August 28, 2007 - 2:12pm
Oregon Fresh Loafers Meet-up - Sat., Sept. 15: 12:30 pm
Hello all! How about we Oregonians, old and new, have a get-together? I suggest:
- What: A picnic! With bread! And other food ....
- When: Saturday, Sept. 15 at 12:30 p.m.
- Where: Westmoreland Park in Portland, Ore.
- Who: Bread bakers, lurkers, spouses, kids, friends, dogs, etc. Atkins diet adherents may have difficulty adhering to their faith.
- Why: Because, as beautiful as good bread is to look at, ultimately, good bread was meant to be EATEN. (Plus, it's nice to talk to the bakers as well, in between mouthfuls.)
- What to bring: Food, drink, merriment. Oh, and maybe some trifle you've baked?
Let us know if you'll be coming!
Share
I'll be in Texas that weekend! Bummer deal. I bet it will be a lot of fun!
We'll be there.
At this moment I wish I lived up in the Portland area. I'd LOVE to get together with all you bread bakers. It would be so much fun!!!
I hope somebody takes pictures - of people.
Rosalie
:D
Hey J Monkey
I am going to try to make this. It sounds like fun. Only issue might be if my sons fall baseball is at the same time. I have to admit I feel like a movie star before the Oscars. They are trying to decide what to wear on the red carpet. I am trying to decide what to bake for the painted picnic table.
Da Crumb Bum
As long as I don't get called into work!! Are we just packing a picnic for ourselves or for sharing? (besides the baked yeasty stuff?) Details to follow?
This is the first time we are doing this, so I think we are making it up. Any extra bread to share will likely get consumed (including stale bread... there are a ton of ducks at Westmoreland Park).
Westmoreland Park is only about 5 minute up the 99E from Bob's Red Mill. We may go by there beforehand to pick up some grains before heading over to the park. Bob's also has sandwiches and drinks.
The rest of us will wish we were there. :)
Hello All
I was just thinking after reading Bluez posts and all the great responses regarding starters it might be cool for the attendees of this event to bring a small sample of their ripe starter. I for one would like to compare smell and consistancy and then taste the resulting bread. It might be a bit of a hassle to bring, but it would be interesting. The starter I have is a couple of years old it's pretty much all I have ever used and I would like to see what else is out there. I will also share my starter with anyone who might be interested. See you there.
Da Crumb Bum
That sounds like a great idea, Crumb Bumb. I'll bring some to share.
Anyone else showing up?
Sure, I can bring a few little bags of starter.
I'm not going to be in attendance, but I have a suggestion for those bringing starters.
Prepare labels with your starter info and put them on baggies to hold the samples. Since so many of you are computer whizzes, you can all just whip them out on your computers. Include your name, the name (if any) of your starter, when/where it was started, type of flour, etc.
I offer this suggestion to save the time of everyone fumbling for paper for taking notes or ending up with mystery starter samples. It'll all be there on your starter ready to hand out.
Rosalie
Is that from when Mikey wasn't other-worldly?
I will be there. I can share starter if anyone is interested in Otis or Franco. How much bread are we supposed to bring?
Lee
PS Westmoreland is a big place... where to meet?
Yeah, it is a large place. I was assuming since JMonkey and I will likely be coming with small children we'd meet about halfway down, not far from the playground.
Hello All
For some reason I have been all messed up as to what day it is. I guess that short Labor Day week threw me for a loop. Anyway, I marched up and down the length of the park with a couple loaves of bread balanced on my cooler before I realized I was just a week early. I now have the "lay of the land" so to speak though. Like Floyd said there is a play structure about halfway down. On the playstructure side of the creek there is a single picnic table and a bit of shade. Depending on how many are coming one picnic table might not be enough. Just across the creek there are 4 or 5 picnic tables that we could pull together and are under shade. The drawback of this is the kids would be on the other side of the creek from the parents. There is also a fair amount of goose "fertilizer" on this side of the creek from the large population of resident geese. People might want to bring wipes or some type of clean up stuff in case the kids get into some of this. Parking up side streets was fairly easy. Just thought I would give you all a heads up. Looking forward to meeting you all.
Da Crumb Bum
I still want to see if I can get Bob's Red Mill to give us at least a walk-through tour of the mill, if y'all are interested, since it will not be operational on the weekend. I need a head-count of those who want to see it.
Lee
That'd be very fun.
--
Jeff
I'd love to, but this Saturday there is a Kids' Safety Fair (new bike helmets), the Autumn Moon festival parade in Chinatown, a Kite Festival at Blue Lake Park, and another festival in the park by the library we go to. I think we are only going to make 2 or 3 (morning: bike helmets; midday: TFL; late afternoon: kites) but the day is still going to be packed. I don't think I'll have time for Bob's this Saturday.
