January 19, 2007 - 7:16am
Gifts for the baker
My dad's birthday is coming up and I would like to get him something for his favorite hobby...bread baking! Any suggestions?
How about a scale? Any favorite brands?
Does anyone like or use the bread baskets? Any other ideas? Thanks for your help!
Maria
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Take a look at this Holiday Gift Guide I put together a few months back. Be sure not to miss JMonkey's comment at the bottom, which has many more items. That should give you quite a few ideas.
Thanks for the tips. I think I will get him a scale and a book. He already has Peter's Apprentice book, what would be your next choice?
If he's a somewhat experienced baker and has a set of scales (looks like you're taking care of that), Jeffrey Hammelman's Bread is *excellent*. Lots of great techniques and many, many recipes.
It's a book that's primarily aimed at professional bakers, but he does give a version of every recipe for the home baker. My baking skills took a quantum leap after finishing Bread -- even though I mostly bake whole wheat breads (aside from the rye breads, Hammelman's are mostly white flour), I still dive into Bread regularly for technical information and refreshers on technique.
I second JMonkey's comment. The Bread Baker's Apprentice is the best way I know to learn how to bake, but once you have the fundamentals mastered Hamelman's book is *the* book to take you to the next level. I refer to it more than the BBA these days.
Thank you for your tips! I will check out Hamelman's book, it sounds like a good one!
Maria
A well known baker at rec.food.sourdough suggest the MyWeigh there's a few versions the one that is accurate to 1g and at least up to 5K usually written 1g X 5K they might not do a 5k so get the 7K the 3K won't be enough with a bowl and water. MyWeigh7000i is the one that I had but I broke it somehow. This was a postal scale. The offer a lifetime guarantee but mine said I'd overloaded it. Must have been when I weighed the dog. : -)
I also love my linen proofing cloths and baskets. Really good buy.
Jim
5000 g is a LOT of flour though - two standard-sized bags in the US. One would need the arms of Arrrrrrrnold (Schwarzenegger) to knead such a batch.
The only proof weights I have are a 1950s college lab set I inherited, but my iWeight 5000 is in exact agreement from 2 to 700 g. Not sure if I am testing the scale or the weights ;-)
sPh
My last lot were good up to 2K this was so frustrating. I always had to split the recipe my bowl is 700g so that just left 1300g for flour and water. With the 5K ones you rarely will need to worry about how heave your bowl is. But that's your choice.
Jim
How about a Superpeeel? I think that's very cool...