STIR THE POTS

My inglorious batard!

My friend MC is probably the luckiest baker, investigating and expanding not only her own baking skill, but other baker's knowledge and sharing it with her many followers of her blog. Recently she has been visiting a certified baker in Vermont, Gérard Rubaud, who is sharing his method of building a levain to make his celebrated Rustic breads. So where do I come into this picture?

The haphazard obsessive home baker, my moniker Mr. Lazy Baker takes over. You could call it a Jekyll and Hyde bread personality - he means well but is too damned lazy! As in this moment, the main problem being I don't have all of the tools or all of the ingredients to make or follow some great lessons shared by a remarkable lady and wonderful baker, Ms. MC.. But what is this  lazy bugger baker like me supposed to do?

Well I built a levain at about the same hydration, minus the builds with fresh grains and the 24 hour window,etc.. I took no notes and just finished the dough according to MC's instruction and list of ingredients, staying true to that. Basically I bulls*%ted my way into making a bastardized version of what is most likely a wonderful work of artisan baking. I admit, it doesn't make me proud. But in-spite of this, the dough looks responsive and it feels nice. Maybe I feel a little proud. Honestly, I kind of feel like one of those knock off guys making a Chanel bag, that looks better then the original. Is that proud or foolish?

Proof will be in the pudding, as MC said. Well, something went awry and its seems like I may have let the cat out of the bag too soon!

This is what you would call a blow out, or that loaf has a big grin - not grigne - on it.

When and if I can get my paws on the ingredients and equipment, as MC so plainly shows in her own wonderful post, I might give the original formula a try with some real effort. But in the  mean time I may try this Lazy Baker method a second chance with some adjustments, perhaps a thermometer, a note pad and pencil.

 

Hmmmmmm

 
First, I'm busy. Busy off the charts and that brought me off my blog.

Second, I love meeting bloggers. Excuse me while I shout out to one right now - helloooo, Shuna. Where was I? Oh, yeah, about bloggers. Especially cooking and baking bloggers. Those I have met are always completely different then me. Thank goodness! Yet they all have that love of movement;  levain-tation, yeasty things, measuring, in metric or oz's. Now where am I going? I'm not sure. Oh, yeah, here. It's almost the holidays and I'm sooo soooo busy at work. Maxing out, yet I still want to blog. So what makes writers write and chefs want to be writers????

Third, I want to raise a toast to blogs, blogging and bloggers. This weekend I met another blogger. She's this amazing lady who conjures loaves, dissects methods of bread fabrication, meets and greets all bakers,and she knows so much. It's our first meeting and yet she already met my mom! It's a Francophonic bread meeting, so exciting. We ended up meeting at a resto (aka restaurant, when I'm more patient) who's chef/manager first indoctrinated me with lessons to be learned over the years in kitchens and also lessons of life. What a great thing. Go meet a blogger, yourself. Celebrate.

Fourth, not only is a good time to meet bloggers but it's a great time of year. Maybe this is where I was going at my first point.  My favorite holiday is around the corner. Namely Thanksgiving, a late harvest and a family holiday before the winters freeze and the ho-ho merry whatever you want to celebrate, happens!

Yeah, this is a long toast masquerading as something between a rant and a post. But here goes. As I toil in my workplace galley, and dream of my future place, my nook somewhere, I hope for all the best for all my fellow bloggers and blog readers. I also send out a big hug to my fellow veterans, soldiers, sailors and airmen doing god knows what and where and hope they all return home soon. I am going to be busy and infrequent this next month, but if your interested, stay tuned, and please leave comments and suggestions.

And as Jacques Pepin say's "Happy cooking"

Nina's blog

I just came from looking at my friend Nina's blog. She is a Bethesdabakin alum who showed us a thing or two about this craft. Her site is in Danish, but I am hoping she will have some translation in English soon. Still, I just noticed it's up and running  and  wanted to give a shout out to her. Nina is trying to spread the word in Denmark about good bread, something she described as a lost tradition. Therefore she bakes at home in pursuit of an honest hand made loaf. She has some unforgettable rye breads that would just go great with almost anything or plain. As we say in New York, "it's to die for."

Way to go Nina, just don't forget the  English version! (Send us a recipe to post!)

