Bread Stenciling: Do That Not This

Did you ever think you could do something and tried it, looked at it and thought "what was I thinking?" That's how it is with stenciling bread. I thought if I took a template from a Hawaiian quilt pattern, cut it out and laid it over the bread, I would have a marvelous design the world would embrace as pure genius. (I still believe in the concept.)

Lucky for you I made all the mistakes up front with my ukulele pattern, so you don't have to.

Here's how I will scale the pinnacle of success next time:

1. Cover the proofing basket with cloth to diminish effect of flour rings. Rings just distract from the template design.
2. Learn from YouTube video on how to stencil bread. You don't add water, butter or egg wash to the bread surface, apparently, to make the flour stick. For the reverse view on this, shift over to The Fresh Loaf for a discussion on why some people do mist the bread.
3. Don't use your hands to glom the flour over the stencil, creating rustic volcanic fissures. Use a small sieve and gently tap the flour onto the stencil.
4. Score the bread. At least that way you control the splits in the crust.

Or how about this: Rise up and go watch the artisan masters and learn from the best in the world. That's my next scheme. I'm jumping across the pond to the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie March 3-7 in Paris. This is the Olympics of bread, and you can follow Team USA: Harry Peemoeller on artistic design (keeping my eyes on his hands r.e. stenciling), Mike Zakowski for baguette and specialty breads and Jeremy Gadouas for viennoiserie. Shout out to the Bread Bakers Guild of America for telling me all about it. Read more about the Europain trade show going on during the Coupe for a look at how Europe rolls. My plan is to attend said Coupe and Europain, tour bakeries and make the devoted pilgrimage to the palace of wisdom, Poilane Bakery, in five days.

All right oui, so Paris is a long way to go to embrace a loaf of bread when we have Empire Baking in Dallas, Central Market, Whole Foods and Eatzi's, to name a few fine loafers, but where will I find the best breadmakers from the USA gathered in one spot in a fabulous location? This is a "gotta go," dump everything else from the bucket list and get thee to hallowed ground strategic planning. They'll talk to me, won't they?

Why not? I'm an amateur with a heart full of flour.