I think this is the first weekend I've had open for a while where I'm not working, but unfortunately, I came down with some sort of cold.  Because of this, I don't think it would be wise to do any baking, or brewing.  However, in the past few weeks, I have been making hard cider.  Two of the gallons (Using D47 yeast)are sitting outside in a shed where it's cold, and one is in a fridge (using EC1118 yeast).  I have two more gallons in my regular fridge waiting for yeast to be added, however I'm not sure which I want to use.

I feel like trying to do this one gallon at a time has been rather annoying.  Because of the one gallon quantities, I have to bottle them up, especially if I want them carbonated.  If I left them as a still (non-carbonated) drink, I suppose I could put them into a gallon sized growler so it's still not sitting on the yeast.

I've toyed with the idea of combining all 5 gallons into a single container, but I'd prefer to keep them slightly separate for the taste difference between the yeasts.  Next year, I'm going to get 5 gallons at a time, just so it's easier.  I'll eventually bottle these into champagne bottles, which means I need approximately 20 or so bottles (50 bucks).  It'll definately be easier to keg next time.

Speaking of kegs, I picked up another keg, as well as some supplies to make a kit wine.  I've been wanting to try making a wine and thought it would be easier to use a kit, a kit being mainly juice and a few other additives.  Many people have said that kits are pretty decent and that the lower end kits will create wines that are around $8 a bottle retail, and that the higher end kits can do wines that are similar to the $20 a bottle retail.  Kits contain supplies to make about 6 gallons of wine and can range from 60-several hundred.   Ideally, I'll be using a large bucket to start this in, then move it to a plastic carboy (I'd use glass, but the weight and possiblity of breakage dissuaded me), then move it to a keg and bottles.  From the keg I expect I can bottle whenever I want to.

Also, I had actually picked up the keg since I *thought* that my earlier lager was ready to be transfered.  It turns out that it probably wasn't ready, and that the gravity was 1.020.  About midway between beginning and ending and that it had just stalled.  I did wind up transferring it to the keg and it seems that the fermentation has restarted.  I keep measuring the pressure since I had added some sugar to carbonate prior to testing and it keeps jumping up to far higher than I want. 
What I'll do is let it ferment more completely, keeping it at a pressure of around 30 psi, then transfer back to an empty keg.  I suppose that I should let it stay in the cooler environment outside, because inside, it's around 68 degrees, which is too high for the yeast.
I keep having trouble with the new keg though, and it seems to be holding pressure, but it's annoying that I had to continuously reposition the lid and pressurize it in order for the pressure to hold.  We'll see how this holds up and what I may do with the cider.

I've been extraordinarily busy lately with work and haven't been doing much around the apartment work at all.  I've been hoping to once again try the tiramisu, however have not had the time to bake. 

I somehow did manage to start up another batch of beer though.  It was composed of  just under 4 pounds of brown rice syrup (3 pounds 15 ounces, since each jar was 1 pound 5 oz)
2 pounds 12 ounces of sorghum extract (two varied sizes of 45hm syrup)
and later on 8 ounces of honey (I put this in at the end so it would decrystalize)
I used 1 ounce of Saaz Hops at 60 minutes and .5 oz at 10 minutes and some irish moss (about 1/8 tsp at 10 minutes)
I overdid the water again since I expected more evaporation during the boil, but I had it completely covered so I wound up with about 6 gallons of liquid.  I added a packet of Saflager W-34/70, the Weihenstephan strain.  There's not much details about it on the saflager site, other than that it's a classic pilsner.  Wyeast (who doesn't do gluten free) says that it's a wheat beer strain which produces a "balance of banana esters and clove phenoics" and that overpitching would lose this banana character (which I wish I did) and that a higher fermentation temperature, hidensity wort or low pitch rate would get more of that banana flavor.  I dislike the banana flavor to be honest and I believe I underpitched. 

I stuck the keg and gallon jug out into the outside shed where it's been slightly below target temperature.  The range is from 9c to 15c, or 48.2F to 59F where the target is really 12c or 53.6f.  The temperature out there normally ranges from 40 to 50 and can go up to 60 on a warm day.  The temperature has been swinging back and forth in my area too, which has not really helped.  We'll see what happens.

Alternately, I've been having more trouble with the chocolate beer from before.  I had left the keg's pressure valve open, which meant no pressure or carbonated beer and I cannot seem to get it to carbonate now.  Hope I figure it out and that I won't have to toss all 5 gallons of it. 

I figured out that ladyfinger, the cookie-like pastry used in a tiramisu was just genoise cake piped out, and to make it easier, I was planning on baking the genoise with the correct amount of xanthan gum.  This time I used the kitchenaid.  It was much easier this time and the cake turned out much less dense than the chocolate one.  (Not that the chocolate one still wasn't good. People loved the truffle covered cake pieces even more than the triple layer truffle cake itself.)

Now tiramisu is a combination of ladyfingers, espresso, possibly a liquor, marscapone cheese and cocoa powder.  Pretty simple....

But my espresso machine broke.

