Several days ago I paid a visit to my friend, a German chef / food and beverage manager of a local restaurant. I sought constructive criticsm and wanted his honest opinion regarding my loaf; I'm referring to the Cumin Walnut Cheese Rye Sourdough Bread [1].

Upon meeting him, I unexpectedly met a group of his friends---a food and beverage (F&B) consultant, an Austrian chef / baker, and an Indian chef.

Offering them a sample of my bread loaf, the following were the essence of their critiques:

• The F&B consultant: "It's a failure."
• The German chef: "It's not that bad."
• The Austrian chef / baker: "It's shit."
• The Indian chef: "Not bad."

Amongst them, the feedback given by the F&B consultant was the most detrimental. He meticulously picked apart my loaf, criticizing every little detail, and... It felt as if a hot rod was plunged into my heart, jerking violently with each word spoken. As I sat rock-still on my chair, I did my best to maintain eye contact, fixating a superficial smile across my face.

Amongst them, the most insightful and helpful feedback was given by the F&B consultant.

After the aforementioned incident, I thought long and hard about my progress as a baker, pacing back and forth in my bedroom in the midst of the night. However, in the end, I was left with one conclusion: "I'll do better."

Without further digression, I proudly present to you my yeast water boule (above), inspired by the Japanese rice ball (i.e., onigiri [2]). With exception to a few references, the recipe was devised on my own---a first in my undertaking as an amateur homebaker.

Days prior to baking the yeast water boule, I booked a reservation at a reputable and popularized Japanese restaurant in town (highly recommended by the F&B consultant, I discovered). Possessing little to no familiarity with Japanese cuisine, I felt it was necessary to test a few of their dishes before rendering their food into a crusty bread loaf.

Having done research beforehand, at the restaurant I ordered the tamagoyaki [3]for the appetizer, a platter of nigirizushi [4] (pictured above) for the first course, mazizushi [5] for the second course, and red bean soup [6] (i.e., zenzai) for the dessert.

Overall, I was given the impression that Japanese food was about the balance of delicate to mild flavours, using simpler, fresher ingredients, with their main dishes leaning towards saltiness.

Now grasping a vague sense of "Japanese flavours", I selected the following ingredients for the yeast water boule:

Unbleached all-purpose flour, Type 55 French flour, Partially steamed brown rice, Yeast water starter, Mineral water, Japanese soy sauce (Shoyu [7]), Honey, Toasted sesame seeds, Roasted seaweed (Nori [8]), Bonito flakes (Katsuobushi [9]), Sea salt, and Extra virgin olive oil.

Note: Nearly on a whim, I purchased two different brands of nori for comparison. And what did I learn? One nori was much more flavoursome than the other. Thus, not all similar products are created equally.

Originally, I intended to shape the dough into a triangle but found it too awkward. The dough kept molding itself into a ball and I took that as a strong indication that the dough was unhappy.

Boule it is, then!

Truth be told, the boule tasted awful---too many unbalanced flavours, with bitterness being the most dominent. (Burnt rice grains were to blame.)

Should I be upset? Nahh, first attempts are rarely successful attempts. It was an experiment after all. On the positive side, the boule resembled a Japanese rice ball, which was one of my primary goals for the loaf.

Before I end this post, I'd like to mention something rather personal, baking-wise:

In the past I had followed the baker's creed of "extracting flavours from the grain to the best of my capability". But as time progressed, I noticed my baking style was becoming more distinctive: 1) I prefer using "natural" or non-artifical ingredients; 2) I concentrate on the aesthetics of the bread, just as much as the flavour; 3) I enjoy incorporating unusual ingredients into the dough.

My dear TFLers, I now abide to new bread baking creed, perhaps one that you may disagree with.

My responsibility as a bread baker is to use flour as the medium. All other ingredients are flavouring components (some with critical functional properties) and must be combined in such a way that is balanced and pleasurable to the palate.

Thanks for reading, all. Farewell and have a happy baking. :)

Zita