June 14, 2010 - 1:12pm
Hi all
I really love good bread and started baking bread a little under a year ago after my wife bought me Bread Bakers Apprentice for my birthday. I am forever grateful to her for giving me that little kick I needed, because I LOVE it! I found this website shortly after I started baking and have been lurking ever since but only recently created an account for myself.
I just wanted to say hi, and thank everyone for all of the great content (and floydm for creating this awesome website!). I have really learned a lot from the weath of information to be had here and am gaining new insights all the time. Some of the recipes I make regularly come from this sight as well. THANK YOU!!!
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Hi!
I stumbled here a couple of weeks ago, and everyone that I've come in contact with is friendly and warm. I'm sure there are some who aren't, but they must be hiding. :)
I have The Bread Baker's Apprentice also, but I'm still so intimidated by the directions that I've been sticking with The Tassaraja Bread Book which is much more casual in it's approach. I *did* just bake a batch or Parker House Rolls and a loaf of Parker House Bread from a different book, however, so maybe I'm on my way to BBAing. :)
Hopefully I'll see you around on the threads. :)
Take care!
Thanks for the welcome :-)
The Bread Bakers Apprentice is a pretty good book, but I often found myself wishing his instructions were centered less around the mixer, which I do not use. I am also somewhat surprised that it really only mentions the autolyse technique in passing, because it is such a great technique to know!
May I recommend that you start with the Pain a l'Ancienne recipe when you feel ready? That is the first recipe I made from BBA (actually, the first bread I made, period) and was really quite easy. It was kind of strange working with such a wet dough (I highly recommend inserting a refrigerated autolyse step after mixing), and my shaping left a lot to be desired but that's also part of the beauty of the recipe... it's supposed to be rustic looking :-) And boy, is it good!!
Happy baking :-)
I had to look up what autolyse meant, so that tells you the level of breadmaker that I am. I'm still not quite sure how it's used, particularly one that's refrigerated, which is a bit embarrassing.
But I find many of the books that I've been coming across - BBA, Hamelman's "Bread", "Crust"- emphasize the science of breadmaking versus the spiritual, fun side of baking. I don't mean at all that it's a religious experience, but I'm doing it more to feed my spirit than make the prefect loaf. Am I starting to sound like an ageing hippie? :) I guess my approach to making bread is more "Am I enjoying this?" rather than "Did I use the right technique?"
I'm not trying to say that there is something wrong with scientific approach, definitely not! But I think that everyone who makes their own bread does it for reasons that differ from other's motivations.
I will give the Pain a l'Ancienne a try when I'm ready to become more daring in my breadmaking, :) I generally make white loaf breads as that's what my kids will eat. I branch out to ryes and oatmeals, but again it's easier to make a sandwich with a loaf than a round bread.
Today I decided to try an Epi, using a recipe from "Bread: Artisan Breads from Baguettes and Bagels to Foccacia and Brioche" by Eric Truille and Ursula Ferrigno. I am more comfortable using the sponge method of breadmaking at this point as it's what I started learning to do when I started breadmaking.
Again, I hope to run into you. :D
Hi
A warm welcome to both of you
Andy
Don't be intimidated, just try again and again, and learn from your experience. In the beginning of my bread baking career, I made enough "bricks" to build, let's say, a doghouse. The patient, wonderful "guinea pig" I married ate them all, inspite of their extreme chewiness...