How to avoid elephant skin on no-knead bread?

When I make my no-knead bread, the bottom of the bread always becomes extremely thick - almost like the skin of an african elephant.

I bake the bread in an IKEA 365+ pot made of stainless steel. The bottom of the pot is quite thin.

Do you experience something similar when baking and do you have any suggestions on how to avoid breaking the teeth on my guests?

Food safety issues related to eating raw frozen vegetables

I just pulled out a package of frozen spinach and noticed a warning "Cook from frozen, product must be cooked before consumption". I found the same on a package of frozen baby peas and I'm sure I've seen it many times before on vegetables that are often eaten raw when fresh. Are there any food safety issues related to this advice? I couldn't really think of a problem with vegetables that are commonly sold and stored a while at room temperature.

How can i save frozen eggs?

My fridge got to cold and all my eggs froze and got cracks in them. Any idea what to do with frozen, cracked eggs? Thanks

Calculating and sorting foods by the fullness factor

I've seen a question on calculating the calorie content of food, but how can the fullness factor be calculated?

Furthermore, I'd like to sort by the fullness factor in order to identify filling foods. NutritionData.Self.com has a useful "Fullness factor", but I don't see a way to sort by that.

Any ideas or other web sites that may provide this data?

Identifying foods with high fullness factor [on hold]

I'm writing a blog post on fasting for resetting the immune system, and it's useful to share some ideas for what to eat under 200 calories a day, yet not feel hungry all the time.

NutritionData.Self.com has a useful "Fullness factor", but I don't see a way to sort by that.

Any ideas or other web sites that may provide this data?

Fresh Herb Storage

I am trying to get some fresh herbs (Parsley and Dill for example) to stay fresh for some time. I have tried the water jar method which is just trimming ends of stems and putting the bunch in a jar of water. Parsley seems to survive this perfectly for over a week. But for some reason Dill gets ilted after couple days.

My concerns are: 1) What is causing wilting here? 2) If I added some fertilizer to the water inside the jar, would that keep the herb alive?

Will it wreck the dish if I pre-soak beef in brine, and then slow roast with Marsala?

I've found that pre-soaking my beef in brine helps to break down the fibres, making the subsequent roast tender.

I've found a recipe for slow-roasting beef with Marsala. I'm wondering if I can combine the two, or if that will be a terrible idea.

My question is: Will it wreck the dish if I pre-soak beef in brine, and then slow roast with marsala?

Clarifications:

1. This will be roasted in a ceramic dish, with a glass lid for eight hours.

2. By 'wreck' I mean the saltiness of the brine is pleasant during eating, as is the sweetness of the Marsala. My concern is that the two tastes (salty and sweet) will clash, making the dish inedible.