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,