Peter Reinhart's Weblog

I'm Baaaack....

Hi Everyone,

    Yes, I've been a delinquent and will probably be so again. I tried to log in from Australia but couldn't seem to make it work. My home computer's been down but now it's up again and, so, here's a quick update--thanks for your patience.

Okay, the Pizza Quest website problem--our web partner had to pull out of the project for personal reasons so we're regrouping on that one. We are putting that piece together again as I write but no launch date to report--again!  But it will happen, for sure, sometime in the near future because Pizza Quest is still moving forward. We've been talking with some potential sponsors and our sponsorship presentation kit is ready, so we start the hunt for underwriters in earnest in a few days. We're actually feeling pretty good about it all and, as soon as I have something solid to share, I'll do it right here. We (my fellow producers and partners in this project) really want you to see the webisodes we've made--they're quite good actually and will make you hungry for great pizza--so as soon as we get the new site up and running we'll start posting the webisodes, about one per week.

Many of you have asked about recipe testing and the good news is that I may have a new book in the works and will need a few testers in a couple of months.  The days of 500 testers is over,though--I just don't have enough hours to process that much feedback, glorious as it was on the last book. I will probably limit it to 50. Now don't start writing to get on the list--you will have to wait till I complete the contract and have everything in place, and then I will announce it here. If you write in now I will have to ignore it and you will still have to write in later -- at a new e-address that I haven't set up yet-- to become a tester. I'm just saying it now to give you a heads up. Probably won't open the list till October or maybe even November.  And this one will be very specialized, as you will see. Stay tuned....

Australia was fantastic!  I was a presenter at the Brisbane  Hilton Wine and Food Weekend along with Chef Michael Caines, a 2-star Michelin chef from the UK (Gidleigh Park is flagship restaurant, though he owns 7 others), as well as Chef Susur Lee, who many of you know from Top Chef Masters, where he came in second to Marcus Samuelsson in a very tight and exciting finale.  It was an honor to be on the same stage with them, as well as many local Australian chefs and wine makers, and the Brisbane Hilton rolled out the red carpet for us and took great care of us for the five days we were there. Singapore Airlines, who flew us out and was a major sponsor of the event, was an amazing experience in its own right. The flight from Newark to Singapore alone was 18 hours (I was told it's the longest continuous flight time in the commercial airline schedule), and then we had another 7 hours to Brisbane. They keep two complete flight crews and attendant teams on these flights because they're so long. And the food is by far the best airline food ever--I hesitate to call it airline food because it's better than most restaurants. With layovers, plus my initial flight from Charlotte to Newark, it took 36 hours of travel time each way. You can imagine, I watched about 10 films and caught up on all my New Yorker magazines (which normally is a hopeless backlog), and my body had no idea whether it was night or day as we crossed the International Dateline both coming and going. The Aussies are amazing international travelors but I don't know how they do it so well and so often. Regardless, it was a once in a lifetime experience and I'm so glad I went. And I had the chance to demonstrate three breads during my demos (I did the demo twice): chocolate babka, spent grain bread, and French Country Miche. Michael Caines put on a seven course tasting menu at the end of the event for about 100 local chefs and private guests that rivaled the best meals I've ever eaten. And he does it all with just one arm, having lost his right arm at the age of 25 in an automobile accident. Quite inspirational.

School at Johnson & Wales begins again in three weeks, so we're gearing up for that, and we just hosted the Coupe du Monde du Boulangerie Team USA at our campus for one of their final practice runs before the regional championship in Las Vegas in September. The winner of that competition qualifies for the finals in Paris in 2012. My colleague, Chef Harry Peemoeller, is on the team as the representative in the Decorative Bread category. He is working out like an Olympic athlete, designing and redesigning his showpiece over and over as he prepares. This is serious stuff, as you bread-heads know, but Craig Ponsford, the team's manager and head coach told me he was really impressed with all three members of the team and has high hopes, so keep an eye out for the results at the end of September. Harry's showpiece is fabulous--I can't say too much about the design and concept until after the competition but, when you see it (as I'm sure there will be photos once the competition is over), you'll be impressed.

