I never dreamed of being a baker. But after baking, I respect all the bakers who wake up at the hours no one dares to wake up or work a “graveyard” shift because you have to. Bread is not appreciated enough in most of the US. Most of us still get bread wrapped in plastic bags, gassed with preservatives, and possibly weeks old.
A short history lesson
In 2003 I graduated high school with the hopes of being an investment banker. By 2006, I graduated with a degree in Economics from the University of Texas (yes, I am very proud of my 2005 National Champion Longhorn Football Team). By 2008, I was working my Corporate Job in the morning and restaurant gig in the nights and weekends. By 2009, after leaving Corporate, getting a pastry certification from The French Pastry School, and moving to Napa to stage at The French Laundry, I was on my road to being a pastry chef. (or so I thought) The stage lasted 3 months, but the allure of the Bouchon Bakery down the street kept me in Napa.
Not the typical path to becoming a baker, but I’m glad I did it.
Being a Baker, and the details most overlook.
It’s not just a “cool” thing to do. It’s really hard work and takes lots of practice to get it right. Most days you haven’t gotten it perfect, and you may only see perfect once or twice – if you’re lucky. It’s a job that challenges day after day – mentally and physically – something I was missing at my desk. Yes, we may seem of a different breed, but that’s because we’re obsessed with getting it right.
Bread baking is much different than following a recipe and motions of making pastry. There is a type of preciseness, but one that based on the feeling (of preciseness). Mixing the dough sounds easy, but the humidity in the air affects how much water is added to the recipe. Also the age of the flour changes the rate of absorption of water. Oh, and the flour makes a difference too. (ie. rye absorbs more than white flour). Add 3/4ths of the water to start, then add more if necessary. Sometimes the dough will require more than stated in the recipe.
The temperature of the water does actually matter. Desired Dough Temperature is the temp that you want you dough to come off the mixer so it can ferment at an ideal rate. Usually I aim for 23-25C (73-77F) depending on the dough. (Some doughs you want colder than this range, some warmer). If the dough is a little too cold, place it in a warmer location. If too warm, place it in a colder location. Make a mental note of how warm your water was this time and adjust for the next time. The temp of your bowl, flour and surroundings also affect the DDT. It’s all a feeling.
Now depending on how full you have filled the mixer, the gluten will develop faster or slower in the same amount of time. Every mixer, I have been told, has an ideal dough amount. More or less, you gotta feel it every time.
At every stage of making bread, there are minor adjustments you can make to “fix” your dough to achieve the results desired. Shaping is one of the most obvious. When diving the dough, if it is too strong, handle the dough as little as possible when pre-shaping. If the dough is too weak, pre-shape more tightly. When shaping, give an extra fold to the weak dough.
Baking may seem easiest of the last steps, but there is a lot of concentration involved in baking. I was always very focused in the bake room. Loading the oven requires planning. If the rack of breads are all the same, then easy. If they are all different doughs, they will all be proofed at different rates, and hopefully not all ready at the same time. I had to score differently based on the strength and proof of the dough. I hated scoring the breads with seeds. They almost never get a clean cut the first time around. Oh, and if you’re coming into the bake room when a baker is pulling something out of the oven, they have the right of way (or you get hit).
We don’t use timers for our breads. They are done when they are done. It’s an internal timer. The timers we do use are more of a reminder there’s-something-in-the-oven timer.
I don’t know why people love their pale breads! Bread’s flavor comes from the crust. The caramelization of the crust known as the Maillard reaction. The reaction between protein and heat. I like my breads dark (a good dark, not burnt) and I bake them that way. Color = flavor. Tartine in SF bakes their bread just the way I like it, and they are the best bakery in SF – not just on my terms.