Sorry, my wife just reminded me that we've got a contra dance in Corvallis to attend that evening, and she'd like to see if we can take Iris to the zoo, so I think I'm now out as well.
... out for the tour. I'll still be there for the Meet-up.
I look forward to meeting all who come.
Lee
I'm sorry.. I knew this would happen..I have to go to work. We've had a problem with equipment at work. Parts are being flown in from Germany. I hope you all have a great time, take pictures. Hope we can all get togther another time.
Looks like there's three of us (plus families -- sorry Paddyscake! I hope you can make the next one!). I thought I'd bring:
Nice.
I am trying to bake today. Assuming something comes out edible, I will bring:
so good. I'd love to try the Desem. I think you will have 4, plus families..you, Floyd, Leemid and Da Crumb Bum. Again..have a great time!
Hello All
I will be bringing two miches
One will be 15% ww and one will be 15% rye. Sort of Vermont SD made into a big old loaf.
PB and Js for the kids
A large bowl of salad from farmers market. Butter, olives, cheese and some type of sliced meat. You are all welcome to anything I bring.
My ripe starter and a few baggies.
I might talk my wife into a dessert as well but no promises.
Looking forward to seeing you.
Da Crumb Bum
So near - and yet so far! If I still lived in Leaburg I would be there, but as I can't I hope you have a fun time with lots of good bread. Don't forget the photos! A
Pictures here.
Hello All
First off, thanks Floyd for the site. Its made baking a whole lot more interesting and shortened my learning curve allot. JMonkey thank you for putting this together, it was fun talking to fellow bread bakers and spouses who endure our obsession. I also enjoyed trying the different breads you all brought. The starter exchange was cool too, and I cannot wait to do side by side experiments. I think we should make this a annual event. Just think, in a few years when this event outgrows local parks and we have to reserve waterfront park, we will look back and say we were at the first one! Actually, I like the small family feel of this group and as much as I wish for membership to grow I hope it maintains the current "feel". Thank you for the complements regarding my bread. It means allot to me. I was a little nervous baking for my peers. Thanks again for everything.
Da Crumb Bum
This morning I got up and decided to redo my lousy rye before trying the new starters aquired yesterday, and of course I was all busy recalculating the recipe for the remaining firm Otis from yesterday, entirely forgetting that was all I had of Otis, so now I have no more firm Otis. And as I said yesterday, the redo on the wet Otis is not necessarily surely Otis, so I am wondering how to meet up with either you, crumb bum or Floyd somewhere this week to get some back? Please let me know how we exchange personal emails without giving them out to the world...
And thanks for a great afternoon,
Lee
I emailed you, jmonkey, and crumb bum last night at the email address you each have on file here. You should be able to take a look at that and see each of our addresses.
Hi Crumb Bum, What's the flour Leemid is going on about? I'm always searching for a better mouse trap er flour.
Eric
Hey Eric
The flour in question is Morbread unbleached flour. It is made by Pendlton Mills and they have a web site. I get it at cash and carry for around $15 for 50 lbs. It is the bag with the brown lettering. Be careful as the green label is the same flour but is bleached. I looked it up and it has 12% protein. The bag says Pendlton Oregon so it is sort of local as well. I am not sure how it would compare to other flours as I pretty much have used this, Gold Medal Better for Bread, and Bobs. I am not sure this is a better mousetrap but I do like the flour and it and makes great bread. I have used the red label Power Flour and it is pretty strong stuff for bread making in my opinion. I would try their AP but all C and C seems to carry is a bleached version. Cash and Carry is kind of a sleeper place for all sorts of stuff food and resteraunt related items.
Da Crumb Bum
I regretted it after the fact, but on the big day I was too shy to make it to the gathering, being a newbie to the site and all, plus various chaos having prevented me from baking anything the day before.
But I was just over at Bob's Red Mill, and that made me wonder if anyone else still had any interest in scheduling a tour with them. I'd really like to see the mill in action, and perhaps learn a bit more about flour, and meet some fellow bakers at the same time.
Also, I have a plan, for which I need cohorts, who ethically should probably be in Multnomah County... I strongly believe (not entirely disinterestedly) that the Multnomah County Library should have a copy of Calvel's _The Taste of Bread_ -- it's such a primary reference, yet expensive enough that a lot of people (like myself) can't just go out and buy a copy. And the library's policy is that if a few people request a purchase, they'll buy the book. So to make things easy for you, here's the Multnomah County Library's purchase request page and here is Amazon.com's page for the book which has the info you'll need for the library's form, like ISBN, price and publisher info.