     In other words, there's never a dull moment around here, which is one of the reasons I'm so far behind on this blog. I'll be teaching at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill on September 18th (not sure if there are any seats left--you'll have to contact them), and then on Oct. 1 and 2 at King Arthur in Norwich, VT. Also, I'll be leading a pizza workshop at Johnson & Wales in Charlotte on October 9th, and on Artison Breads Everyday on November 6th--check out the JWU website for registration details: www.jwu.edu/charlotte  and then navigate to Adult Education/Chefs Choice. I think the fall schedule should be posted in a few days.

I'll try to post again soon, especially as we get more news about Pizza Quest. Till then,

May Your Bread Always Rise!

Peter

[email protected]

More delays and other news

Hi Everyone,

 Well, the bad news is that the Pizza Quest website is still on hold while we work on new technical problems. So sorry, especially since I've been teasing it for months now. I'll keep providing updates but, as of now, we don't yet have a new launch date. We're raring to go but the technical side is way beyond me so I'm just waiting for the green light, just like all of us are.

Had an amazing pizza tour of NYC last week, visiting some of the hottest "pizzerias of the moment" and met with a number of the key people at each place to discuss coming back to film. Among the places (and I'm just listing the ones I absolutely loved) were: Franny's, Motorino, and Roberta's (all in Brooklyn); and Pulino (for breakfast pizza!), and Co, in Manhattan. Yes, there were a few others that shall go un-named because they didn't pass muster, and some on my list were closed because it was Tuesday (like DiFara's and Lucali).  On my last trip I visited Keste, which I loved, so I can now say that there are a number of true Napoletana-style pizzerias in Manhattan and Brooklyn that seem to have cracked the code.  And they all, but especially Franny's, go a step further and serve amazing apps and sides. Pulino's is not Napoletana style, more Roman style or maybe, more accurately, flatbread style--but the toppings and the rest of Nate Appleman's menu are more impressive than the crust.

     I'm not a die-hard Napoletana fan--in fact, my preferred crust is a Naples inspired style but with American flour and a ciabatta-like cornicione (Franny's, in particular,uses American flour), such as found at Pizzeria Bianco and Pizzeria Mozza, or at Dogtown in Floyd, or at Great Lake and also at Coalfire in Chicago. But I'm equally happy with a neo-Neapolitan/New York-style crust such as found at Apizza Scholls in Portland, or Frank Pepe's, Sally's, and Modern Apizza in New Haven. In other words, I'm an ecumenical, pizza omnivore and can be easily satisfied by any well-executed style of pizza. But, as many of you know, for me it all begins with the crust and if I'm not blown away, or at least satisfied, with the crust it hardly matters how good the toppings are. I thought the Pulino crust was actually appropriate for the clever and tasty breakfast style pizzas they served us (and we tried them all) but that crust wouldn't work for me as a destination savory pizza, whereas all the other places on the list above would, and I feel confident in recommending them all. 

The week before going to NYC, I taught three classes at Western Reserve Cooking School (in Hudson, OH), and then three classes at The Loretta Paganini School of Cooking (in Chesterland, OH). The classes were all sold out and some of the attendess came for the full series. A very enthusiastic group at both places and the support staff at each location was excellent. Some folks even came from as far away as Florida and Wisconsin. Kathy Lehr, who is the resident bread maven at the Western Reserve Cooking School, hosted me there and I got to see her large backyard, self-built earth oven--awesome!! She is actually going to lead a workshop right there at her home in a few weeks for anyone who wants to learn how to build their own earth oven. Kathy also took me out to Huron, OH where we had a tour of the Chefs Garden and Culinary Vegetable Institute--an amazing place where thousands of pounds of the finest micro-greens, as well as planted veetables, are grown and shipped overnight to top chefs around the country (only chefs can buy these products--they are the best of the best). Mary Jones, wife of Farmer Lee Jones who presides along with his brother and father at the farm,  gave us a personal tour, and then we met the chefs at the vegetable institute, where earth to table events are held every month as well as culinary classes. We're currently discussing the possibility of having me come out in the spring to teach there--it would be an honor. I'll keep you posted.

