Well I’m not sure how to start, as this is my first post, so I’ll give a little bit of a backstory...
I work as a chef in the middle of the country close to my home. I don’t don’t do top end fine dining rubbish; I do good quality local homemade produce which I put a lot of care into. With the soul problem being, that I simply don’t have enough time to create and do new things as much as I want if I don’t have a bit of knowledge on what it is to begin with. Anyone else who works in a kitchen will likely understand where I’m coming from.
So you can imagine my surprise and frustration at suddenly having nothing to do with my time when my work closes for the time being to help the effects of what is causing everyone distress across the globe. Weeks went by before I stopped banging my head enough on the wall to think of a way of learning something relatively new
I never dreamed that I’d actually get to dive into a new ish area of cooking that I’d previously thought impossible due to work/home restraints.
I am of course referring to bread.
during catering college you learn many of the basics, but that was near 12 years ago now, id always been intrigued with how to make sourdough breads and I learnt precious little back in the day, and it looks like the tartine book the misses got me for Xmas nearly two years ago is finally going to get some use?
little did I know of the immense journey I was about to take. Never mind Frodo and the ring, this was a journey of immense proportions and consequences.
now not being the sort of person to “sit and read” I found it difficult to get into it, as I’m constantly doing something, i find it difficult to focus and to educate myself in just this manner alone. I like to be “shown and told”. such is my way, but I persisted, even nearly starting a argument with the misses who bless her, doesn’t understand what it is that the book is telling me, but is doing her best to translate it in a way my simpler mind might understand it better. Honestly without her to translate and actually tell me what it is that’s on the page I’d of probably given up on the whole thing. I make it sound like I’m thick or something ? I hope I’m not , but it was easier in the early days to have her read it through with me so I could at least try to understand the most basic of methods.
all still here???
anyway after much experimentation and feeling of disappointment/excitement and many other emotions in between, you can imagine how I felt when I was told I can go back to work, without it sounding too much like something from a book or a film when the character has a big disappointing reveal about a reality check (if that’s at all possible if you’re still ready this dribble lol) I was disappointed; not at going back to work! My country needs to sort itself out and get back on track. I was disappointed I hadn’t found “the loaf”. for those of you that have found “it” you will know what “it” is.
well the reality is I hadn’t found what I was after, even after finding different flavours and textures from the same three ingredients. I had no other choice than to give up. Their was no way I was going to manage experimenting at home with my working hrs, I’d of been making some very sour flavoured doughs if I’d off carried on in this manner, and that’s not what I was after. Especially when I’m doing this to try and find that newer thing to produce at work, as well as at home. and if it’s not working when I’ve got all the time I had at home, then how would I get it to work for me when I’m doing it for work, but when I’ve not yet found it? It’s not something I can risk wasting time on when money everywhere is tight at the moment. Especially if things don’t get back to normal, my job could be further at risk. I mean my money is one thing, but wasting my bosses is something I think we can all agree , is just asking for trouble.
But, well with that idea crushed until the next bright idea comes along I gave up on the idea of making breads and got back to “normal”
but what is “normal” at the the moment? As within eight weeks of reopening we closed out doors again. But mind you, with all the backward rules and unclear regulations it’s no wonder we closed again, people are confused, I’m confused and I don’t blame people for not coming out I don’t want to go out and risk health issues just for the benefit of eating food, so I can’t expect my customers to do that for me either.-My foods good but not that good lol.
so here I am again, now since just before Xmas 2020. furloughed again. ? obsessing over the idea of the perfect loaf. With a false start to my now new starter after many attempts at getting her right; (yes my starter is a girl) but that’s a different story.
With this previous, though what I prefer to call deeply lacking experience I’d gained with what I’d been making during the summer furlough , I would like to think that the bread I’ve been attempting to create since then would at least in some way be more compliant now with the little knowledge that I’ve acquired along the way. Again with using the same three ingredients I have changed the percentages, proving times ,shaping and just about every other way I can think of to find what I’m looking for. But alas, I’m still struggling to get it, just so.
for those of you still reading I ask this....
what is the perfect loaf? What makes what you guys bake any better than I? This is of course meant to be a rhetorical question because everyone’s tastes will undoubtedly be different, but there is another question here as well, what can I do to further improve what I’m doing and can it match what you all do?
this journey is one that I think I can now honestly say, is one I cannot take alone and as difficult as it is to say, I think what I’m really asking for is help.
Asking google only gets you so far and it usually sends me to the fresh loaf page at some point regardless,but then you can only learn so much from reading the answer, to someone else’s question, when what you want to learn has only half been answered, by a question that for you, has only half been asked.
i hope I didn’t loose anyone on that last part?
it sounds a bit obsessive and in a way I suppose it is. I don’t look at is I’ve failed to make a loaf of bread; more like I’ve found however many way “not” to make a loaf of bread the way I want it.
