Sunday, November 11, 2007
A quick post to let you know that most of the achives are also available at our updated blog site. Click to the left on updated blog!
JCD
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JCD
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Last week was the last farmers' market for me. On Saturday, I will dutifully trek to the market's last official day to buy goodies and supplies from the friends and colleagues I've met and grown to admire. Among other things, I found out through Mrs. Otto's generousity that her cinnamon rolls are even better than my best. I think she adds a little cardamom to her yeast dough and hers are not the laminated sort of rolls.
I have been wondering about yeast. During this summer I have used no fewer than 5 different brands or types of yeast. In her well-written article, Nicole Roales asked me what kind of yeast to use when baking at home. My response was, "use whatever you grew up with." For me that was Fleischmans active dried yeast.
I plan on researching the yeasts in much more detail for a post on this blog. Everytime I changed yeast, several other factors changed in my breads. The flavor, the rising time, the texture, the mixing method....
I know there are some yeasts that are better suited for high sugar applications like danish dough. I know of maybe 4 or 5 brands of yeasts available to the home baker. Each of these brands have a couple of styles of yeast as well.
When I have finished with my research, I plan on testing each of these yeasts over the winter. Maybe I can get some samples from the manufacturers?
Today, I will continue with preparation for a lovely cocktail party on Saturday. There are still 3 items to buy and my budget has been spent. That goes to show you that profit margins must be flexible.
JoEllen
(1) comments
I have been wondering about yeast. During this summer I have used no fewer than 5 different brands or types of yeast. In her well-written article, Nicole Roales asked me what kind of yeast to use when baking at home. My response was, "use whatever you grew up with." For me that was Fleischmans active dried yeast.
I plan on researching the yeasts in much more detail for a post on this blog. Everytime I changed yeast, several other factors changed in my breads. The flavor, the rising time, the texture, the mixing method....
I know there are some yeasts that are better suited for high sugar applications like danish dough. I know of maybe 4 or 5 brands of yeasts available to the home baker. Each of these brands have a couple of styles of yeast as well.
When I have finished with my research, I plan on testing each of these yeasts over the winter. Maybe I can get some samples from the manufacturers?
Today, I will continue with preparation for a lovely cocktail party on Saturday. There are still 3 items to buy and my budget has been spent. That goes to show you that profit margins must be flexible.
JoEllen
Tuesday, October 12, 2004
Destination: Paris: "In 1997 a law was passed in France regarding bread. This law was passed to maintain the standards of this important staple of the French diet. For a boulangerie to call itself a boulangerie a baker has to choose its own flour, make the dough and bake the bread on the premises.
The real boulangerie artisanale was feeling that it was being put in the same classification as the big supermarket bakeries that sometimes sell bread from a factory. These supermarkets can churn out up to 40,000 baguettes a day. The high quality baker on the corner was feeling the pressure putting out what was a costlier product.
This law informs the public what they are buying. The chain bakeries still call themselves by their chain title, such as La brioche chaud. The in-store supermarket bakeries (unless they meet the challenge and are the real thing), who do not bake their own bread have titles such as 'rayon chaud' or 'pains et brioches'. The real boulangeries have a plaque on their wall stating that they merit this title, proclaiming itself 'boulangerie' or 'boulangerie artisanale.'"
This also goes to show you that at least in France, franchises would not be considered a bakery because they do not choose their own flour. I have the opportunity to buy flour that has been pre formulated for other chain bakeries. I wouldn't dream of using someone else's premix. It takes all of the control for protein, ash content, hydration, and flavor out of my hands.
In fact, today, I feel like toasting some flour in the oven and seeing what it will do to a baguette. And because I am an artisan baker - I can experiment on getting different flavors.
Woo Hoo, I am one lucky woman to have the skill, experience, and knowledge to make bread today.
JoEllen!
(0) comments
The real boulangerie artisanale was feeling that it was being put in the same classification as the big supermarket bakeries that sometimes sell bread from a factory. These supermarkets can churn out up to 40,000 baguettes a day. The high quality baker on the corner was feeling the pressure putting out what was a costlier product.
