Guinea Pig



Absorbed in a good read...

 I couldn't have chosen a better birthday gift for Chi!  During these past few months, he has developed a obsession passion for all things doughy.   He has spent many an early morning, plenty of rainy Saturdays, countless Sunday afternoons, and generally every spare minute virtually consumed by his pursuit of baking the perfect crust, the perfect roll, or the perfect loaf of French bread.  Whether researching a new concept, perusing the best baking gadgets and necessities online, or testing out a new recipe, he is thinking about bread all the time.  His journey through starchiness and forbidden "white" carbohydrates has brought gooey warm cinnamon rolls on a cold Saturday morning as well as the best pizza crust this side of Shakey's Pizza!   His quest has taken me back to middle school Friday nights, when my parents would take me to Ken's Pizza.  They would order a half pepperoni/half supreme super thin crust pizza, a pitcher of beer, and a 25-cent soda refill for me (for bringing back my reusable Ken's Pizza tumbler!).  We never ate the whole pie and the waitress would pack up 2 supreme slices and 3 pepperoni in a box for us nearly every time.  I love this memory, and Chi's pizza tastes just like that.  At 11 p.m. on any recent Friday night, I find myself wishing there were a few leftover slices in the fridge.  I would eat them just like I ate the leftover Ken's after my mom picked me up from the 7th grade dance.

As for bread, he's a purist:  it's French all the way, baby.  Chi's hot, crusty French bread reminds me of a little French bistro in Louisville, Colorado.  I ate there with my mom and dad one night when I was in college.  We had the best  Beef Bourguignon and mouth-watering, hot, soft-with-big-holes-inside demi baguettes.  We dipped our crusty baguettes in that rich Bourguignon sauce and we were hooked.  Yuuuummmm.  Who needs Pavlov?  I'm salivating already.

I found this book, 52 Loaves, just before Chi's birthday.  It was written by a guy with a similar fascination for baking, and his quest for the perfect loaf took him through an entire calendar year as he tested and re-tested recipes and techniques each week.  What a way to spend a year!  The question is:  Is there really such thing as a bad loaf of French bread?  Yes.  There is.  Just go to your nearest market and pick up a loaf.  I'm guilty of loving anything hot, crusty and buttery, but...  It.  Does.  Not.  Compare.

A perfect birthday gift

I found another book I thought Chi would like.  It is a tantalizing collection of interesting bread recipes and stories by this very cool NYC restaurant-chef-turned-wood-fire-baker.  What can I say?  I took a look, and I liked the cover.  I liked the guy's story.  I bought the book.  I thought that, with its vast array of recipes (sourdough, rye, wheat...), it might interest my husband.  It's not that I don't love French bread, but I might be ready to branch out a bit.  The book was a hint of sorts. 

Chi's pursuit of the perfect crust, the perfect roll, or the perfect loaf leaves me feeling completely satiated  It can't, however, really be helping my girlish figure!  And running doesn't seem to counteract the effects of my non-whole grain tastings.   Ugh.  And I need to be tankini body ready in, like, four weeks!  What I must eat to make this man happy!!!  ;) (Love ya, Babeski)



Man cannot live by bread alone....or can he?

I think it's safe to say that now Chi knows a lot more about baking bread than I do.  I used to have a mind and the time for baking it, and I wish I could bake it as well as my mother did on those cold, snowy winter nights in Nebraska.  Her rye bread was the envy of all sorts of people.  I remember the days when I used to bake bread every week from a sourdough starter that I was given to me by my sister.  It was delectably good sourdough bread.  It was so good that I carried a Ball jar full of bread starter on an airplane home to Omaha from a visit to Raleigh.  Clearly, that was pre-9/11.  No one even batted an eye when I removed a glass jar full of an unidentified liquid from my overhead carry-on and sat with it on my lap for the entire flight.  Hey, I didn't want it to spill!!  This was some damn good, terribly valuable live yeast I was culturing!

 

One recent, very delicious attempt....yummmy.

 But Chi....he doesn't need a fancy starter that has to be divided and fed each week.  He starts with really good flour, water, yeast, salt, and a good scale for weighing his ingedients.  And a passion for making the product.  It's amazing to watch him.  And it's even better to be his French bread guinea pig!