So now, here I am searching on my quest for knowledge.
no doubt the answer to one question will only open up more questions in the future but I look forward to the experience. if there’s one thing I’ve learned from this so far, it’s that anyone can bake if you love to cook. I will be returning kitchen soon, hungry for more
- Stephen's Blog
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It is a good thing to ask questions, whether of one's self, or of others. Questions are a profoundly powerful tool for gaining new knowledge and understanding. Anyone who has ever dealt with a preschool-age child has seen this in action.
I can't say that I have a favorite loaf but there are things that I value in every loaf: nutrition, flavor, fragrance, texture, visual appeal. Those, obviously, will vary from one type of bread to another. The brick-like nature of a Westphalian pumpernickel is quite different from the airiness of a ciabatta but each has characteristics that are "right" for that bread.
Your training as a chef has already exposed you to the concept that process is every bit as important as ingredients. The same holds true for bread. Just as one can exploit the differences in chopping, dicing, or mincing, so one can exploit differences in mixing, kneading, fermenting, and baking. Everything affects the outcome. All of it can be learned, just as you have already learned to cook. You just happen to be starting to learn about bread, instead of being a seasoned practitioner as you are with cooking.
Since being "shown and told" is an effective learning process for you, is there someone in your acquaintance who could show and tell you various elements of baking bread? Maybe someone who is already in the trade and also furloughed? Or maybe someone whom you know to be a good home baker? A morning or an afternoon of focused attention could do wonders for your understanding.
Another avenue, though slightly less effective, is to watch videos. Those can be very effective at demonstrating techniques, even though they aren't as effective at helping you understand dough behavior.
If you'd like a simple learning exercise, you could make up several dough samples with differing hydration levels. This will illustrate three things: first, baker's percentages; second, how hydration affects dough characteristics; and third, what the flour's capacity is for absorbing water. Here's the setup:
Sample 1 - 100g flour, 50g water (50% hydration)
Sample 2 - 100g flour, 60g water (60% hydration)
Sample 3 - 100g flour, 70g water (70% hydration)
Sample 4 - 100g flour, 80g water (80% hydration)
Sample 5 - 100g flour, 90g water (90% hydration)
Sample 6 - 100g flour, 100g water (100% hydration)
Working with one sample at a time, combine the flour and water thoroughly. For Sample 1, you may have to knead the sample rather forcefully to get the dough to absorb all of the flour. By the time you get to Sample 6, you'll probably notice that kneading is an impossibility. For each sample, note how the texture varies with hydration level.
After you have completed the exercise for all six samples, you can combine all of them to make some bread. Note that Sample 1 is not going to want to combine easily with the rest of the samples. You may want to chop it finely and mix it in with Sample 6 and let it sit for an hour or so before mixing everything together. Add 12g of salt and 6g of dry yeast (you can slurry the yeast with some water first, if you like) to the mixture and mix or knead to ensure that the dough is uniform throughout. There shouldn't be any wet or dry sections. Cover and let rise until approximately doubled. Shape into a batard and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Cover and let rise to about 1-1/2 times the original volume. Meanwhile, prepare the oven. Place a rack at mid-height in the oven to hold the baking sheet. Place another rack at the lowest level with a heavy shallow oven-proof pan; a broiler pan or skillet or even a rimmed cookie sheet will serve. You will want to pour 250ml of boiling water into this pan just before putting the bread into the oven. Preheat the oven to 425F prior to the bread being ready to bake. When the bread has risen, uncover it, make one lengthwise slash parallel to but just slightly to the side of the loaf's centerline. Pour the boiling water in the pan on the bottom oven rack. CAUTION: The boiling water will erupt into steam when it hits the preheated pan, so wear oven mitts and protect the oven door window, if it has one, from spatters. Place the sheet pan with the loaf on the mid-level rack and close the oven door. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, until the loaf is deeply browned and sounds hollow when the bottom crust is thumped lightly. Internal temperature, if checked with an instant-read thermometer, should be between 200F and 210F. Remove the baked loaf from the oven, place on a cooling rack, cover with a towel, and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing.
Keep asking questions. There are a lot of answers available.
Paul
Well I think the perfect loaf is crispy on the outside but beyond that it really is a matter of personal taste. Some like it soft and light on the inside, others prefer a darker denser loaf. My preference is somewhat dense but light on the inside, not too thick of a crust, and definitely more wheat than other grains.
I am more of a pantser (by the seat of my pants) baker, but I have been baking for my family and myself for half a century. My first loaves were terrible, and I still occasionally produce terrible loaves. I don’t remember how long it took me to start producing passable bread, nor when I first started baking the occasional excellent loaf. These days I can produce bread I love on a regular basis and I’ve stopped experimenting, mostly because given the choice between a reliably excellent (to me) loaf and a possible experimental flop, I go for reliable. So sometimes the journey is worth more than the goal, experimenting is good. By all means take advice from experts, but experience is an excellent teacher too. I am working from a sourdough starter that I first made years ago based on a recipe that called for using acidified water (to discourage the growth of unwanted organisms). I almost killed that starter one year, but fortunately had passed on bits of it to friends who were able to return the favour in my time of need. My sourdough likes whole grain flour but I prefer white flour, so we have worked out a compromise (about 3 to 1 in my favour). The rest is just water, salt, time and a Dutch oven for baking.