This law informs the public what they are buying. The chain bakeries still call themselves by their chain title, such as La brioche chaud. The in-store supermarket bakeries (unless they meet the challenge and are the real thing), who do not bake their own bread have titles such as 'rayon chaud' or 'pains et brioches'. The real boulangeries have a plaque on their wall stating that they merit this title, proclaiming itself 'boulangerie' or 'boulangerie artisanale.'"
This also goes to show you that at least in France, franchises would not be considered a bakery because they do not choose their own flour. I have the opportunity to buy flour that has been pre formulated for other chain bakeries. I wouldn't dream of using someone else's premix. It takes all of the control for protein, ash content, hydration, and flavor out of my hands.
In fact, today, I feel like toasting some flour in the oven and seeing what it will do to a baguette. And because I am an artisan baker - I can experiment on getting different flavors.
Woo Hoo, I am one lucky woman to have the skill, experience, and knowledge to make bread today.
JoEllen!
I have finally added the words "hand crafted" to my literature.
After all, I'm still explaining that my breads do not spring from the ground unassisted(artesian) - I enjoy the punny conversations with educated customers that I must be guarding this free-flowing well of loaves the way wild mushroom foragers guard their forests. I especially love the picture of me in baker's whites with a burlap bag of freshly harvested breads slung over one shoulder.
Whenever asked, I usually reply with Craig Ponsford's description of the artisan being the craftsman of a carefully considered loaf of bread as described at www.artisanbakers.com.
So my new sign at the farmers' market will simply state: "Hand Crafted Artisan's Bread" so my customers can enjoy the experience of sorting through 100 unique breads looking for a loaf that calls out to them. I market my own handmade variability as an opportunity for choice. I explain that my breads aren't ever going to look like the grocery store's rtb artisan breads.
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After all, I'm still explaining that my breads do not spring from the ground unassisted(artesian) - I enjoy the punny conversations with educated customers that I must be guarding this free-flowing well of loaves the way wild mushroom foragers guard their forests. I especially love the picture of me in baker's whites with a burlap bag of freshly harvested breads slung over one shoulder.
Whenever asked, I usually reply with Craig Ponsford's description of the artisan being the craftsman of a carefully considered loaf of bread as described at www.artisanbakers.com.
So my new sign at the farmers' market will simply state: "Hand Crafted Artisan's Bread" so my customers can enjoy the experience of sorting through 100 unique breads looking for a loaf that calls out to them. I market my own handmade variability as an opportunity for choice. I explain that my breads aren't ever going to look like the grocery store's rtb artisan breads.
Often, I am asked what is artisan bread. The definitions and interpretations of that single word are as varied as the people who use it. In an effort to convey what I think the term means, I'd like to present a series of posts
The following is a quote from Abram Faber, used with permission:
....Oh! Because it is the baker, not the loaf of bread, who is the artisan.
The skilled baker (artisan) crafts the loaf of bread.The loaf then stands on its own to the customer. If you call it Artisan Bread I suppose an artisan should have been involved in its creation.. But then again why not just call it bread, confidant that you the artisan baker, its parent if you will, did all you could for it and are sending it out to make its own way in the world.
As Lee just said, "I know plenty of educated people who do not know the difference between the words artisan and artesian... but they still go out of their way to buy good bread."
The BBGA promotes artisan baking because it promotes the idea that we learn and practice and use all the skills and knowledge available to us in order to make the highest quality product possible within whatever category of baking you are doing: pan bread, bagels, hearth breads, etc... IE: NOCOMPROMISES!
The BBGA promotes the idea of learning skills, but in the end, the skills that each of us use to bake our personal best possible loaf are as varied as:
And on and on like this...So my recommendation is that when you are proudly proclaiming yourself an artisan to your customers, take the time to explain whatever you do from this list or your own list of those skills you have mastered to consider yourself an artisan.