I'll try to log on at least once more before heading to Australia later this month for the Brisbane Hilton Food and Wine Weekend. I'll be demonstrating two breads from "Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads" (The Poilane-style Country Miche, and the Spent Grain Bread), as well as the Chocolate-Cinnamon Babka from "Artisan Breads Everyday."  Should be lots of fun!

Till then, may your bread always rise!

    Peter

Interesting new site

Hi Folks,

    First, here's a fun site sent to me by its creator, Matt. He has a thing about ties, so his site is all about ties in their many manifestation, and one of his recent posts was about ties made out of cakes. Kind of clever, I think, so check it out here: http://www.tiepedia.com/tie-blog/49-crafts/155-tie-cake

As mentioned in my previous post,  I was in Boulder last week and had a great visit with Joseph Pergolizzi. He showed me how he builds his mobile pizza oven rigs and helps folks set themselves up in business. He can barely keep up with the demand--I saw four different rigs of various sizes and features, all in different stages of development. We had a great time and are now discussing having me come out in October to do some classes on-site for wood-fired freaks. Keep checking in as we haven't finalized dates but it's beginning to look like mid-October. Check out his website, if you haven't already, at www.portablebrickpizzaoven.com 

While I was there I got to take in a concert at Red Rocks--the famous mountain amphitheater carved out of, yes, giant red rocks. Saw Joe Cocker and also Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The music was great, of course, but the lasting memory will be of the theater itself, looking back over the city of Denver in the distance, the rocks seemingly glowing in the dark and simply luminescent. Even the walk up the steep steps was a good, and needed work-out for me (yes, I had to stop every now and then to catch my breath and my legs were sore the next day) so it was a total win-win.

I thought I'd have a solid launch date for you for the new web site, but all we have is a tentative date: June 30th. This could change, as you all know, but we'll be meeting next week to firm it all up. I'll finally be able to start sharing some of the fun video footage we shot last summer--we'll post a new "webisode" every week till we run out of them. We also met today to start planning another round of filming, probably in August, and again, hopefully in October if I can get our camera crew out to Boulder when we do the classes at Joseph's place. So, a lot is happening!

On Sunday I leave for Chicago and the Pizza Executive's Summit, where we'll spend two days talking about nothing but pizza--might even get to check out some of those only in Chicago pizzerias like Great Lake, as well as Pizzeria Due and the other great deep dish places. Will let you know how it goes when I get back. Summer's just barely here yet it seems to be flying by already. So many pizzas, so little time.

Hey, the guys in Floyd, Virginia that I wrote about a few weeks ago are just a week away from opening the Dog Town Roadhouse. Can't wait to get back up there for some of their amazing pizza and some of that great bluegrass music for which Floyd is so famous. Check out their website for details:  www.dogtownroadhouse.com

I'll post again as soon as I can, hopefully in a week or so and, hopefully, with confirmation of the launch date of our new site, featuring the first of the Pizza Quest footage. Till then, may your bread always rise!

    Peter

News coming soon!

Hi Folks,

Just want to get in this one last posting before the monthly flip relegates all the May postings to archives. I'm headed tomorrow to Denver and Boulder for a couple of days for some bread work and also to check in on Joseph Pergolizza, founder of The Fire Within (see his website at www.portablebrickpizzaoven.com ). Like our friends at Dog Town, Joe builds mobile brick ovens, and also trains folks and helps them get their pizza businesses on the road. Like the food carts of Portland (and everywhere else before too long), these pizza carts are a sub-section of what I think is the most exciting food trend in the country right now--street food.

I can still remember, as if it were yesterday, the day in 1988 that Alan Scott, the master oven builder, walked into our (Susan and my) tiny restaurant in Forestville, CA and told us we should have a wood-fired oven and he'd help me build it. I laughed and thought, this guy is crazy. Our place was far too small and the idea just seemed so romantic and idealistic that I feared, cynic that I was, that it would never get off the ground. But Alan and I remained friends and, even though I never got to build an oven with him, I sure have baked in a lot of Alan Scott ovens, as well as Forno Bravo's, Mugnaigni's, and just about every other type. I was wrong--idealism can become reality when it's fueld by, as Joe has coined it, the fire within. Now that I finally do have my own oven (a lovely Forno Bravo Primavera)  too am on fire with them. I only wish Alan Scott was still alive so I could tell him thanks--but I believe he's watching it all with a bemused smile.

