STIR THE POTS

Ibán Yarza

Not too long ago, I first started noticing hits from  La Memoria de pan, Te quedas cenar and El foro de pan. All coming from Spain, so I wondered who was behind all this wonderful bread blogging. Shortly after I became a member of El foro de pan, which by chance is also visited by no other then Dieter Buschmann and Dan Lepard.

 The creative and talented baker behind it was Ibán Yarza and I had no clue who he was?  It was then I started finding out about this bread revivalist, cyclist, fermentationist. Along with Javier Marca and others in the bread baking renaissance in Spain. A self taught baker,he is teaching at home and wherever he is needed, from Bilbao to Barcelona. Ibán can be found with kilo's of flour on his bike and sanwiches in hand, but most often he his folding dough. Passing on the message of good bread with passion. On his various blogs regarding food or bread you can see his dedication and appreciation for good things, bon vivant au bici! I can't wait for him to start something on cycling soon!

His latest project was the translation into Spanish,"The Handmade Loaf " by British bread guru Dan Lepard.

 

Ibán Yarza

Jeremy: It must be a great feeling translating Dan Lepard’s book THML. How did that project happen?

Ibán: It is just a dream come true. Translating my favorite bread book is something I’m really grateful for. I can’t remember how it actually happened. I met Dan Lepard first back in 2005, but the idea did not fully came to life until quite recently; then Leqtor books and The Glutton Club teamed up with the British publishing house to make it happen and everything happened very quickly. In fact, a translator always complains about the lack of time, and so do I.

Jeremy: Will you write your own book?

Ibán: I don’t think so. I think there are already very good bread books. The problem in Spain is that we have very little (and mostly poor) translations. But if you take the following books, knead them well and let them rise slowly, I don’t think I could add anything.

The handmade loaf, Dan Lepard
Bread, Jeffrey Hammelman
Bread making, T. DiMuzio
Surdegsbröd, Martin Johansson
Pains d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, M Barboff
English Bread, E. David
Bread Builders, Wing and Scott

Jeremy: What got you interested in bread?

Ibán: To be honest, I can hardly remember when or why. I guess I was seduced by the magic of sourdough, the idea of creating bread from scratch. I was unemployed, probably a bit bored, so I went wild and started fermenting!

Jeremy: Sourdough, yeast, what makes them so different? And which is better?

Ibán: Quite simply, flavor. I’d say when you bite into a good piece of sourdough bread you can feel there is a soul inside that dough, you can feel it is alive.

Jeremy: Fermenting is sort of like a Frankenstein thing, "It's alive!!!!"  What other things do you ferment besides bread?

Ibán: I love fermenting. I “milk” my kefir pot every morning, and after the Spanish Summer is gone, now is time for sauerkraut. I’ve got a big “sauerkrauttopf” full of good bubbling stuff right now and pickled gherkins. Next thing I want to try is kvass (a beverage made of fermented rye bread). I really like to discover home brewing, but I’m a bit put off by all the equipment involved (unlike baking or pickling).

Jeremy: What is the most satisfying in baking bread; building the levain, mixing, folding, shaping or baking?

Ibán: Building a levain is a life-changing experience. Mind you, I don’t have any children yet.

Jeremy: Did you always eat or like bread growing up?

Ibán: Funny enough, I don’t recall great bread as a child, or even the sense that I was a true bread lover.

Jeremy: Did your mother bake?

Ibán: Not at all. But now she does bake her weekly sourdough loaf.

Jeremy: What is your favourite flour?

Ibán: Rye. No matter whether it’s white or whole-meal. I remember a Estonian rye flour I bought in Tallinn some years ago. I will never forget the aroma I got the moment I mixed it with water.
Jeremy: Does bread have terroir or a local taste?

Ibán: Absolutely. Go try some German, Baltic or Russian bread, and you’ll instantly fall in love with those countries and the people who bake those loaves.

Jeremy: You've traveled a lot. Some of your flickr photos show you holding sandwiches in front of landscapes. Is it like a “gracias” to the bread gods?

