Comments on: A Baking Mood

Comment on A Baking Mood by: Barbara Fisher

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

Thanks, Bry!

I will indeed pass on the efforts of my baking to the folks…be assured that there will be scones for our viewing of “Hitchhiker’s Guide.”

Comment on A Baking Mood by: Bryian

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

Just bake to your hearts content Barb. When you run out of space I am sure that Myself, Judi, Torquil, Pricilla, Daniel, Jackie, Heather and Dan will all be more than willing to help you dispose of the baking. All else fails, ship some of it of to “Dat Bad Ole’ Puddy Tat” downsouth we call Tom

Comment on A Baking Mood by: Barbara Fisher

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

Hey, Kris!

Don’t feel guilty about using a bread machine. In fact, you could use the recipe I gave for a bread machine if you wanted to. The orignal recipe was useable for hand made bread and bread machine bread.

As for making heavy loaves of bread-there are any number of reasons why that might be, but I suspect that when you make bread by hand you don’t knead it long enough for good gluten development. Which is a problem with hand-kneading. A lot of folks tire out before the strands of gluten have untangled themselves and then become nice and smooth so that they can stretch really well and catch lots of carbon dioxide.

Another problem may have to do with yeast growth and development.

At any rate, the bread machine is a good remedy to those issues, and I highly endorse the use of them, especially for folks who don’t have the time or energy to make breads by hand.

I mean, geez–the artisan breads you see in most bakeries and restaurants were not totally made by hand. Chefs don’t knead bread dough by hand–they let the big Hobart mixers to that job for them. (A Hobart is the commercial version of a Kitchenaid. Imagine a Kitchenaid on big doses of steroids. Some of the commercial mixers are taller than I am with bowls that a kid could nearly go swimming in. Amazing machines.)

So, don’t feel guilty! Just make and eat good bread.

Comment on A Baking Mood by: Kris

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

Oh, that bread looks so very wonderful. Really, it’s enough to entice me to try to make bread again. I’ve nearly given up hand-made bread in favour of my bread machine, and I still a bit guilty.

I am not good at breadmaking. I am very good at producing lots of heavy bricks. Perhaps in my past life I was an Egyptian brickmaker of some sort.

Comment on A Baking Mood by: Barbara Fisher

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

Hey, Dagmar! I promise to post more pictures of the other cats soonish rather than laterish. They are such a part of our lives that I feel remiss in not introducing them.

Gummi is my helpful one. He often sits on my desk and helps me write, mostly by chasing the cursor and getting in the way. He also likes to sit and watch me cook, though he is bad about sticking his wee paw into the sink to try and fish out anything that is thawing in the water there. The other cats leave it alone, being that they hate water. But not Gummi...no, not at all.

Hey, Ladi--you'll get to see your Sekhmet soon!

Whole-grain bread is the bomb, but only when it is good. I cannot abide dry crumbly bread, which is why I tend to add more honey to such loaves I bake. It is hydroscopic and so will draw more moisture and retain more moisture in the dough, thus helping to keep the bread a bit more moist than it otherwise might be.

Hello, Shirley--I love food science. My favorite classes in high school were science classes and in fact, for a time in college, I was a zoology major. The math requirements, however, killed me, so I ended up with a writing degree, and then went on to culinary school.

But still, chemistry, biology and physics still call to me, so when I teach cooking, I always give the scientific principle for how and why it works. I find that people really respond well to that method--not only do they get the practical knowledge of how to do something, they understand why it works the way it does. I find that if people understand the basic principles behind cooking and baking, they can apply them to other dishes in other settings, rather then just rely on rote memorization of recipes and processes.