Making bread: Something about it sucks...

One of the things I do in my free time to "relax" is to bake bread. It is a challenging thing, and for the most part, very rewarding. It takes time, precision, and loads of patience. I have tried to expand my horizons and attempt to learn from the books of the people that do the stuff for a living. So far, the experience has been relatively disappointing.

About a year or so ago, I did a lot of research online and found that the people that talked about baking at home kept recommending this particular author: Daniel Leader and his book: Bread Alone. The guy is well acclaimed, very well trained, and above all, he bakes for a living, so I bought his book, read most of it, and played with the recipes that I like. So far, I'm 0-3!

I really enjoy making bread. I've made easy stuff like Pain Ordinaire and American-style loaves to Pain the Champagne, Fruit breads, ryes, sourdoughs, and even ciabbatta (which is a major pain). All with very good, if not excellent results. The common thread? None came from his book. They came from another book called the Art of Bread from (I think) the culinary club or America I received as a gift from my mother.

Lately, I've been enjoying hearth baked Tuscan loaf from a local baker. It is mildly sour with a beautiful golden with a chewy interior and not-too-thick crust. The bread is delicious as is, and even better toasted with a little EVOO or butter. Puts a smile on my face every time I eat it. So...

I decided to look for a recipe for such item, and lo and behold, Leader's book has one called "Truly Tuscan Bread" whose description is as mentally accurate as I could find. The recipe is relatively simple, but it takes a looong time to develop. It consists of:

• Two poolies fermented slowly in the fridge over at least 1-1/2 days
• Two fermentation and punch-down periods of at least 6 hours total
• Dividing, shaping and proofing (about 2.5 hours)
  
• Baking that takes 30 minutes
• plus the prep time to mix, create the 20% bran flour mix (not an easy thing to find pre-made), etc.

Working with the dough once finally made felt right, but it didn't have the sour nose I had hoped. The dough seemed elastic enough and seemed to behave correctly. I divide the dough, proof it, and bake it in a stone with a little vapor in the oven as I always do in my house oven, checked for the right temp.

I take the loaves out and they have the dark golden color I'm used to getting from my oven, but not the beautiful medium golden color from the bought loaf. I let them rest in the cooling rack as specified, and take a slice. They look beautiful, but not as expected (again, using the store loaf as reference). I always taste my breads by themselves before I load something else like butter or oil. The crust felt thin, not at all like the bought one, the interior bubble structure seemed fine and very similar, which made me feel better. ...So I took a bite... What a supreme disappointment! It was as boring as one can make bread! It lacked the tang I was expecting, and the worst part was: the seasoning was non-existent! (If you've ever made bread and forgot to put in salt, you know what I'm talking about) My first instinct was to check the salt amount specified in the recipe (When I was making it, I thought it was too little, so I even bumped it up a bit), and it was the amount I read. At this point, I'm more pissed than anything else. The reason? I wasted about 2 days making bread that more than probably will end up being croutons or slathered in jelly or some other way to hide the blah-ness of it! 2 10-inch loaves worth!!!!

I know my ingredients are good. I use King Arthur flour and use it relatively fast enough to make sure it doesn't go bad. I use Fleischmann baker's yeast that is consistently good and lasts for eternity (my dough rises fine every time). I use the gravi-metric method whenever possible to ensure best results. I use filtered or bottled water and bring it to temp before using. I check temps while working, take the dough's temp, and ensure everything is as copacetic as possible.

My disappointment did not come from the fact that the loaves which took so long to make didn't match the store bought. That could be explained by a variety of factors. Ignoring commercial equipment related issues, it is very possible that the bought version is closer to actual sourdough than the recipe. Judging from the color and texture, that's almost a given. My disappointment comes from the fact that every single time I attempt to follow one of the "Bread Alone" recipes, they have the same negative result: average looking and with very little flavor.

