[blindcooks] Re: josey baker bread again
- From: "Jon Rawlings" <twosocks76@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 18 Jan 2015 07:23:31 -0800
Charlene:
First of all; you're right - I should give the book you've found a chance
to prove itself to me. My comments were brought about by my opinion of another
bread book I actually bought some years ago called "The Bread Bible" which I
found to be utterly worthless. The fact that the recipes in your book are
calling for bread flour is very promising. With "The Bread Bible" the author
does mention bread flour, but insists it can be switched out for all-purpose,
depending on what the baker has on hand or is comfortable with. I honestly get
the impression that while many of these supposedly-professional bakers use all
different types of flours when making their own breads, they write books that
center around all-purpose flour only because they think that's what the public
wants. The fact that person works in the industry in a professional capasity
is a good start, but is no guarantee their recipes are any good. Having said
all that, I'm sorry I allowed my membership with Book Share to lapse. I just
could not figure out what format to get my books or how to read the different
formats, so I just let it go. The folks at Book Share were not at all helpful
with this issue either, so I gave up. I do wish I could thumb through your
book and see for myself if it really is as good as you make it sound. If it
is, then I hope you are eventually able to create amazing bread from its pages.
The process of making a thin dough or batter and letting it develop in flavor
before making the rest of the recipe is called a pre-ferment. I do it when
making French bread and baguettes, and it does indeed make for a wonderful
flavor. A sourdough is, essentially, a pre-ferment that can be kept going for
many many years, though the fact that it develops different types of bacteria
that make it sour makes it much more complex and involved than a Poolish or a
biga. Anyway, I look forward to reading about the attempts you will make
following the recipes in this book you have found. My ultimate goal in bread
baking is to create and maintain a first class sourdough starter that makes a
bread with a strong, sour flavor like the bread I once enjoyed at a ranch I
stayed at in my late teens. I already know I want it to be a rye starter, but
I'm concerned about investing a lot of time and money into the project only to
come out with less than steller results. I will do it one day though.
Jon
----- Original Message -----
From: Charlene Ota
To: blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 8:59 PM
Subject: [blindcooks] Re: josey baker bread again
Hi, John, Actually, you might give a book a chance first, for one thing.
Also, for most people, breadmaking is very intimidating and when someone writes
a book about the process that is on one hand very basic and simple, and on the
other hand, includes the science of breadmaking as part of the process and
explains why parts of the process are very exacting, it might really open up
the world to people as to how to make good bread. Actually, the book is very
specific about flours, starting with the simplest bread using bread flour,
water, yeast and salt and moving on gradually adding things but first getting
the very basic breadmaking process down. The person who wrote the book is a
bread baker. I haven't had a chance to read a lot of the book, but the first
couple lessons made me think of you because this person is so specific about
the process of making good bread and explains it in a very concise but fun kind
of way so it most likely appeals to more than just the experienced bakers. As
the book moves on, it gets into more varieties of breads and baking. The
process is different than I've ever done before, but I am thinking about giving
it a try because some of his process is done to help develop the flavor of the
bread. The first lesson is the most basic bread there is, the second lesson
uses a fermentation process first, and then mixes the loaf and rises it. The
step by step details that this person uses are part of why I brought it to your
attention thinking it might be something you'd find interesting because it
isn't just for the unexperienced baker and the information in the book is far
more detailed and informative than most bread recipes ever are. I mean, come
on, if Alice Waters can write a review in support of it, it can't be some sort
of fly-by-night stupid bread book! (smile!)
From: blindcooks-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:blindcooks-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Jon Rawlings
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 9:34 PM
To: blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [blindcooks] Re: josey baker bread again
Cgharlene:
I hope you find the book to be worth the purchase price. But I am very
suspicious of books on how to bake bread as I feel many of them are dumbed down
a great deal. Many of these books call for using all-purpose flour in most or
all of the recipes, which I find to be very suspect depending on what type of
bread is being made. No matter what any book says, all-purpose and bread
flours are not interchangeable without making some modifications, and even
then, the resulting product is not quite the same. Even bread flour is not the
same from brand to brand. Again, it depends on what you want to make. I have
no problem using a.p. flour for making cinnamon rolls or a handful of other
yeast items, but on the whole, I prefer bread flour for things like pizza
crust, dinner rolls, baguettes, country French bread, and sandwich bread. I
don't know whether this book you brought to our attention has any such recipes
I would like, so this is a general opinion and not specific to the book.
Jon
----- Original Message -----
From: Charlene Ota
To: blindcooks@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Saturday, January 17, 2015 10:23 AM
Subject: [blindcooks] josey baker bread again
Well, just a follow-up, the preview copy on Bookshare isn't worth the time
and trouble because it's only the first 14 pages which are about ingredients,
nothing about the recipes or the meat of the book so to speak, so in order to
check out the book you have to get the kindle edition unfortunately.
Charlene
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