Thread 15 - TalkLair: “I Can't Lie To You About Your Chances, But... You Have My Sympathies.”

[Kucinghitam]

(Previous thread 14).

Autumn seems to have gone straight into winter. It's cold, wet and windy. In the TalkLair, the hearth is glowing, the walls covered in dubious artwork, books by non-approved authors line the shelves, rugs are down on the floors (and assorted pets curled up on them). The denizens of the lair are a welcoming bunch though, always eager for general chit-chat on all manner of topics.

We just won’t mention the gnawed bones of our prey over there in the corner of the cave…

Thanks Kuc

Kasper is checking in

I bloody love Kasper! He just looks somehow ... unreal?

<on edit> Just showed that pic to MrG who reads that expression as "Really? Surely you cannot be serious!"

Noble Kasper!

I think perfection confuses the brain

If Skittles and Reese could be bothered to wake up, they'd welcome us here too. Miraculously, here they are not fighting with each other. There's hope for the relationship yet - they're only 17 after all.

Dammit I can't get the picture to post!

Ooh, shiny new thread!

I'm baking (bread and pasta), so apologies for covering the place in flour already.

(I'm not baking the pasta, but being dough I count it as baking rather than cookery.)

Baking at this hour?!

I'm trying to get to grips with sourdough and having trouble with the timings (I suspect they assume a warmer kitchen) so stages are hapening at inconvenient hours.

Hello new thread.

Perhaps Bint's dough was struggling with the 381° temperatures and 24804 mph winds around these isles?

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/weather/5184199-bbc-weather-hurricane-force-winds-across-uk?

10804 mph here, I think we’ve got off lightly

It's 13202 mph here. Told you it's grim up North!

It’s windier than Saturn!

Ah, yes. That's bound to play havoc with a bread rise.

(I think the problem is the cold - apparently sourdough struggles below 20°C and prefers about 25°C; my kitchen rarely makes it past 18°C.)

We have similar issues with temperature and bread making so the dough bowl sits in different rooms depending on the season. In the hottest weather it sits on the bedroom floor. In average hotness it goes in the kitchen and in winter it goes in the living room by the hearth.

Oh my, I've been reading (lurking) since you started posting (you are a lovely bunch, btw) but never felt the urge to post until now - I've struggled with sourdough since lock down - well I tried to bake during lockdown, had loads of FOMO, can never get a decent rise and resigned myself to paying £££ at the local bakery for a decent loaf.

We live in an Edwardian terrace in Birmingham, while the room sizes are generous and we love that, the temperature is less than generous and it probably gets beyond 20 only in the hottest of days, as our kitchen is north facing and we also have a cellar. Hmm - maybe I need to rethink proving.

Welcome, @GrowAndGreen

Which is the least cool room in your house? Do you have an airing cupboard the dough could rise in?

Maybe something like this would help? https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/blog/2023/09/29/electric-dough-proofer

Do stay @GrowAndGreen! I similarly have a cold house, and since the airing cupboard became defunct due to a condensing boiler I've had trouble proving.

I looked at the weather app this morning to see if it was a good laundry day and although I knew those wind speeds couldn't be real and there'd have been a flurry of notifications if we'd been about to have a hurricane, I just couldn't stop looking at it saying 'hurricane winds' and going holy fuck! holy fuck! My climate anxiety is never far from the surface and it just erupted.

No airin cupboard, and the warmest room is the sitting room (1st floor where the principle bedroom should be as it's the largest room in the house straddling the whole width, whereas the reception on d s ground floor is narrower)

Anyway I have tried this room to no avail.

That gaget looks good, I do have heated seed mats, I may try experimenting with one of those!

Kitty pic for tax

That is a magnificent kitty! Pictures of sleeping cats should be used as calming aids.

bootle pootle

Welcome @GrowAndGreen and excellent cat tax!

I also struggled hugely with proving dough in my cold house with no airing cupboard and a north-facing kitchen. Eventually I gave up on regular bread recipes and now only do no-knead, overnight-fridge-proved, bread.