My first Canadian loaves
I've always admired immigrants, folks who, for love or opportunity, pull up their roots and start over. This summer we've been going through what has to be the easiest immigration process possible -- same language, same geographic region, very similar culture, no questions of about citizenship or difficulty finding employment -- and still... it has been a tremendous amount of work. I can't even imagine how much work it must be when the obstacles are larger or the circumstances less fortunate. My respect and admiration for anyone who has gone through it has been redoubled.
Now we are here in Vancouver, largely settled in. As of today my kids and I are on the Provincial health plan. My wife's papers have been approved too, so she is legitimately residing with us and no longer "visiting." All has gone as well as one could possible wish for and we are loving it here.
And I'm finally finding a little time to bake. Well, only once, so far, but it is a start.
Baking in a new kitchen is always a challenge. As is using a new oven that isn't mine with a glass door. No more tossing ice cubes in willy nilly and not worrying about the damage I do. But I brought my baking stone and picked up an aluminum roasting pan to invert over it to create a little steam, so we'll see how it goes.
I spotted this flour blend at the grocery store and decided to give it a try.
I was extremely imprecise on this one, just trying to get back in the saddle rather take accurate measure. My formula was roughly:
Poolish
1 cup AP flour
1 pinch instant yeast
1 cup water
I left that out covered on the counter overnight and then mixed it into
2 cups Robin Hood bread blend
1 cup AP flour
1 cup water
2 teaspoons Kosher salt
1 teaspoon instant yeast
Mixed with my standmixer for 5 minutes, let rise on the counter top for an hour, folded and put in the refrigerator for 6 hours.
About an hour before baking, I removed it from the fridge, divided it, and shaped a couple of loaves. I rolled them in sesame seeds before placing them on a pan since I forgot to pick up parchment paper and the last thing I wanted was to have them stick to the pan and ruin everything.
They rose for about an hour, then were baked at 465 for 10 minutes with the aluminum cover, then 425 for another 15 minutes after I removed the lid.
I can't say they were the best loaves I've ever made, but I certain consider them a success and a great starting point!
-Floyd
Comments
Any move is a pain. It sounds like yours went as smoothly as it could. The first bake in a new (to you) oven is also a challenge, and I'd say yours was more than satisfactory.
Wishing you and your family much happiness in your new home and happy baking!
David
Thanks, David!
-Floyd
Hi Floyd,
So glad to hear about your settling in and that the big hurdles are behind. You seem to have moved right into the little, more manageable hurdles with your first bake :-) These loaves look very nice to me especially with the sesame seeds on the crust. I always loved sesame seeds on the breads I ate as a child.
I have been adjusting to a new oven too - convection only but has humidity :-) but I do have to say the learning curve is a lot quicker now that I know what I am doing. The step back is nothing compared to that first step I took a couple of years ago. I can't imagine that your oven will keep you mystified for long. I look forward to hearing about your progress :-)
Again, it is good to hear your latest news. Thanks sooo much for the update.
Take Care,
Janet
It's nice to see you and your family are settled in. I wish you nothing but success in your new home and from what I have seen of Vancouver at a layover it is a beautiful city to make your home.
For your first loaf at your new place it looks pretty good to me!
Regards,
Ian
Thanks, Ian.
-Floyd
The move and the bake : )
My Very Best To You and Yours!
Sylvia
Thanks, Sylvia.
-Floyd
I hope all continues to go well in your new home.
Nice bread. But, I bet you put some water in the final dough.
Best,
Glenn
Thanks, Glenn. And, yes, I did put some water on the final dough to make the seeds stick.
Best,
Floyd
Floyd must have used at least a half a cup of water to stick those fine looking seeds on :-) 1 C of Water doen't seem like enough for 4 C of flour -but Canada might be tad more humid and snowy too :-)
Duh, I didn't catch what Glenn meant. Yes, I put a cup of water in the final dough.
-Floyd
I figured there was water in there. I guess my comment was too subtle.
