Vital Vittles IV B r ead of Li f e - P a r t 3
months issue. We learned how to make our Iloafnownlast bread. Now that we have successfully made a of bread -- and it is delicious. so what have we
learned? Every loaf of bread is different. Every loaf has its own set of variables, its own parameters to provide that one bite of bliss. We add a spot of jam or a pat of butter. We add nothing and just let the bread shine. Sure, the bread could stand on its own legs, but what if there were other ingredients we could add to really give our bread an edge at the next social gathering? We’ll get to that soon.
What if we cultivated that dough? Allowed the natural yeast to develop a flavor all on it’s own? The common denominator I’d like to stress here is “owning your loaf.” And the first part of owning a loaf is becoming a God. The idea is that you cultivate a dough and allow the natural yeasts in the air to flavor the dough. Once you have a nice sour flavor, you make a dough out of that and bake. BOOM! Sourdough Bread. The thing is, most people don’t really know how to make a sourdough starter (we in the bread biz call this a “Mother”). Just like the mother that gives you life, this mother gives “life” to the dough and, if cultivated correctly, the loaf will be just as unique and extravagant as any individual on this Earth. So let’s create, my God brethren. To create a good mother, we have to use the same ideas that go with the ideas of making a good loaf. Proper water temperature, good flour, the appropriate receptacle to incubate, a good covering, and patience. To create a starter, you should be able to wait a bit. Extracting yeast from your everyday air takes a little time so let’s get real. If you’re going to make a starter, you have to use “dat whole wheat” (no gluten-free for this venture). Let’s begin with a good receptacle to hold our starter in. You could use a bucket, a mason jar, a deli container, a Ziploc bag, or anything else, as long as you can maintain control over the starter. Remember, friends, we are gods to this starter. Speaking of being an all-knowing being to our creation, give your starter a name. It may seem trivial, but psychologically, it LocaL
will give you an edge. Once you name your creation, you will be more willing to take care of it. My favorite name I use is “Emmet” (after my grandfather). I have 3 different “Emmets” developing right now.. A starter takes from 5 to 7 days to really develop. Start with our starter feed. You need to “feed” the starter with the same amount of flour and water that you start with. Hypothetically, if you were to start the starter with 25 grams of flour and 25 grams of water, you would let that mixture (what we call a poolish) sit for 24 hours. Discard ½ of that poolish and feed with the exact same amount of flour(25g) and water(25g). The actual mixing of the feeding mix infuses the yeast into the mixture. Keep doing this over and over
for 7 days (daily) and you have a starter. In turn, any time you see a bread recipe that calls for a certain amount of yeast, you can use as much of your starter to suffice. If you really want to boost that sourdough flavor, add 2 grams of instant yeast per every 2000g of workable bread dough. Now, what if we want to add some other ingredients to the bread? What of your focaccia, olive loafs, pimento breads, and beer breads? There are a few different ways we can tackle these obstacles. If there are solid ingredients you’d like to put into the bread, all you have to do is fold the ingredients into the dough. If there is a liquid that you’re trying to infuse into the bread, simply hydrate the dough with your prefered liquid. Infused bread flavors are up to you as a bread maker. If you want to put peppermint in your bread, just infuse it in the process. Infusing flavors are huge at this point in our everyday lives. We infuse syrups into coffee drinks, cookies, cured meats, breads, and even infuse air at this point. But one excellent way to infuse flavors is actually making the beautiful macaron. A modern marvel in the technique and production of a simple cookie, the macaron has been a complex and perplexing cookie for chefs and home cooks alike. Next month, we’ll dive right into this phenomenal cookie and go through the macaronage process to create the perfect French macaron. u Keep Moving Forward, my friends! #KMF @adam.icard
Adam Icard 5
F EBR UAR Y 2020
