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Sunday, March 14, 2010

A Love Affair

It is time to confess.  My  romance began years ago..... so beautiful...so complex and full of potential...soft and light...my heart goes a flutter and I know I am in love. Sorry Dan, there is another love in my life...it is flour. 


It seems there are actually quite a few of us around who have this affection for it. Baking bread has been my biggest baking challenge. So basic to our lives...important to so many people around the world... represented in art, in religion...it always has a presence.  When you open the door to a house where  bread is baking in the oven...there is nothing like that very comforting  aroma.

"Bread deals with living things, with giving life, with growth, with the seed, the grain that nurtures. It's not coincidence that we say bread is the staff of life."

- Lionel Poilâne, French baker (1945-2002)


When I listen to Peter Reinhart talk about the chemistry of bread and the drama that takes place in the oven, I am in awe...waiting for him to continue on with this fascinating story of caramelization and yeast feeding off of sugars and just when the oven reaches a certain temperature ...wow....the events that occur....

I know this is love...

Good bread is such a fine balance between ingredients, temperature, humidity, caring hands and understanding minds.  Yes, you can add all kinds of ingredients to bread - eggs, herbs, cheese, garlic and so much more....but the challenge is to take the basic ingredients and coax the most flavour from the wheat.   I plan on sharing more of my bread baking adventures even though I feel like such a beginner with so much to learn.   I  sometimes flip to the last pages of Peter Reinhart's book Artisan Breads Every Day and see my name as one of the testers (in the sea of hundreds) and get a thrill...I made so many of the delicious breads in this book and proudly watched my friends and family savouring  the results.

I know this love affair with baking will continue for many years. So Dan, when I am covered in flour, don't be jealous...


Until we bake again...
Penny

5 comments:

Sel and Poivre said...

As a knitter I'm not big on having a lot of yarn stashed away but flour? That's another question entirely!

Jennifer P said...

I bought a 22lb bag of flour the week before I had Gillian. It's almost gone! When I buy Peter's book will you sign it?

Penny said...

When I was in France my husband had to pull me out of the grocery store as I was looking at a 10 pound bag of flour...hmmm what could I take out of HIS BAG???

Penny said...

Jennifer...how much are you baking???

Me sign the book? That is too funny...but why not!

Mstrinisoul said...

I was an ace with baking bread until I move to the UK. In England my bread keep failing. Every single time. It is either not rising well in pan (2nd proofing) or to hard (well always). This is annoying do you have any tips that I could use?

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