Breads

Most of our schoolwork involves sweet things; indeed the name of our textbook is "In the Sweet Kitchen". But we did spend a solid week on breadstuffs -- everything from lavash crackers to brioche. And this course is intensive; a week of anything is a lot of exposure.

I love making breads: wheat flour undergoes a magic transformation as the protein in it ("gluten") is transformed into a strong matrix, which is what allows breads to rise -- and if used improperly, makes cakes and quick breads dense and heavy. In short, getting a rise in yeasted-breads is a function of the yeast eating the sugars in the dough and generating carbon dioxide (and alcohol). If the dough is properly prepared, it capture these bubbles, and when baked, the starches in the bread. Quick-breads do it differently, relying on baking powder and/or soda to generate the carbon dioxide.

Almost all of our breadstuffs were made by hand -- no Kitchenaid machines -- to give us the feel of the dough and an appreciation of the structure one needs build ("kneads build"?) for a successful bread. The dough starts out pretty sticky, and in the process of exercising those proteins, it becomes silky and pliable. It seems alive. Two of the biggest problems affecting bread quality are inadequate kneading (so that protein matrix isn't developed properly) -- and adding too much flour relative to the amount of liquid, which makes the dough less pliable. So its always a compromise between a level of stickiness [photo: schoolmate "Qz" with some rye dough] and a pleasant, light product. Anyway, the process tends to leave a film of flour on your hands; up to the wrists. After a couple of weeks of not doing breads, then returning to it, I realized that I missed that sensation of interacting with that protein structure -- and the symbolic caking of flour on my hands afterwards.

In the course of nine days, we'd made strudel, four styles of danish pastry brioche, soft rolls vol-au-vont shells hard rolls baguettesbagels ficelles batards ciabatta sourdoughs (two different starters) clafouti pretzels tarte tatin (I dropped our's on the floor on the way out of the oven) rye breads crackers doughnuts & three styles of scone. Sample photos here.

Breads
Romancing the Wheat

Most of our schoolwork involves sweet things; indeed the name of our textbook is "In the Sweet Kitchen". But we did spend a solid week on breadstuffs -- everything from lavash crackers to brioche. And this course is intensive; a week of anything is a lot of exposure. I love making breads: wheat flour undergoes a magic transformation as the protein in it ("gluten") is transformed into a strong matrix, which is what allows breads to rise -- and if used improperly, makes cakes and quick breads dense and heavy. In short, getting a rise in yeasted-breads is a function of the yeast eating the sugars in the dough and generating carbon dioxide (and alcohol). If the dough is properly prepared, it capture these bubbles, and when baked, the starches in the bread. Quick-breads do it differently, relying on baking powder and/or soda to generate the carbon dioxide. Almost all of our breadstuffs were made by hand -- no Kitchenaid machines -- to give us the feel of the dough and an appreciation of the structure one needs build ("kneads build"?) for a successful bread. The dough starts out pretty sticky, and in the process of exercising those proteins, it becomes silky and pliable. It seems alive. Two of the biggest problems affecting bread quality are inadequate kneading (so that protein matrix isn't developed properly) -- and adding too much flour relative to the amount of liquid, which makes the dough less pliable. So its always a compromise between a level of stickiness [photo: schoolmate "Qz" with some rye dough] and a pleasant, light product. Anyway, the process tends to leave a film of flour on your hands; up to the wrists. After a couple of weeks of not doing breads, then returning to it, I realized that I missed that sensation of interacting with that protein structure -- and the symbolic caking of flour on my hands afterwards. In the course of nine days, we'd made strudel, four styles of danish pastry brioche, soft rolls vol-au-vont shells hard rolls baguettesbagels ficelles batards ciabatta sourdoughs (two different starters) clafouti pretzels tarte tatin (I dropped our's on the floor on the way out of the oven) rye breads crackers doughnuts & three styles of scone. Sample photos here. Previous Log Next Log

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