November 15, 2017 - 9:42am
Hello from Montreal!
Hi everyone. I finally was able to join TFL after a few days of issues with the site. I am new to baking anything to do with bread other than pita bread or pizza. My son has taken to making bread and has sort of “pushed“ me into making a sourdough starter. Just to say I will be asking for lots of help as this has proven to be quite a challenge! Love the site and looking forward to the next step although I’m a bit intimidated at the moment to start making anything remotely close to sourdough!
Sharon
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we're a friendly bunch, happy to help so post your questions as you go and I am sure you will get lots of answers. We've all been there.
Leslie
Hi Leslie, I’m looking forward to picking everyone’s brains here!
Montreal certainly has its fair share of great bakeries! I travel north a couple of times a year to stock up on specialty meats, some baked goods (usually don't last long enough to make the border station) and all varieties of excellent foodstuffs. Montreal is my closest "big city".
Marche Atwater is a convenient stop for me as it has most everything I need.
There are lots of good recipes on this site, along with some excellent coaching and advice. A couple of key points for new bakers - purchase a scale that weighs in grams. It doesn't need to be big or expensive. Do some research on baker's percentages. It is the language we speak here and very easy to learn. Do a search on "steam" in the TFL archives because steam is pretty essential in rustic breads. Zero in on a way for you to add steam to your oven.
Best of luck to you and we look forward to your postings.
Jim
Hi Jim, wow, Atwater Market is great. If you ever have the time, try Marche Jean Talon. It’s quite remarkable. And yes, Montreal is a wonderous place to shop, especially bagels, and smoked meat!
I have a scale, still trying to wrap my American born brain around grams vs ounces. You’d think I would have converted years ago I’ve been here so long. Right now my biggest issue is getting a starter to actually take and to maintain. I find all the various methods have me totally flummoxed, especially the feeding cycle once it finally starts getting active. So this is still a work in progress.
you can feed it once a day if you leave it on the bench. After a few weeks (so it is strong enough) you can store a quantity say 100-200 grams (or even less) in the fridge and build an off shoot starter. or levain when you bake. Then you only need to feed it (depending on how much you bake) weekly. 2 weekly, monthly or even longer. easy peasy once you get your head around it. Look up No Muss No Fuss starter using the search box. this is an excellent way to maintain your established starter.
Leslie
Bakeries is in montreal and no I am noy talking about your famous bagels but a small place in plateau 'monsieur pinchot' - and btw apparently the robin hood brand of flour is very similar to french flour. In the US the premo brand is king arthur which is very strong and difficult to use if / when attempting to replicate french bread so you are in luck - looking forward to your posts !
Good to hear that about Robin Hood. It’s my preferred flour. Haven’t gotten to making French breads. The only bread I make are Middle Eastern breads and pizza. This is a whole other world for me. You may see lots of posts asking for advice.
Are at the top of my list especially manaesh, but favs are the pastries like namoura, ataef and especially knaffeh (in pita with qatr)
Just so you know, I still haven’t baked anything yet, lol! I think I have finally gotten the starter down and thriving. My son used some of my starter to bake bread and pizza. He’s still figuring out how to use starter vs yeast. Abe is encouraging me to make the Norwich Sourdough bread, so soon. Don’t think I would make sourdough pita bread, though. Some things I don’t want to mess with!