Ibán: Haha. When trekking I do like to make “offerings” to the places I visit. By this pagan/bread-esque offering I somehow summon all the energy of the place. Well, I said “somehow.”

Jeremy: Have you ever considered just opening a bakery? Going pro?

Ibán: Not really, I’m a home baker teaching home bakers and trying to spread the word of bread as widely as possible. I’ve visited many bakeries and seen their work. It’s something I could do, but I don’t think I’m interested enough.

Jeremy: Do you buy from bakeries anymore? Or just eat your own bread?

Ibán: Since 2005 I just buy bread out of pleasure, say to try this or that bakery when I’m told they’re worth it.

Jeremy: What is a spekulas sandwich? And what other sorts of combinations do you like with your bread?

Ibán: Ah, that’s a good one. Back in 1998 I spend some time working in a hotel in Amsterdam. The guy next door (a funny guy named Bas who played the trumpet and roller skated in the middle of the night to the hospital where he worked as an emergency anesthetist) told me about it. First I thought he was joking, but then I checked with other Dutch people to find he wasn’t kidding. I did try it and it was gorgeous. The spekulaas (spekulatius/speculoos for German/French/Belgian) is a crunchy biscuit, and just makes for a mind blowing experience when encased in two slices of fluffy white bread with plenty of butter. Do try it, believe me.

Jeremy: Who inspires you?

Ibán: People who are passionate and can see beyond flour and ferments. People who can see love inside a loaf of bread, like Dan Lepard. I’ve read a bunch of books about bread and met many bakers, but many speak solely about ingredients and crispy crusts; lately I’ve become a fan of the Swedish Martin Johansson (from the blog Pain de Martin) and the way he calls himself a “home baker”, hemmabagare.

Jeremy: Is Spain ready for the bread baking revival?

Ibán: I don’t actually mind if it’s ready or not (probably yes, provided it’s spread the right way), I simply think it NEEDS it!

Jeremy: Some people can teach bread. Personally, I am terrible at explaining it to people!) What is your secret?

Ibán: Well, I spent 5 years working as a guide at the Guggenheim Bilbao museum of contemporary art. After explaining abstract art for 1.5 hours to people from all over the world, everything else seems piece of cake.

Jeremy: How is the bread revival in Spain getting on?

Ibán: Really well, there’s more and more people baking, and good bread is getting more time and space in the news. Now we have to concentrate, otherwise we risk this becoming simply a trend or (worse) becoming something exclusive and reachable only by an elite.

 Jeremy: How are professional Spanish bakers taking to your teaching bread to the masses?

Ibán: I teach mostly to home bakers, although it’s not unusual to have pros on my classes; people who come are really nice and interested. I know of many bakers who see all this with suspicion. But I think we all better start to think that people just want better bread, and they will get it, whether from their bakers or their own ovens.

Jeremy: Is there a typical loaf in Spain?

Ibán: Spain is a big country when it comes to food, so the choice is big. Although it’s sad to realize that nowadays it’s becoming harder and harder to buy good bread in Spain. From the Pan de Cea in the Northwestern region of Galicia (a round plump loaf made the old way), to the many varieties of “pan sobado/bregado/candeal”, a sort of white loaf with a tight white crumb not unlike the French “pain brié” that can be found in central Spain, or the “pa de pagès” (country bread) from Catalonia, the little and soft “mollete” from Andalucia, or even the rustic and sturdy corn breads made traditionally in Northern Spain.

Jeremy: How do you keep all your projects going, El foro del Pan,Te quedas a cenar, La memoria del pan? Etc...and bicycling across Spain?

Ibán: Well, at the moment I have plenty of time (plus I don’t sleep much); but my idea is to launch nice projects, like “El foro del pan”, that can eventually live on their own without my input.

Jeremy: Bicycles and bread bakers, is it a zen thing? What is the correlation?

Ibán: More and more I do believe there is an inner relation between bike riding and bread baking. More specifically between sourdough baking and single speeding (or even riding fixed gear); the feeling of throwing away years of evolution to concentrate on the pure, simple pleasure. Also the sense of time, duration. Then if you build your own wheels I think everything somehow comes together. Oddly enough, I’ve met a bunch of people who seem to share the same feeling.

