone local can wander over, stand in front of your bread and make suitable complimentary comments about it ... Ellen |
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"Ed Bechtel" > wrote in message ... > > Every year the local newspaper has a recipe contest. Finally my wife tells me > to send in a recipe. I sent in Sourdough Kalamata Olive Pepper Jack bread > recipe. > Then I get a call and am told I am a finalist... Bring your food to the mall on > Saturday. > > I've never done this. It certainly was a case of the Heisenberg uncertainty > principal that they picked this recipe, (maybe they are tired of banana nut > breads). > > So.., What do I do? Does one cut the bread in advance, or bring a bread knife > and hope the judge doesn't hit a major artery? Should one include a spread > like cream cheese to mask the otherwise bizarre flavor of rosemary and > jalepeno? > > Seriously. Any advice is welcome. I don't want to look like I'm not a > professional contest entrant! > Congratulations! I suppose I would bake 2 loaves and then slice several slices or half the loaf that looks the worst :-) And bring a knife to slice more if they want more. You can arrange it all on a suitable plate. Actually I might bake 2 on Friday and then get up at the crack of dawn and bake 2 more on Saturday -- just in case there is a crisis Sat morning you will have backup bread. If you think that cream cheese enhances the flavor of the bread then I would bring it. So do the rest of us get the recipe so we can contemplate rosemary and jalapeno together :-) You need to tell us all where the mall is so anyone local can wander over, stand in front of your bread and make suitable complimentary comments about it ... Ellen |
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>
>Hi John, > >With respect, I do not agree... Many breads taste best a few days >after they are baked. > >All the best, > >-- >Kenneth > You are of course perfectly correct. The breads I bake for competion are all high rise, commercial yeast breads, Chollah, Brioche, Cheese Breads which are best when not long cooled down. I'm afraid I just wrote my post with that mindset. That plus a truly dreadful short-term memory that had me forgetting in which forum I was.<g> John "Why did I come into the Kitchen?" Wright. |
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>
>Hi John, > >With respect, I do not agree... Many breads taste best a few days >after they are baked. > >All the best, > >-- >Kenneth > You are of course perfectly correct. The breads I bake for competion are all high rise, commercial yeast breads, Chollah, Brioche, Cheese Breads which are best when not long cooled down. I'm afraid I just wrote my post with that mindset. That plus a truly dreadful short-term memory that had me forgetting in which forum I was.<g> John "Why did I come into the Kitchen?" Wright. |
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Thanks for the great advice everyone.
OK, I've gone and bought a board with a little dish for butter or cream cheese. I started baking tonight so I can have at least a couple of loaves with different vintage. I'm going to cut one up when I arrive and leave the better looking one to display the slash marks. My loaves tend to be so dark that I wonder if I might flour them to accent the slash marks. The account of taking bread to the folks at work and them tearing the bread apart despite having bread knives at hand is typical. It reminded me that once I brought an OLIVE rosemary loaf to my work. This one guy told me the bread tasted fine but he didn't care much for the RAISENS. I never told him. I will take pictures and report results. The judging is at Ventura Pacific View Mall (California) 11:30 am Saturday. Thanks again, Ed Bechtel |
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Thanks for the great advice everyone.
OK, I've gone and bought a board with a little dish for butter or cream cheese. I started baking tonight so I can have at least a couple of loaves with different vintage. I'm going to cut one up when I arrive and leave the better looking one to display the slash marks. My loaves tend to be so dark that I wonder if I might flour them to accent the slash marks. The account of taking bread to the folks at work and them tearing the bread apart despite having bread knives at hand is typical. It reminded me that once I brought an OLIVE rosemary loaf to my work. This one guy told me the bread tasted fine but he didn't care much for the RAISENS. I never told him. I will take pictures and report results. The judging is at Ventura Pacific View Mall (California) 11:30 am Saturday. Thanks again, Ed Bechtel |
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I am back now from the Event.
