Hi,
In September, 2013, I visited Nîmes and Cannes, France, to see the family that hosted me twenty five years earlier when I was in high school. In anticipation of the trip, I decided I wanted to learn how to bake a great baguette and bought Chad Robertson's wonderful book "Tartine Bread" and proceeded to bake each bread in the book. Each recipe built on the previous recipe's lessons so baguettes were several recipes and many weeks into the book, but I eventually got it and they came out all wonderfully. I was smitten with baking and named my sourdough starter "Blondine" after the buxom, hard to manage daughter of the family I lived with during my Junior year of college in Grenoble, France... Beyond this wonderful book, I found a recipe for Montreal Style Bagels and then I got into ryes and pumpernickel breads. At some point maybe a year into this odyssey I hit a wall where I found the Robertson recipes and the other recipes to be overwhelming in the time they demanded of my days off from two jobs. At some point I was deluded into thinking Blondine was so powerful she was possessed with the power of a steam train and should somehow power off the baking of thousands of loaves...
"Where was this all leading?"
"Was I going to open my own bakery?"
"Why was I so consumed with this?"
My day jobs had all but dwindled in significance to me and all that gave structure to my life was baking bread.
In February 2015, I landed in the hospital for an operation that took me several weeks to get back on my feet. During this time I completely forgot about Blondine and she turned into a moldy mess on the patio countertop. I tossed her out feeling lucky I lsurvived this operation and my life should take on a new meaning. Well, as of February 2017, I have revived Blondine and she has given me a number of wonderful rye breads. I take baking in moderation now, knowing it will always be there for me to enjoy.
"Moderation?" Who am I kidding... I have flours in my basement storage from Poland, France, Norway and Italy, not to mention a dozen or so American varieties. So many ideas, so little time...
Peter
You consume it and it consumes you. Shouldn't be any other way. There are many like you here so you should fit right in. I'm not one of them but my baking apprentice sure is!.
Welcome and yappy baking
I have the same feeling as you. I'm a 14 year old kid. I literally just started baking more seriously at the beginning of the year....After only 3 months, I'm pretty set on what I want to do as a job once I get older!
nice bread photos Jacob!
it's called The Fresh Loaf...
There are so many interesting challenges in the preparation of this most "simple" of foods, and it is soooo easy to become a wee, tiny bit obsessive about it...
I am fortunately(?!) limited by freezer constraints and how much two people can physically eat, so keep it to one bake per week, of two different wheat based loaves, with a 100% rye and some enriched potato or sweet potato or english muffin type rolls every two to three weeks. I am fascinated by all of the different techniques and formulae and results, so can certainly understand the temptation to start a home business or support a charity with breads - just so that I could indulge myself more often in my new passion!
Good to hear that you are getting back to health, and I hope that you join the other wonderful folks here and share the results of your "moderation" often enough to help keep me on the "moderate" path...
Cheers!
to a local soup kitchen. You get to make bread, they get to eat it and your freezer doesn't get overwhelmed. That's what I do and it gives me a great excuse to bake!
you won't be all that different from people who do other things that involve large amounts of time, effort, money, storage space, etc. without necessarily expecting much if any objective value in return.