Maybe we should request that they get a copy of _Bread Science_ too...
Noel
Bob's was one of the reasons we held this at Westmoreland Park: we were hoping to get enough people to get them to give us a tour and Westmoreland Park is only 5 minutes away from the mill. We didn't put together a large enough group to get a weekend tour, but we could try again (or try to go during the week).
I requested The Taste of Bread at Multcolib 3 or 4 years ago to no avail, but I'll try again.
Alternatively, a bunch of people, if there is not one generous person available, could pool their money and buy a copy to donate to the library. The libraries are themselves not rolling in dough. (Uh-oh! Pardon the double entendre!)
Rosalie
I suggested that we local NWers get together for the fun of it. I expected to meet some good people, taste some good bread, and have a nice relaxing time in the park. What I didn't count on was a real and significant boost in my baking experience. I have fairly limited interest in the wide variety of breads that are made under the sun; I personally love just regular old sourdough, and sourdough rye. I grew up on 40/60 whole wheat/white and love that too, but of course it is just common bread after 30 years of Mom's, an my version of her, bread. If I had the time I would increase my circle of interest, but I have a couple of teenaged daughters that I am actively involved in raising, coaching, driving, encouraging, math correcting, etc. I have a host of other hobbies too, all of which take more time than I have to give.
So when I met crumb bum, jmonkey and floydm in person, tasted their bread and exchanged little plastic bags, I was content. But it is the result of the conversations that have changed how and what I do. It was as warm and fuzzy for me to have these men and their families cut slice after slice of my sourdough, the one I think is pretty good, as it had to be for crumb bum for us to go nuts over his miche. That's what we all hoped for, in little and private ways, when we muscled the nerve to go and share. We all want a little of that reassurance and affirmation. But I have been experimenting with flours for most of a year now, and never with side-by-side comparison, just memory to compare. I have used Pendleton Mills Power flour at 13.5% protein because I accidentally found it at a store in Hillsboro, Or. in 25 and 50# bags. CB expressed concern about such a high gluten count being too chewy, which I experienced to some degree but I made good enough bread. I just happened to be out of it at the time of the meet-up so I used AP. The sourdough turned out alright, but the rye sucked big time. The guys are great guys so they complimented it anyway, but I know it was lousy and it got tossed. Last week I tried that recipe again and it failed again (not me, I never fail ;) ).
Last Friday I remembered where CB mentioned he got his Pendleton Mills Morbread flour and I went to Cash & Carry to get my hands on some to test. After the wonderful experience of flopping the 50# bag onto my rear seat, only to discover the hole in the bag which resulted in a bright splash of white all over... , it became obvious to me this was exceptional flour. First, the 50# bag was within cents of the same price as the other store's price for 25# which was nice, but the feel of the flour was different from anything I had ever felt. I can't really describe it very well, just that it felt smoother and silkier than any other flour I have handled. I tasted it, raw, to discover that it didn't taste like flour. That is to say that flour has always tasted awful, with that sawdusty gag-me raw flour taste. This stuff tastes good, raw! It doesn't taste raw, but I suppose like wheat... See, I told you I couldn't describe it.
As soon as I could, I got it into a recipe. My family eats more of my sourdough than anything else so I started some Friday night. Using the same recipe I always use, except I am patiently waiting for Otis to come home to me, thanks again jmonkey. So this was a great opportunity to work more with Franco, who has almost always been a difficult child. Let me tell you how this flour brought the dough together so much more quickly and agreeably. It was immediately easy to handle, not impossibly sticky. The gluten formed up but stayed extensible. Scheduling required me to bake a little before the loaves were fully proofed, and yet the finished bread was excellent.
Lookie here:
And here is the crumb:
Well, let me tell you with such success at hand I had to fix that lousy rye bread I embarrased myself with at the meet-up. Looking at all of my notes I discovered I had somehow screwd up the recipe. Reworking it correctly, I made a batch yesterday and had the same results as the sourdough. With a hydration level of 71%, whole wheat and rye, I have learned to expect sticky, which it was, but was very easy to work with this time. I had to chill it so I could go to church, and it doesn't like to warm up very quickly, so it was way late when it came out of the oven, but it rose up like it is supposed to, baked well, although I slashed one loaf too deeply, and it tastes great!
Can you hear my excitement? I love this bread, and love making bread in general. I have a new flour. It's great, cheap, and I have to buy a lot of it at once, so I have to bake a lot of bread before it goes stale, and it really helps make great bread. I like success. Thanks Floyd, Crumb bum, jmonkey! Meeting you has made my life better.
That's my story, and I'm sticking to it.