Pain de Campagne, my first bake for a month!

For a while now I have been directing my eyes toward a great French site for home bakers. It belongs to Jane, a French woman with a quintessential American name. Whatever, she definitely has the baker's touch! So yesterday I left a comment about a bread she mutually developed with a fellow baker named David. First seeing it on The Fresh Loaf, I decided it would be one of the breads to make in my new oven, a treat having lacked such basic appliances for almost a month. Call it a New York apartment thing! 

Pain de Campagne crumb and 100% whole grain bread.

Oz meets west

I can't keep saying enough good things about my friends down under at the ABA, often they are recognized only for silly things like "shrimp on the barbie", Crocodile Dundee, Outback Steak house...but if you look down and deep you can really find some interesting and insightful bakers talking up a storm and even provoking conversation beyond bread baking. What is bread in our life? as a staple,an artisan craft and how we choose to make it, by hand or by machine.

Recently my mate, Graham sent members a newsletter and he mentioned this site as well as my posting over a 1000 post, quietly. Now that is a surprise as I use way too many expletives or even exclamation points to get my nutty points across. Luckily there are plenty of good people to keep me in check around the net, and I will start featuring some of my friends I have met online and if by good fortune in real life, which I hope to do!

Happy Baking

Like upstairs downstairs!

There used to be a show on PBS that Alistair Cooke presented called Upstairs Downstairs. When we first got a television my mother had us watch it, I didn't really get it at the time but now working in a similar situation as a service person I wish I had a copy to watch now so I could compare notes, or maybe Fawlty Towers would be more fitting?

Why Upstairs Downstairs? Private chefs,chefs working in private situations a common connection which led me recently  while surfing the web to a blog called Chefs gone wild. The name was somewhat disconcerting but when I saw some great photos and some fine recipes I kept going back to check to this site for new posts. The back-story is that this chef also works for the rich and famous, a different crowd I work for, not as stiff, but definitely in that realm of Upstairs Downstairs! When I read the authors profile I had to laugh at his wish to do something else rather than cook for rich folks, but with so many scattered ideas it makes it hard to concentrate on what he actually rather do, perhaps a professional eater?

Whatever he decides, I hope it’s related to food, from story to recipe your bound to find something that will fulfill either your hunger pangs or make you laugh aloud or even gawk at the fabulous food offerings. The other day it was a recipe I haven’t had the nerve to try yet, Gateau Basque. It’s filled with cherry compote and or pastry cream with a double-layered dough. My brothers former boss Pascal Rigo has a version in his book, but what intrigued me was the dough is yeasted and the fashion in which this particular version was acquired was really funny; talking about stealing with your eyes and ears as a prominent chef once counseled me!
So if you like the often quirky feel to a food blog go and check it out, and definitely try the recipes, because let me tell you I steal with my eyes and ears!

 

Steamy Kitchen and Gild the Voodoolily

Ever since I joined the foodie blog roll , I have been getting some traffic nibbles from lots of different sorts of places! One I especially like is Steamy Kitchen  a fantastic site with all sorts of tasty things, including the author! Mother of two and awesome photographer, but most of all inspirational cook! Jaden makes asian cooking look simple, mouth watering and definite food porn make it a great visit! Her shoot from the hip style is great and something I notice a lot from women bloggers, no nonsense and sense of freedom that blogging gives people! So please try a dish or two and don't forget to bring your sriracha sauce, start a fire, don't put it out!

Attitude

Gild the Voodoolily is another good one, Heather is a brash and frank cook who has that kind of, "I knew someone like you in high school sort of style!" Her imaginative food and drinking choices are not always healthy, but she is a great read on those tense or boring day's in the office, don't let your boss find you lurking too long! I even made her pear galette for a massive party and someone liked it so much were doing it again on Monday!

You women rock!

 

Let it roll let it roll (blog roll)

The other day I noticed a link on my friend David Aplins blog. It's a way to  introduce food bloggers to one another through the blog roll. It's run by the lady who has an interesting concept on food, leftovers. I should get my brother to check it out, he never eats leftovers, it always has to be fresh or nothing! I especially like the Italian treats that Jenn showcases from her family's roots in Calabria and Sicily. So if you want to meet your fellow food blogger or foodie let it roll!