Greetings from Washington, DC
Hello!
Just thought I would introduce myself. I'm new to bread making, getting relatively obsessed with it about 2 weeks ago and have since bought Hamelman's book and have been going through it. So far, I've really enjoyed the results. I'm using Carl's starter, which is working out great!
While I am new to baking, I've had other obsessive food hobbies, to include: tea, beer brewing, coffee roasting, wine tasting, indian food, and thai food.
A future obsession of mine will likely be yogurt.
One food book I can really recommend strongly is Harold McGee's "On Food and Cooking", which goes into food science in more readable detail than anything else I've found. For those of you that like that sorta thing. No recipes in that book, though.
I'm also into photography, music, computer science, mathematics, and engineering. So you might see a fair amount of bread photos here as time progresses.
I love the idea of home made food, especially that which is sustainable in terms of our busy daily lives. It is really nice knowing what I am eating, and not having to injest preservatives, sodium, or other additives necessary for increasing the shelf life of many prepared foods. Plus, they tend to taste much better, even if they might be less consistent than something off a production line.
See you all around!
Steve
Hi, Steve.
Welcome to TFL!
From your self-description, I'd say you found the right place and chose the right bread book.
What kinds of bread are you interested in baking?
David
The Hamelman will definitely keep me busy for a while. I knew it would be right down my alley. Although I must admit his writing style could be improved--alot... egh. But its still been a great resource for me.
Here are a few breads on my short list:
- Rye Rye Rye (Going extreme in this area just looks like fun!)
- Real Pumpernickel (There's a recipe in Hamelman along with an anecdote)
- 80%, 90%, 100% all look interesting.
- Refining the Vermont Sourdough Recipe (for additional tang)
- Bagels
- Brioche
- A Fluffier Pizza Dough than the Quickbreads listed everywhere.
- There is a Scarsdale Diet Protein Bread that I'd like to see if I can improve.
- Maybe make more fluffy?
- Maybe it would make good bagels?
The braiding and decorative bread stuff in Hamelman's book looks very interesting as well, but that's probably pretty far down the road.
Breads I've made so far include the Vermont Sourdough (Twice), Pain Au Levain, Spelt Sourdough (Breadtopia), and a 66% Rye.
Steve
Hello all. I have been away for a while and just wanted to bump my intro in case people were curious. Lately I have been messing around with whole wheat breads from Reinhart's book.