12-04-2008, 06:18 AM
How come we all seem to have the same stuff around here?
I too, parle Le Crueset... bought a whole mess of it for peanuts at least 6-7 years ago from a neighbor's moving sale, and finally started using it last month. With it sitting at the bottom of a closet all this time I thought it was to be nothing but future gift-giving fodder, but now I'm into it! Tres Bien!
My first use? The big-ass (~6qt?) dutch oven for that no-knead bread I'd been wondering for the last year if I'd ever want to tackle. -Verdict? Fantastique! Completely easy to make. Ends up w/flakey crusty outside, dense and moist within. Mon Dieu! Don't even have to clean the pot afterward.
Even better? -making the same bread in the smaller round dutch oven (~3qt?), where it rose higher, came out a more bakery-worthy round shape, and for me the other day had a lighter, about-perfect fluffy consistency inside.
After making 4 or 5 loaves so far, I've about recouped what I paid for the set, in savings over buying bread at Whole Foods.
Now that I welcome the kitchen to be warmer, I'm all for these heat-holding heavy irons. And moving the things around give a little workout after pigging out on the evening's creations.
I too, parle Le Crueset... bought a whole mess of it for peanuts at least 6-7 years ago from a neighbor's moving sale, and finally started using it last month. With it sitting at the bottom of a closet all this time I thought it was to be nothing but future gift-giving fodder, but now I'm into it! Tres Bien!
My first use? The big-ass (~6qt?) dutch oven for that no-knead bread I'd been wondering for the last year if I'd ever want to tackle. -Verdict? Fantastique! Completely easy to make. Ends up w/flakey crusty outside, dense and moist within. Mon Dieu! Don't even have to clean the pot afterward.
Even better? -making the same bread in the smaller round dutch oven (~3qt?), where it rose higher, came out a more bakery-worthy round shape, and for me the other day had a lighter, about-perfect fluffy consistency inside.
After making 4 or 5 loaves so far, I've about recouped what I paid for the set, in savings over buying bread at Whole Foods.
Now that I welcome the kitchen to be warmer, I'm all for these heat-holding heavy irons. And moving the things around give a little workout after pigging out on the evening's creations.