No-knead sourdough bread is in the regular baking rotation at our house so I thought I’d share a couple of solutions to things that come up. (A little background on no-knead bread is here.)

First, there’s the matter of burnt bottom crusts. Putting the dough into a very well-heated vessel in a very hot oven can yield a dark and bitter crust once in a while. This has to do with the bottom of the pot getting hit with the greatest heat first and throughout the baking time. I’ve tried taking the bread out of its pot after 40 minutes and finishing it in the open air of the oven: it does work, but takes away from the simplicity of the no-knead method. (If you have a convection oven, this might not ever be an issue.)

Playing around with our ceramic cooker outside, which can sail up past 600 degrees, the necessity of a heat diffuser for anything that’s on the grill for more than a couple of minutes gave me an idea. If you slide a cooking sheet on a rack beneath the bread in its pot, the heat won’t hit the bottom full force. I have yet to see a bad crust this way.

The other thing can come up during very hot summer weather: the dough becomes floppier and harder to handle. Anyone working with artisan bread is familiar with wet and floppy dough. However, too much is too much. Adding more flour to stiffen it up drastically changes the character of the bread. A simple solution is to chill the dough in the fridge when you turn the oven on. It takes 30-40 minutes for our oven to heat the ceramic cast iron pot sufficiently. That’s perfect for cooling down the dough enough so that it naturally is easier to handle. (By the way, I’ve found putting fully-risen dough in the fridge until I can get back to it can be baked without returning it to room temperature.)

Our new solar installation passed final inspection this week. Hoorah! Seeing the electricity meter running backwards for the first time was pretty exciting.

From the day we signed the contract, installation took about 8-1/2 weeks. This system is estimated to be able to cover 65% our electricity bill, with a 100% payback happening sometime in 2016.

The environmental benefit is equivalent to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 7,050 pounds (3.5 tons) per year, or planting 1.2 acres of trees. When I did my own calculation using DOT numbers adjusted for our two hybrid vehicles, it’s the equivalent of NOT driving 19,012 miles per year. That neatly works out to be about how much we drive yearly.

A couple of more ways to look at this financially: the rate of return on over a 15-year period is 11.8%. Comparing this to current and foreseeable investment yields was a major positive. Also, there are rebates and tax incentives, the most impressive being the federal 30% tax credit. A tax credit comes off your total tax bill, not your adjusted income. So, assuming you’re in a 25% tax bracket, a $1000 tax credit is the rough equivalent of a $4000 tax deduction.

Whenever we have major work done, three bids is a must. In our case, only one company got up on the roof to take actually measurements. Putting the panels on the garage is as good as on the roof of the house, since passive solar water heating is already there. (The garage has panels on the eastern side as well.)

We stayed at Madrona Manor in Healdsburg a couple of nights ago. Grand old mansion with a few outbuildings, one of which was the garden cottage we slept in. Really pretty, comfortable, private, quiet, with a fireplace, and no tv. Really setting the place apart was what went on in the bathroom:

A claw-foot jacuzzi tub. I wouldn’t have thought it possible, but there it is, bubbles and all.

And then there’s the commode, funny at first, but then slightly disturbing:

Definitely anthropomorphism gone awry.

In an generous and delicious gesture, Tom took me to Cyrus for dinner last night. In Healdsburg, Cyrus is a rare restaurant, attracting the admiration of restaurant critics, the Michelin Guide and gourmands on Chowhound, Zagat and Yelp. The food is original and sophisticated, yet easily comprehended.

Having made the pilgrimage, I agree. It was one of the best meals we’ve ever had and included some of the most delicious dishes I’ve ever eaten.

If you follow on after the break, you can see the procession of courses.

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On our way somewhere else, we made a stop in Santa Rosa  to see the home and gardens of the great plant hybridizer, Luther Burbank. It’s a lovely place, right near downtown Santa Rosa. If you’re thinking of visiting, admission is free, guided tours are available as well as a cell phone audio tour.

