Gar1eth

Unfortunately I don't have any bread pans. ? I considered a bit on whether to buy a bread maker or a good roasting pan because there's a no knead bread recipe from the NYT that's very popular. But you need a covered roaster or a pot of some type which will stand up to about 500 degrees in the oven. These are surprisingly expensive. Plus you have to preheat the roaster before putting the dough in it. The oven I'm using-the spring on the door is broken. Sometimes it stays down. But sometimes it rises. It can be quite a juggling act in trying to one-handedly get a hot dish out of the oven while trying to keep the door open. I decided that messing around with a dish preheated to 500 degrees Fahrenheit (with or without an oven with a door problem) was just a great opportunity for me to burn myself . So I went with the bread maker. I hadn't heard of a pan to make softer crust. I thought it was the reverse-that they made a crispier crust. What I've heard about are clay pots. They're called Romertopfs (this brand at least) and are made in Germany. https://www.livestrong.com/article/433424-how-to-bake-bread-in-romertopf-clay-pots/ Gman

What patience, @jjkrkwood? Not to be argumentative-ok, maybe a little ?. But you mix the ingredients which takes like 10 minutes or less. Dump the mixture in the bread machine. Decide which program you are going to cook the bread on. Press the button. Then you have three to four hours free to solve World Peace. The timer on the bread machine dings. You carefully take out the pan, so you don't burn yourself. Let the bread cool for a few minutes. And then have a delicious fresh loaf to slather butter on. You mean like this? @jjkrkwood, just thinking about this in connection with bread-yuck, just ? ?. (I used to think this stuff was mainly for gay use and unknown to the populace at large. But I found this picture on the Walgreens website.) Gman

C'mon over and you can have a few slices. Gman

Verdict -not bad. I'm still not sure about the texture-whether it should have been fluffier. And it does leave a bit of a spicy/salty aftertaste. It had 1/4th tsp oregano, 1 TBSP of dried crushed rosemary, 1/4th tsp black pepper, 1-1/2 tsp of salt. It also has 3 tablespoons of olive oil. It didn't state EVOO or regular. So I used EVOO. Any experienced bread makers have any helpful hints about the spicy/peppery aftertaste that I'm still feeling on my tongue after 10 minutes or about the texture? Would Paul Hollywood (famous British baker) find this texture acceptable? Gman

I may have worried too soon. The bread just came out of the oven, er machine. It's probably been about 3 to 4 years since I used a bread machine. But I think this looks a lot like I remember. I'm still not quite sure about the yeast. I guess I'll find out for sure after I let it cool some and cut into it. Now the recipe did call for active dry yeast. I only had instant yeast. On investigating I came up with a website that said for instant yeast to use 75% of the dry active amount listed. Maybe I shouldn't have carried out the reduction. Gman

This is the continuation... 1. So I wash the blade and bread pan. 2. Mix the ingredients with a few minor modifications from a Rosemary Bread Recipe I found online last night. 3. The bread is even now in the machine, but I'm concerned about MY YEAST!!! I bought a bag of instant yeast thru Amazon. It's supposed to be a popular brand. And supposedly you don't need to proof instant yeast. But I wasn't sure the dough was really rising the way it was supposed to inside the machine. 2. So I read up on proofing. Basically for those of you not familiar -proofing is used to test the yeast to make sure it works. You add a few tsps of yeast to some warm water (100 to 115 degrees). Don't get the water too hot, or you'll kill the yeast. And add a few tsps of sugar as fuel for the yeast. Wait 20 minutes. If the yeast is good, it will produce carbon dioxide making foam in the water. Here are some pictures of good yeast. or My yeast was much more anemic looking. The only real foam was at the very top of the picture. So I don't know if my yeast is any good. ??? Guess I'll have to wait and see what the bread looks like. Gman

