Baking, Part 1

My return to blogging begins with an unlikely subject. Despite my desire to share details about my adventures, experiences, and thoughts from the past two months, I wanted to share about one of my hobbies.


I have not always been a baker. What began my interest was one our experiments baking bread in China. While there, Noël and I couldn't find plain, "Western" bread anywhere. Most Chinese bakeries sold sweetened bread that was somewhat like hawaiian rolls. So, with a bit of yeast and pluck, we experimented with our first loaves in our tiny kitchen with counters too low. After the success of the first loaves out East, we tried a few more loaves when we moved to Laguna Niguel. On that granite countertop (an unusual choice in retrospect), I kneaded my first loaves. Further interest came a few years later in Long Beach where I experimented more and, in true Patrick Style, went a little overboard with my interests. My parents enabled this (un)healthy interest by gifting me The Bread Bible and The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Both of these books gave me a fundamental understanding of what actually goes on in the process of baking bread, some of the rules of baking (and how to break them), and many stories and recipes. I can remember evenings made even more special because I was able to take a fresh loaf of bread straight out of the oven and onto friends' plates. Nothing purchased can match the satisfaction of a fresh slice of bread with a touch of softened butter.

So, I will conclude this inaugural post with a few tips that I have learned over the past three years of baking bread.

1. You don't need much to get started--flour, salt, yeast, and water will make great loaves. For hardware, I have only ever used regular measuring cups, a stiff fork, and two mixing bowls with each recipe. Later, parchment paper, a scale, and oil spray have helped me as I have improved.
2. Shop at Costco. $4.00 for 2 pounds of yeast, and $9.00 for 25 pounds of flour (stored in garage and Cambro containers in the pantry) will keep you well supplied without paying the price at grocery stores. (I think it is a conspiracy that the grocery stores are trying to price people out of making their own breads and buying pre-made bread instead).
3. Most recipes only take about 10 minutes. However, unlike other cooking, it is a matter of timing. With most of my loaves, those 10 minutes are spread out over 2-4 hours... so, you early birds, just plan ahead and you will be rewarded. (Plus, no one in your kitchen, as they are devouring slices of the fresh bread, will think, "Hmmm, this tastes like it over proofed too much during the first rise cycle")
4. One final advanced tip, recently I have started to use pre-ferments in most of my loaves. They add great flavor and are quite easy to make--1.5c flour, .3c water, .25t yeast. Let it sit on the counter for 3-4 hours first, then add it to the loaf when you are making the normal recipe to enhance it with instant flavor.

Second only to fresh bread, handmade cinnamon rolls are the best.