I own a Expobar Brewtus II, purchased back in '06 that I've used for years.  I pretty much said that it'd pay for itself in a year or two, since I could make my own espresso drinks.  It was very worth it.  This year I knew I would be doing some long awaited maintenance, replacing gaskets, washers.  In fact, the machine was constantly dripping due to a worn out washer (I believe).  While baking, I decided to take it apart and clean it.  There was quite a buildup of calcium, created due to me not recharging the water softener filter as often as I should.  While I cleaned that off, I saw that the washers were indeed worn out and needed replacing.   
You can see here: http://coffeetime.wikidot.com/e61-internal-diagram that there are lots of different pieces involved.  I found out I will need to replace quite a bit, especially since valve was so worn out, it snapped in half.
I'm tempted to upgrade, but I expect that I'll be able to repair it for under 100 dollars, even less if I don't have to replace all three valves (maybe 25 including shipping).  I pretty much need to save money due to needing other repairs done to a large number of things, including my car, which is 13 years old, and seems to have some invisible leaks for oil, steering fluid and antifreeze.  It's been said it's not worth repairing.

Of course, I also seem to keep purchasing beer supplies.  It's a nice hobby, but like any hobby, it can be expensive, but on the plus side, I learn a craft, new skills and an enjoyable outcome.

In any case, I'm working on repairing the machine now and will redo the cake at another time.  In the meantime, I'll see if I have the energy to make it a cake, or if I'll just snack on it with some leftover chocolate truffle when I have my french press brewed coffee.

I will occasionally cook a weeks worth of food for myself so I don't have to cook after work.  I'd prefer to have time enough to shop and make something different at least every other day, but working a normal day job, I find I don't have enough time or energy to do that.  Instead, I try to get everything cooked either on different days, or on one day so during the other days I have time to clean or exercise or work on other projects. 

These days are even busier.  Working 10 hour days and occasional weekends means that there's very little time for doing anything else so I cook as little as possible during this time of year.  Some weeks, I'll buy a cooked chicken, cook some vegetables, or use frozen ones, and cook some rice.  Simple, easy, and I stick the bones into the freezer and make stock at a later date. 

This past weekend, on Sunday, I had some potatoes, 2 pounds maybe, an onion, some left over 1/3rd of a block of cheddar cheese, and half a bag of frozen peas and some ground beef 2-3 pounds perhaps.

I diced the onion and mixed it with the meat, along with some worchestershire sauce, ketchup, onion powder, garlic salt, garlic powder, crushed garlic, black pepper and some other spice.  It was a sort of pepper powder, perhaps poblano. I also shredded half the cheese and mixed it into the meat as well. I patted this down at the bottom of a foil lined pan and then layered the peas on top. 

I then used the kitchenaid attachment to the mixer, a food slicer, and ran the potatoes through this, which grated them nicely and I spread that over the top.  The slicer always leaves the last layer behind which either gets stuck, or just stays in the hopper so I collected each of those last bits of potato, diced them up and also added it to the potato layer which was then seasoned with garlic salt and pepper.  I added the remaining shredded cheese on top which was also shredded by the kitchenaid.

It hasn't turned out too bad and was pretty simple to make.  I've eaten it with salsa, drained yogurt and standard burger condiments.  Since it's like a shepards pie, I do like the drained yogurt, or sour cream.  I usually have it with some rice.

If I make it again, I'd add some diced tomatoes, and perhaps put some or all the potato on the bottom.  Somehow the potato on top darkened as if it was exposed to too much air. 

With it being February, I felt like making myself a chocolate cake, or chocolate truffles.  I was having trouble deciding which so I decided to try to find some recipes that involved both.  What I eventually put together was a génoise cake that would be frosted with truffle material.  Chocolate truffles are mostly known either in it's solid state as 'chocolate truffles' or in it's warm liquid state of chocolate ganache.  In between it's solid and liquid state is a frosting like consitency which will later firm up a little, but not actually become hard. 

Génoise cake, is a spongy firm type of cake primarily made of eggs, sugar, flour and sometimes butter.  It's a great cake base, and is an often used cake style for decorated cakes and cakes with layers of something inbetween.  It can also be glazed or soaked with flavored syrups or flavored liquors.

I used a recipe that called for:
4 eggs
75 grams unsalted butter (melted)
125 grams sugar
75 grams flour
and to make it chocolate 50 grams melted chocolate.

To me, grams are easier because I have a scale, and because I'm a horrible measurer of dry cups.  (I don't bother leveling).  The chocolate I happened to use was Ghiridellis since I always keep several bars of their chocolates around for baking and truffles and I used their unsweetened baking chocolate.  I used plain, white refined sugar, and I used a gluten free flour mix I had made using:
4 cups rice flour
2/3 cups corn starch
2/3 cups potato starch
2/3 cups tapioca flour

Corn starch and potato starch are interchangable but because I have both on hand, I like doing half and half whenever I make flour.  I will often try different flours in addition to these, including; quinoa, millet, soy, coconut, chestnut, buckwheat, oat and almond.  I usually use it separately depending on what I make.  I also leave out the xanthan/guar gum, since I ordinarily add it during the baking process since some gluten free baked goods tend to require more for some products (bread which often needs to be firm and chewy) and less for others (like certain cakes).  However, since I haven't baked in a while (or even made pancakes in half a year) I managed to completely forget the xanthan gum!  This likely resulted in a flatter, denser cake than I was expecting.  It was still a good texture though, despite this omission.  I'll be sure to use it next time, and then perhaps try coconut flour for extra moisture.