Well it came. And as you'd expect, there have been some snafus. 1. After unboxing I open the machine up. The bread pan and the paddle have a few scratches. I've read online how people don't think that's a great thing as the non-stick coating could then be coming off inside the bread. I'm a little worried about that On the other hand what non-stick coating doesn't kill us, makes us stronger, right? I could be the new "Teflon Don!!!" 2. But what really po's me off is that the kneading blade is stuck down tightly to the axle. I CAN'T GET IT OFF. And being that it's non-stick, except for the part that's flaked off of course, it's impossible to get a good grip on it. Plus due to the way the pan, axle, and blade are engineered, you can't really get under it. You also don't want to try prying it with a fork, assuming you could get under it, as you might scratch either more non-stick coating of the blade or bread pan. And using pliers might bend something you don't want bent. I was in a tizzy-let me tell YOU!!! 3. So I did what any right thinking single 50-mumble something year old gay male would do. I called my Mom. ???Just kidding. I googled it. ??? I found a a video with an ingenious idea. In case any of you ever have a similar problem. Here it is. As a hint, I'll tell you it involves Crisco and a sling. Oh wait -sorry that was the other video I was looking However lucky me-after working at the blade on and off for about 15 minutes, I was finally able to get the blade off. To be cont'd Gman

I hope it works right out of the box. I looked up a recipe for an Italian Rosemary Loaf which I hope to try. Wish me luck on the machine actually working, and if it does, on the recipe. Expect pictures and a description of the ? if things work out. Gman

I had to get my yeast off of Amazon. It's a one pound bag. I ordered it last week. It came today. A one pound bag cost me $13.95. Gman

I bought some organic unbleached all purpose flour about 3 weeks ago because it was literally the only bag of flour on the shelf at the time, and the first bag I had seen in weeks. Over the last week and a 1/2 or so I've seen a bit more flour on shelf, but I haven't been looking for bread flour specifically. If you can't find bread flour, is it possible for you to add gluten to your all purpose flour? Gman

I'm sure it's delicious but not really my type. I'm not sure I like goat cheese , and I need some tomato sauce. Gman

Different tastes then. While I'll admit they look better in real life, I think they still look quite good in the pictures. Gman

I'm not sure what comment this is referring to in this thread. But just bought one off eBay. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow. It was $34.98 Pretax with a $20.52 shipping charge. I also bought a $5.99 Square Trade Insurance Policy, and spent $10.99 on a manual as I couldn't find one online. I hope it's in good working order. But that's why I bought the Square Trade Policy. I've seen online that the non-stick coating on the blade can flake. I've seen some plastic blades offered for my model that don't have that problem. But I want to bake a rosemary bread loaf tomorrow. So I'll keep my fingers crossed. Gman

Here's my latest 3 meat doctored up pizza. I like mine on the more done side. So after it had cooked per the directions, I turned the broiler on for about 3 to 4 minutes. Here's a pepperoni I made the other day. Gman

A Doctor's Typical Day On A Corona Virus Ward: A lot of people have been asking me what it's like being on the COVID wards in the hospital, so I figured I'd share what a typical day looks like for me: 6am - Wake up. Roll off of my pile of money that Big Pharma gave me. Softly weep as it doesn’t put a dent in my medical school loans 6:30am - Make breakfast, using only foods from the diet that gives me everlasting life by avoiding all fats, sugars, carbs, and proteins. For details buy my book and check out my shop. 7am - Get to work, load up my syringes with coronavirus before rounds. 8am - See my patients for the day. Administer the medications that the government tells me to. Covertly rub essential oils on the ones I want to get better. 9:30am - Call Bill Gates to check how 5G tower construction is going, hoping for more coronavirus soon. He tells me they’re delayed due to repairs on the towers used to spread the Black Plague. Curse the fact that this is the most efficient way to spread infectious diseases. 10am - One patient tells me he knows “the truth” about coronavirus. I give him a Tdap booster. He becomes autistic in front of my eyes. He’ll never conspire against me again. 11am - Tend to the secret hospital garden of St. John’s wort and ginkgo leaves that we save for rich patients and donors. 12:30pm - Pick up my briefcase of money from payroll, my gift from Pfizer for the incomprehensible profits we make off of the free influenza vaccine given every year. 1pm - Conference call with Dr. Fauci and the lab in Wuhan responsible for manufacturing viruses. Tell them my idea about how an apocalypse-style zombie virus would be a cool one to try for the next batch. 2pm - A patient starts asking me about getting rid of toxins. I ask her if she has a liver and kidneys. She tells me she knows “the truth” about Big Anatomy and that the only way to detoxify herself is to eat nothing but lemon wedges and mayonnaise for weeks. I give her a Tdap booster. 2:45pm - Help the FBI, CIA, and CDC silence the masses. Lament the fact that I can only infringe on one or two of their rights. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow. 4pm - One of my rich patients begins to crash. Laugh as I realize I’ve mismatched her spirit animal and zodiac moon sign. I switch out the Purple Amethyst above her bed for a Tiger’s Eye geode. She stabilizes. I throw some ginkgo leaves on her for good measure 6pm - Go onto YouTube and see coronavirus conspiracy videos everywhere. Curse my all powerful government for how inept they are at keeping people from spreading “the truth” 6:10pm - Go onto Amazon and see that a book about “the truth” is the #1 seller this week. Question the power of my all powerful government. Make a reminder to myself to get more Tdap boosters from the Surgeon General next time we talk. 7pm - Time to go home. Before I leave, sacrifice a goat to Dr. Fauci and say three Hippocratic Oaths. 9pm - Take a contented sigh as I snuggle under the covers made of the tinfoil hats of my enemies, realizing that my 4 years of medical school and 3 years of residency training have been put to good use today. Gman

