Amber waves of grain. A baguette year in review

No particular order, but I did start looking at more recent 2016 pictures first.

Here in the USA the unofficial national anthem, "America The Beautiful", contains that line - amber waves of grain.  Considering the recurring "waves" in pictures of grain, I thought that was an appropriate title.

alan 

everyone can do it with practice and patience.  Most people don't want, or are too shy, to tackle baguettes.  I made that my thing.  Scoring is directly from the retard where the dough has firmed sufficiently and is compliant.  It really is all mechanical with proper technique and good steam.  It didn't come overnight and won't for most folks.  But with time, it will. 

alan

PS the "god" thing - that, and $2.75 USD will get me a ride on the NYC subway... (actually with my MTA senior card, I ride for half fare when in NY).

I think that the idea for these types of "cheesecake" photos came from David Snyder's SJSD baguettes, often featured in the right hand column under "Also on TFL".  Under the oven hood light using my iPhone camera, they seem to come out pretty good.  Usually I take the shots within minutes of the bake, before the breads have a chance to oxidize (or whatever it is that they do to lose a bit of the color and sheen).

alan

at least for me, is a solo event, it sure would be fun to put together a class of some kind.  If for nothing more than the camaraderie.  But let's not get carried away with the "master" part of it!  As I've also mentioned ion TFL, sometimes I have trouble analyzing my own problems, no less someone else's.  I seem to be good in my small corner of the baking universe, but pretty much a tenderfoot once I step beyond that limited range of knowledge.

thanks, alan

with our own unique specialties that they bring to TFL.  As I recently stated, it's a community, not a competition.  And that's what I like about hanging out around these parts.

thanks, alan

In the Wynwood section of Miami there is an old structure called the Bakehouse where The Flowers Bakery once resided.  After being abandoned for bigger digs, it was eventually converted over to a workspace/art gallery for artists from all over the world to rent workshop space within.  It would be pretty apropos for someone to exhibit bread art there.

thanks, alan

I'm just some hack doing this for the tasty output and fun of it all.  And again, if I showed this to my wife she'd probably say something like "Very nice dear, now don't forget to take out the trash before going to bed".

Thanks for the very much appreciated thought from you and all of my fellow Loafians, alan

There are an awful lot of talented dough shapers around here.  Just two examples in the baguette realm recently promoting their wares  here are Danni and kendalm who both beat me hands down in clean shaping abilities.  I can handle the scoring pretty well, but getting consistent clean shaping is still a WIP for me.

And yes, playing with food is indeed fun.  Just not in front of my Mother!

alan

doing nothing but baggies, so it certainly didn't come overnight.  First it was the IDY variety and then I moved onto my levain experience.  Nothing but pure repetition and paying attention to detail.

thanks, alan