I actually used 5 eggs, because two of them were on the small side, so it should have averaged out to 4 large eggs.

The truffle material is simply chocolate and cream.  Sometimes people will add corn syrup, or butter.  I normally do chocolate and cream after having watched Jaques Torres do it back when the Food Network showed informational shows.  This time around, I followed what was on the Ghiridelli bar wrapper of:
8 ounces 60% chocolate (2 bars)
6 Tbsp butter (58 grams)
1/3 cup heavy cream.
Normally I like my chocolate darker and I get their 70% but I was out and the store didn't have any that I saw.

Flour, melted butter, sugar

Here is everything ready to go, except for the xanthan gum.  It should have been added to the flour at this stage.

I let this cool for a bit to thicken, until it became like a frosting. 

Once the cake finished, I let it cool on a rack for a while, then sliced it into three equal sections and stacked them on top of each other and sliced around the edges so that it was even.  I then spread the cooled ganache/truffle/frosting on each slice, getting a good, thick layer, then stacked them up on each other and covered that in the frosting.  Because it didn't have a smooth glossy coating, I had two options.  One option seems to be to dip a knife or spreader in hot water to warm up the metal, wipe the metal and then smooth it all over, but since I couldn't find my spreader (I believe I stored it away somewhere), I just took some more ganache and warmed it in the microwave and poured it over the top.  Once it cooled, it has a nice glossy layer.  I would plan to serve it with either ice cream, or whipped cream, some coffee and maybe a few rasberries.  It's a dense chocolaty but not sweet cake.





In the last picture, you can see what I did with the cake edges.  I melted more truffle/ganache and dipped the pieces and placed them onto the other side of the baking parchment paper.  I was thinking of covering them in cocoa powder like truffles are coated, but somehow it just didn't feel or taste right this time.  I would consider tempering chocolate (going through a heating and cooling process with plain chocolate so that when it cools it's glossy and hard) and then covering the truffles with that, leaving a nice candy-like piece of chocolate coated truffle cake.

I still cannot seem to locate my camera cable in order to transfer any pictures.  I can't imagine where the cable was last left at.  What I've been doing lately is mostly cleaning, however in the meantime, I have transferred beer from one 5 gallon keg to a second 5 gallon keg, to which I've added some dextrose syrup and will be leaving for approximately three or more weeks to naturally carbonate.  This saves me from using a co2 gas tank, plus lets the beer's flavors mellow and age.

I've also been working on plans for a Gluten Free Stout which didn't go as well as I'd like.  There are several recipes floating out on the internet now, particularly where some people have been working on various renditions of a stout.  A Stout tends to be a dark, slightly sweet, and heavy beer.  Heavy in the way of mouthfeel, texture and flavor.  It tends to be made from darkly roasted grains and have a coffee or chocolate flavor.  Those of us unable to have the normal grains have to try to find different workarounds using toasted oats, buckwheat and other gluten free grains.

There are many combinations that I would like to try, but I had toasted about half a pound of gluten free steel cut oats until it was a fairly dark color.  I may have overtoasted it, or toasted it too quickly because what had happened when I steeped it in hot water two weeks later, was that it gave off a burnt odor. Perhaps I'll let it sit and degas even longer than two weeks next time.  It did give off a fairly dark color however.  I believe that it would be better if the grains contained sugar (like malted grains) so that it would caramelize rather than toast.

I continue to be impressed by the number of companies that are producing gluten free.  What's more interesting is that some of the older established companies have for a while been taking notice of the gluten free need/demand.  It's a bit worrying, perhaps, about the smaller companies that have grown throughout the gluten free need, now that larger companies are producing the same type of goods. 

Some foods were always gluten free.  Hormel brands had a number of items that were close to being gluten free, and now many of them are labeled as such.  Useful when I want to make a quick chili and cheese chip dip.  (Superbowl party, here I come.)

Betty Crocker also produces a gluten free line of baking goods.  Its still fairly expensive compared to their regular mixes, but nice that a regular store will carry them. 

Progresso is who/what surprises me, when they completely replaced their normal line with a gluten free product.  Particularly their clam chowder and cream of mushroom soup.  Not a second line, but completely replaced, without making a large price change either.  Yes, I know they've all been out this way for a while.

I still like going to my local Whole Foods, and even Trader Joes to pick up gluten free foods, but those stores are not everywhere, so it's still a nice change, knowing that wherever I am, I can probably get a can of Hormel Chili, or Progresso soup, or Betty Crocker baking mix.