So, I'll be back in a few days with a report on my visit to Joe's place as well as with some new details on our new website. Yes, we finally set a launch date, which I will reveal in the next post as soon as we get confirmation that it's solid. I've seen the prototype, love it, and I think it's going to be very exciting for all of us. Again,more news to come in about a week, so stay tuned.

Happy Memorial Day and thank you to all those brave souls who have given their own lives for the cause of freedom everywhere. We honor you!

And May Your Bread Always Rise!

    Peter

Back Home Again

Hi Everyone,

  Got back a few days ago from my mini east coast tour (Philly, Arlington, and Richmond) and have been promising you news on the TV series and, again, have to beg for your patience. Things seem to be moving on all fronts and we have another team meeting later this week but it's agonizingly slow. The new web site has taken longer than expected due to technical difficulties but we should have a proto-type ready to look at this week and then, probably, face another few weeks of nuts and bolts, final tweaks, etc., before we launch. But it is, in fact, moving forward. I'll post the progress here as we get closer to a launch date but we're inching toward one. We have all sorts of fun Pizza Quest webisodes to show you, so hang in there with us and it will happen!

 Pizza Quest itself is picking up more traction towards becoming a TV series. No details that I can share yet and, of course, the web site will happen first, but talks are going on as I write, so I'm beginning to actually believe we will get this to happen.  I'm beginning to think this blog is like one of the Entertainment Tonight shows that keep teasing the big celebrity story but first there's the commercials and then the lesser stories and then,near the end of the hour, they finally give you 30 seconds on the "big" story. So let's move on and I'll just promise to keep you posted as I get more details.

I had a wonderful time last week doing classes at Sur la Table in King of Prussia, Arlington, and Richmond as well as visiting family friends in my home town of Philly. At each stop I got to meet some long time correspondents, recipe testers, and made some new friends too.  It's hard to put into words how fulfilling it is to have so many friends in every city. Bread--who knew?!!  Thank you, those who came, and I look forward to seeing more of you soon--next stop Western Reserve Cooking School in Hudson,OH,  and The Loretta Paganini Cooking School just outside of Cleveland (all during the week of June 21st-26th--call the schools to see if there are still seats available).

The bad news is that we had to postpone the August class at Sur la Table in Naperville, IL indefinitely, due to a scheduling problem at my end. I do hope to get this back on the calendar but it probably won't be till next year. So sorry!

The good news: on my way home from Richmond I drove through the tiny town of Floyd, Virginia, in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains, and met up with Scott Smith and Jon Roberts of DogTown Pizza. Most of you probably never heard of DogTown Pizza unless you stumbled across the guys and their mobile wood-fired oven at various rock concerts or farm markets in the Virginia/North Carolina border area. Here are three things you should know:

 One: the DogTown guys are about to open an actual brick and mortar restaurant in Floyd, right next to the very meadow where the famous FloydFest Music Festival is held. They are currently putting the finishing touches on their new, permanent, wood-fired oven (their own design), as well finishing up a new, larger mobile oven so that they can keep going on the road and make even more pizzas for their adoring (and often very munchie hungry) fans> But now  (or soon) they will also be open on a daily basis at their new DogTown Roadhouse on Locust St. (aka Main St.). The doors should open sometime in mid June (see web address below).

Two: Floyd, I discovered only when I got there, is one of the main bluegrass epicenters in the universe--nearly every store in town (and the town is only a few blocks long) also has a stage for the never ending evening jam sessions, and the DogTown Roadhouse will also boast a good sized performing venue for both local and national acts. I was embarrassed to learn that a mere two hours from my home is one of the great destination music towns in America and I never knew--until now (and you can be sure I'm going back as often as I can).