Bread baker, John Lennon

Today would have been John Lennnons 70th birthday and I was reminded that he wasn't only an incredible musician,activist, artist, etc., but a bread baker. His Playboy interview with David Scheff say's it all for me regarding bread. In an interview he even describes taking pictures of his first loaf, a true home baker!

Exerpt from Playboy interview with John Lennon (January 1981) by David Sheff:

LENNON: I've been baking bread and looking after the baby.

PLAYBOY: With what secret projects going on in the basement?

LENNON: That's like what everyone else who has asked me that question over the last few years says. "But what else have you been doing?" To which I say, "Are you kidding?" Because bread and babies, as every housewife knows, is a full-time job. After I made the loaves, I felt like I had conquered something. But as I watched the bread being eaten, I thought, Well, Jesus, don't I get a gold record or knighted or nothing?

 

 

Zwetschken Kuchen

As some past posts make clear, I have a certain affinity for plums. Visiting my sister in Switzerland, welcome the never ending baskets full of them. And while they're delicious freshly picked off a tree, or distilled into schnapps, my preference is to put them in a tart. Give me a plum kuchen and I am like a fish on a hook!

For a while now, I have been trying to tap into Wolfgang Süpke's great breads. Somehow I overlooked some of his pastry offerings, like delectably delicious looking mohnkuchen and of course  his latest, zwetchken Kuchen with oil! Something you can do with plums.

This weekend has perfect days for baking. And plums were the perfect fruit for this perfect day. Some a bit sour, others just on the cusp of sweetness.

Wouldn't you know it, I was missing an ingredient. Namely, the cornstarch to sprinkle under the plums so the juices that oozed out would thicken. I adapted and added almond flour as a stratified layer of luciousness that mingled with sugar and cinnamon. Oh my! Sehr lecker!

If it isn't Luther brot or Schwarzer Hamsterbrot, I am sure I will be digging into this repertoire of German baker's fantastic recipes and hopefully try to learn some German along the way!

 

Uprising...mon histoire de pain - or my on going history with bread

It's been sometime since I started baking bread, inspired by a book by Dan Leader. Today, I am the guy who is known (not always happily) for leaving a trail of flour on kitchen counters, or stuffing the refridgerator with my levains. Call it a hobby, passion or just obsession for wild yeast. Lately though I have cut back on my bread baking. But as hard as I try to not buy more bread books and stop purchasing grains and flour... I can't! Call me a bread head, a  natural yeast evangelist, or just a man who can't ignore the power of the genuine dough.

While researching to prepare for an interview recently, I saw a video of the Spanish baker, Iban Yarza. In it he talked about his amazement at the "revolucion of homebakers." Quizás una revolución, pero yo prefiero decir una levantamiento - in English, perhaps a revolution, but I prefer to say an uprising! Funny how bread is so full of symbols, myths and analogies in whatever language.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My inspiration, mentors, companions, panophiles in my revolution - it's led by pro bakers like Dan Lepard, Wolfgang Süpke, Richard Bertinet, Graham Prichard, Dieter Buschmann.

 

Of course I would be remiss if I didn't mention all of my fellow and first time Bethesdabaker's, which put me in contact with a bevy of bakers and my first bakers conference! They're coming up on a 5th Anniversary in Bethesda next July... sorry Mick, you know my schedule!

 

Then there are micro Bakers; Mick Hartley, Rick of Mair's Bakehouse, David Aplin ...Blog bakers, Susan, Marie Claude, Nils, Hans Joakim, Petra..Javier Marca,and there are more. The list is growing. There are some I have met and some yet to be acquainted with. The world of great bread, it seems to perpetually flower, no pun intended.

As for my own dream? Well it's not yet fully formed. Still in flux, it plays out both in my mind but also in real time - in the kitchen as I bake. Slowly proofing, it's all in my hands ready to shape but still developing!

