Hello from a Bread Making Recluse
Hello to everyone here. I am an ordinary person who has always made their own bread, rather than buy it in the store. My uncle taught me when I was young, a long time ago. Very few people know that I make my own bread. Nobody ever asks, "Where do you get bread?"
I never connected with anyone who makes their own bread, other than family. I own a few books on bread making and cooking in general. I have worked on my bread recipes in isolation for a very long time, keeping notes, making adjustments, and trying to improve them. I make a variety of breads with different techniques. The family favorites are a light deli style rye bread and an extra-sour sourdough bread.
For everyday bread, I use a bread machine for convenience. The bread machine makes right-size, right-shaped loaves that fit in the toaster or a fold-top sandwich bag. More important, the bread machine reduces the inconvenient interruptions that come with traditional methods. My goal for bread machine recipes is to come closer to the flavor, texture, and overall quality of artisan breads without sacrificing convenience. I harbor no illusions - none of my bread machine loaves would make the cut at the county fair. It does not matter as long as they taste much better, cost much less, and have no chemical preservatives compared with store bought bread.
A few months ago, I thought about sharing some of my recipes with others by posting them online. I found this website while searching for a suitable place. Honestly, it is the best bread making website I found, but after lurking here for a while and seeing the threads, blogs, recipes, formulas, spreadsheets, terminology and acronyms here, it is clear that I am way out of my league. My recipes look like they came from the mid 20th Century, without grams or percentages or hydrations or a perspective like that. I made them so they work for me, but they would not fit in here. I have decades of bread making experience, but no real knowledge. People drive cars all their lives, but that does not make them expert drivers, or even safe drivers. Half of them are below average drivers. :-(
Why am I bothering to post this? To share that other types of bread makers exist. They may feel overwhelmed when they come here. There is much that is taken for granted and not everyone is prepared to dive into the deep end. I am content to go back and play "mad scientist in the lab" and continue to refine my work as before. In the meantime, I went to the library and checked out two books by Peter Reinhart to get a more modern perspective on bread making.
The primary reason I am here is to register as a member. I may post a question or two in the future. Now I will go back to lurking and learning. Thank you for reading.