Three: And most important of all--the pizza is amazing! Jon  and Scott are, above all else, totally dedicated to the quest of making the perfect pizza. They use a long fermentation, wet, tricky dough (aka pain a l'ancienne), cure their own bacon and ham products,make their own mozzarella with milk from local Jersey cows), feature root beer and ginger beer (as well as real beer) made in Floyd, use almost exclusively, locally grown or made products (other than the tomato sauce, which is organically grown in California), their flour is milled not too far away in Graham, NC--in other words, they totally get it.  All of this would be moot, of course, if the pizza didn't live up to the hype but they had me at the first bite. Their pizza has everything I look for--great snap in the crust, proper char on the cornicione and the underskirt, and perfectly balanced flavors on top. I told them I'd rank their pizza right up there with Pizzeria Bianco and Pizzeria Mozza at the top of my "will travel long distances for" list.

  Now, I know that by extolling them I'm also setting them up and I'm sure there will be chowhounds and "Slice" writers headed there with cameras and keyboards and critical opinions in hand, so give them a couple of weeks to get things going and then, yes, GO. Their website is www.dogtownpizza.net  (not .com--which is another DogTown in St. Louis which makes frozen pizzas--I've never had them so can't comment).

I think FloydFest is happening in late July so if you need an excuse to make the trek, perhaps that will tip things.  If you do go, please write to me at [email protected] and let me know what you think. I think you will thank me but if I'm wrong, tell meand we'll duke it out.

Enough for now--more updates as they happen, hopefully soon. Till then,

May Your Bread Always Rise!

Peter

Back from NYC and Canada

Hi Everyone,

Well, Artisan Breads Everyday didn't win the James Beard Award last Sunday but I did have a great time, hanging out with lots of interesting authors, journalists, and television food folk. I'd love to break down the night for you but it's midnight now and I'm wiped out--just got back from Edmonton, where Didier Rosada and I conducted a 4 day baking intensive at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (aka NAIT--a superb facility and staff), where I met some mighty fine bakers and wonderful people. Gotta get some sleep--trying to get home, I spent 14 hours at the Denver airport due to a ticketing snafu. A miscommunication between the connecting airlines caused my name to fall off the flight list--the authorization came through just as the red-eye special was leaving the gate and they couldn't bring it back, so I had to spend the night at the gate and take the morning flight. Felt like a scene from a film, surreal actually. Needless to say, my inner clock is all messed up. I'll post this now and then add to it as soon as I can later this week, with more details.

More (it's now Thursday, the 13th):  I'm leaving in the morning for Philly, where I'll be teaching a class at the new Sur la Table store and cooking school in King of Prussia (when I spoke with them two days ago there were two seats left, though I don't know if they're still available). Will also be visiting my family and friends--Philly is my home town, and I can almost smell the cheese steaks from here. After that, it's on to Arlington, VA for a Monday night class (sold out, I'm told) and then on Tuesday it's Richmond, VA (not sure if there are any seats left). I hope to meet many of our recipe testers at some of those stops. Then, I'll get home just in time for the Johnson & Wales graduation ceremony here in Charlotte at the Bobcats Arena. I love watching our kids march down the aisle and get their diplomas--it's especially gratifying seeing how much they've grown and matured in the short time they've been with us. I get them as Freshman, so I especially notice how much they've changed--almost like different people, like the transformation from dough into bread!

We are having an update meeting on Monday regarding the TV series and website, so I'll have to wait till after then for more news. It's taking way longer than I expected but each delay seems to also bring new developments and improved opportunities, so hang in there with us and I'll bring you up to date as soon as I know something.

Will post again next week, when I return from this latest road trip. Till then, may your bread always rise!!

   Peter

May Day

Hi Again,

 I'm headed out in a few minutes to our local Farmers Market in Matthews, NC, where today I am the head judge for a pound cake baking contest. Yes, every year about this time we do a baking contest of some kind. Last year it was biscuits; the year before whole grain breads; and we've done cinnamon/sticky buns, basic and fancy breads, and even corn bread. I've been marking the spring planting season ever since I moved here by this contest, so here it is again--it must be spring and time to get some vegetables in the ground!!!