If I left you off this post, sorry, just burning the candle from both ends, Teresa!

Javier Marca

 

 

It's always a pleasure to make acquaintances from far away, especially with like-minded bakers and chefs. Even more when they share my love of sourdough. Checking out bakers with whom to connect, recently, I found Spanish panadero, Javier Marca.

Trained and working as a professional graphic artist, Javier was tired of the methodical churn of his trade. So he swapped that world for a more  ancient, humbling craft -  baking bread. Javier and his fellow blogger/baker Augustin Oliet whose blog, Madrid Tiene Miga (Madrid has crumb), are just a few of the new vanguard for a new "Pan Español." 

They are exploring hand made loaves, in the process forsaking processed and factory flavored bread which has made Spanish bread tradition a forgotten memory. Like me they don't want flaccid pillows of bleached white bread! They want to redefine a dying craft and bring it back to life!

Jeremy:  Tell us about yourself, where, what and who ?

Javier: I'm a graphic designer, and I've been working for 20 years in the editorial business, designing magazines. About three years ago I ended up dissapointed with the institutional environment of it. In the middle of that process of disillusionment, and just by chance, I found a blog about food and homemade sourdough breads. With a mix of curiosity and the will to dedicate my time and passion to something different I started baking sourdough breads, as an observer at first, then as an amateur and finally as a professional. Bread has become, for me, in a way to make a living.

Jeremy: How did you start baking?

Javier: I started baking at home, following the instructions and directions of that one blog. I kept documentating about the properties of sourdough and practicing a lot to get familiar with the techniques and the ingredients. Then I got the chance, through the british baker Dan Lepard (whose book The Handmade Loaf was, and still is, a tremendous guide), of working as an apprentice at Daylesford Organic, in UK, during the summer of 2009, getting to know the part that I was missing: chain production of sourdough bread, keeping the quality of artisan bread, far from industrial standards. When getting back to Spain I started working as the head baker of a new bakery.

 Jeremy: Que es pan Español? What is Spanish bread?)

Javier: There is a huge variety of breads in Spain, depending of the regions, being 'pan candeal' one of the top breads when coming to customer's preferences. The culture of bread in Spain is totally lost, and people are not able to remember how a good bread used to taste. The culture of 'white, crunchy and soft' is mandatory, which couldn't be so bad if 'flavour' wasn't out of the equation. Bread here is loaded with chemicals and yeast, and people don't seem to care.

Jeremy: What makes good bread?

Javier: Love. Time. Hands.

Jeremy: Yeast or sourdough?

Javier: Sourdough mostly; preferments with little yeast for some specific breads.

Jeremy:  What and who are your references for bread?

Javier: Iban Yarza, for his bread culture and generosity, and for getting me into the bread world; Dan Lepard, for his imagination and care, and for guiding, illustrating and advising me; my fellow partners and home bakers at the blog (madridtienemiga.wordpress.com), for their passion and dedication; the 1.255 members of the spanish bread forum (www.elforodelpan.com) for their constant will to learn.


Jeremy: With or how do you eat bread, sanduche, tostada, con mermelada?

Javier: In good company.

Jeremy: Bak, Pan Casero & Cocina, what is it?

Javier: A space that will cover everything related to artisan bread, from classes to debates, conferences, literature, friends, amateurs and professionals... where people can get together and share thoughts, experiences, ideas and techniques about bread.

Jeremy:  Favorite type of bread, or food?

Javier: My own loaf. If I have a good pastrami, then my favourite is a rye sourdough. For a picnic with the kids, a soft white sourdough. And to keep my girl happy, a crunchy baguette with a poolish.

Jeremy: Are forums or blogs helping bread become a better product?

Javier: They absolutely do. They are the best way of learning for beginners and the best window for bread lovers.

Jeremy: How is commercial or professional baking in Spain?

Javier: It is terrible. So focused in profitability and far away from quality. Luckily, that is changing, even though the attempts are, by now, quite tepid. Professional bakers are becoming aware of the poor situation of the bread here, but the step forward hasn't quite arrived.