Glenn
No, I'm just too thick.
-Floyd
Hey Floyd. Welcome to Vancouver! I am about 25 minutes away in Langley, but basically a Vancouverite. Where did you move from?
Your loaves here make me a little less proud of my Hamelman 5 Grain (non-levain) riff today (photos on another post today by me). I will be trying this recipe you posted VERY soon.
As a major foodie I would be happily obliged to give you some advice of where to go locally for the greatest anything food.
Thanks!
The food here is great. That is one of the reasons I haven't been baking... we've been out sampling everything!
We're by UBC. I've not made it up to Langley yet but some good friends of ours just moved there, so I suspect we'll be checking it out before too long.
Best,
Floyd
Hi Floyd,
Your bread looks really good, seedy, crusty and nicely baked - wishing you many more successful bakes in your new oven!
Best wishes to you and your family - so good to hear things are going well for you.
Looking forward to seeing you at KCW.
:^) breadsong
Thanks, Breadsong! I'm looking forward to meeting you too.
-Floyd
Hi Floyd, the adventure begins. I think you are off to an easy start in your new home. Your bread looks really good, and a little reminiscent of my God Mother's bread, as she always used Robin Hood flour, and sesame. Her bread was always white and braided, and baked in loaf tins. Great stuff at Christmas, and with my God Father's home made wine, my wife and I were happy people.
All the best, Ray
Sounds like good stuff.
-Floyd
a really nice loaf to start in BC but with 1 C of water in the poolish and none in the dough, I'm getting about 43% hydration - a little dry even for my bagel loving tastes. I C of water seems like too little for 4 C of flour especially when 2 of the cups of flour are that fine Robin Hood mixed whole flours. Is there some water missing?
Nice baking and the scoring is very nice too. Glad you are settling in.
Whoops! Yes, you are right, I added another cup of water to the final dough. Thanks for catching that.
Can't tell I'm out of practice at all, can you? ;^) At least I only left the water out of the write up and not the dough!
Best,
-Floyd
now that you are fully Canadian again these things may happen more often than you would think or want - especially when the snow is deep, the whisky long gone and too expensive to replace across the border :-) Vancouver will make you forget all about faulty formulas and expensive booze. The fish is fantastic and now that you are there - the bread is definitely better.
The best to you and yours,
I think your cool flour is just fine and dandy being a mix of whole grains no matter who makes it. I love the Indian Durum atta (Golden Temple brand) I buy at Lee Lee's Chinese Market in Chandler AZ. It is grown and milled it Canada. Talk about multicultural implications and possible global ization.........
Bake on my friend!
I admit that I spend too much time in the flour aisles of supermarkets. Fortunately, my wife humors me when we travel and laughs as I check out the flour and mustards in the local supermarkets. Some White Lily Bread Flour found its way into the trunk of my car when I was in Corinth, MS last week.
If you know anyone with connections at RH, would you please ask them to nudge the company into stocking some of that interesting flour here in Kansas?
I'm not sure why anyone considers this crap edible. Bleached, nutrient drained garbage completely void of life and owned by a Cargill, a company hell-bent on destroying the Canadian family farm and will likely to be the first to grow genetically modified wheat. If you bake bread with your hands you are already doing so much to de-centralize industrial bread, so why buy flour from such a massive corporation? Search for smaller producers that use quality, organic grains. If you can, find Red-fife wheat, one of the best bread varieties ever grown in this country.
You're quite an upper, Byron. Way to offer words of encouragement.
-F
... can clearly give you indigestion!
I have no knowledge of the evils of Cargill, whoever they are. But having been lucky enough to find Robin Hood flours here in parts of the Caribbean, the results were extremely edible. RH also do a very nice unbleached flour too, so not all their produce is bleached - the choice is up to you.
Believe me, if you want to know what bad flour is, there is one brand here that would be better and more accurately labelled "dust!"
