Homemade Bread

[bomber60015]

I've had some good luck with recipes from these folks . . . .

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeHome

[YBViking]

Hey Levain

Howz about a " bread of the world" report?

Hungry minds wanna know. FWIW, my current administration (see sig line) went to college in France and lived on the bread there. Shes wondering if its still the same

Im going to be left to my own vices this sunday. I may take a wander down. Will you be working sunday?

[levain]

My wife has most of the pictures, and well, we're not really picture people so....

The most interesting bread we had was from Eric Kayser. Pain Paline


It's a buckwheat flour based bread made with Levain. It was really something special, and unlike anything I've had in the states.

We went to lots of bakeries, including my all time favorite, Le Moulin de La Vierge on Rue Vercingetorix. Talk about old school baking at its best.


Is the bread great? Well, its much better than it used to be. We were pretty impressed for the most part. The last time I had been was in 2000, and the bread was appalling. A warning though; there is a lot of really bad bread in France. You really need to know where to go, but that seemed so easy this time compared to last. In fact, I have a good friend that is from Bordeaux. When he goes home, he takes bread from my bakery to his father because he can't get any in Bordeaux!

Apparently, what killed bread in Paris at least was the Baguette. Once upon a time, the govt. put a price on its head. No baker was allowed to charge more than that price for a "baguette". Today, that price is .90euros. Now, if you call it something different, you can charge whatever you want, so its pretty common to see the Baguette Tradition pretty much everywhere.

Some of my favorite signs










My favorite, and the best Pain au Levain of the trip. The bread from this humble bakery was astounding, and exactly as you might think it'd taste 200 years ago. This was their sign


My wife is who makes Seven Stars happen, shown here thanking God for Paris Brest!


Of course, that night I had fromage for dessert. They set a plate in front of me, and a platter of cheese and told me to go nuts!


I'm hoping to get back this year at some point to work in a few bakeries, something I haven't done in years

[levain]

Originally Posted by YBViking

Im going to be left to my own vices this sunday. I may take a wander down. Will you be working sunday?

I'm working Sun afternoon into the night from around 3:00 on. I have an interview at 3:00, but if you want to stop by the bakery in Pawtucket from around 3:30 on, that'd be great. PM me if interested.

[dlearl476]

Originally Posted by bomber60015

I've had some good luck with recipes from these folks . . . .

http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/RecipeHome

He he, I just got a recall notice from Fresh Direct wrt King Arthur flour. Check your "Sell By" dates.

In related news, my attempts at a fledgling baking career have been dashed. In order to figure out why the aforementioned carrot pulp muffins took so damn long to cook, I bought an oven thermometer. The crappy oven in the apt I'm renting can't get above 275 degrees. Wish I'd have discovered that before I bought $100 worth of baking accoutrements.

[dlearl476]

Originally Posted by levain

I'm working Sun afternoon into the night from around 3:00 on. I have an interview at 3:00, but if you want to stop by the bakery in Pawtucket from around 3:30 on, that'd be great. PM me if interested.

When the weather gets a biit nicer, I'm in for a road trip. I really like Providence. Did production for a tour I did last year at PPAC. It was my third trip there.

[YBViking]

Excellent report! Thanks.

What do you suppose made the change for the better over there?
Commitment to quality? Better/different flour?

Regardless, we know you are turning out great stuff and yet it would appear you are looking to learn even more. That in itself is a rare commodity these days.

If only my expanding waste-line could afford to support your efforts more.

[Bokrijder]

Levain,

Able to get back any further than the front counter at any of the shops ?

Bokrijder

[Xeraux]

Originally Posted by YBViking

Excellent report! Thanks.

What do you suppose made the change for the better over there?
Commitment to quality? Better/different flour?

The fact that they can now actually use quality ingredients and make money on bread.

[bomber60015]

Originally Posted by dlearl476

He he, I just got a recall notice from Fresh Direct wrt King Arthur flour. Check your "Sell By" dates.

Good info, thanks . . . . .

of course, it in no way impacts the recipes data on their site ;-}

Sorry bout your oven!

[levain]

Originally Posted by Xeraux

The fact that they can now actually use quality ingredients and make money on bread.

That's true, but I just don't know enough about it to comment too much. Paris, like any big city, has lots of single folks so a large country loaf is a little too much bread to bring home, which is how the smaller, more easily manageable baguette evolved. Eric Kayser did, apparently, lobby the French Gov't to drop this requirement on bread pricing, but the result was only that you just couldn't call the bread a baguette. Call it anything else, and you can charge anything you want. It seems, to me, that they could've done that all along so All I know is that the bread was horrible, its not now, there are Eric Kayser Boulangerie's all over (80ish worldwide) and many others just as good. I tend to think that bread has under gone a revolution in France, in much the same way food in general has all over the world and that has as much to do with it as anything else. Still, as mentioned earlier, my friends dad in Bordeaux can't get good bread in his village. He claims the closest good bread is 90min. drive away. Or, a plane ride from Little Rhody

[lobsta]

[QUOTE=levain;20842876]My wife has most of the pictures, and well,
My favorite, and the best Pain au Levain of the trip. The bread from this humble bakery was astounding, and exactly as you might think it'd taste 200 years ago. This was their sign

Would you happen to have the address to this bakery?
We'll be eating our way through Maison Kayser Paris locales in April.
Bikes,bread, and travel, does it get much better?!!

[ndirienzo]

Just made this one today



My starter should be ready in a few more days so I can give some sourdough breads a shot.

[levain]

[QUOTE=lobsta;20863911]

Originally Posted by levain

My wife has most of the pictures, and well,
My favorite, and the best Pain au Levain of the trip. The bread from this humble bakery was astounding, and exactly as you might think it'd taste 200 years ago. This was their sign

Would you happen to have the address to this bakery?
We'll be eating our way through Maison Kayser Paris locales in April.
Bikes,bread, and travel, does it get much better?!!

uhhhhhhhh, no, but I could get there. Let me think about it, and I'll get back to you. It is worth going out of your way for. They made some nice simple pastries and a few different breads, but the most interesting was HUGE, Probably 10kilos each. You just told them how much you wanted, and they sold it by the kilo. I wish I had a picture of the bread. Sorry. Let me think about the location.

[levain]

[QUOTE=levain;20864217]

Originally Posted by lobsta

uhhhhhhhh, no, but I could get there. Let me think about it, and I'll get back to you. It is worth going out of your way for. They made some nice simple pastries and a few different breads, but the most interesting was HUGE, Probably 10kilos each. You just told them how much you wanted, and they sold it by the kilo. I wish I had a picture of the bread. Sorry. Let me think about the location.

Ahh! Found it!

Au Panetier

The google map shows an older store front without the cool sign, but that's it. Here's another (really bad) picture of the window that you can still see in the Google Map.