Nov 11 2008
It’s Just a Loaf of Bread
Bread has traditionally been called “the staff of life.” It was made of whole grains, and together with a chunk of cheese, a loaf of bread could sustain a person through a day’s hard work. You could make it at home or buy it cheaply. Only the very rich could enjoy the luxury of white bread. Today, white bread is the norm, the very cheapest form of bread. And good quality whole grain bread, similar to what you could make at home, is priced far out of reach of the poor.
But far more has been lost than a food capable of sustaining life. Also gone are the necessary skills, which are more complex than those needed for baking cookies or a cake. You can get a little sloppy about following the cooky or cake recipe and still come out with a perfectly edible product. Baking bread is about more than the recipe. It requires the powers of observation, the willingness to do some physical work, and patience — lots of patience.
A loaf of bread is a series of problems. Make a mistake anywhere along the line and you’re more likely to produce a doorstop than a crusty loaf ready to be drowned in butter. The problems can be summed up as temperature, texture, and time.
The yeast that makes bread rise is temperature sensitive. Given the right conditions, it grows, and that growth is necessary for rising. Without yeast, you have a rock. If the yeast is too cold it grows slowly, and can add hours to the whole bread-making process. If it’s too hot it dies. Again, the result is a rock.
The texture of the bread depends on the kneading process, and there are no shortcuts to this labor-intensive job. Neither are there any shortcuts to knowing when the texture is just right, the smooth, elastic feel of something that is almost alive in your hands.
Time is a variable not subject to the clock. The temperature of the dough and of the room both influence rising time. You wait for the first rising, punch the dough back down, then let it rise again, if you’re a very patient type. You punch it down again, form it into loaves, and put it in the pans. You wait for it to rise before putting it in the oven to become bread. But how much? If it doesn’t rise enough, you’re back to rocks. If it rises too much, it will collapse when the oven’s heat hits it. Rocks.
The potential for creating rocks is very high in bread making, but so is the potential for satisfaction. It’s difficult, but not dangerous. The reward for success is huge; the penalty for failure is insignificant. Even the worst loaf can be broken up (with a hammer, if necessary) and thrown to the birds. Bread-making is full of lessons. Go teach yourself.
9 Responses to “It’s Just a Loaf of Bread”
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That’s great as far as bread philosophy goes - now where’s the recipe for this delicious whole grain bread? I’m hungry…
LOL! Sorry, the recipe is a deep, dark family secret, and a contract would be put out on my life if I gave it away. Just kidding of course. Cookbooks are full of great recipes. I haven’t made bread in a long, long time, and I do miss it. I live alone, and my kitchen is barely big eough to move around in, much less allow for projects like bread-making. I do dream every so often about clearing the decks and giving it a try. There’s nothing like the smell of home-made loaves, I’ll tell you.
Dang! Now I’m hungry.
I keep saying I’m going to start making my own bread, but never do. I always get seduced by the $2 load of Nature’s Own Honey 7 grain. I figure my time is worth more than $2, and I like this bread…a lot!
Some of the better quality breads do make baking your own less than economical, but there are other ways to look at it. The bread I like most costs over $3.00 a loaf, and that’s a small loaf. For less than that, you can make several loaves. Most recipes make at least two, and it really isn’t worth it just to make one loaf at a time. There’s also the enjoyment factor. Some people love bread-making and consider it just as worthwhile a use of their time as any hobby. And how many hobbies fill the air with intoxicating aromas and fill your belly so happily?
This is a great post, as is the rest of your blogs. I’d love to learn to make bread. A while back I learned to make pasta from scratch. It seems like a bit of a waste, because a) Good dry pasta only costs like $1 a pound anyway, and b) My time is worth more than that, BUT, 1) it was really fun, 2) it wasn’t all that time consuming when I’m making sauce anyway (I can’t stand jarred sauce). While my sauce is cooking, I make the noodles.
By the way, I’m going to add your site to both of my blogrolls. Please feel free to check out my blogs and do the same if you’d like. Thanks.
http://thezspot.today.com
http://gamingtips.today.com
Thanks for the comment. it’s true that you can buy pasta very cheap, but it doesn’t taste as good, particularly if you get into specialty pastas. I don’t make mine any more, because it’s just me, and not worth all the work, but the combo of homemade pasta and homemade sauce can’t be beat. I do still make my own sauce.
By the way, though I appreciate the links, it’s not necessary, and not really to your advantage to put non-relevant links on your blog. There are several today.com blogs that I read fairly regularly, but I don’t put anything on my blogroll that doesn’t relate to the central theme.
I guess I could consider that a kind of honor, to be someone’s home page. Hope you do get into the breadmaking. I’m sure the kids would enjoy it.