Chest Thumping and Distinctions without a Difference

I have been looking at bread and pastry recipes since the days when Louis Diat was still chef at the Ritz -  call it 60+ years. I see progressively more detailed and pedantic recipes.  I think some of that is an effort to sell the newest edition of the latest cookbook.

I seek the best bread for the least effort. I do not need the absolute consistency of a large bakery. I do not need the labor efficacy of a commercial bakery, and I do not have the equipment that is found in a bakery. I do not need a stream of novelties to prick the curiosity of a customer. Nevertheless, I do turnout very good breads and pastries, well suited to the menu of the day.

My rules are simple:

1. Good ingredients. White flour goes stale in a few months. Whole grain flour goes stale/rancid very fast. Use good, fresh ingredients.
2. Learn to use baker’s percentages so you can scale recipes up or down.  And, knowing the baker’s percentages for various kinds of dough and the appropriate techniques, means you do not need a recipe.
3. Hydration is very important. Regardless of point 2. above flours/grain absorb and lose moisture, and advanced bakers will compensate for changes in the moisture of ingredients. In a commercial setting, the flour/grain is always fresh, and the moisture as it comes from the vender will be consistent. (And many professional bakers do not think about this issue, but the best bakers do quality control, and check the hydration of every batch of dough!) However, flour/grain that has been in storage in a home may have absorbed or lost moisture.  Spend some time baking with a good, experienced baker and learn what the various doughs should feel like.
4. Time and temperature schedules are guidelines, but what really counts is the condition of the dough. Learn to check gluten development (window test) and stage of fermentation/ readiness for baking with your hands. When the dough is ready, guidelines do not matter, the dough is the boss.
5. Have fun! (Where else do you get to “Punch the boss down”?) Treat each bake as a lesson.  Keep a journal – mine is mostly in the form of annotations in my various cookbooks and a binder of printouts, also annotated. (There was a time when it was 6,000-4” by 6” index cards.)