Hello fellow bakers. Long-time lurker.
I have been baking bread for about ten years, seriously for the past two or so. About ten years ago I built an Alan Scott wood-fired bread oven (having essentially never baked prior to that) and actually once completed, that got me started on baking. I still use it for baking and also keeping the heat out of the kitchen for summer dinner. But my baking really started when my local market switched providers on their baguettes. They downgraded from something passably edible to a completely inferior and inedible yeast risen loaf. Bleh. I decided I could do better!
Since satisfying myself that my baguette had little chance to improve, I have branched out to a variety of sourdough and hybrid loaves even branching out into croissant and even kouign amann. Strictly a mix by hand, sourdough, long development and retard amateur, except for baked pastries which typically are yeast risen. Someday I fantasize that a pro will let me into their kitchen. I am quite happy creating a "rustic" appearance, having essentially given up on creating anything more aesthetically sophisticated.
I am fascinated by how ecological conditions (temp, hydration, mix) influence sourdough cultures and the resulting population shifts and ratio of the various Lactobacillus species and the impact on flavor. Is there a section of the forum devoted to that?
Above photos show several creations from this past weekend. A baguette derived from Fromartz's "Perfect Loaf," Croissant via Bruno Albouze, and Pain De Campagne via Ken Forkish.
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Hiya Bill
Greetings from Mauritius... wow, a baker that first built his oven and then started baking. That is pretty unusual. I've always toyed with the idea of building a wood-fired oven, but currently living in Mauritius, where people don't generally burn wood. Honestly, from the look of your breads, I'm kind of surprised you haven't branched out into a micro-business. Re your fascinations... check out recent discussions in the section of the forum devoted to sourdough. DanAyo and others have documented some interesting experiments, and there are some impressively in-depth discussions on the go :-)
Lisa