I want to make something clear: I'm not tooling on Brian Leader. As I said: he bakes for a living, and seems very successful at it, so he's doing it right. What I'm saying is: There's something missing either in the translation, or my oven is shit, or, and this is very probable, I don't know WTF I'm doing and I get lucky sometimes.

The only other possibility I can conjure is that I don't like his bread. If you knew me, you'd find that statement ludicrous. I haven't found a baker's bread (OK, Subway...) I haven't liked (for the styles I like); ever. My only experience with his bread are my attempts to reproduce them, and so far, they have been boring at best.

It's gotta be something...

Got any suggestions other than "give it up and keep buying bread instead of making it"? Maybe I just need another baker's book!

I'll probably give another one of his recipes a shot. One more disappointment, and that will be the end of it for my relationship with Mr. Singer's book...

...Maybe I ought to take a class!

Later,

Vegas trip dinner 1: Le Cirque

The day of our arrival at the Bellagio, we were celebrating my Wife's birthday. We chose to try Le Cirque for dinner. Two of our good Friends from California met us for dinner to celebrate, and two more were scheduled to arrive that night and possibly join us for dessert.

The venue is located at the front of the main floor overlooking the famous fountains. It is a very intimate setting with probably not more than 15 tables. The Decor is (surprise) reminiscent of an old circus tent with vibrant colors and overhanging draperies. Our waiter was a great gentleman originally from Beaune (Burgundy) with great flair and sense of humor to match :)

We started with cocktails. I stuck with one of my new faves: French 75. The wife ordered a Framboise (raspberry puree and champagne), Our friends had a Lychee martini and a margarita. Everyone loved their choices.

With the help from our new friend from Beaune, we selected a Nuits St Georges bottle of a Gran Cru burgundy that was superb. Everyone loved it! Even our friends who don't drink red wine that often.

For a starter, I chose to be daring and order the Escargots. My wife chose the Foie gras terrine with fruit chutney and Gewurztraminer jelly. Our friends had the Le Cirque lobster salad with truffle dressing.

My escargots were phenomenal. I usually don't order them because my previous experiences have been mixed. I was at Le Cirque, so I had to trust them this time, and they didn't disappoint. They had the right balance of buttery goodness along with the herb and garlic finish that lasted on your palate. My wife concurred. Her Foie gras terrine was good, but we have that so often that it had to be outstanding for us to comment on it. We felt the chutney was overly sweet for our palate. It's hard to do outstanding terrine all the time, so no fault there.

For the meal, Our friends ordered the sea bass paupillete and the Rabbit prepared three ways over a bed of mashed potatoes. My wife and I ordered the rabbit and the tenderloin with Foie gras and asparagus, respectively.

I did not have a chance to taste the fish dish, but the consensus was that is was very good.

I tried the rabbit dish and it was very well executed. The meat was tender and the rabbit flavor was very good without being too overpowering. The ravioli version (it was three different preparations of rabbit) was particularly good.

The tenderloin dish was probably the best meat dish I've experienced to date. The meat was perfectly seasoned, and the seared Foie gras on top added that extra level of decadence one can only feel "okay" doing in Vegas. (side dish? asparagus?). It was a puff pastry short of a magnificent beef wellington. Frankly, it didn't need it. It was decadent enough as is :) To be honest, I usually ignore tenderloin because they lack in flavor. My preferred cut of ribeye. This dish was the first time I've felt this happy about ordering tenderloin. It was buttery tender and the seasoning was out of this world. It probably was just plain sea salt and pepper, but it made the meat just perfect. Every sip of the Pinot made a great experience even better. My wife had a taste, made essentially the same comment I did, and kept coming back for more :) Overall, a wonderful dinner experience.

Our other friends made it to the hotel in time to meet us for dessert. By the time they met us, we had the place to ourselves. The staff was so gracious to accommodate our new arrival in our table they made us feel great. They chose an ice cream bomb presented in an ice sphere that looked awesome. Their smiles and rolled eyes confirmed it :) My wife had the creme brulee (she must have it everywhere) and I had a crepe suzette prepared with a grand marnier sauce that was right on the money.