Last week I was in Portland, Oregon for the annual conference for the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP)--one of the great food events of the year. It's held in a different city every year but Portland is special; it has really emerged as, quite possibly, the most interesting and progressive food city in America. Great new restaurants, interesting shops (I visited one, The Meadow, where they specialized in salt--over 60 different kinds!); we traveled to the famous Bob's Red Mill, where we were hosted by Bob himself, now well into his eighties but spry as ever--he even played some songs on the piano for our tour group, and showed us his new gluten-free building where they have really taken the lead in variety of products and concern for this growing demographic; and, most exciting, Portland is loaded with a multitude of some of the most innovative  street food carts in the world. I would say that Portland's cultural identity is now definitely interwoven with food carts (along with coffee, micro breweries, and great pinot noir), but the food cart scene sets the benchmark for, I predict, what will be the next big food trend in North America. I'll write more on this in the future but, having experienced it in Portland, I'm more excited than ever about its potential on so many levels.

In addition to the conference I also taught two classes at Sur la Table--first in Kirkland, Washington (just outside Seattle), and then in Portland. As always, it was great seeing so many friends and bread enthusiasts. Even snuck in some pizza at Serious Pie in Seattle--wonderful!!!!

Which reminds me, I'll be in King of Prussia , just outside Philadelphia, in exactly two weeks, May 15th. The new Sur la Table (SLT for short) opens today, so I will be one of the very first chefs to teach there. I spoke with Angie yesterday, the director of the SLT King of Prussia cooking school, and she said there are still a few seats available so, if you want to attend, go to their website to register, www.surlatable.com and navigate to classes and then to King of Prussia. OR, call her at (484) 612-0046.

I believe there still may be a seats in Arlington on the 17th and Richmond on the 18th, but check the Sur la Table site to be sure--they were close to sold out the last time I checked.

Finally, a quick update on Pizza Quest: We are close to launching the website--I thought it would be up by now (I keep saying that, I know) but this time the delay is because of potentially good news--a major television production company is considering buying the show, so we're waiting to see the outcome of those discussions before we launch as it would affect the design and style of the site. It's not a guarantee--television deals are always iffy and can fall apart right up to the last minute--but it's very hopeful and exciting news for us. I showed some sample footage to media folks at the IACP Conference and everyone really loved it, so we're just waiting to find out from the television folks before we launch the website. Hopefully soon but, as always, you'll hear it here first.

Okay, I'm off to taste pound cake (what a deal: a pound of flour, pound of butter, pound of sugar, pound of eggs--how can you go wrong?). Then, tomorrow, off to the James Beard Awards in NYC to find out if Artisan Breads Everyday wins, then to Canada for a week of teaching in Edmonton, and then back here around the same time next week. Will post from the road if there's time; otherwise, when I get back.

Till then, may your bread always rise!

Peter

Updates and More

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 

Big News

Hi Everyone,

   Quick update: Artisan Breads Everyday, the book so many of you tested recipes for, was just announced as a nominee for this year's James Beard Cookbook Award in the Baking and Desserts category. It's a huge honor and we're up against some stiff competition (go to www.jamesbeard.org for the full list of nominees) Some really great books in our category didn't even get nominated, so I'm really blown away. Wow, my head is buzzing!  The winners will be announced on May 1st in NYC, so keep your fingers crossed and what will be will be.

More soon, but I wanted to get this out to you since so many of you have been on this wild, crazy ride with me for the past few years. Onward....

    Best,

    Peter

PS  I will have a report on the Asheville Bread Festival (last Saturday) later this week.

Back From California

Hi Again,

Am still flying high from my California tour, where I taught eight classes as well as attending and speaking at a whole grain bread conference in Napa. The best part was meeting so many enthusiastic, passionate bread makers, mostly home bakers but also professionals. There is such a hunger for knowledge and genuine excitement over the new techniques I've been showing them. Even got to meet eight people at the various classes who have been participating in the "BBA Challenge" started by Nicole at www.pinchmysalt.com  (according to her blog, there's still time to join her as she bakes her way through every recipe in the book--she also has links to many of the others who are doing the "challenge," with great photos). Nicole and a few others from the San Diego area drove all the way up to my class in Newport Beach, which was as much a thrill for me as I think it was for them. In LA I met Diane Rocha, who gave me a printout of her BBAChallenge blog journal, which can be found at http://itsallaboutthebread.blogspot.com  I'm in awe of all who have been faithfully working their way through the recipes and then putting up such great descriptions and photos. Thank you everyone!!

