The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Hello fron the SF/eBay.

BadP0ppa's picture
BadP0ppa

Hello fron the SF/eBay.

Hello everyone. I'm NOT a pro any longer. Started cooking in 1981 right after graduating UCSB. Owned 2 small places in Oakland and then in Berkeley; lost my butt. Between the 2 places, in 1990 I worked @ Postrio in SF. @ the time it was owned by then: Anne and her husband David Gingrass, and Wolfgang Puck. I made literally tons of wood fired pizzas. 1990, even tho he's a household name, Wolfgang, back then: his Smoked Salmon Pizza was all the rage. He was the first chef who made it clear to me, the way humanity uses different foods as a 'carrier'. People assumed that a Smoked Salmon Pizza was 'fired' then served. But only the crust was fired and everything else laid on top of it 'crisp, wood fired pizza dough'. The carrier of the sliced lox, sourcreme chive spread and Osetra caviar on each slice. Hungry? In 1996 I birthed some sour starter; made from organic grapes i bought at a Berkeley Farmer's Market. Been keeping the mother refrigerated and fed regularly. She is now 20yo. I was thinking I would share a bit of the mother, for others to start their own sour starter, with my 20yo starter. I will hand this to my daughters and hopefully to my grandkids, so on, so forth. It's a Japanese thing. And that I am. If anyone may be interested leave me a message. I am NOT in the business of selling this starter, although this isn't a sales ad, I will ask for a donation for the starter and shipping. It will only be, a one time thing. But since I'm joining this forum with all of the pro/ non-pro, or just old cooks like me, are members here. I thought you'd like to have something I've been caring for, for a bit of time now. Make it your own via the natural yeasts floating about where you are, will make it unique. I'm just seeing who may be interested. If not, Hello everyone. Funny but come to think of it, I've been doing sushi since 1982 and making pizzas since 1986. Jeez. For my two daughters birthday parties, it was always pizza and sushi for party food. Wow I guess I am truly frigging old. LOL.

drogon's picture
drogon

Glad you're still enjoying baking & cooking after a lifetime working in it!

After a lifetime of IT, I've gotten into the home-based microbakery thing. Who knew...

-Gordon

doughooker's picture
doughooker

Hello BadP0ppa:

What kind of flour is in your starter?

Since you are in the east bay, I hope you will visit the Golden State Bonsai Garden on lake Merritt if you haven't already. My brother and I had a hand in getting that going.

Wild-Yeast's picture
Wild-Yeast

BadPOppa,

Welcome aboard. This is one of the greatest sites in the gastronomy of bread and related articles. Some of the members are masters of the art and are willing to not only help but share as well.

Enjoyed reading your entry piece. Wolfgang is right about bread being a carrier. Panini's are an extension of that same idea as is sliced Pain au Levain. I make croutons in a large wok pan at parties that people are allowed to taste on their way through the kitchen - never have any left to serve that way though some have to be sneaked away to go with the Caesar salad. One thing, is once you have good bread you end up mixing it up with all sorts of toppings. Tartin's in SF are one of the better examples of this fact.

Sushi is something my Nisei friend introduced me to when we were teenagers fishing for Stripers in the Carquinez Strait (SF Bay) back in the bad old days. Hungry? Catch a Striper and hope you didn't forget your sushi knife. As fresh as you can get - Billy's Mom called him a fish cannibal. We never did pack a lunch - Billy was that good...,