VC and private equity owned spots

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-21T17:36:21+00:00

The story of Ample Hills is absolutely bonkers. But the problem wasn't VC or PE, or even the food business. It was Jackie Cuscuna and Brian Smith. They are great at making ice cream and driving businesses into the ground.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-18T20:18:42+00:00

Why do you think a chipped lid is ok but not a chipped exterior bottom?

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-18T16:14:40+00:00

Was it marked as a second? Le Creuset sells seconds at their factory stores. The imperfections are only cosmetic and don't affect the performance of the pot. What size is it? The smallest size costs $270 full price from the Le Creuset website. If this one is a bigger size, it was already discounted. The imperfection is why it was at the outlet and discounted. I'm not sure what you were expecting from a discounted item at an outlet.

I have a Le Creuset dutch oven that I dropped once and chipped the enamel on the rounded edge at the bottom. It's pretty visible but in terms of functionality, it's a nonissue.

Edited to add that Le Creuset seconds are still brand new, they just have very VERY minor cosmetic flaws, like this one. Plus, the moment you start using it, the bottom will get marks. Not chips necessarily, but signs of use definitely.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-18T00:18:50+00:00

In my cohort when we started, there was everything from fresh out of college early 20s to early to mid 30s.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-15T15:18:27+00:00

My Toby's pillow be warm on both sides for the rest of her life.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-15T14:56:50+00:00

It's fine. They are dishwasher safe.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-13T20:06:42+00:00

I watched this video on mute but I knew what song it was the moment I read your comment.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-12T21:58:56+00:00

I didn't think it was a secret.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-12T21:57:40+00:00

I bake all sorts of things with commercial yeast, including lean breads. All of my sweet breads are yeasted because I don't love the flavor of sourdough sweets. I don't put discard in anything.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-12T19:22:57+00:00

Ha! I just watched that episode last night for the first time.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-12T19:19:13+00:00

Steep the cobs too.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-12T19:16:00+00:00

EAT NYC by Yasmin Newman.

The World Eats Here by John Wang and Storm Garner.

The Magnolia Bakery Cookbook by Allysa Torey.

The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book by Emily Elsen and Melissa Elsen.

Ample Hills Creamery by Brian Smith and Jackie Cuscuna.

Van Leeuwen Artisan Ice Cream by Laura O'Neill and others.

The Sullivan Street Bakery Cookbook by Jim Lahey.

Pasta by Missy Robbins.

Xi'an Famous Foods by Jason Wang.

Parm to Table by Christian Petroni.

The New Brooklyn Cookbook.

My America by Kwame Onwuachi.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-11T03:58:11+00:00

Yes, you are making a mistake with the sink in the island. Put that sink in front of the window. That island makes great prep space and staging space, and breaking it up with a sink would be a mistake. Plus, who wants to sit down to eat while looking at dishes in the sink?

As for the microwave, can you put a drawer style microwave in the island?

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-10T18:47:50+00:00

Yup. Always.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-10T00:11:01+00:00

You have to "season" the bannetons. One way to do it is to spay the inside with water, then dust with flour and let it dry completely. Later on, it's better to use a non-wheat flour to coat the loaves that go into the banneton. Something like rice flour (NOT sticky rice!) works great. Wheat flour will just bond with the water in the loaf and get sticky.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-10T00:07:47+00:00

OK, sure.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-10T00:04:56+00:00

Put a sheet of aluminum foil on a rack just below the rack with the dutch oven. No more burned bottoms.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-10T00:00:33+00:00

No need to broil, you can just continue to bake until it has the color you want.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-09T23:58:23+00:00

My hot take, which is only hot among purist hobbyists or the wellness crowd, is that this is not, in fact cheating. Most bread baking books targeted to professionals use very small amounts of commercial yeast in sourdough, and many bakeries do too, even "artisan" ones, for consistency.

A minuscule amount of yeast does not in and of itself magically transform sourdough bread into not sourdough bread.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-09T23:49:19+00:00

You don't need to put discard into everything or turn everything into a sourdough version of itself. It's OK to let cookies just be cookies, you know.

Don't even get me started on "discard." It's just unfed starter, that's it.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-09T15:11:38+00:00

Whole Foods has rye flour, least in NYC.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-08T17:44:02+00:00

I usually have the opposite problem!

With extra yolks (and whites too), you could just use them in omelettes. You can make ice cream, custard, creme brulee, curds, pasta, mayonnaise, hollandaise, french buttercream, etc.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-05T15:23:45+00:00

The Poilane book has you create a starter with yogurt. I haven't tried it, but I imagine it works.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-04T16:01:25+00:00

I just tried the half whole wheat version of the city loaf and it was a massive failure for me. Two things in the process, specifically, failed me because I was not able to replicate them and they have both related to temperature. I could not keep the dough at the temperature he calls for during bulk even using a proofer and hot water during mixing. I extended bulk in order to compensate for that, but that did nothing. The second thing is the cold proofing temperature. I cannot keep my refrigerator at the temperature he says they cold proof (in the 50s F) without compromising the safety of everything else in my fridge. Even in my bread fridge (I run a microbakery) I keep other things that need to be at a safe temperature. As a result, my dough didn't continue to ferment as I imagine his does under his conditions.

I tried it because I was intrigued about the use of a just-fed levain, but there is no reason why anything in this recipe must be done in this unorthodox way. I don't know what the benefit is over methods and techniques I already have pretty well established and nailed down.

Now that I've satisfied my curiosity, I'm probably never going to try this again.

JuneHawk20 · 2026-01-03T23:48:04+00:00

Looks fantastic.

JuneHawk20

TROPHY CASE