Baking Galore
So I went to the King Arthur Flour bread making class in Round Rock. I arrived late due to slow traffic and the fact that I got lost in Round Rock (I think they are saving money by not marking their streets). Still it was pretty cool. The lady from KA presented making their "Rustic Bread" dough which can be shaped into french breads like the boule and baguettes and then a filled Italian bread whose name escapes me. BTW, a common difference between french and italian breads is that the later usually also contain oil. She had lots of helpful tips and it really helped watching her handle the dough and seeing what it's supposed to look like. The room was packed with a captive audience and there was always a gasp of horror whenever she tossed her perfectly risen demonstration dough in the trash. Oh, and I wasn't the only guy there by far - of course, all the other ones were a bunch of kitchen geeks, too.
One of the reasons I went was to ask about alternate flours I could use for my Swiss and Czech recipes. As it turns out, King Arthur makes about 30 "artisan" flours beside the four or five that they sell at grocery stores. I should be able to mail order the right kinds of flour from them. She also recommended several tools that I'll have to put on my Christmas list. They have an online catalog, although I've found some of the stuff they carry less expensive at other online stores, for example this cool dough board or the HearthKit. Not that I really need these, but I could use a lame (a bread slashing tool) and some other stuff.
Still, I'm going to give their basic bread recipe a try and make some baguettes from scratch. Hey, it only takes about 24 hours to do it right.
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Hmm...baking themed Christmas gifts? You probably would prefer that to the athletic themes of the past two years, wouldn't you?
seriously? 24 hours for authentic baguettes? why?
Well, you begin the poolish (french starter) the day before (they say 12-16 hours at cool temperature) and then you have to let the dough rise two or three times. So maybe it's a max total of 20 hours. Still, most of it is not "work" but rather waiting in anticipation :-)
Is it worth the wait? When I find out, I'll definitely post about it.
well, alright!
:)
mmmm, baguettes...
One thing I read recently (possibly in Joy of Cooking?? not sure about that) was that you can make a big difference in your bread by putting water in the oven with it while it's baking--the steam that is created makes for a luscious crust. I both put a pan with water in it at the bottom of the oven, and when I put the loaves in, I splashed water on the sides of the oven for immediate steam. The bread I made was awfully good (if I do say so myself).
Yes, steam in the oven is a must in order to make a good crust. Professional ovens have steam injection and you can simulate that by spraying the oven walls, the bread (before you put it in the oven) or by having some other source of steam.
At the workshop, they suggested putting a cast iron skillet with some lava rocks (used in gas grills) in the oven along with your baking stone and then preheat the oven for an hour at 500F. When you put in the risen dough you also pour a cup of boiling water over the lava rocks - and you end up with your very own little swedish sauna.