Would you believe it? France too succumbs.
"The decline of French bread over the past few decades is one of the saddest aspects of the ransom paid to progress, and much of the blame must simply go to good old greed."
...and rounding up this year's interns at the Back Home Bakery was Brendan visiting from Washington, DC. He came prepared with two-handed-roll-making-skills and a willingness to work his hardest at everything. Thanks a lot Brendan for all of the help; hope to see you running your own bakery some day.
-Mark
I recently got a message from someone here whom I respect a great deal, both as a person and as a baker. However, one part of his message stung me: the part where he says, "I don't remember seeing any original recipes or methods from you." That got me thinking about what I bake, how I bake, and most importantly, why I and others bake, and whether "original recipes or methods" are or ought to be a measure of bona fides as a baker.
Lady (most of the time) Oreo and I
This is Biga Ciabatta following the formula in Reinhart's BBA (incidentally the only bread book I have right now). Turned out pretty well considering this was my first time making ciabatta and I messed up on the biga. I did not knead the biga at all and put it into the fridge after mixing and left it. Still came out great! Always a nice suprise. I also had to bake these on parchment on a sheet pan as I did not have a stone. I just got my stone yesterday so I'm eager to try it out!
I took this loaf to supper with the family and their house has much better natural light than mine which helped the picture. The first slices were really holey but the center of the loaf had a tighter crumb. The flavor was excellent and the crust crisp and it did sing, very slightly. Next time I am going to use my more liquid starter for comparison and of course there is always a next time... A.
I made Anadama Bread from Reinhart's BBA. It turned out great! I will definately be making this bread again.
Here is a picture of my grandaughter Lily with a slice of my first effort, showing off the holey crumb. I used KA bread flour and KA white whole wheat and my newly converted firm starter, and we all liked the flavor. The second try had better oven spring and I imagine the starter is getting stronger, A.
After reading a lot about French flours vs American flours from TFL, I decided to try White Lily's Bread Flour. When I lived in Tennessee, I used to make biscuits with White Lily Self Rising Flour. Its the best (in my opinion) flour to make biscuits. If I'm not mistaken, their flours are made from soft winter wheat, the self rising flour, at least. Since White Lily can only be found in the South, the only way I could get it is by purchasing online. I bought two 5lbs bags of flour, one bread and one self rising (for biscuits).
This is the second version of the challenge loaf, and my recently converted firm starter appears to be getting stronger. The dough had filled the little basket after a night in the fridge and the oven spring was great. I have more pictures of the first effort but can't figure how to post more than one at a time, A.
