Above is some of the first passable bread I’ve produced with the brick oven, a few basic white flour “sourdough” batards (I know, that word sounds fancy, it’s simply French for “bastard”, meaning a loaf that’s neither round like a boule [ball] nor skinny like a baguette). I put sourdough in quotes because the bread […]
READ ONI always though that book was a bunch of baloney. And unfortunately the French government is going about combatting the problem in exactly the wrong way: a fatty foods tax. Forget that fatty foods like runny cheese and foie gras are considered cultural icons, the very notion that a behavior as elemental as diet can […]
READ ONHere’s a novel way to avoid taking in calories while still spending all the money you’d normally associate with a glass of fine wine: a gourmet water bar.
READ ONGot several emails last night from various readers, asking about my remark on fermented foods and satiety, or the feeling of fullness (or at least the feeling of not being hungry, which is probably most precise). How exactly do fermented foods create that sensation? they all want to know. If I knew the answer to […]
READ ONThe thing about starters is, they’re incredibly easy. If they weren’t, human beings would never have invented bread. The only trick is remembering to care for it. The vast majority of starter failures come from forgetting to feed one on a regular basis. If you can do that you won’t have any problems. Begin a […]
READ ONGrowing your own starter is an elementary project than can become complicated if your water is compromised in any way. If you’re connected to a municipal water supply that’s heavy on chlorine, for example, or if you have a water softener. On the other extreme a relatively “dirty” water supply can introduce organisms that will […]
READ ONThe thing that is sourdough, i.e. a naturally fermented leavener, obviously goes back to virtual pre-history…10,000 years at least. My interest at the moment, though, is in that specific version of the natural leavener that we North Americans call “sourdough”. For indeed “sourdough” is a term that’s specific to North America, no other bread baking […]
READ ONYes you can…with a little egg and fat of course. I know, it sounds weird given that starters can be stinky, slimy things, but the fundamentals are there for a wholesome breakfast. Despite the fact that yeasts have been working all night, there’s still plenty of starch left for the rest of us. And as […]
READ ONSo what can you do with a bunch of starter that’s been sitting out on the counter all night long? Why not eat it? Old school sourdough pancakes are nothing more than slightly sweetened, egg-enriched starter, poured onto a hot griddle. They were a staple of frontiersmen in the north woods back in the day, […]
READ ONWhenever you’re maintaining an active, full-strength starter, you always need to at least double its weight to keep it healthy and happy. That can be a lot of starter assuming you keep it going at room temperature…two ounces makes four ounces make eight ounces make a pound and so on. Do that every day for […]
READ ON