Community Bake - The No Comfort Zone Bake
Community Bake - The No Comfort Zone Bake
TFL Community Bakes are the result of CB founder Dan. Of his own creation and nurturing, to interest and help others, and in turn be helped, as we all strive to improve our baking skills and widen our baking horizons. Kudos to him for this lasting gift to us all.
For this CB I’d like to try a different tact, and I don’t know if it will really take hold. If it does, then I was onto something. If not, it will soon fall by the wayside, I’ll lick my wounds and call it a day on this one.
My own preference when it comes to baking is to stick with the tried and true. Not necessarily keeping a tight grip on any one formula, or two. But rather adhering to my admittedly limited ingredient list. Usually focused on FWS, levains and little else - with the flour components rendered to my own limited comfort zone. And so I rarely stray far from “home" when it comes to challenging myself with the unknown. Recently I came across the video of the Kingdom Bakery Pain au Levain with Polenta bread, and it provided me with the idea for this bake.
Which is to ask you to take yourself out of your “Comfort Zone”, try something that would be foreign to you, and maybe just a bit uncomfortable. Whether it be a significant change in a hydration from fairly high to fairly low, a new form or format, a new tool employed and especially to take on ingredients that you’ve shied away from using or hadn’t considered using before. In other words, I’m asking you to place yourself in some new territory.
There's a consistent smattering of TFL islanders who, on a regular basis, do just that. Everything but the kitchen sink seems to be fair game for them. You know who you are and so do we! For those folks it may not be as easy to find a new “thing” to try.
We might all be able to prosper from someone else’s newfound bake, whether it be to try it ourselves, or to coach someone who gave it a try but feels something is lacking and looking for our support. In other words, somewhat like business as usual in the CBs.
When you post your bake, please mention what there is about your choice that interested you, and Why this is out of your Comfort Zone. In the companion CB blog I’ll share what I’ve been doing recently, all in the name of softly pushing myself into some unknown territories. Not necessarily as a model for anyone else, but rather to provide some general ideas of where I’ve gone, where I’ve recently grown, and perhaps provide you with the same for your own ideas and bakes.The companion CB blog is here [1].
The fine print...
As always, the CB occupies a corner of TFL. Created to be a collaborative effort, both to enhance one’s skills as well as to help others with their skills. By no means is any formula provided meant to be the be-all-and-end-all of the CB. Rather, they are a framework of distinct ways to achieve a bread that meets the general criteria. I encourage you to experiment and explore, to modify and to introduce to our CB participants your own experiences and versions. And most of all, to learn and help all of us to better ourselves as bakers. I also encourage you to find something you like, change one or many things about it and to make it your own!
And as our Community Bake founder Dan said:
All bakers of every skill level are invited to participate. Novice bakers are especially welcomed and plenty of assistance will be available for the asking. The Community Bakes are non-competitive events that are designed around the idea of sharing kitchens with like minded bakers around the world, "cyber style". To participate, simply photograph and document your bakes. You are free to use any formula and process you wish. Commercial Yeast, sourdough, or a combination of both are completely acceptable. Once the participants get active, many bakers will post their formulas and methods. There will be many variations to choose from.
Here is a list of our past CBs [2].
They remain active and are often monitored by numerous contributors that are ready, willing, and able to help if assistance is needed. A quick browse of past CBs will provide an accurate picture of what these events are all about.
**********************************************************************
Since many of the CBs grow quite large, it can become difficult to follow the progress of each individual baker. Things get very spread out. In an attempt to alleviate congestion and consolidate individual baker’s bread post, the following is suggested.
Links to baker’s BLOGs that have posted a compiled list of bakes for this CB
- alfanso [1]
- Benito [3]
- HeiHei29er [4]
- Ilya Flyamer [5]
*For the original postings please click the links above.
**********************************************************************
For those who wish to limit or disengage from the flood of email notifications associated with long threads such as these CBs produce, Dan had written up how to do so
http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/66354/tip-how-stop-email-notification-any-topic [6]
**********************************************************************