The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

A real artisan baker?

@MyLunchTweet's picture
@MyLunchTweet

A real artisan baker?

Can you really describe yourself as an Artisan bread maker if you use any form of mechanical mixing device?  @MyLunchTweet

http://www.lunchtweet.co.uk

yy's picture
yy

Not sure if this is an actual question or a rhetorical one aimed at publicizing your blog. Assuming the former at the risk of looking like a fool, I'd point you to Maggie Glezer's Artisan Baking for insight. 

jcking's picture
jcking

Oh yes I can, can you?

yy's picture
yy

LOL 

and can you really describe yourself as a craftsman of written words if you use a computer to type them instead of the humble quill? 

Janetcook's picture
Janetcook

Titles and their cumbersome definitions have no meaning for me where baking is concerned. I do not bake a certain way in order to  classify myself or the things I bake.  I bake out of sheer joy and the pleasure it gives me.

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

The answer is yes.

And you can describe yourself as a schmerkle without having a clue what it means.

Glenn

tn gabe's picture
tn gabe

so i don't call myself an artisan in the first place. i'm just someone who likes to bake and is lucky enough that people buy my bread!

foodslut's picture
foodslut

.... according to this definition:  "adjective:  pertaining to or noting high-quality, distinctive products made in small quantities", bread can be artisinal if mixed mechanically, if it's high quality, distinctive and made in small batches.  Also, if an "artisan" is a "person skilled in an applied art", one can be an artisan, say, making cabinets even if you use electric tools.  Therefore, mechanical mixing alone shouldn't remove the "artisan" label.

That said, I'm all for Janetcook's approach:  I bake because I love baking, and I don't care if people consider me "artisinal" or not. 

Wild-Yeast's picture
Wild-Yeast

Hit builder for a blog site?

Some Hyperbole-

Yes, I grow my wheat, mill it in a water powered grist mill, mix it using wind power, use sea salt evaporated from the ocean and water from an artesian spring, leaven it with wild-yeast and bake it with a dung fired oven. Totally self sufficient article...,

What could be more artisnal than that....,

Wild-Yeast