Posted in Lean Doughs, Techniques on Oct 20th, 2008
I’ve always been fascinated by how the different regions of France have managed to maintain their unique cultural identities. These regional identities can be evident even in the type and shape of the local bread. For example, in Auvergne, bread is often baked in the Auvergnat form, a shape that is evocative of a type of hat worn by residents of the region. In Beaucaire, bread is traditionally shaped through a folding process […]
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Posted in Lean Doughs, Techniques on Sep 13th, 2008
Learning or creating new bread shapes has always been great fun for me. Yes, my goal is to always bake bread with a seductive aroma, flavor and texture, but as someone obsessed with trying to bake the best possible bread that I can at home, visual appeal is also a big part of the story. […]
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Posted in Lean Doughs on Aug 9th, 2008
As a young boy growing up in Brooklyn, NY, it was always a rare treat to enjoy a meal at one of the many area restaurants. I remember particularly looking forward to eating at the local pizzeria (hence my attempt at recreating New York-style pizza), the not-so-local Chinese restaurant (my foray into Chinese cuisine can be the topic […]
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Posted in Lean Doughs on Aug 2nd, 2008
When it comes to pain au levain, I have to admit that I am a bit of a snob. Why else would I call it pain au levain rather than sourdough bread, as most people do? I’ve never much cared for the name “sourdough”. Once something carries that moniker, all sorts of lip-puckering, eye-watering attributes are […]
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Posted in Lean Doughs, Techniques on Jul 7th, 2008
Pain de campagne, or “country bread”, is bread baked in the style of the rustic loaves found throughout the French countryside. There really is no one correct way to bake a pain de campagne loaf; the formulae are as varied as the traditional ways of shaping the loaves. Pain de campagne can be made with a natural leaven […]
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Posted in Lean Doughs, Techniques on Jun 28th, 2008
It’s been said that the baguette, although one of the simplest breads (being comprised of only flour, water, yeast and salt), is perhaps the most difficult bread to make well. A good baguette has a thin, crisp crust, a light and airy crumb having a distribution of both large and small air pockets (alveoli), and a slightly […]
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