That lovely boule is a Pain de Provence. There are lots of recipes out there for making Pain de Provence, but I didn’t use any of them. Instead, I played around with the Baker’s Percentage of a standard lean dough.

Categories: baking, bread, technique
Tagged: baking, bread, technique

If there is one arcane art in baking, it’s understanding and using the Baker’s Percentage. Once you’ve grasped the fundamentals, the whole world of baking seems simpler.

Categories: baking, bread, mother recipe, technique
Tagged: baking, bread, mother recipe, technique

At its most fundamental level, bread is a magical mixture of flour, water, salt, and yeast. The one ingredient in that short list that causes fear is yeast.

Categories: baking, bread, technique
Tagged: baking, bread, technique

Lately I’ve been having a lot of fun with bread, especially recreating familiar breads but using wild yeast starter, or sourdough starter, as the primary leavening. Le Gibassier was so tasty it didn’t last nearly long enough, so I was “forced” to make another breakfast bread. I thought raisin bread sounded like a winner, especially [...]

Categories: baking, bread
Tagged: baking, bread

Dark, rich coffee, a bit of fresh fruit, and Le Gibassier still warm from the oven. Ah, morning in Provençal.

Categories: baking, bread
Tagged: baking, bread

Having a good basic quick bread recipe in your repertoire makes life easy when you want to use up some bananas or zucchini, or find yourself hosting a brunch, or just want something tasty while you watch the snowstorm blowing outside your window. Michael Ruhlman’s Basic Quick Bread/Muffin Ratio from his book Ratio: The Simple Codes [...]

Categories: baking, bread, mother recipe, technique
Tagged: baking, bread, mother recipe

Brioche–memories of Paris and fear of failure, well mixed. But no longer. I lucked into a copy of Ciril Hitz’s book Baking Artisan Pastries and Breads, watched the included DVD, and now I have no more fear of failure. With brioche, that is.

Categories: baking, bread, technique
Tagged: baking, bread, technique

Bread and Wine is a wonderful novel by Ignazio Silone, and sometimes I think it would make a good name for my blog. Or maybe it should be Bread and Soup and Wine because I consume a fair amount of each. Anyway, here’s another excellent bread from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day, ever so [...]

Categories: baking, bread
Tagged: baking, bread

Panettone is a well-known Christmas treat from Milan, although it is available and eaten year-round. The commercial panettone I’ve had comes in a large tin, and although tasty, is a bit dry. The homemade version from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day is anything but dry, and very tasty indeed. It’s also a lot of [...]

Categories: baking, bread
Tagged: baking, bread

Bread, for me, truly is the staff of life. Meals feel incomplete without some sort of bread, and a good bread makes a complete meal by itself. I love baguettes and focacce, boules and rolls. All those are wonderful right up to the moment I crave a good PB&J, and that’s when I need sandwich [...]

Categories: baking, bread
Tagged: baking, bread