According to Wikipedia, the band formed in 1989. Robbie was a back up singer. He left in 1995 to go solo. I hope that worked out well for him. He's rejoined them a couple of times for one off performances. Here's Gary Barlow their lead singer and Robbie brightening up our quarantine. (I realize this isn't the original topic of this thread. But it's my thread, so I asked politely and gave myself permission. ) Gman

Jason's speaking voice. Gman

Gary is a part of a group named Take That. They had a number 7 hit, "Back For Good" in 1995. Robbie Williams who eventually went solo and had the hit "Angels" was a member of the group at that time. Gman

A bit of a story-I look at some of the British game shows on YouTube like "8 Out Of 10 Cats Does Countdown" and "Would I Lie To You. These are more like "Match Game" or Tattletales" with celebrity comedians being funny as opposed to regular people a la "The Price Is Right". I follow one of presenters on Twitter. Looking at her Twitter Feed I came across Gary Barlow famous from the British Group Take That. He's been putting up duets on Twitter for fans to take our mind off the quarantine. He's dueted (trioed in one case) with at least two of us Yanks-Matthew Morrison and JC Chasez. These can all be found on YouTube. But I just found a duet of Sweet Caroline with a popular English comedian named Jason Manford. Now Jason has a very, very northern English accent when he speaks. I have to listen carefully to him sometimes to figure out what he's saying. But this duet with Barlow was very good. So I entered a Google Query of "Who Knew Jason Manford could sing?" Well the query populated itself pretty much while I was typing. It had apparently been asked before. And I found he had been a guest on a concert with Alfie Boe-a famous English tenor who's played Jean Valjean in the 25th Anniversary Concert as well as on Broadway. Plus Jason was playing the lead in a touring production of Curtains until it was canceled by the pandemic So here for your delectation is Jason Manford singing "Stars" from Les Miz. Gman

And the question is what type of vaccine are they making. Possibly it's been noted in articles but I haven't seen any specific mention. But if ends up that only a live (weakened) virus vaccine is effective, then possibly people with weakened immune systems won't be able to get it and will need herd immunity from healthy people getting the vaccine. Gman

To me that all goes along with sensual and/or erotic massages. But those actions don't actually tilt over to sex. For me, and it may only be me-but I thought the OP was talking about anal penetration. Gman

I woke up this morning. I was thinking I'd like sex. It's not that I haven't gone over two months before without it. But for the last 4 months before the quarantine, I had it at least once a month. (Please hold the applause). Immediately after my thought, I thought-Having sex with someone not living with you could result in your death!!. So all of a sudden this old joke popped into my (big) head as opposed to the small head who wants sex. There's a joke about an old married couple-Harry and Gertrude Smith. They are still like newlyweds They are married 75 years and in all that time have never missed a night of connubial bliss-EVER. Well Gertrude gets sick and the doctor tells them that having sex would be fatal for Gertrude. So Harry moves out of the bedroom onto the couch. Now Harry is not a man who indulges in, shall we say, self-gratification. He's there on the couch tossing and turning for 6 long months thinking of Gertrude and of their long years and long nights of bliss together. Finally he can't take it anymore. He gets up and starts walking up the stairs to Gertrude's room. At the stair landing he runs into Gertrude. Gertrude says, "Harry dear, I was just coming down to tell you I'm dying." Harry says, " Gertrude, honey, I was just coming up to kill you." Gman

He's a good dancer. But why am I getting the impression his club is located in the 1970's? Gman

I have to hope she had some good years she enjoyed. Gman

So young...? Gman