I started to make some yoghurt tonight and my method is to use 1.5l of milk reduce down to 1l in the TMX on varoma temperature but tonight although the TMX shows that the varoma temperature has been reached, it clearly hasn't as there's no visible bubbling from the milk and there isn't steam coming out (there is absolutely no way anything would have cooked had it been placed in the varoma tray!) and despite being "cooked" for an hour or so there is also no visible reduction of the liquid.

I've swapped bowls thinking that perhaps my bowl wasn't working great (I'm very fortunate in that I have 2) but no difference.  I've now given up and am practicing the fine art of reduction in a saucepan but I could really do with some help and advice - has my TMX developed a fault?  Please, pleeeeeease say its something i've done wrong!  I did this last week and it worked great.  I've got to go now because I can smell milk all over my hob top ....

Nik

I made this bread yesterday.  It took me a couple of goes to get it right but the 2nd attempt was utterly divine.  I generally use a sponge for my bread but you can use your favoured bread dough mix.

The sponge

3g fresh yeast (I guess around 1.5g of dried)
150g water
75 g strong white flour
75 g Stoneground wholemeal flour
303g total

Mix together to form a soft sponge and place in a bowl with plenty of room for expansion and cover with a lead or plastic bag.  Leave at room temp to ferment for 16-48 hours

Mushroom mix

100g of boiling water
10g dried porcini mushrooms
50g brown-cap mushrooms or something else you prefer - firmer mushrooms are favoured over the watery ones such as oyster

Leave to soak for at least 1/2 hour - I left mine overnight and then drained them, keeping the water for my bread ..

chop very briefly in the TMX.  You want pieces not a puree.

The final dough
225g sponge
150g strong white flour
75g stoneground wholemeal flour
4g sea salt
15g olive oil
105g water - I used the mushroom soaking water to infuse that extra mushroom aroma

Mix all ingredients together and knead until the dough is silky and stretchy - around 2-3 minutes in the TMX.  I always do the window pane test on my dough so I'm not exact on times.  I also think that kneading times vary a little depending on the weather, how long the sponge has been fermenting etc.  Cover and allow to rise for an hour or so - until dough has approximately doubled in size.

Knock back the dough and press and stretch it until it is about 1-1.5cm thick.  Spread the mushroom mix over it and then fold the dough over repeatedly in order to distribute the mix fairly evenly .  I found the dough really difficult to work with at this point so just did the best I could then divided into 2.  Place the rolls/loaves onto a baking tray lined with baking parchment (they DO stick to baking trays), cover and leave in a warm place to prove.

Bake at 190c for 20-25 minutes

When they were straight out of the oven I drizzled evo on them - it should be garlic infused oil but I'd had a bit of a disaster with the garlic puree on my first attempt so didn't bother ...

I'll try and get a photo up but ones already been eaten and the other is in the freezer ...

Nik

OK, so we're loving Cindi's breakfast smoothie (frankly I could eat it morning, noon and night) and I had to go out today for more flax seed oil.  The health food store was full, as usual, with manuka honey.  I've always been put off buying it as its so expensive and I take its claims with a pinch of salt.

So what's the deal?  Should I be eating manuka honey, what does it do for you if you eat it?  I'm generally fit and healthy with the constitution of an ox so would I be wasting my money?  Will it fill me with energy despite the fact that the children woke me up three times last night??   

Opinions please - good, bad and ugly 

Nik

OK am really loving the TMX and making all sorts of things with it that I would never have dreamed of but the house is really suffering ....

How on earth do you find the time to do all this cooking AND keep a house and do all the other stuff (another hobby of mine is sewing - nope, not done a thing since TMX came on the scene)

I know I went away last weekend and am still catching up housework wise from that but I don't work outside the home.  I am bloody knackered because I'm woken by one or another child up to three times a night but apart from that I ought to be able to do a bit of cooking and keep house surely.  Goodness knows how I'm going to cope when its time to start working in the garden again (another hobby .... )

Nik

I've posted this here since its a yeasted bun, kinda like a bread ...

I made some hot crust bun dough around lunchtime - I didn't think it seemed wet enough but I thought I'd trust the process but it hasn't risen one millimeter.  I've decided that the problem is due to not enough water so my question is, can I re-knead with a bit more water and "rescue it"?

TIA

Nik

OK so one of the selling points of the Thermomixer is that it saves you money but, so far, I just don't get how.

I'm guessing if you eat a lot of prepackaged foods then it would save money by making it a LOT easier to make foods from scratch but I already make a lot from scratch anyway.  I buy the odd pizza and I don't make pasta ....  I've looked at making butter but, here in the UK, its more expensive to make than buy!.

Saving money wasn't my primary reason for buying it but if I'm missing an opportunity to save I'd love to see how

Nik

I've just asked DH what he wants me to cook in Thelma when she arrives tomorrow (I saw that someone else called theirs Dobby, I think I like that name better!)

He's requested curry - fair enough I've ordered the Indian cookbook with it - is that going to be too ambitious for the first time of using the machine.  I'm a reasonably good cook so my learning curve is just the machine and not cooking curry!! 

Tia

Nik