Daily Bread

What are you reading? Answer, The Bread Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum and Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes by Jeffrey Hamelman. Why? It's a quest. I'm always in search of how to get more flavor out of the flour. These two books are good road maps for the journey.

Friends know I'm loaf loony. They want me to teach how to make good bread. Mon dieu, I'm still trying to figure it out.

One thing I know: Better bread doesn't come in a day. Oui, you can find recipes that simply explain how to mix flour, water, salt and yeast for a bread you can eat in a few hours. In fact, my first bread book was a gift from Dear Val, called Judith Olney on Bread. If you're just starting out with home-baked breads and you're impatient, Olney is there for you. Get started.

The day will come, though, when you ask yourself why the bread doesn't taste earthier, deeper, like artisan breads. Stroll into Poilane on the rue du Cherche-Midi in Paris, open le bouche and you'll know what I mean. Better bread is made over time, certainly more than a day, and with advanced skills at understanding the use of clock, temperature and ingredients. This is why I have trouble with my friends, who want a demo class that's sure-fire. That would take a few days, a bread camp, maybe. I don't presume to know everything about how to get the best results, but I'm willing to eat my way through it.

Years ago after Olney, I jumped into The Village Baker by Joe Ortiz and have never looked back. Ortiz and his wife, Gayle, have a bakery in Capitola, Calif., and have made countless pilgrimages to bakeries in France, Italy and Germany to learn the true heart of artisan baking in the European traditions. They have done the hard part for you.

Aha! Thought I, reading how Joe learned to "build" his pre-ferments (bread dough starters) over several days. See, it takes time to build flavor, I knew it all along.

Joe's book still has an honored spot on the shelf near my stove, along with Gayle's book The Village Baker's Wife, with a great collection of croissant and pastry recipes. Next to those, I added Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Right now I'm baking off recipes from 3 of the aforementioned books, just to compare taste, crust, crumb and aroma - Pain de Campagne, Vermont Sourdough with Whole Wheat and Whole-Wheat Bread with a Multigrain Soaker. Doing this while eating handfuls of bread pudding from Commander's Palace that we made in class last week. Bread, always bread.

The moral of all this bread talk is - work it. Find recipes and try them out. Listen to what these knowledgeable and passionate experts know about grains, weather conditions and yes, math. Follow your bouche, and your nose.

Get your hands doughy.

Goodnight, bread. (Vermont Sourdough loaf and rolls in Singing Wheat Kitchen)

Crepes Suzette

I finally set something on fire at culinary school. What a feeling! Can't believe it myself when I look at this image of my first Crepes Suzette, with no signs of black torchy ash or anything. But I assure you, I flamed it like I'd been playing with fire all my life (well actually . . . ).

In the international patisserie class one is introduced to the concept of crepe-making.  There's nothing to it. You make a batter, you swirl it in a beautiful crepe pan, you set your crepes aside as you prepare the sauce, which is artfully done table side in restaurants that uphold the dessert showmanship traditions.

To channel Suzette, I took a little sugar into another pan and caramelized it, added a little butter, some julienned orange and lemon peels, a touch of orange liqueur and a little cognac for the big finale. You just voila the cognac into the pan (off heat for safety), tip the pan into the flame to introduce alcohol to the heat and whoosh, you're aflame and feeling clever.

Toss a bit of cinnamon into the flame like you're the Sorcerer's Apprentice, you know, swish and flick, and you'll get a sparkling affect they say is riveting at the table. 

Where do you start? The taste makers at Bon Appetit published this basic crepe recipe. To do it the Suzette way, use this Crepes Suzette recipe.

Keep in mind if you leave out the sugar, you can use the crepes for many savory dishes, by coating them in a sauce, filling them with all manner of ingredients or stacking them and topping them to your heart's desire.

Can you make this in a dorm room: Yes, but don't set it afire. Leave off with the cognac.

Homemade Cheez-Its

Whenever one gets an email from the jeune fille in New York it refreshes the spirit like a spring romp in clover. Our Madeline (not the storybook character in the old house in Paris, but there are similarities) sent the briefest of messages, but there was a deeper message therein, and bless her, a web link. She wrote:
 you should try this because i want to and can't.

She found a story by Casey Barber about the quality of commercially made Cheez-Its, and a recipe for making your own. Madeline showed true culinary curiosity by sending the message, so I assigned myself one batch of Homemade Cheez-Its, to report back on whether it works.

I have no Cheez-Its photo to post today. I ate the evidence (well, froze half the dough, because I wanted to know if THAT WORKS, too, in case friends drop in and you need a quick nibble at the ready). Don't you think the orangey pansies work just fine suggesting a nice sharp cheddar line of thinking?

The recipe does work, and offers a good product you can use by itself, as an appetizer or as an alternate to croutons in a salad. There's a good crunch and good hint of cheese flavor. Think about adding a touch of cayenne for a slight bite.

Can you make these in a dorm room: Yes, if you have a hand-held mixer and a chopstick.