Give them this insight into why your breads take a little longer to produce, might cost a little more, and might not all look identical to each other. But in the end remember.. The bread is just a loaf of bread.. It has to stand on its own. We hope its finished qualities will announce that it was created by a skilled craftsperson...an artisan. But in my mind the loaf itself will never be artisan or artisinal. And I too am still not sure if this longer version: "artisinal" is even a necessary or real word. Microsoft dictionary doesn't list it. Anyway, Artisan does just fine.
Its just a fairly simple concept: someone who has taken the time to properly learn and execute their craft. I like the word Artisan.
We could call it corrupted by the big players and move on to
Craft baking,
Old world baking, or
Authentic baking
I agree with others who have said that if successful enough then those new phrases would simply be co-opted by the industry as well. So why not stick with the word in our mission statement and that some of us have even named our bakeries after and defend it by educating our customers about just what those SKILLS are that we ARTISANS employ.
Wouldn't it be great if just one educated customer walked into the Safeway (or grocery store) and asked the worker reheating a mass produced, tasteless, chemically flavored and preserved, par baked product there (and said), "hey, this is A LOT denser than a traditional French baguette, could you tell me its hydration?" Or, "you know at my local ARTISAN bakery they don't have to use preservatives because they lower the PH with plain old flour and water in a skillfully made pre-ferment and it makes it taste better too!"
You won't need Gov't regulation then. You will have employed your customers as the BS detectors and sent them out into the world to work for better bread on their and our behalves.
-abe faber
Sometimes the term Artisan is used arbitrarily and capriciously.
When you find good bread, please eat more of it!
JoEllen
(0) comments
The following is a quote from Abram Faber, used with permission:
....Oh! Because it is the baker, not the loaf of bread, who is the artisan.
The skilled baker (artisan) crafts the loaf of bread.The loaf then stands on its own to the customer. If you call it Artisan Bread I suppose an artisan should have been involved in its creation.. But then again why not just call it bread, confidant that you the artisan baker, its parent if you will, did all you could for it and are sending it out to make its own way in the world.
As Lee just said, "I know plenty of educated people who do not know the difference between the words artisan and artesian... but they still go out of their way to buy good bread."
The BBGA promotes artisan baking because it promotes the idea that we learn and practice and use all the skills and knowledge available to us in order to make the highest quality product possible within whatever category of baking you are doing: pan bread, bagels, hearth breads, etc... IE: NOCOMPROMISES!
The BBGA promotes the idea of learning skills, but in the end, the skills that each of us use to bake our personal best possible loaf are as varied as:
- The skills used to build and use wood fired ovens.
- The procurement and use of organic ingredients.
- Milling our own flour.
- How to bake 100 percent from scratch.
- The business skills required to run a shop profitable enough to live to bake another day that also respects its employees needs like health care, etc....
- Working with pre-ferments and long fermented doughs.
- Operating a bakery that recycles and otherwise considers and minimizes its negative impact on the environment.
- The skills required to work with high hydration doughs.
- Understanding the complexities of baking well with major ingredients other than wheat, such as rye, and spelt.
- The skills required to work with only flour, water, salt and leavening to create complex flavor.
And on and on like this...So my recommendation is that when you are proudly proclaiming yourself an artisan to your customers, take the time to explain whatever you do from this list or your own list of those skills you have mastered to consider yourself an artisan.
Give them this insight into why your breads take a little longer to produce, might cost a little more, and might not all look identical to each other. But in the end remember.. The bread is just a loaf of bread.. It has to stand on its own. We hope its finished qualities will announce that it was created by a skilled craftsperson...an artisan. But in my mind the loaf itself will never be artisan or artisinal. And I too am still not sure if this longer version: "artisinal" is even a necessary or real word. Microsoft dictionary doesn't list it. Anyway, Artisan does just fine.
Its just a fairly simple concept: someone who has taken the time to properly learn and execute their craft. I like the word Artisan.
We could call it corrupted by the big players and move on to
Craft baking,
Old world baking, or
Authentic baking
I agree with others who have said that if successful enough then those new phrases would simply be co-opted by the industry as well. So why not stick with the word in our mission statement and that some of us have even named our bakeries after and defend it by educating our customers about just what those SKILLS are that we ARTISANS employ.
