Bread

On a recent Saturday morning, I was lying in bed thinking about French toast, thinking that the only bread I likely had was a few slices of multi-grain packaged bread. This type of bread is fine for the occasional piece of toast or a quick, cheap lunch of peanut butter and jelly but it wasn’t really living up to my morning dream of rich, satisfying French toast.  I don’t eat a lot of bread as it’s been stigmatized as a bad carb. I’ll never give up pasta and still favor white rice over brown, especially aromatic grains like jasmine or basmati, but I can pass on bread. I was raised eating white bread before it was deemed the “most evil” of all. I still think it makes the best pimento cheese sandwiches.

French toast cooking

French toast with marmalade

I suddenly remembered the three loaves of bread I just brought home from a bread making demonstration: gorgeous artisanal ciabatta, a baguette, and an asiago boule. The class held in the Pyramid Atlantic art space in Silver Spring was excellent. The class was scheduled for 6:30; it was a quick walk from the metro so I could still get there after leaving work downtown at six. Seated right in the gallery with eye-catching art hanging all around the creative energy was palatable. We faced tables piled high with different types of bread.

Our instructor Rod Teel of Crest Hill Bakery, lead us through a thorough yet fast-paced lesson in the proper technique of making good artisanal bread. He comforted us all with reassurances that learning to make really good bread is a slow process that requires practice, so if you don’t get it right the first time, just keep trying.  The ultimate in Slow Food, he starts at least the day before so that the poolish has adequate time to rest. 

Baker Teel

Poolish is made from equal parts flour, water, and a little yeast. The recipe from the class calls for 8 oz of water, 8 oz of flour, and 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast. As with all baking it is better to weigh the dry ingredients than measure them. Cover and rest for 12 to 24 hours.

I discovered my own bread making struggles come from two sources.  One is insisting on trying to use temperamental traditional yeast when invariably my water is a degree too hot or too cold for the yeast to bloom. Two is what I think most people struggle with, and that is a tendency to over work the dough. We have these images of a short, barrel shaped granny in a flowered apron working out her domestic aggression in kneading the dough. This could not be more wrong.  You must be gentle with the dough, fold it like tucking in a baby for a nap.

If you are waiting on dough, it is important to have lots of snacks.

When you are ready to make the dough, loose the polish from the bowl by pouring water around the edge of the bowl, about 1 cup. Add a pound of flour, 2 ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, and 1 teaspoon instant yeast.

Cover and let it ferment for 45 minutes.

Turn the dough by folding it into thirds, rotate 90° and fold into thirds again. This is when it is helpful to see a professional baker in action. Preheat the oven to 475° with a baking stone inside. He recommends including a cast iron skillet filled with lava rocks on a lower rack. This gives you a mechanism to create the stem needed to form a perfect crust encasing soft airy pleasure on the inside.

Cover and let ferment for 45 minutes again. If the dough was mixed by hand, “turn” the dough again and let it rest for another 45 minutes. Divide the dough into the shapes you desire. Bench resting in between each action.

Slide bread directly onto oven stone. Pour a cup of boiling water into the skillet with utmost CARE!! Steam burns occur quickly and are very nasty. Use oven mitts and hold your face back. Adjust oven temperature to 425°F. Close the oven door and don’t open it for at least 10 minutes.

Bread is done when the desired color is achieved, and internal temperature is 205°F.

So now through the generosity of Baker Teel, I am enjoying proper French toast for breakfast and I will pack sandwiches of jamon, the first freshly picked lettuces from the back, and a thin spread of grain mustard and tomato mayo to take to the azalea gardens. I will not begrudge one bite of these wonderful carbs just as I will always appreciate a good pimento cheese sandwich on white bread.

Jamon sandwiches in the making

Homegrown lettuces