ZombieRunner Blog

We’re sitting (Gillian in one over-stuffed chair with her laptop, me in another with mine) in the Alpine Internet Cyber Cafe in Park City, Utah, working on the ZombieRunner Web Site. The photo is from a live web camera at the base of the hill — it’s been snowing today. There’s a chairlift right across the street; lots of skiiers and snowboarders wandering around. But, the skiing population is far outnumbered this week by the crowd here for the Sundance Film Festival. (The director of Letters From the Other Side just stopped by and gave us promo cards for her documentary.) We may try to catch a film tonight or tomorrow night.

We’re here for the Outdoor Retailer Show – it starts tomorrow. If the August OR show was any indication, we’ll return home with a raft of new products.

For now it’s wireless laptops and lots of good food. Yesterday’s dinner was oysters, Alaskan king crab, clam chowder and a whole lobster at the Market Street Oyster Bar in downtown Salt Lake City. Lunch today was small plates at the Easy Street Brasserie and Bar here in Park City. Some of the best French Onion soup I’ve had.

- dc

Someone on the ultra list asked for a lefse recipe. Here’s the one that my brother and I use – very similar to the version that our Mom made.

(The photos are of ace lefse chef Gillian, from a lefse-making party we did at my brother’s house.)

Lefse Recipe

4 lb potatoes
1/2 cup butter
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
2 cups flour

Peel, quarter potatoes and boil until tender. Drain and return to pan over low heat for a few minutes to dry.
Rice potatoes. Add butter, salt & sugar and mash until well mixed. Let cool and then refrigerate until cold.
Heat lefse griddle to 500°.
For each 1/4 of potato mixture, mix in 1/2 cup flour (or less) and divide into 6 balls.
Roll out on baking parchment and transfer, parchment side up, to griddle; the parchment will peel away in a minute or so.
Cook on both sides.

Margarine changed to
butter, six cups changed to four pounds.
Note: try cake flour.

Here’s a great site for lefse-making equipment

- dc

I made a couple of recipes over the weekend from Peter Reinhart’s The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. The first was the cinnamon roll recipe, which I’ve made once before. I started it Saturday evening, retarded it in the fridge, got up at 5 to allow it to proof in time to bake for breakfast. Used a bit of orange extract in the fondant. A terrific cinnamon roll recipe.

The second was the potato bread with rosemary. I made the biga (a pre-ferment) on Saturday, let it ferment in the fridge overnight, and made the 2 loaves (2 boules) on Sunday afternoon (to go with a southwestern corn chowder). I also added the options 1 ounce of chopped roasted garlic – a nice addition. The potatoes (1 cup, mashed) makes the dough and the bread nice a soft. I proofed one of the loaves in a french banneton and the other on a parchment-covered sheet pan. Before proofing, I misted the sheet pan loave with olive oil. It developed a darker smoother crust and rose somewhat higher in the oven. I’m thinking that the unencumbered sheet pan boule may have risen a bit more during the proofing stage.

It was a definite success. I plan to try it without the garlic and rosemary – I think it’ll make a good potato bread.My goal is to get close to Grace Baking’s potato bread.

- dc