Baking Bread

2021-11-01

A leavened bread baking journey. Being responsible for a developing dough over a time scale of days unexpectedly brought and practiced a sense of commitment.

It started when a friend took out a bread boule out of a ziplock bag and called it a sourdough bread he made. I was intruiged. This was a bread that looked like the ones that came from fancy bakeries. I've never had one of these before, nor shown any interest in baking bread, despite tangentially being around bakeries through out my childhood. But there was an essence about this, that sparked something.

Then it happened again as I visited another friend, who had a roomate developing a sourdough starter. I was facsinated by the process. You just mix flour and water? Once I got back home, I tried it right away. I didn't know what I was doing, and it didn't turn out good, at all. I wouldn't try again for a while, but that first experience must have left an impression on me.

Later on, I would get all the right equipment, test different processes, write down the conditions. I started with same day breads, then two day pre-ferments, and then multiday french sourdoughs. There wasn't a lot of bread production at the start, but at the current peak, I was making two boules a day for two weeks. It was a lot of bread.

Throughout this experience, I've learned that this type of bread baking is signing up for a committment, for a few days at a time. You must look after your dough, otherwise, it won't turn out well. The time scale aspect is what was such a revelation for me. Being responsible for something time critical for an hour or two isn't too taxing. But taking care of something for days at a time, that was a game changer.

I'm now better at doing what needs to be done at anytime, even if I have to wake at 6AM to mix ingredients, or divide and shape at 11PM. And here's a secret no one ever tells you about freshly baked artisan bread. When you pull out the loaf out of the oven, it crackles. Just magical.