By the time we finished, everyone had a big smile on their face. My wife was so happy everyone made it that could not stop smiling. It was as perfect of an evening as we could have hoped.

The annoying part of Cabo San Lucas: What I DON'T like

After being and living together for 18 years, my lady and I decided to get married. We decided to go to Cabo San Lucas, Mexico for our vacation/honeymoon. The experience was mixed at best.

we get out of the airport looking for the shuttle to the hotel. a nice man with airport credentials asks where we're going and directs us to a desk. When we researched the whole thing, we found that the shuttle services don't depart from the hotel (or the hotel cannot help us schedule it), so when this guy tells us he can arrange it, we feel a little relieved. What happened was we got roped into a time share promo for 60 dollars (same price as the R/T shuttle ride). Once the duh moment settles, we try to bail out of the whole thing, but instead wind up negotiating with the promoter for money instead of activities and all the other junk they offer.

The irony of it was that my wife was commenting how she might be interested in checking out the possibilities of a time share in the area. They say: "careful what you wish for", and boy, was it apropos this time!

The basic hook of these setup goes like this: They ask you for some deposit (varies all the time depending on how you get roped in) and ask you to go to a 90 min presentation. In exchange, you get free transportation to and from the place, breakfast or lunch, one or two tickets for activities, dinner certificates, and in our case, transport back to the airport. You need to bring an ID and a Visa or Mastercard because (supposedly) they're sponsoring the promotion. Sounds pretty harmless, doesn't it? Just listen to a sales pitch and that's it...

We go to the place and do the initial meet and greet. Somehow, we know this is going to be a bit awkward. We meet the sales guy (Ernesto) play along regarding questions, etc. and tell them straight up not buying. we're just curious about the process.

The easy stuff begins. We're explained the way this particular setup works. Shared ownership, not a time share, premium properties better than four seasons, ritz, etc. They show us the grounds and pitch their other properties (only in mexico and south america). How the owner is a mexican guy with oodles of cash and how they got an american corp from Texas to manage the place, etc. We go to the breakfast, which was good. So far, everything is going okay. we still mention that we're primarily curious about the experience, etc. One of the things I notice is that we're probably one of the youngest couples there (we're pushing 40, by the way), so we're felling a bit funny about that. The guy chats up about how successful they are about getting people to buy (50% supposedly), and how owners love their setup, etc. To me, it sounds like a load of crap, but that's mainly because I don't trust sales people especially.

Then, the fun starts: we go to what I like to call the kill room. This is where they sit you on a table with the guy that gave you the tour and talked you up, tell you all the other deals they have with other companies (so you don't feel like you're buying just mexican property), and all the other poo. The initial salvo gets tossed: You can buy 4 weeks with a huge apartment for 189K and you can easily start with a 17K deposit using your Visa or Mastercard.

Now, remember how Visa/MC supposedly sponsors the promotion? well, depending on how you look at it, it may be true. Considering that there's a percentage fee associated with credit transactions, you could say they're promoting the whole thing. I seriously doubt the CC companies have any direct involvement in this bullshit, but I give them an A on creative shit shoveling. :)

Back to the "present": we repeat that we're not buying anything. The price and options begin to drop, giving at least 6 or 7 more times to say "No". The guy's face begins to turn to frown... By the time we're done with him, the price dropped to something like 5K for a week, timeshare-like bennies, for a 600 Visa/MC deposit. We repeat: no, and now, I add the closing argument: "we're done".

In their last-ditch effort, they bring you down to do an "exit interview" with a no-pressure-like young man, now from the US, to ask you what was the reason you didn't buy and to tell you that your gifts will be ready in 10 minutes because there's someone ahead of you. I repeated the same thing, and told them their switch from friend to douche bag didn't help. He concurs, and proceeds to make us a final final effort to take our cash. At this point, I'm pretty pissed off, but I refrain from calling him out, so I conclude with "I'm not interested. We want to leave now".

