I went to a really interesting bread-making course about 10 days ago, and have simply not had time to write it up yet. One thing I did want to share though, was a film we were shown. It is called Les blés d'or, and was made by ADDOCS, a French film-making organization.

The film is about peasant bakers (and the word peasant is used as a badge of pride, with no pejorative undertones) who have rescued several old varieties of wheat and who bake in the traditional manner. The commentary is all in French (although the DVD for sale has other languages, including Italian but not English (yet)). I found it fascinating, especially the sequence that shows the mixing of the dough.

The recipe is very simple: 33 kg of flour, 22 litres (i.e. 22 kg) of water and half a bucket (maybe 5 litres?) of starter. And the entire mass is mixed by hand. It is absolutely glorious to watch, and if you've never seen a baker stretch and fold 55 kg -- more than his own body weight, I'm sure -- of dough, you have a real treat in store.

You can watch the video streaming in reasonable quality from the ADDOCS site. It is the second film down in the list on the right. I hope you enjoy it.

In view of an earlier post I was thrilled to see a loaf made from Touzelle what flash up on screen, albeit very briefly.

Jeremy

Hello!  I stumbled onto this website and thought I'd introduce our new program - http://www.findthefarmer.com - and see what you all think. Stone-Buhr Flour is supporting the American family farmer by directly buying grain from multi-generational family farmers who have certified their agricultural methods as sustainable. We think it's important and want to show off the face behind your flour..... I'd love to hear what you all think!  If you have any questions or comments - please feel free to contact me directly at: farmer <at> findthefarmer.com

-josh.

An odd request: I'm working on a production of Michael Healey's play, The Drawer Boy, which will be produced by our local professional theatre company. In the play, one of the characters (a man who was brain damaged by shrapnel in World War II) obsessively bakes bread. The play takes place in 1972 in rural Ontario, on a farm.

The question: what sort of bread would he be baking? Any Canadian bakers on the group?

Alan