All at Sea
You might be interested in doing a little research on Cargill. The writer with the comments is correct, not sure if the situation goes as far as it was put in the post, however, you can find out for yourself. Jean P., (VA)
Might be worth thinking about decorum a little bit.
When someone has spent 3 months getting their family established in a new country (housing, school, banking, employment, etc.) and they finally get a couple of hours to do something for pleasure, do you really think they want to be scolded for supporting Evil Corporation? I assure you, they do not.
The note could have be communicated in a positive manner, a la "Hey, welcome to BC! You should really check out some of the locally sourced flours we can get here, such as x and y, they are really great!", but, alas, it was pure scorn and bitterness. That's a crappy way of communicating with anyone, be it online or off.
My bread tasted awesome, btw, more than just edible.
-Floyd
Me thinks you protest too much. If he/she said it the way YOU wrote it, that would be your words. The writer was talking about the bad deeds of Cargill, which holds true. Folks would benefit by finding out for themselves. It was worded not very politely, but the farmers have suffered a lot and deserve a listen. Jean
did Cargill do to elicit such hatred and scorn? Were they doing illegal corporate dealings and unethical? Should the management team be put in jail for high crimes against humanity? Did they feed too many or too few people ? Did they make food that killed people or harmed them physically? Are they charging onerous prices? Do they cheat people and farmers out of their grain or pay top dollar for it? What has Cargill done to Canadian wheat farmers that is so bad except buy their wheat on the open market? What is it that they did that is so bad again?
I have a very good friend who worked at Cargill as a buyer at the KC grain exchange and he seemed very nice and professional. He worked for them for ten years and made enough money to buy his own seat on the exchange and trade 25 box car loads of wheat, the smallest purchase allowed, for his own account. He's made a fortune as a result of their training. Were they wrong to train him so well and make him so successful? He was always thankful.
The writer was indeed talking about the bad deeds of Cargill. Too bad it was on a thread about trying to get settled into a new home where it was totally inappropriate. It's like the kid who comes home from his first term at college and starts lecturing about animal cruelty or cultural imperialism at the Thanksgiving table. Totally sophomoric.
I'm not even sure what the "Me thinks you protest too much" is supposed to imply. That I'm on Cargill's payroll? That I'm secretly bent on the destruction of family farming in Canada? I protest because I don't enjoy dealing with preachy jerks in any forum, let alone the one I run.
-Floyd
For better or worse Byron, Robin Hood flour is what many home bakers in Canada use for they're breads and pastries. While I agree with the points you raise regarding it's flavour, nutritional quality, as well as doing what we can to de-centralize Canadian bread production, the message you wanted to send was overshadowed by your delivery. Communicating in text can be problematic when one is passionate about a particular subject or issue and doesn't take the time to review before saving, often coming across in a way not necessarily the way you intended. Been there, done that myself more than a few times. You are a well regarded, professional member of the craft here on Vancouver Island and deservedly so, going by the write-ups I've seen online. Knowing how much work it must have taken you to get where you are now, I'd hate to see your voice ignored on this forum because of an ill considered comment such as this re; the context of the original post. I'm sure you have a great deal of information from a professional perspective to share with the members, but simple reactionary opinions such as this aren't worthy of your status as a noted professional baker. Floyd made a couple of nice hand made loaves for his family using a new flour from a country he's just settled into, so a little more recognition for that fact and less opinion regarding his ingredients would have been more appropriate.
Wishing you great sucess with your new [Fry's Bakery] and will make a point of stopping by when in Victoria next.
All the best,
Franko
Floyd,
You have my backing 100%. This was not the place for a tirade like that and was very inappropriate.
There are plenty of place to stand on a soap box and lament the cruelties of the world but this was not the time or place.
It's not like you bought the store out of Robin Hood flour.
Hello Floyd et all.
