By bread alone

Last night was kind of slow at work. We were waiting on a wedding and doing what we could to get ready for the cookout today, but in the end there just wasn't much to do and there was a lot of waiting and chatting going on. One of the cooks and I started talking about bread. He said that whenever he tries to make bread it's always a ton of work and then he ends up with a rock. I know that I am a certified JWU dough ho, but there is just something so relaxing about making bread that hearing this from him just made me sad.

I didn't have a hardcore bread chef in school. The two hardcore bread chefs at JWU were hippies with long hair and calm demeanor. Well they were sort of calm, unless somehow you managed to mess up their bread. These guys loved bread. They would take that freshman baking class and on day one have them make a french baguette. They would pull the bread out of the giant stone ovens when they had the perfect dark color (the flavor is in the color, so for all of you out there who tend to burn things bread is for you) and they would grab a loaf;they wouldn't knock on it or check it's color on the bottom. They would grab the loaf and listen to it. A loaf that is baked to perfection will sing to you; if you don't believe me then you need to make some bread and prove me wrong.

The bread chef I had at JWU was trained at the Culinary Institute of America. He didn't teach the bread class at JWU because he couldn't keep his hands off bread; he taught because that was what was assigned him. This was a tad bit disappointing, but to be honest I hated that bread class. The only thing I liked about it was the fact that my diet could consist of baguettes, semolina, rye, ciabatta, croissants, broiche, soft pretzels, and danish for 6 weeks. Without someone who truly loved and appreciated bread I really didn't see the beauty behind bread baking.

All of that changed when I moved to Maine after I graduated. My first day the pastry chef showed me how to make bread. She explained that every day we made all of the bread for service. I thought to myself "oh great, I hated breads class." But Janna's love for bread really won me over. She kneaded it by hand and rolled out every piece. She was never classically taught how to score the bread (make the cuts on top so that the bread has room to breathe and grow), so I was able to add some of my own wisdom to the mix. Half of the day in the bakeshop was spent kneading and baking the bread. Guests would come and stay in the main house in the inn just to smell the baking bread.

Day after day, week after week I came to love the bread. I looked forward to smelling the bread as it was baking and I became quite familiar with Janna's creative mixes for the special bread. It was in this kitchen that I came to love bread and every creative principle behind it. The beautiful thing about bread is that you can add and mix almost anything into it, you can make it sweet or savory, and you'll end up using basically the same formula for all of it. Janna taught me that a good baguette recipe equaled delicious bread 7 days a week. She'd cook up some onions and add dill and the onions to make dill bread. I was not nearly as creative as she was, but I loved watching her brain come up with ideas on how to make the bread today. For a girl who was taught the rules of baking and not the creativity behind baking working at the Bar Harbor Inn was like opening my eyes to a whole new world.

Now it's time to open your ow eyes. It is time to put aside all of your ideas about bread and go in hands first.

1 tablespoon of yeast
1 tablespoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of salt
1 quart of water (warm- Your body temperature is most likely under 100 degrees Fahrenheit by a couple of degrees, so if the water feels warm it is ok. If the water feels hot it is too hot and will kill the yeast.)

Mix all of those ingredients together. The way to make bread is to make it while you are busy doing something else. If you're making a nice dinner for guests start cooking the meal after you mixed up this part of the bread. You'll want it to get nice and foamy before you move to the next step.

About 6 cups of bread flour
I say about for the flour because the flour really is something that you can't just use an exact amount for. If it's really humid there will be extra moisture in the air and dough will absorb more flour. If it is the middle of winter and dry as a bone, you will use a lot less flour. Listen to the dough. If it looks like it's really wet then add some more flour, and if it looks like it's a little dry maybe use a little less flour. If you have a nice Kitchenaid like I got my mom for her birthday one year, then put the yeast mixture and the flour in the Kitchenaid with the dough hook and start letting it do the work. If you don't have a fancy machine, start kneading the dough. It needs to be smooth, so you will be kneading for a little bit. Don't loose hope; you are building some good kitchen muscles.

Now it's time to let the dough rest. Again make dinner, walk the dog, get out of bread baking mode. Bread is a process and it takes time, but I promise it will be worth it. I like to bake bread with someone; this way when it's time for the dough to rest I'll put some water on for tea and sit and chat. In order for the dough to proof while it is resting you'll need to leave it in a warm damp place. If you live in the rain forest, you can just cover the bread and set it in your house. For all of the rest of us who aren't so lucky heat your oven to it's lowest setting. Place the bottom of the broiler pan on the lower rack of the oven and fill it with water. Turn off your oven once it reaches temperature and oven it a little to cool the oven down. Yeast is a live thing. It likes warm moist climates, but not hot climates.

Once your bread doubles in size take it out. punch it down and divide it into loaves. You'll get about 4 out of this recipe. Knead each loaf till they are smooth. Roll them into snake shapes and place them on sheet pans that have corn meal dusted on them. Take a serrated knife and cut a line down the middle of the loaf. I cut 3 lines to make them look like the bread you buy at the store, but in order to do that I would really have to show you how. It's not very easy to explain. The one cut will do the trick. You don't want to cut the loaf in half, but you want to give the bread room to breathe and grow.

Bake the bread at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for maybe 15-20 minutes. It's hard to say how long it'll take to bake the bread, because it will be dependent on how thin the loaves are and how hot your oven is. Listen to the bread. Watch the bread. And remember the flavor is in the color, so don't pull the bread out when it has a wimpy white flavor.

It will be very hard for you to refrain from breaking the loaf of bread and just eating it right there. There is truly nothing like the flavor of fresh baked bread. Bread really is a process, and it's made of living things. Be patient with it, and remember to relax and enjoy the process. Bread does not have to be something scary, or something you only get when you go out. Make it a nice night in with a fresh loaf of bread.

Happy Eating!!!

Emily