Jeremy: How do you make a formula or recipe?

Javier: Sometimes, straight from a book; sometimes looking at what I have in my flour cabinet; always translating yeast to sourdough, changing hydrations.

Jeremy: Is there a good reference for old Spanish bread recipes, ie, books, or just people?

Javier: Hummm... maybe books and blogs like panisnostrum.blogspot.com.

Jeremy: And what are you baking lately?

Javier:  White sourdough loafs, whole wheat, rye and caraway, rye with pine nuts or rye with raisins and walnuts, 3-stage Detmold process, spelt... All of them sourdoughs for the classes. Also testing soft swedish flatbreads, persian flatbreads with za'atar, grilled naan...Oh and tons of sourdough pizza(00 flour and 20% Semolina!

Jeremy: When will http://labakeria.com/panes/pan-de-espelta/be up and running fully, I am very curious!

Soon, I hope.

 

Gracias!

Burning the stove, not the wood: Holzofenbrot

You know that you're slightly delusional when you dream about things that won't fit in your New York City apartment. Like a wood burning stove, for instance. Of course, "you" is me. And it's me wishing I could bake bread all day, but my vacation is just about over and now I'm about to go back to my real job. And my wife is coming home in the next few days. So now I'm wiping all evidence of flour from the walls and counters. Even as I feel the urge to bake, even though it's 97 degrees Faranheit, and I'm using our two ovens to make multiple bakes at 280 F degrees in both ovens. Talk about a hot kitchen, Shuna!

  

Call me crazy, sure... but what's not to like with a recipe like Holzofenbrot? A crusty blackened bread with rye and wheat, the kind you slather with butter and some blackforest ham. It comes from the book  Roggen das Standardwerk by Olaf Bauermann and Ines Gromes. With a load of different rye in my cupboards I say, volle geschwindigkeit voran, verdammt den torpedos!

That's what I am doing at the end of summer, while wondering if autumn's crisp cool air will soon come.  Without a cord of wood or hearth, I baked this wonderful loaf inside in my GE oven using my faux hearth, a creuset pot used to set and gelatanize the crust to it's wonderful hue! We'll be in the business with better instruments, hopefully one day!

Yes, it's baking madness, obsession whatever you may want to call it, but I like it!

Filone, take one, or two or three?

 

 

My aim for a long while has been to make a Filone, sort of like this version from Jim Lahey. Slightly bruciato or burnt, as he describes it, his features a spectacularly gelatinized crumb and wheaty tastiness. I still don't know whether the breads should have a shape more akin to a baguette (with a pointed edge) like the version from Tom Cats offered in Maggie Glezer's fine book.

But Italians aren't fussy (like the French) so far as shaping - preferring elements that are more about flow than tension. But since my most recent attempt at making Jim's famous no-knead bread with levain didn't work as well as those tried with his commercial yeast version, I have decided to go back to the drawing board, using a recipe from SFBI, once again. Their version adds some rye and whole wheat. In addition, they use a poolish and some levain to the dough.

 

 
 

 

 

I decided to go hybrid and made the poolish with a trace of yeast. Only because of time, being too lazy to do the math late in the evening.

 

 

 

Slashed and ready for entry into the forno!

 

I must of deviated from Lahey's filone style of a loosley shaped loaf. In the end, it looks like I either over-shaped or put it in the oven too young (green) or a few minutes too early. The dough itself was fantastic, more akin to a baguette dough. And still I wanted something a bit more rustic. Perhaps it needed more hydration? I also used wheat bran instead of flour on the final dough in the couche like they do at Sullivan Street Bakery.

 

 

 

Just out of the oven. Next time, maybe I give it a few more minutes for the slightly bruciato (burnt) or caramelized crust. The bread is now cooling and I am  wondering about the crumb and the taste. It's not Jim's bread, but the wheaty aroma is really nice. Can't wait to taste it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

All in all a nice crumb and a perfect accompaniment with cheese or sauccison sec!

 

Baking madness, a baker obsessed!