Wouldn't it be great if just one educated customer walked into the Safeway (or grocery store) and asked the worker reheating a mass produced, tasteless, chemically flavored and preserved, par baked product there (and said), "hey, this is A LOT denser than a traditional French baguette, could you tell me its hydration?" Or, "you know at my local ARTISAN bakery they don't have to use preservatives because they lower the PH with plain old flour and water in a skillfully made pre-ferment and it makes it taste better too!"
You won't need Gov't regulation then. You will have employed your customers as the BS detectors and sent them out into the world to work for better bread on their and our behalves.
-abe faber
Sometimes the term Artisan is used arbitrarily and capriciously.
When you find good bread, please eat more of it!
JoEllen
Tuesday, September 21, 2004
I don't know if I mentioned it earlier, but I bought a 50# bag of granulated semolina flour this summer with the hope of developing a formula for a West African Bread. Well, I never got around to finding a decent bread formula, but I experimented with a Greek recipe for revani - or halvas - depending on the source. I have heard from the testers that it is lovely with ice cream. Of course, I don't expect that many of my readers (if there are any) keep these ingredients in their pantry, but the truth is that I made the recipe fit what I DID have in mine.
This recipe is adapted from Waitrose Food Illustrated by The Barefoot Baker
Syrup
285g granulated sugar
200 ml water
225 ml honey
1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons orange flower water
Cake
65ml vegetable oil
Finely grated zest of 1 orange - use a microplane
4 large eggs
5 tablespoons cream
3 tablespoons orange flower water
225g semolina
1 tablespoon baking powder
230 g almond paste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 190°C / gas mark 5 / 350 °F and lightly spray a trapazoidal silicone mold with cooking spray. Put the sugar, honey, water and 2 halves of the orange in a small saucepan. Set over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and allow it to bubble for 15 minutes to make a sticky syrup. Mash the orange with the back of a spoon until you get most of the juice released into the syrup (Or use silicone or neoprene gloves and squeeze the hot orange by hand into the syrup). Add the lemon juice and orange flower water to the syrup. Set aside.
Beat together the almond paste, oil and orange zest. The beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the cream and orange flower water. Mix together the semolina and baking powder. Beat them into the eggs.
Using an ice cream scoop, or a #20 scoop, pour the mixture into the prepared silicone molds, making sure it is level (I used the back of a wet metal spoon). Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until it is golden and just cooked. You can use the toothpick test and make certain it comes out clean.
Remove from the oven. Allow the cakes to rest for 10 minutes. Prick the tops with a wooden tooth pick (unused!) and slowly spoon over some of the syrup. Leave to soak, then repeat the process until all the syrup has been absorbed into the cake. Unmold the cakes and present alongside a scoop or two of Breyers French Vanilla Ice Cream. Or serve with an orange salad.
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This recipe is adapted from Waitrose Food Illustrated by The Barefoot Baker
Syrup
285g granulated sugar
200 ml water
225 ml honey
1 orange
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons orange flower water
Cake
65ml vegetable oil
Finely grated zest of 1 orange - use a microplane
4 large eggs
5 tablespoons cream
3 tablespoons orange flower water
225g semolina
1 tablespoon baking powder
230 g almond paste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 190°C / gas mark 5 / 350 °F and lightly spray a trapazoidal silicone mold with cooking spray. Put the sugar, honey, water and 2 halves of the orange in a small saucepan. Set over a low heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved, turn up the heat and allow it to bubble for 15 minutes to make a sticky syrup. Mash the orange with the back of a spoon until you get most of the juice released into the syrup (Or use silicone or neoprene gloves and squeeze the hot orange by hand into the syrup). Add the lemon juice and orange flower water to the syrup. Set aside.
Beat together the almond paste, oil and orange zest. The beat in the eggs, one at a time, followed by the cream and orange flower water. Mix together the semolina and baking powder. Beat them into the eggs.