The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a $200 check - yea!! Boy was I out of my league. Contestants went to great extremes to make their presentations attractive especially in the other food categories such as appetizer or main dish. There is small picture of the Chefs from the local restaurants that did the tasting and scoring. http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/Bread/Tasting.jpg I took a picture of the bread too. http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/B...livePepper.jpg Thanks for the advice from everyone. My original approach was going to be to plop a loaf of bread on the table and let the judges figure it out. Slicing the bread and providing butter helped a lot. Ed Bechtel PS. It was fun to do this once, but in the future i think I will leave contests to the professionals. |
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Ed Bechtel wrote:
> I am back now from the Event. > The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. > The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a > $200 check - yea!! > Boy was I out of my league. Not so out-of-league if you piked up a 2nd! Congratualtions! Looks good, too... Now - that recipe? Dave |
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Ed Bechtel wrote:
> I am back now from the Event. > The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. > The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a > $200 check - yea!! > Boy was I out of my league. Not so out-of-league if you piked up a 2nd! Congratualtions! Looks good, too... Now - that recipe? Dave |
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Ed Bechtel wrote:
> I am back now from the Event. > The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. > The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a > $200 check - yea!! > Boy was I out of my league. Not so out-of-league if you piked up a 2nd! Congratualtions! Looks good, too... Now - that recipe? Dave |
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On 26 Sep 2004 00:23:41 GMT, ojunk (Ed Bechtel)
wrote: >I am back now from the Event. >The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. >The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a >$200 check - yea!! >Boy was I out of my league. Contestants went to great extremes to make their >presentations attractive especially in the other food categories such as >appetizer or main dish. > >There is small picture of the Chefs from the local restaurants that did the >tasting and scoring. > >http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/Bread/Tasting.jpg > >I took a picture of the bread too. > >http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/B...livePepper.jpg > >Thanks for the advice from everyone. My original approach was going to be to >plop a loaf of bread on the table and let the judges figure it out. Slicing >the bread and providing butter helped a lot. > >Ed Bechtel > >PS. >It was fun to do this once, but in the future i think I will leave contests to >the professionals. > > Hi Ed, I wish you the best on your success, and gently remind you of the long-standing tradition here on the rec. that you buy a good beer for each of us. (Had it been first prize, of course you would owe us champagne)<g> All the best, -- Kenneth If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS." |
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"Ed Bechtel" > wrote in message ... > I am back now from the Event. > The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. > The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a > $200 check - yea!! > Boy was I out of my league. Contestants went to great extremes to make their > presentations attractive especially in the other food categories such as > appetizer or main dish. > > There is small picture of the Chefs from the local restaurants that did the > tasting and scoring. > > http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/Bread/Tasting.jpg > > I took a picture of the bread too. > > http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/B...livePepper.jpg > > Thanks for the advice from everyone. My original approach was going to be to > plop a loaf of bread on the table and let the judges figure it out. Slicing > the bread and providing butter helped a lot. > yay! the bread looks great! Still waiting for the recipe :-) Ellen |
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"Ed Bechtel" wrote in message
... > The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. > The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a > $200 check - yea!! Congratulations! That's wonderful. > I took a picture of the bread too. > > http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/B...livePepper.jpg > The bread looks great. Nice presentation. -Mike |
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"Ed Bechtel" wrote in message
... > The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. > The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a > $200 check - yea!! Congratulations! That's wonderful. > I took a picture of the bread too. > > http://mysite.verizon.net/res7gfb9/B...livePepper.jpg > The bread looks great. Nice presentation. -Mike |
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"Ed Bechtel" > wrote in message ... > I am back now from the Event. > The Sourdough Olive Pepper Jack bread took 2nd Place in breads. > The recipe goes in the annual cook book (read: newspaper insert) and I get a > $200 check - yea!! > Boy was I out of my league. You couldn't have been!! You won 2nd and received $200!!! That'll keep you in flour for a while<g> Contestants went to great extremes to make their > presentations attractive Yours looked superb as well!! > It was fun to do this once, but in the future i think I will leave contests to > the professionals. > Your bread looked professional - go for 1st next year!! Best wishes Graham |
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You are all very nice. Thanks for the compliments.
The recipe I used is below. Caution. The Jalapeno peppers in the pepper jack cheese still catch me by surprise. I'm still acquiring the taste. The bread tastes best toasted or with a cream cheese spread. Sourdough Olive Pepper-Jack Bread Ingredients: 1/2 cup active sourdough starter 2 cups unbleached white bread flour plus 1/4 cup whole wheat bread flour 3/4 cup water 1 tsp salt 1 Tbsp dried thyme 3/4 teaspoon fresh Rosemary finely diced 3 ounces Kalamata olives cut in half (to make sure pits are gone) 2 ounces pepper-jack cheese cut in 3/8 inch cubes Directions: In large glass mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients except olives and cheese until well incorporated. Let rest for ten minutes. Hand knead dough on floured cutting board for five minutes. Use flour on board only to keep dough from becoming too tacky. Incorporate olives and cheese into dough and briefly knead loaf to distribute. Let rise in glass bowl covered for two to four hours at 80 to 90F until dough is approximately doubled in diameter. Midway through rise, stretch and fold dough twice then return to bowl. When risen, remove dough, stretch and fold into short loaf. Never punch down the dough. Place on parchment. Spritz bowl with water and invert over loaf for final rise (90 minutes). After one hour, begin oven preheat with pizza stone on middle rack to 500F for 30 minutes. Bake in steam for 5 minutes at 500F then 25 minutes at 400 to 425F. Let cool for at least 2 hours. Ed Bechtel |
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Ed Bechtel wrote:
> Let cool for at least 2 hours. Right... Thanks for the impossible instructions! It's all I can do to keep hands off fresh bread in this house. *Sometimes* it actually cools enough to slice, rather than grab chunks. Looks delicious, Ed; it's on my short list to try! Dave |
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On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 02:41:44 GMT, Dave Bell
> wrote: >Ed Bechtel wrote: >> Let cool for at least 2 hours. > >Right... Thanks for the impossible instructions! >It's all I can do to keep hands off fresh bread in this house. >*Sometimes* it actually cools enough to slice, rather than grab chunks. > >Looks delicious, Ed; it's on my short list to try! > >Dave Hi Dave, It is a real issue... Most breads taste far better if cooled, then reheated. All the best, -- Kenneth If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS." |
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