Lee
Hey Lee
I feel the same way. I was a bit nervous baking for my peers as I stated in an earlier post. Not that it is a competition but having only baked for friends and seeing some of the beautiful bread on this site it made me wonder if I was even "in the room" with these people? I am more confident after the meet and more excited about baking. I see you got some Otis back from JMon. Otis is one strong "muttha" I have to tell you. I am glad you are enjoying the Morbread flour as well.
Now the bread. That bread looks fantastic and I know it tastes as well as it looks. Well done. I am going to work on a pure white SD I really like yours. Take Care
Da Crumb Bum
Both of your breads look great and I'm wondering what you used for recipes. Great job. weavershouse
I'll second what Da Crumb Bum said about Carl's / Otis -- that's one heck of a starter. It's fast and really full of flavor. I baked with Spelty yesterday as well and, what a difference! Spelty is ssssllllooowww, but produces a very tangy bread. It's not as complex as the bread that comes from Carl's / Otis, but if I'm looking for tang, Spelty is what I'll choose (so long as I've got the time to spare ....)
And Otis is finally on his way home to you. I was afraid he wouldn't make it. Early yesterday morning, I made a really stiff doughball with a bit of active Otis and put it in a box, hoping my wife could stop by the university Post Office -- alas, she was so laden down on her bike, she couldn't get it into her backpack. So at 2:25, I biked to the P.O., mailed the box and made it back in time to pick up my daughter and take her to swim lessons. Whew!
BTW, I'm heading back to Boston to meet with some of my colleagues -- and I'm bringing a big honkin' Miche with me! (Assuming all goes well -- the bread is in its final rise as we speak).
By the way, if you're wondering what all this "Carl" talk is, Lee's starter (which he rechristened "Otis") is Carl's 1847 Oregon Trail Starter, which you can get for the price of a self-addressed stamped envelope. Just click through the link.
Thank you, jmonkey, I got Carl yesterday. He was fatigued by his journey, slimey like all of the gluten was wasted away, but is reviving nicely. I fed him last night and this morning he was much better. Fed him again this morning and just now I see he has tripled and is looking great.
Is this an example of casting your bread upon the waters and you shall find it after many days? I think this is an excellent example of why we all need to recruit new bakery addicts, so there is always someone near to save us with a new starter, when we lose ourselves...
Lee
Lee,
So glad he finally returned and, after a good meal, looked and felt better.
I felt the same way after taking a red eye flight to Boston ....
Hey JMon (Sounds Jamaican Mon)
Just wondering, if the Miche does not fit into the overhead do you have to buy an extra seat? Sorry, couldn't resist. Have a great trip.
Da Crumb Bum
Heh. Actually, the miche fit perfectly into the oversized backpack (a day pack, really) that I brought along. Slid under the seat in front of me very nicely. The top was slightly squished, but nothing awful. It was consumed pretty rapidly once it arrived at the office ....
This is a recipe I developed/adapted from Ray Shirvis' recipe at http://www.armchair.com/recipe/ryebread.html. I enjoyed his story; don't know if he's still with us. I tried to contact him but got no response.
I started by converting my white starter to this: 20g 100% hydration white starter (Otis), 30g water, 20g white flour, 10g rye.
Then when that is ripe I build this preferment: 75g rye starter, 150g rye flour, 175g water. Let that rise until it maxes out.
The dough:
150g ww flour, 25g rye, 500g bread flour, 400g water, 400g rye preferment, 1 1/2 tsp salt (sea salt), optional 2 tsp caraway seeds.
Blend the flours & water, autolize for an hour. Add salt and rye preferment. I knead it for some 5 minutes with the bread hook in my Kitchenaid at 4, then turn it up to 6 until the dough pulls off the walls and all but the least off the bottom of the bowl. I put it in my normal rising bucket, fold it a couple of times, or not, every hour, then scale after it doubles. Form it up into boules. Bake when doubled at 400F for 30-35 minutes until at least 180F inside. I steam for the first 5 minutes.
That's my story,
Lee
This goes back to RLBs Bread Bible. I don't remember how close it is to her recipe...
600g bread flour, 450g water, 400g firm starter (50% hydration), 3 tsp sea salt.
Combine flour and water, autolize, but I do this really silly thing that probably has no value... I stretch the 400g of firm starter into a pizza dough large enough to cover the flour paste in the bowl (the same bowl my mother used to make bread 50 years ago). After an hour, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter, starter side down, and sprinkle the salt over it, then press it in and hand knead it in for just a few minutes. I put it into my rising bucket, fold it several times every 45-60 minutes. Let it double, scale it, form it, let it double. Bake on a stone at 450F with steam for 5 minutes, reduce to 450 for another 8 minutes, then turn 180 to allow equal coloring and bake for another 8-9 minutes. Cool, man.