Times a wasting! Not having had a decent piece of bread in weeks, I thought the best way to quench my craving was to start baking. I had three levains in the fridge. The liquid and solid levains took a single feeding to awaken, perhaps because I had fed them quite often before leaving for Ecuador.  Anyway, the first bake was a multigrain loaf we did at SFBI, made with a pre-ferment and some yeast. But this time I made it all natural levain.

 


 

Multigrain bread(adapted from SFBI)

Soaker:

30g flax seeds

30g sesame seeds

30g sunflower seeds

30g oats,( I used Bob's Red mill 5 grain rolled cereal)

75g water

Soak for at least two hours

Levain:

80g flour

45g water

10g starter

Final dough:

215g AP flour

85g   Whole wheat

35g   Rye

240g water

195g soaker

135g levain

10g salt

Mix flour and water, autolyse for 30 to 60 minutes. Add in levain and mix at first speed for about 3 minutes. Mix in salt at second speed mix to medium or improved consistency, (window pane), add in soaker until incorporated at second speed.

1-11/2 hour bulk ferment with one fold if needed.

divide into 1lb or 454 g pieces, pre-shape into balls and rest at least 30 minutes.

Shape, whatever suits you, I made batards, since my attempt at school was less then spectacular!

1-2 hours rise in banneton or couche.

Bake about 35-40 minutes with steam at 450 F

These are quite moist and I allowed them to sit in the oven an extra 10-15 minutes with the oven off and the door slightly ajar.

Having followed the amazing home baker, Hans Joakim on his blog at the fresh loaf, I picked one of the many formulas he shared. Not having baked for awhile, I did make some errors in measuring the ingredients for this rye starter-based pain au levain. It still seemed to hold its form and taste. I will give it a proper go again and probably a lot more of this repertoire from this fine baker!

Finally, there's a loaf based on Jim Lahey's "no knead dough", something I'm revisiting, wondering if I can really make this loaf with just a levain rather then yeast. Umm.... verdict  is still out as the loaf or blob is still in my oven...maybe I will give that another look over and try again? (or not?).

Well two out of three isn't that bad.

Will be submitted to Susan @ Wild yeast yeast spotting!

Shapes of things....Fendu and Pistolet

The French have the funniest names for things, including the shapes and names for breads. Categorized precisely, as well as baked, we know them as fendu,(split) or pistolet (pistol), and miche which is derrière. So here, down below are some examples of the breads beyond the humor.

Thanks to Vincent Talleu for linking a cool video about Tour's Jacques Mahou,which inspired me to give these loaves a try. I was unsuccessful making them in previous attempts as home. But this time, with just some good shaping, a dowel and some great dough, voila!

I would be remiss to forget to mention my other inspirations, Susan of Wild Yeast and, of course, master baker Jeffrey Hamelman for his wonderful Vermont Sourdough, which was my shaping medium. I made this bread to take with me to Ecuador for family, I may just keep one as the bread is softy there!

This is going to Susan's Yeastspotting, and this I promise is my last bake till I return, maybe??

JT's 85x3 au nature, sans levure chimique

The breads above were found on a formula via MC. It's an 85x3 bread, some high extraction flour, and three pre-ferments, biga, poolish and levain. All to say it took lots of math. Well I crunched numbers and avoided any commercial yeast and....

Truth be told, I massacred the process and didn't do the second addition of water thing. No doppio impasto or basinage,whatever... no, that's not me. I just autolyse'ed and went full throttle making my loaf. Hell, it's August, which means I am on vacation! Using the last bit of Golden Buffalo flour, my pre-ferments were far from kosher, using whole wheat with a percentage of white flour. Like I said, it's August, and hate to rub it in, but this chef is taking some time off!

Anyway this formula kicked ass. This loaf wasn't gonna go for a long cold retarding, no it went from bulk proofing, with some folds, pre-shape, final proof and smack into my oven... So, thanks to it's innovative creator, JT and for MC who always inspires....

And now, well, have a great month. I'm off to South America. See you when I get back from my next adventure.....I will be away checking out the Pacific whales of this planet's southern hemisphere.