Category: General

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The Friday Fives

1. From your childhood, what was the best year?

Thirteen years old.. 1977. Watched Star Wars at the Cooper Theater on Colorado Boulevard for my birthday. Boy Scout summer camp. Conqueror of the 8th grade. That year rocked.

2. If you followed your childhood pretend job, what would your career be today?

TV comedy writer like Rob Petrie

3. What did you buy with your first-ever paycheck?

Probably a book or a cassette.

4. Post a GIF or movie scene that never fails to make you laugh.



5. If the last text you sent had to be engraved on your tombstone, what would it say?

“You have to keep a keen eye on those hot nuts.

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The Friday Fives

1. Which jobs are 100% safe from AI?

Auto mechanic and hairdresser/barber.

2. What will someday be illegal after we finally understand how bad for us it is?

Unlimited onlinegambbling. Itis scray how fast this has become so terribly popular. I have folks at work who are betting via apps on their phones every day, all day long.

3. In 2026, how do we feel about the Oxford comma and two spaces after a period?

I am fine with removing the two spaces after a period, having been broken of that habit as a newspaper reporter, as the two-space thing was a big no-no. But the Oxford comma, I understand the logic behind it, but again, going back to journalism, it is a habit I was broken off. Printed journalism developed a style to reduce as much empty space as possible in lines of text to make physical typesetting easier, and, despite online typesetting and desktop publishing, those rules remain in place decades later. My grammar and spelling checker app usually takes care of these for me, but when I am freestyle typing, I don’t use the Oxford comma.

4. What is one thing you habitually do every day?

Rinse out the French presses every day after work to make the morning coffee routine so much easier. When I don’t do it for whatever reason, I get angry at myself while rinsing them out before making the morning brew.

5. What random fact do you want to share?

The mathematics behind his theory of solar wind as just four lines of algebra to predict the solar weather patterns. Thank you Wikipedia.

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Sourdough No-Knead Bread


Recipe from Jim Lahey
Adapted by Sam Sifton
Updated April 28, 2020

Melina Hammer for The New York Times
Total Time
12 to 24 hours
Rating
4(2,700)

So you’ve brought a sourdough starter to life, or received one as a gift, or purchased one somewhere. You’ve fed it and watched it become bubbly and fragrant, with a light yeasty-boozy scent. Now it’s time to bake bread.

An easy way to start is with this adaptation of baker Jim Lahey’s storied recipe for no-knead bread, replacing commercial yeast with a little less than three-quarters of a cup of healthy, well-fed sourdough starter.

Give the resulting dough a long, long rise and then plop it into a hot, enameled cast-iron pot with a lid. You’ll have an incredible loaf within the hour, and may well find yourself addicted to the smell, the taste, and the process alike.

Ingredients
Yield:1 loaf
3½cups/475 grams bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 1.2 300 grams (about 1¼ cups) filtered water
1 teaspoon/6 grams kosher salt

¾cup/180 grams sourdough starter, “fed.”
(optional)

2 tablespoons/20 grams sesame seeds

1 teaspoon Vital Wheat Gluten

1 teaspoon diastatic malt powder

Optional toppings :
2 tablespoons/20 grams sesame seeds
or 2 tablespoons wheat bran to top.

Preparation
Step 1
In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour and salt.

Step 2
In a small mixing bowl, stir together 300 grams (about 1¼ cups) lukewarm tap water with the sourdough starter, then pour the mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Mix until just combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a tea towel and leave it to rise overnight, about 10 to 24 hours. (I usually pop this in an empty microwave for about 18 hours, where it is kept draft-free and out of the way.)

Step 3
The next day, generously dust a clean kitchen surface with flour. The dough should have risen considerably, and you should see visible bubbling along the sides. The dough will be spongy and wet. Scoop the dough directly onto the surface, then dust with more flour (I use white rice flour) . With lightly floured hands, gently fold the edges of the dough from the outside in, to form a round loaf. Dust a clean towel with yet more flour, sprinkle sesame seeds in a small area about the size of your loaf, and place the dough on top of the seeds or wheat bran, seam side down.

Lightly dust with additional flour, cover, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours. (I put this in a flour-lined proofing basket that I have powdered with white rice flour to prevent sticking. )

Step 4
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 450. Place a covered enamel Dutch oven or heavy pot with a lid in the oven and let it heat for 30 minutes or so. Remove the pot from the oven, take off its top, and carefully invert the risen dough into it, so that the seam side is now facing up. (Alternately, you can invert the risen dough onto a flour-dusted sheet of parchment paper and lower your loaf into your pot that way.) Put the top back on the pot and return it to the oven.

Step 5
Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes, then take the top off the pot and allow it to continue to cook until it is brown and crusty all over, an additional 20 minutes or so. Put the loaf on a rack to cool for at least 30 minutes before serving.