I'm sorry my comments effected you so much. As Franko pointed out, much of my life is devoted to promoting good bread and the use of quality local flours. Alas I'm not a skilled forum contributor, and was mainly pointing my comments to the poster directly above me, who mused about RH being an "interesting flour" a reputation I find appalling. I actually did write a follow up post, suggesting you check out flours from Anita's Organic, who, although I don't fully support them, make some okay flours. Their organic white is actually rebranded by them from a company called Nutrasun Foods, which is generally the standard among organic craft bakers that I know. Another good choice is the La Milanese Flour that is widely available in Vancouver. Although the flour is milled in Quebec and is shipped across the continent, it's still a smaller mill dealing with quality organic grains. Unfortuntely, might follow up post didn't get posted as I hit the Save Settings Button above the comment box instead of the Save buttom below the comment box. It took me a few days to get some time to read your responses. As Franko also pointed out, I'm in the process of starting a new bakery, and have been busy battling permit offices and tracking down coke-head painters.
Happy Baking, and enjoy Vancouver. If you get a chance, visit Beyond Bread Artisan Bakery, I worked there when they first opened, and the folks there are nice people making good bread.
Thanks you, Byron, for your courteous response and the recommendations. I will definitely try to check them out.
I actually have tried to visit Beyond Bread but unfortunately stopped during a week when they were closed for a remodel. I will have to try again.
Best of luck with your new venture! When I get over to the Island I will stop by and say hi.
Regards,
Floyd
You have not lost your touch! Simple, yet elegant loaves. I'm glad you are settled in, given how hard it is to migrate with family. I look forward to your new baking adventures.
And what a fine looking bag of flour! Where you reside, You should be Able to get access to some of the finest bread flours in the world!
Khalid
Thanks, Khalid.
-Floyd
Baking in your new home must have been a thrill, Lloyd. That city has stayed in my memory for many years and some day I would love to return. Canada seems like a wonderful place to make a new life, and I wish you all the best. Beautiful breads to bless your new home!
Joy
Thanks, Joy.
-Floyd
It is so great that we have one more bread lover (family) moving to Vancouver. And what an accomplishment of producing such beautiful loaf of bread in a new environment! We've just moved to this new house last year and my first loaf of bread was a disaster: fridge temp was out of whack and the oven was totally different than our old one.
One of the best kitchen stores (and bakeware) is Gourmet Warehouse ("warehouse" is just the name of the store). They have lots of varieties and good quality stuff, not to mention some speciality food items. The owner and her staff are all friendly people. I just love shopping there. Check it out!
Cheers,
Michelle
Thanks, Michelle. I'll have to check Gourmet Warehouse out.
Best,
Floyd
I'm waiting for the timer to go off to do the second fold on your pan sur poolish, that I am experimenting with as the base recipe for some sour dough culture I've managed to keep alive for a couple of years now. I've been popping in and out of your website for almost as long, and I've found it a great site. So welcome to my city. As noted above, The Gourmet Warehouse on Hastings is a great place, as is Meinhardt's in South Granville. A note about Canadian flour for those who might not know, it's not the same as it's U.S. cousin (you may find yourself begging friends to bring back some KA for you as the hit the border), but it works as long as you remember to use LESS. This is where your experienceuat look and feel will help you. When I am pressed for time and make breads from AB5D I automatically cut the flour by a half a cup and even then, I sometimes need to add a little moisture to get it slack enough. Like our beer, our everyday flour is stronger :). You don't notice it so much when you're baking cakes, but bread? WHOA! I'm looking forward to a new batch of recipes from you that are Canadian-eh?
Thanks, Janine!
I'm definitely noticing that the AP flour is stronger here. And, yes, now the kids are in school I'm finally getting some time to explore the supplies side of the culinary world here, which is quite exciting.
Best,
Floyd
Another tip from a fellow Canuck re: flour - there are still a few historic mills left which produce some interesting products. Check out http://arvaflourmill.com/?show=products for example (although its located in Ontario, they ship nationally) - their flours are used by most of the artisenal bakers in the Toronto area.