In France, they just call it “bread”
September 24, 2009
I am all about baking bread lately. Check out these lovely baguettes I made last night. Nice and crusty and very good. Once again, The Joy of Cooking comes through, although their breads have been a little salty. I’ll remember that next time and cut the salt in half. There’s something about baking bread that really satisfies. The process involves this almost baffling alchemy of rising and kneading, and then surprise, it’s bread! It’s like the Calvin and Hobbes strip where they try to figure out why bread goes into the toaster and toast comes out. Where does the bread go? It’s kinda like that.
Mom got me a book, “Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day.” Hertzberg and Francois, St Martin’s Press, NY, 2007. Simple, easy. I’ve only done two or three recipes with minor variations. No kneading! Also, get an oven thermometer. I used two, and found my oven runs 25 degrees cold around the 450 point. God bless you for use of a known item for scale. Some of me is in you! We still have some tomatoes ripening, and have planted the fall radishes and peas. What a good first year for us of practice gardening.