Using an ice cream scoop, or a #20 scoop, pour the mixture into the prepared silicone molds, making sure it is level (I used the back of a wet metal spoon). Place in the center of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes until it is golden and just cooked. You can use the toothpick test and make certain it comes out clean.
Remove from the oven. Allow the cakes to rest for 10 minutes. Prick the tops with a wooden tooth pick (unused!) and slowly spoon over some of the syrup. Leave to soak, then repeat the process until all the syrup has been absorbed into the cake. Unmold the cakes and present alongside a scoop or two of Breyers French Vanilla Ice Cream. Or serve with an orange salad.
Sunday, August 29, 2004
Good morning! The farmers' market yesterday was a complete sell-out of bread by 10 am and a complete (every last item) well before the end of the market. It was difficult for me to judge how much bread to make Saturday morning because the weather forecast was for thunderstorms and rain rain rain.
Rain, thunderstorms, and hot, humid weather are not my favorite conditions for making crusty french breads. I've cried out loud when the dough falls as it's being placed into the oven. The two french breads I made turned out about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. They certainly didn't stay very crisp in 94% relative humidity. I did let customers know that they could recrisp the crusts in a warm oven.
I was not thrilled with my tomato-basil pesto biscotti -- too much olive oil, I've surmised. back to the drawing board.
And, as I promised, the importance of cooling.
When bread is forst put into a hot oven on a baking stone, it rises a bit as 1) the gas bubbles expand, and 2) the yeast gives a rapid growth spurt. I don't really believe that the rise due to rapid yeast growth is significant - I doubt it's a valid arguement, but it is well-publicized, so I better mention it. This rise is also called "oven-spring". And believe me, you better be prepared to compensate the newly forming crust for expanding to accomodate this volume increase. Usually, slashing of the dough is done to control the shape of the bread. I call it an episiotomy of the crust. The slashes keep the rest of the crust from cracking, tearing and developing fissures.
The more "proofed" the dough is when you place it into the oven, the shallower the slashes need to be. The converse - an underproofed dough - needs to be slashed much more and almost directly toward the center of the loaf. If I am rushing the bread, I often slash an inch or so into the dough and I make the cuts closer together. I still occassionally get some splitting of the crust near the bottom, but it took practice.
I love a loaf fresh out of the oven. I tear a piece off, dip it into a bowl of softened butter and pop it into my mouth. As a baker, I feel it is my duty to ensure good bread. Ha ha!
But, after I've torn off a piece of hot bread, I'd better eat the rest within the next couple of hours. It becomes stale and hardens much faster than a loaf that has been allowed to cool for 30-45 minutes. The reasons, I think, are 1) The gluten, a bread protein, has partially geletinized during the baking and that needs to "set" in order for the loaf to withstand slicing. and 2) the interior of the bread is probably above 195 degrees fahrenheit and it is under some pressure (because the crust formed about 1/3 way through baking). That means there is a fair amount of steam - water vapor that hasn't yet redistributed itself throughout the crumb. It is comparable to allowing a cut of meat to rest after cooking. And 3) It is incredibly cool to listen to the crackling of the crust when you remove it from the oven.
Next week, I plan to bake twice the number of loaves.
JoEllen
(0) comments
Rain, thunderstorms, and hot, humid weather are not my favorite conditions for making crusty french breads. I've cried out loud when the dough falls as it's being placed into the oven. The two french breads I made turned out about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10. They certainly didn't stay very crisp in 94% relative humidity. I did let customers know that they could recrisp the crusts in a warm oven.
I was not thrilled with my tomato-basil pesto biscotti -- too much olive oil, I've surmised. back to the drawing board.
And, as I promised, the importance of cooling.
When bread is forst put into a hot oven on a baking stone, it rises a bit as 1) the gas bubbles expand, and 2) the yeast gives a rapid growth spurt. I don't really believe that the rise due to rapid yeast growth is significant - I doubt it's a valid arguement, but it is well-publicized, so I better mention it. This rise is also called "oven-spring". And believe me, you better be prepared to compensate the newly forming crust for expanding to accomodate this volume increase. Usually, slashing of the dough is done to control the shape of the bread. I call it an episiotomy of the crust. The slashes keep the rest of the crust from cracking, tearing and developing fissures.
The more "proofed" the dough is when you place it into the oven, the shallower the slashes need to be. The converse - an underproofed dough - needs to be slashed much more and almost directly toward the center of the loaf. If I am rushing the bread, I often slash an inch or so into the dough and I make the cuts closer together. I still occassionally get some splitting of the crust near the bottom, but it took practice.
I love a loaf fresh out of the oven. I tear a piece off, dip it into a bowl of softened butter and pop it into my mouth. As a baker, I feel it is my duty to ensure good bread. Ha ha!
But, after I've torn off a piece of hot bread, I'd better eat the rest within the next couple of hours. It becomes stale and hardens much faster than a loaf that has been allowed to cool for 30-45 minutes. The reasons, I think, are 1) The gluten, a bread protein, has partially geletinized during the baking and that needs to "set" in order for the loaf to withstand slicing. and 2) the interior of the bread is probably above 195 degrees fahrenheit and it is under some pressure (because the crust formed about 1/3 way through baking). That means there is a fair amount of steam - water vapor that hasn't yet redistributed itself throughout the crumb. It is comparable to allowing a cut of meat to rest after cooking. And 3) It is incredibly cool to listen to the crackling of the crust when you remove it from the oven.
Next week, I plan to bake twice the number of loaves.
JoEllen
Monday, August 23, 2004
Okay, things are growing quickly - not just the bread. Last Saturday, I sold most of what I offered at the farmers' market. I made a new biscotti and was less than thrilled with the texture, but that probably had to do with me erring in the recipe.
For some reason, I decided to quadruple the recipe in writing - but then decided that the mixture would not fit in my mixing bowl. So in a great mental disfunction, I premeasured only 75% of the recipe into the bowl - except for the eggs - I brain-cramped and added 100% of the eggs, then I fruitlessly tried to remove two eggs from the mixing bowl. Well, it wasn't the best example of my baking, but it tasted great and broke easily. -- Back to the drawing board.
I hope that Margaret Sevi will be proud. Mrs. Sevi made biscotti for her husband, Al, to bring to work as a midmorning snack. I had the great honor of working with Al in New Jersey. He taught me a field engineering credo - if it's not in your meats (he'd tap his head with his finger), then you gotta use your feets. Meaning: if you can't correctly remember what you saw in the field, you've got to go back and look again.
Al was in his early seventies when I worked with him and he was a biscotti purist. No nuts and other inclusion bodies (Fruits, chocolate, etc). Just a nice crisp flavored biscuit to dip into the coffee and nibble at. I had no doubt that he was traveling back into his memories as he snacked, because he would finish with his snack and then tell me story from his past. He was a remarkable unremarkable man. He was in world war II, on a plane, taking pictures from the gunnery. He graduated chemical engineering school when the classes included foundry and casting. He is truly in love with his wife and family. He makes maple syrup in his garage and root beer on the back porch. He invited me to come pick berries from his bramble in the backyard. More than once, he had to give me directions to the gorge nearby so I could enjoy the crisp clear New Jersey air. I miss seeing him and his wife. Thankfully, his children inherited a good cheer gene.
Hmm, I have also retreated to my memories instead of relating the BBC news.
I may be in the Kokomo Tribune again this upcoming Wednesday. Nicole Roales is writing an article on artisan breads and I have submitted a home baking-type bread recipe and have no qualms about publishing here as well:
Basic loaf bread
makes about three pounds of dough (2 large loaves)
6 cups of bread flour plus more for kneading
4 1/3 cups water
2 packets of yeast
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
spray cooking oil
Pour the water into your mixer. Sprinkle the yeast into the water, whisk briefly by hand to distribute the yeast. Wait 5 minutes or so to see if the yeast is active. It should foam or bubble. Pour most of the flour and all of the salt into the mixer and knead on lowest speed until flour is just moistened thoroughly about 2 minutes. Turn out onto a clean and floured countertop. Let dough hydrate for 10 minutes (It takes a while for the flour to thoroughly absorb the water). This is just about the same time for the bowl to be cleaned, dried and put away.
With well floured hands, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. You probably will add the rest of the flour. This takes about ten minutes of active kneading by hand. If you choose to use your mixer, you only knead for 4-7 minutes. Shape the dough into a large ball.
You can check to see if you kneaded enough by pressing with your finger about 1/2 inch and letting go. The dough should spring back rapidly and "erase" your fingerprint. This dough should be slightly sticky like the glue on a "Post-it" note.
Let the dough rest for a few minutes while you oil a large plastic or ceramic bowl. Kitchen spray is okay, too, if you don't have any oil.
Place the ball of dough into the oiled bowl, cover with oiled plastic wrap or a dampened tea towel (not terrycloth! The dough will pick up fuzzies and the terrycloth is very hard to clean.).
Let ferment for a few hours until more than double in size. I find that the oven with only the pilot light or a light bulb is just the right temperature.
After the ferment, GENTLY remove the dough from the bowl and fold in half, the in half again in the other direction. It should look like a quarter of a circle. Don't punch it too hard or you might not get a light fluffy loaf. Put this dough back into the covered bowl at room temperature for an hour or so until it rises again.
After this rise, remove the dough from the bowl and cut the dough into two pieces about the same size. Shape into a rectangle and the roll up into a log that will fit into your well-oiled loaf pans. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
At room temperature, let rise in the loaf pans until just cresting the top the of the pan. This may take about another hour or more, depending on room temperature.
When risen, place the bread into the middle of the oven and reduce the temperature immediately to 425 degrees. Bake for about 35-45 minutes until the bread is done and sounds hollow when thumped. If it starts to brown too quickly, cover it lightly with aluminum foil.
This bread formula works well in my oven at home. I use the convection setting and I calibrate my oven temp on a regular basis. It always chagrins me how many people don't know whether their oven is really 400 degrees when the thermostat says it is. For instance, I have a small wall oven at the Bakery that is at least 50 degrees too cool. I can compensate for this low temperature by setting the thermostat higher. The only way to know your oven temperature is accurate is to measure it with a good oven thermometer. These thermometers are available at a relatively low cost at stores that carry cooking supplies. Look on the cooking gadget aisle.
Bread always needs to cool before any packaging. In my next post, I promise to explain why cooling is so important.
Good luck to all bakers and there should be a special prayer for us, especially when we're not in our natural habitat of a hot, steamy kitchen.
JoEllen
(0) comments
For some reason, I decided to quadruple the recipe in writing - but then decided that the mixture would not fit in my mixing bowl. So in a great mental disfunction, I premeasured only 75% of the recipe into the bowl - except for the eggs - I brain-cramped and added 100% of the eggs, then I fruitlessly tried to remove two eggs from the mixing bowl. Well, it wasn't the best example of my baking, but it tasted great and broke easily. -- Back to the drawing board.
I hope that Margaret Sevi will be proud. Mrs. Sevi made biscotti for her husband, Al, to bring to work as a midmorning snack. I had the great honor of working with Al in New Jersey. He taught me a field engineering credo - if it's not in your meats (he'd tap his head with his finger), then you gotta use your feets. Meaning: if you can't correctly remember what you saw in the field, you've got to go back and look again.
Al was in his early seventies when I worked with him and he was a biscotti purist. No nuts and other inclusion bodies (Fruits, chocolate, etc). Just a nice crisp flavored biscuit to dip into the coffee and nibble at. I had no doubt that he was traveling back into his memories as he snacked, because he would finish with his snack and then tell me story from his past. He was a remarkable unremarkable man. He was in world war II, on a plane, taking pictures from the gunnery. He graduated chemical engineering school when the classes included foundry and casting. He is truly in love with his wife and family. He makes maple syrup in his garage and root beer on the back porch. He invited me to come pick berries from his bramble in the backyard. More than once, he had to give me directions to the gorge nearby so I could enjoy the crisp clear New Jersey air. I miss seeing him and his wife. Thankfully, his children inherited a good cheer gene.