While in LA I met with the production team of our soon to launch Pizza Quest series. We taped some voice overs for the first video--a sample reel and overview of the whole show. We also met with our web team and are moving full steam ahead but now feel April is more likely than March for the launch. Sorry to keep moving it back but these things take time. However, we're really excited with the quality of the "webisodes" as well as with the overall web design, so keep checking here for the official announcement of our launch date and new URL. After the taping I headed over to Kyochon with my producer, Brad, and we had some of that amazing Korean fried chicken featured in the latest issue of Saveur Magazine (the whole issue is dedicated to food in LA, with a cover story on Pizzeria Mozza, which is one of the places we'll be featuring on Pizza Quest). That chicken is amazing!! In the magazine it says that Kyochon has over a thousand worldwide locations, with six in the LA area. I hope they come to Charlotte one of these days--this changes everything we know about fried chicken -- a game changer, as they say -- using a two-fry method that makes the crispest bites yet with no grease at all (and two pretty fabulous sauces). You feel like you can eat it endlessly. Enough! Just thinking about it is making me want to jump on a plane and go back.

In Sonoma I did two classes at Ramekins, and Heather Irwin, who has a really popular blog called The Bite Club (www.biteclubeats.com ) and also writes for the Santa Rosa Press Democrat, attended. She mentioned in her blog that I was looking for recipe testers, and over 70 people responded immediately. Of course, what she meant to tell them was to check here, on my blog, for updates if and when I go back into testing mode, so here's the correction from me that that she posted a couple of days ago (this is for readers of The Bite Club who may not have seen the correction and are wondering why I haven't written back): UPDATE FROM PETER:   I am blown away by the show of support from the readers of Biteclub, where over 70 readers have requested to be recipe testers. It's as much a testament to the reach and influence of Heather's blog as it is to my own work. However, I need to clarify the situation, as I am not currently doing recipe testing and don't have a new book in process. What I tell the attendees at my various classes is to periodically check my blog, http://peterreinhart.typepad.com for updates on recipe testing, as well as other news, such as progress reports on the upcoming launch of a new website and, hopefully, television series that I am working on called Pizza Quest (but the launch of that is still at least a month away and the URL amd final title still hasn't been decided). When I start to work on a new book I will post it there and will set up a new e-address for those who want to be part of the testing process. While I am overjoyed at the response I can't, at this time, write back to everyone individually so I am hoping you will see this clarification here and write back to me in the future when I start on a new book (but, realistically, that may not be for awhile as the pizza show is taking a lot of my time at the moment). Thank you to everyone for writing and please know that I've read your requests, many of which that include great anecdotes and personal histories, and am overwhelmed by your passion and enthusiasm. I look forward to hearing from you again down the road when the next testing opportunity occurs.  Sincerely, Peter Reinhart 

    Being back in Sonoma County was a wonderful thrill and Susan and I even drove past our old bakery, Brother Juniper's, which has now been turned into a vegan restaurant called Seed (but it was closed when we drove by so we didn't get to eat there).

After a successful class at Draegers Culinary Center in San Mateo, and a wonderful early morning book signing event at Omnivore Books where forty people came, many of them bringing morning pastries that they baked for the occassion, I headed to Reno where over sixty people attended my final class of the tour at Nothing To It Cooking School. What a wonderful group! (And I even got to stay with some friends, Lois and Dave Parsons, in Truckee, right by the Donner Trail, high up in ski country!). One of the attendees came all the way in from North Dakota to show me some amazing "spent grain" product that is currently used as supplemental feed for farm animals as well as for ethanol production, but that could also have terrific implications for baking and human health as a pre-biotic. He gave me a sample and I'm going to try it out in my spend grain bread (for more info on this go to www.sweetpro.com) . Will let you all know how it turns out as soon as I get a chance to try it. I'm telling you, there's some exciting stuff happening out there....

Enough for now except to say thank you to everyone who came to the classes and for all the support from all of you who read this blog. More soon....

   May Your Bread Always Rise!

  Peter