One thing I like about places like this is that the plants are clearly labeled (for the most part.) Here are few of the interesting things we saw:

And just a couple of notes:

• I don’t usually like roses that don’t have much scent, but the Moonstone’s prettiness almost makes up for that defect.
• The same goes for shrub roses…I sort of just don’t ‘see’ them. The Gourmet Popcorn, however, is one I could definitely like in our garden.
• They had the giant burdock next to the artichoke’s close relative, cardoon. Their thistle-like flowers look very similar.
• Luther Burbank was developed elephant garlic. It was surprising how nice (and not stinky) the flower head is.
• Burbank worked on a spineless and edible cactus hybrid, which could be used as forage for cattle in desolate areas and as human food (both the paddles and prickly pear fruit). It’s kind of an unstable hybrid and the spine do come back after time.
• The lemon verbena tree was the biggest surprise for me because I’d never seen a tree form, being used to seeing them as bushes.
  

Blooming this week are two slightly unusual plants. I thought you might like a peek.

Capers… either packed in salt or picked. The giant ones are a great substitute for martini olives. The little ones, fried crisp, are a neat twist to spaghetti alio e olio. Most of us know that they’re the immature flower buds of the caper bush. Here’s what happens when one of those buds opens:

A dwarf natal plum is new to us. Thorny like a rose, with five petals shaped like plumeria, and a fragrance strikingly like jasmine, I can’t wait to taste what the fruit is like.

Tom pulled the keeping onions a few weeks ago and set them out to cure. One of them had other ideas and decided to throw up a flower anyway:

On one of the very last official days of spring, we found some beautiful locally-harvested morels at the Monterey Market in Berkeley. Once home, we pulled a couple of heads of green garlic…

Et voilà, dinner.

Here’s a little recipe:

For each person:

1/4 – 1/3 lb fresh morels

1/4 lb pencil-thin asparagus

1/2 head of green garlic

1 medium shallot, finely minced

2 oz pappardelle

fresh herbs: a little oregano, thyme, (chervil if you have it), and a few basil leaves

butter

vermouth

salt & pepper

grated parmesan

1. Put a big pot of water on to boil. Pappardelle take about 10-12 minutes to cook, during which you should be able to do the rest of the recipe. Put on a small pot of water for the asparagus. You’ll also need a sauté pan for cooking the mushrooms.

2. Prepare the morels: gently wipe the mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Don’t soak them in water as that will mute their flavor and is useless anyway. Cut the larger morels in half.

3. Prepare the garlic: Cut off the hard neck, cut the head of garlic in two, remove the outer skin, and pull out what remains of the hard neck in the center of the head. Place both halves (if making this dish for two) cut-side down and slice across the cloves as thinly as possible, stopping before the roots.

3. Prepare the asparagus: starting from the tip, cut 1-1/2” sections, ending before where the woody part of the stalk starts. Cook in simmering water for 2-4 minutes just until the green brightens up and the asparagus is still slightly crunchy. Rinse under cold water.

4. Prepare the herbs: finely mince the herbs. Tear the basil leaves into pieces.

5. In a tablespoon of butter, sauté garlic and shallot over medium-high heat for a moment. Add the morels and, shaking the pan, continue to cook until the morels still have some crunch and they have given up some liquid. (Note: unlike button mushrooms, don’t cook until the morel juice has evaporated…the juice is the sauce in this dish.) This should take 4 or 5 minutes. Add a splash of vermouth, cook for a minute longer. Salt & pepper to taste.

6. Drain the pasta and put on your plate. Spread the cooked morels over the top, sprinkle with the herbs and a little parmesan. Enjoy.

By the way, when you’re at Monterey Market and want a snack, you couldn’t do better than Gioia Pizzeria just up the block. While there a couple of pizza palaces I have yet to visit (Pizzaiolo in Oakland and Pyzano’s in Castro Valley), Gioia has, by a long shot, my favorite pizza in the Bay Area. De-li-cious. (The slices in the picture are half-sized because Tom and I were sharing.)

Monterey Market

Gioia Pizzeria

Pizzaiolo

Pizano

I’ve added some code to provide a mobile version of chaosweb that easily fits on a cellphone screen. You don’t have to do anything special, it should just magically appear:

If you have a very good phone web browser (like on the iphone and palm pre) and would rather see the regular version of the page, just wander to the bottom of the mobile page and there’s an option to do just that:

Please use the mail link in the right column to let me know of any problems you see.

Another wave of ripening fruit rippled through the garden this week. Here’s what was on deck:

By the way, if you’re looking for a delicious and beautiful basil for the garden, this Red Rubin Basil is a wonderful choice: