Hi Everyone,
A few updates:
First, I'll be looking forward to seeing many of you at Sur la Table in Kirkland and Portland on April 17th and 19th. I believe the classes are sold out but call the store if you want to enroll, as sometimes people drop out.
Also, I'll be teaching in King of Prussia, PA on May 15th at the new Sur la Table. Because the store is so new you may have encountered problems trying to enroll via their website, so call the store directly if you can't get the website enrollment to work. Last I heard, there are still some seats left. Am also looking forward to the classes in Arlington, VA on May 17th, and in Richmond. VA on the 18th.
I've been informed that there is one last chance for anyone wishing to join in on the Cookbooker's "Artisan Breads Everyday" Challenge. They've been running this for a number of months with quite a few participants so, before they wrap it up, check them out at www.cookbooker.com/challenge.php
Finally, I want to share this e-mail, with her permission, from a passionate home baker named Pia, whose enthusiasm speaks for itself. She is referring to recipes from The Bread Baker's Apprentice:
With two of the breads I've baked come stories to tell.
I almost messed up the sourdough bread. I retarded the dough overnight
and I had it wrapped in some heavy kitchen towels. The next morning I
took it out and I wanted to give it it's 4 hrs time. After about an
hour my curiosity got the better of me and I unwrapped one of the
loaves (face down wrapped in cloth in a nice round bowl, actually that
one in a ceramic bowl). And I was shocked. The dough had dried out a
lot, the loaves had sprung open at the seam of the boules. It looked
pretty bad. And I thought "you can throw that away". I first had
gotten the barm ready, then made the starter, then the final dough and
now the overnight - so much time already involved and ruined... When
putting the loaves in the fridge I had forgotten that my fridge isn't
the newest anymore and dehydrates food more then normal, I have to
take with everything I put in there precautions against dehydration. I
also had never used a hearth stone yet, and also was new to creating
the steam (the spraying for the Kaiser Rolls I thought didn't really
count in comparison), so I thought "you know what, try to make the
best out of the dough as is and bake it on the hearthstone. In case
you fail on that you at least didn't waste 2 batches of dough". So I
took some oil spray to the dough tried to close the seams again it
kind of worked but not as nicely as I had hoped. I took the dough out
of the cloth, thinking that with the low humidity in California it
probably would even try out more if I didn't take additional
precautions, turned the loaves around so that gravity would help
support the seams, willing to give up some of the pretty shape I had
meant to create, sprayed some water on the dough (but not drenching it
in water) and put saran wrap over it, thinking that this way the dough
had a chance to soak some moisture up and perhaps would recover at
least some. And after like 4 more hours at room temperature it looked
a lot better had risen properly and I decided to give the baking a go.
And it worked! When I took the loaves out, they smelled awesome, like
'real' bread. and the crust.. oh the crust was so pretty (since I'm in
the US I miss so much bread with nice crispy crust, but crust that is
more then just a little thin layer, crust that you can chew and it
crunches at first and the more you chew it the more flavor you get out
of it and it gives you a real mouth full and stays a mouth full and
marries in your mouth with the flavors of what you put on the bread).
And the loaves weren't as pretty shaped as they should have been and
in the finished loaf one could still see a little the badly treated
seams, but the bread was a loaf, undeniably.
Finally 45 minutes were over and I could cut into the bread. I first
tested that they really didn't feel too hot anymore, not that I would
ruin something of the final stage on the cooling rack, but it felt
right. So I cut into it. In my family we called that first small piece
that has all that much crust to it in German "Kruestchen" (the little
crust) which as children we always fought over and my mother
implemented a rule that we had to take turns. And the bread sounded so
wonderful when I cut into it, and it got pressed somewhat together
while cutting, but it sprung right back into it's shape, and the
texture of the bread on the inside was all right, just as it was
supposed to be. And then I ate it, that little crust right as it was,
with nothing on it. And it was so good! This was the bread that I had
known from Germany from growing up! Bread that I hadn't been able to
find when I lived in Frankfurt or since I moved to the US. I grew up
close to the town "Trier" which is about a 30 minute drive away from
the french borderline (close to Strasbourg). I can't tell you how
awesome I felt when this dough that I had almost given up on turned
into something so delicious.
When I had made the barm for the basic sourdough bread I had made
enough to also try the poilane style miche (that bread was the reason
I bought your book, it so much looked on the picture like the bread I
wanted to have so much and had missed so dearly). I had put it in the
refrigerator according to your directions and on the day I had made
the dough for the basic sourdough bread I made the firm starter for
the poilane style miche (working on both breads with one day offset)
I had decided to make two loaves from the quantities that you had
given in the recipe. One loaf probably would be too big for me and my
husband to eat in time before it dries out, I know bread to hold up
fresh much better when the loaf isn't cut. After the basic sourdough
bread had gone in the oven and the steaming minutes were over I made
the dough for the miches. After the fermentation I shaped the boules,
having become informed about the what my fridge did, I didn't try to
wrap the loaves in cloth and put them in bowls, but dusted the bowls
with semolina flour, put the loaves face down in there sprayed oil
over it and put plastic wrap tightly on top. When I took the loaves
out of the fridge the next day they just looked right (no open seams,
no dried out sad skins, just plump and ample boules ready to spring
into action). I loosened the plastic wrap a little to allow some air
circulation (I had wrapped it really tight for the fridge) and let the
loaves do their thing. And they did it wonderfully being after about 4
hours ready for baking. Somewhat informed about the hearthstone and
the steaming I felt a bit more confident - turned out a bit
overconfident, I had forgotten to score the loaves and noticed it
after I had pushed them onto the hearthstone and pured the water into
the steaming pan. I decided to give them a chance as they were, with
the decreased volume of each loaf I thought the chances that big
bubbles would put holes in the bread where small so I relaxed and
thought "you left yourself another chance for success when you do it
completely right the next time". I didn't want to keep the oven door
open longer then necessary, as you had said the temperature dropped
quite a bit just from the opening for the steaming, so I thought don't
try to mess with it now. The smells during baking and after when I
took the bread out where again wonderful. I also love that little
crackle that the bread does when it still bakes after you take it out
from the oven and put it on the rack to cool. Then again the waiting.
I have to leave the kitchen during the waiting period or I can't
resist the temptation to pick on the bread or touch and handle it too
much. So I just answered some e-mails instead!
Finally I could try. Again the little crust. This bread had similar
qualities regarding the beautiful sound when you cut into the crust,
also the way it was pushed together and sprung back was just gorgeous.
And the taste. This bread tasted richer then basic sourdough bread, I
don't want to say more flavor, but just richer flavor, kind of fully
developed in what the other bread had hinted at. And the crust is even
better. I just love crust, ever since I can remember. When I came to
the US and I saw people cutting the crust of the bread to give it to
their children I couldn't believe it. But when I tried the bread I
kind of could understand it.
Dinner that evening involved the bread I had made that day, I just
fried a little ham (not really frying, more like heating with a little
browning) and I had bought some organic cheese from unpasteurized
milk, which I think the most simplest of is tastier then most of the
varieties of cheese you can buy made from pasteurized milk, and put
that on top of the ham, just let it get a hint of warm so that it
started to get soft but didn't run and put it on a slice of the bread,
topped it with another slice and served it with some fresh coleslaw.
It was good. My husband always gets mad when he sees me buy organic
produce (because of the price), but the cheese is just so much better,
once in a while I just do it and don't tell him, he sure loves to eat
it. We both took seconds of that dinner that was so simple yet so
good.
The poilane style miche reminded me a lot of the bread that a baker
had, who would drive from house to house (twice a week) selling his
bread, I never had thought that I would be able to home bake it!
And that is just half of Pia's full letter--she was simply bubbling with excitement, especially about how these loaves reminded her of bread from her childhood, and of all the new ones she's still planning to make. That's the wonderful joy and power of bread; its evocative nature. Thank you Pia, and everyone who is on this journey with us. I couldn't have captured the magnetic potency of bread baking any better than Pia and, perhaps, her own bread lessons and discoveries will be helpful to some of you.
May your bread always rise!!
Peter