Hmm, I have also retreated to my memories instead of relating the BBC news.
I may be in the Kokomo Tribune again this upcoming Wednesday. Nicole Roales is writing an article on artisan breads and I have submitted a home baking-type bread recipe and have no qualms about publishing here as well:
Basic loaf bread
makes about three pounds of dough (2 large loaves)
6 cups of bread flour plus more for kneading
4 1/3 cups water
2 packets of yeast
1 tablespoon of kosher salt
spray cooking oil
Pour the water into your mixer. Sprinkle the yeast into the water, whisk briefly by hand to distribute the yeast. Wait 5 minutes or so to see if the yeast is active. It should foam or bubble. Pour most of the flour and all of the salt into the mixer and knead on lowest speed until flour is just moistened thoroughly about 2 minutes. Turn out onto a clean and floured countertop. Let dough hydrate for 10 minutes (It takes a while for the flour to thoroughly absorb the water). This is just about the same time for the bowl to be cleaned, dried and put away.
With well floured hands, knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic. You probably will add the rest of the flour. This takes about ten minutes of active kneading by hand. If you choose to use your mixer, you only knead for 4-7 minutes. Shape the dough into a large ball.
You can check to see if you kneaded enough by pressing with your finger about 1/2 inch and letting go. The dough should spring back rapidly and "erase" your fingerprint. This dough should be slightly sticky like the glue on a "Post-it" note.
Let the dough rest for a few minutes while you oil a large plastic or ceramic bowl. Kitchen spray is okay, too, if you don't have any oil.
Place the ball of dough into the oiled bowl, cover with oiled plastic wrap or a dampened tea towel (not terrycloth! The dough will pick up fuzzies and the terrycloth is very hard to clean.).
Let ferment for a few hours until more than double in size. I find that the oven with only the pilot light or a light bulb is just the right temperature.
After the ferment, GENTLY remove the dough from the bowl and fold in half, the in half again in the other direction. It should look like a quarter of a circle. Don't punch it too hard or you might not get a light fluffy loaf. Put this dough back into the covered bowl at room temperature for an hour or so until it rises again.
After this rise, remove the dough from the bowl and cut the dough into two pieces about the same size. Shape into a rectangle and the roll up into a log that will fit into your well-oiled loaf pans. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees.
At room temperature, let rise in the loaf pans until just cresting the top the of the pan. This may take about another hour or more, depending on room temperature.
When risen, place the bread into the middle of the oven and reduce the temperature immediately to 425 degrees. Bake for about 35-45 minutes until the bread is done and sounds hollow when thumped. If it starts to brown too quickly, cover it lightly with aluminum foil.
This bread formula works well in my oven at home. I use the convection setting and I calibrate my oven temp on a regular basis. It always chagrins me how many people don't know whether their oven is really 400 degrees when the thermostat says it is. For instance, I have a small wall oven at the Bakery that is at least 50 degrees too cool. I can compensate for this low temperature by setting the thermostat higher. The only way to know your oven temperature is accurate is to measure it with a good oven thermometer. These thermometers are available at a relatively low cost at stores that carry cooking supplies. Look on the cooking gadget aisle.
Bread always needs to cool before any packaging. In my next post, I promise to explain why cooling is so important.
Good luck to all bakers and there should be a special prayer for us, especially when we're not in our natural habitat of a hot, steamy kitchen.
JoEllen
Monday, August 09, 2004
BLOGWISE - Blog Directory and Weblog Research
These guys are fast. In less than two weeks, they sent me an email saying they had reviewed my blog and "have checked the site for suitability and am pleased to confirm that I have added it to the directory."
If you post blogs and are in need of making it more public, please give them a try.
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These guys are fast. In less than two weeks, they sent me an email saying they had reviewed my blog and "have checked the site for suitability and am pleased to confirm that I have added it to the directory."
If you post blogs and are in need of making it more public, please give them a try.