By the time the whole thing's done, they load you in a van that brings you to the front of the property where you pick up your stuffs and taxi money to your place. Even then, after all that, the last person that handles the cab call and pay the driver to take you to your hotel tries to sell you some other non-descript shit. I felt like punching someone at that point.

On the way back, the Wife and I look at each other and agree that it was both an infuriating and enlightening experience. When we get to our hotel, they're doing the same thing, so we proceed to set them up straight fast. That didn't stop them from trying at least twice more to get us in. Come to find out: every hotel in the area work the same way. It was so disappointing!

I will finalize the rant about the vultures soon. If you're going to Cabo, the moment you step out of the customs area, skip the fist room and go to the next one to get a shuttle and/or taxi. Do not pass go, do not collect 200 dollars.

...However... If you have the stomach to withstand high-pressure sales turds and you enjoy making people suffer AND want to get free money and/or activities while there in exchange for about 2hrs time, then do stop by the first booth, negotiate for just about anything you want, then go get a free breakfast and piss of the sales people. Remembering that you can do this in every single place in Cabo, you can effectively eat and keep busy effectively for free. If I had the disposition and or necessity, I would clean these people out to the point of being black-listed. I just can't. My time is precious, and fortunately, I can afford to do the stuff on my own.

Apartment hawking notwithstanding, the town is effectively a tourist trap mainly designed for prototypical herds of tourists getting off cruise ships and timesharing people looking to golf and drink. Some activities like hiking fishing etc. are thee, but still designed with these people in mind. There's little to no character to the place. The locals are piss-poor and we're the best thing they have since we give them money all the time and tip well, even if it is in Pesos.

For the most part, it is relatively inexpensive-unless you do the american thing and stick with american franchises which make about 90% of the places. The rest of the allure is drinking on the cheap and shopping on outlets at prices that are decent but not great in my opinion. Being foodies, it was disappointing to see such a meager dining scene. The main food is seafood. It's very fresh, but it is more of the same every time, so there's no major variety. For some bizarre reason, the main cuisine attraction seems to be Mediterranean and primarily Italian. That makes no sense to me, but I'm crazy like that...

We went off the beaten path and checked out a local taqueria that served typical bite-sized tacos for 10-20 pesos (0.80 to 1.60 US) Frankly, that was probably the best food we had there.

Besides the critiques, the weather was great. Sunny, not too hot, and great wait staff at the pool keeping us well fed and hydrated. Our last dinner experience at La Frida at a resort called Pueblo Bonito in the Pedregal region. We had considered this place when booking the vacation. It is a very beautiful place, but I'm glad we didn't stay there. It was very very seculded with an entrance way at least a mile long. When I got there, I even bet the wife that they'd offer us a 90 minute presentation before we leave. She didn't think they'd do it, but alas, she lost the bet...

The La Frida choice was a recommendation from one of the locals as authentic mex, but it was mostly a fusion place. The decor was hacienda style Mexican room. The most authentic thing was a chicken in mole given to us as a chef taste (not on the menu). The wife had sea bass (again) and I had a guajillo chile short rib that was good, but not authentic mexican in any way. The wait staff was wonderful and the live singer added an extra bit of romance to the place. Once again, I noticed we were the youngest people in the room. We were very happy until they took over an hour to deliver the final dish, which was extremely excessive in my opinion. Either the waitress messed up the order, or they were killing the cow for the rib and/or went down to the water to fish out the sea bass... That alone buzz-killed the experience for me. The prices were very high compared to the rest of the experience, so that was another negative.

Would I return to Cabo? Unlikely. The place is just another american-ready tourist trap with good weather. It's just another box checked on the list. My verdict? skip it unless you like the trap concept