Rak

Beautiful set up!

My goal this year has been to learn more about bread baking, so after reading a couple of books and speaking with people, I stepped up my game and made bread using a starter!  

A member from the Guru site sent me some of his dried starter and I've been feeding it for about 2 weeks.  I've made a couple of loaves of bread previously (mostly following Peter Reinhart and Ken Forkish recipes) using dried commercial yeast, however, this was my first attempt using a live starter.  While my shaping and proofing techniques still need much practice, I am very pleased with this!!  For added difficulty, I decided to make the bread in the KK rather than using a dutch oven (as the Forkish recipe called for), this was a huge success, in part because of the baking stone and in part because I added ice, to add steam, when the bread was put on.

Following the instructions, I baked the bread until I got a caramel colour on top.

The bubbles aren't as big as I've seen, but I think that had a lot to do my poor attempt at shaping and then I also lost some 'rise' when I moved the dough from the container onto the stone.

This recipe made 2 loafs, instead I made 1 loaf and 5 buns as my wife wanted to make sandwiches with buns later in the week.  Not the prettiest, but they sure taste great.  Next time, I might give them a milk or egg wash for colour.

And of course, what do you do when you make bread...you have to eat it!  So here was my lunch today 

I NEED to cook lamb soon!  Delicious mk1!

Looks great Rob!  I have a bottle of that birds and bones that I still need to crack open!

Congratulations team KK!  You are all fantastic cooks, its no surprise the podium is being dominated! 

Thanks MacK!

That's delicious Tony!

I did wings for the family as well!

Dusted in Yardbird rub, cooked direct at 450F (that wasn't the plan, but I overshot my temperature again....still getting used to the vents!). Then they were glazed with a home concoction of mango, habenaro, butter, honey and Sriracha sauce. Definitely a winning sauce! Another cook on the KK where the family said the magic words "best yet"! Even with though I overshot my temp, the KK still made me look like hero! lol

Good looking wings Tony!

Watching with great interest!

Cooked to perfection!  I'd say you have some skills Tony!

Great job with that lasagne!  I'll have a big plate please

That looks delicious Tony!

LMAO!!  That Bosco!  

LOL nice post!  That corn bread looks good!

That pizza looks great. I'm going to give this a try on my next pizza cook! Looking forward to seeing what you think of the 00 Charles.

I am loving this thread!  

Where's the picture of the finished pies?!

Rak, you are sooooo bad! 

But am I wrong???  

Not at all! Just answering your question

That's looking good!

Hey Roger!

Ok, so I don't normally time my start up, but since you asked, it was top of mind!

Today I had Asian salad with seared Tuna (which was delicious by the way, sorry no pics...we were starving!).

The outside temperature was -1C, approx 30F. I opened up the top and bottom vent and lit the coals in 2 places. I went from stone cold to 400F in almost exactly 20 minutes. I seared the tuna steaks (about 1 1/2 mins per side) and then shut her down. Because the outside was still freezing cold to the touch, I popped the cover on immediately and came indoors, not having to worry about going back out later to cover the grill. So from uncovering to grilling to shutting down and re-covering, I was done in just about 30 mins.

Thermapen is the best!!! Most important accessory to date.

My father is getting ready to retire and he inherited one hell of a setup from me. He has a jr and classic Kamado Joe that will keep him busy in retirement.

Congrats on the purchase hope to see you stick around the forum. We have a great group here !!

Your father needs a KK!

Shiny and new

Lol thank you MacKenzie! I'm hungry and waiting! lol.

Thanks for sharing your background story Rick! Congratulations on retirement, can't think of a better way to spend it then with your family and KK!