August 13, 2017 - 2:10pm
BOOMSHANKA - 2 in a row
In case it has become obvious that's my battle cry when something exciting emerges from the oven - this time (not included in photo 6 delicious little licorice canele) some nicely caramelized grignes and pretty nice crumb (at least on my overly critical crumb gauge). Nice thing about this bake is it's a 24 hour cold retard which lends well to a very flavorful loaf. On a side note thought a blog entry might be more appropriate thanks to the suggestion of icedemeter ;)
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I have just spent the last how long going through your older blogs, and flipping back and forth to this one, comparing crust and ears and crumb and.... ?!?! Quite some time - but I consider it well spent in seeing some of the steps that you took as you concentrated on improving each detail, one at a time.
Seriously, the comparison is truly amazing, even just looking back to what you were thrilled with back in March (and justifiably so, may I add). For a newcomer to breads and baking like myself, it is a good reality check that not only do these deceptively simple looking white breads NOT come out looking like that in one try, or two, or two hundred, but more importantly, that each step and each improvement is something to be really happy and enthusiastic about --- both for the success at that level and for what it teaches about where to go next.
It's a bit bemusing that I have no interest in details or seeking perfection (I'm using baking as anti-perfection therapy after a long career requiring minute attention to detail), I have no interest in white breads (the flavour has never appealed to me), and no interest at all in baguettes (seems like a very impractical shape for my bread usage) BUT YET am still so caught up in your enthusiasm and how much pure pleasure you get out of improving each and every week that I keep catching myself pondering giving these a try, too. Your enthusiasm is contagious! (I'm carefully ignoring your caneles --- I could far too easily get caught up in those delicious little treats, and I'm fairly sure that they have calories in them ....)
I actually gave in to my curiousity about the difficulty of the baguette shape last week, and tried a much shorter, fatter version (I'm not brave / silly enough to jump right in at full length!) at around 38 cm long and 6 cm diameter before baking. The resulting "bats" (they're not baguettes, they're not batards --- but I could definitely use them as a weapon!) were a strong confirmation of just how much harder the "real deal" is that you are working with. It was a fun experiment, though, and has me pondering...
Many thanks, and I hope you keep having this much fun with your bakes!
Best, Laurie