"Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Bread"

[curls]

Website has an update and the new date is March 2017.

http://modernistcuisine.com/2016/04/modernist-bread/?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Campaign2&utm_campaign=Modernist%2BBread%2BAnnouncement

[chefmd]

No price yet.  And it is not listed on Amazon.  I am not very good at baking bread but I WANT this book.

[Chris Hennes]

On their site they have indicated that it will most likely be available for pre-order fall or winter 2016. My money is on the price being comparable to the original, so something in the neighborhood of $600-$650 MSRP.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

"All of our equipment is here, including the centrifuge, roto-stator [sic] homogenizer, and CVap, for which we’ve found new applications in baking."

 

...sign me up.

[rotuts]

I can't even imagine this Baking Tone to be 5 volumes.

 

maybe  but not

 

I'm hoping it one tome  more or less Like the tome

 

MC @ Home      

[Chris Hennes]

From the linked site:

Quote

Countless loaves later, we’ve amassed (and are still generating) an incredible amount of content, so much so that it will fill five volumes, just like our first passion project, Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking.

 

[rotuts]

OK

 

I can't imagine it

 

5 Vols ?

 

Ultra Slim ?

 

 

[Chris Hennes]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

Ultra Slim ?

Don't count on it. They bought a scanning electron microscope! I have no doubt that the Modernist team can fill five full volumes.

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

I can't even imagine this Baking Tone to be 5 volumes.

 

maybe  but not

 

I'm hoping it one tome  more or less Like the tome

 

MC @ Home      

 

Me two.

[rotuts]

well, lets see.

 

Ive run a billion years ago several scanning EM.

 

after a few pics, well,  it can git a bit boring.

 

how ever, Let's see !

[lesliec]

Yes, Rotuts, but were you looking at bread with them?  Maybe that makes all the difference.

 

And I do rather like the trademark sliced-in-half toaster in the MC post.

[Lisa Shock]

I'd love to get a review copy....

 

[rotuts]

yes  the MC pics are great.

[coz]

This will be impressive for sure.  Hard to believe that it's the same size as MC.  All of cooking vs Flour+Water+Salt+Yeast ! 

[Chris Hennes]

Considering how long humans have been making bread in one form or another, and the vast accumulation of misinformation and old wives tales over that time (especially regarding sourdough), I'd guess that the MC team's aim is something along the lines of "unassailable comprehensiveness." For example, I expect a tremendous amount of information on the best way to begin and propagate a natural yeast starter, backed up by a wealth of tests and observations. Their use of a scanning electron microscope is sort of an emblem of the approach they appear to be taking---they want to make sure that no one can say "yeah, but famous chef X said the best way to begin a starter was by using blah, and I tried it and I got a sourdough, so it must be right!" Presumably their answer will be something like "actually, what is really happening is that the yeast from famous source X is out-competed in Y hours by Candida humilis (or whatever).

[cakewalk]

I can't decide if I appreciate this, or think it's foolish. A bit of both, leaning more toward foolish. I keep thinking of that conversation in a Woody Allen movie (I don't remember which one, they all seem to merge) where people are having a conversation about orgasms. One person says she was reading about orgasms and discovered that all along she's been having the wrong kind. Woody Allen gives one of his raised-eyebrow looks and says, oh, I've never had the wrong kind! (Extrapolate!) This is bread. Thousands of years. Just about every culture on Earth. And now the MC people are saying, "but you're making the wrong kind." I dunno. I've never made the wrong kind. I'm not saying there's no room for improvement, there always is. I think what I'm skeptical about is the apparent exclusiveness of this enterprise.  

[Chris Hennes]

31 minutes ago, cakewalk said:

And now the MC people are saying, "but you're making the wrong kind."

I don't know that they will be saying it quite like that---more like "what you thought you were doing is not in fact what you are doing." I mean, I've got something like ten or twenty different cookbooks that talk about sourdough bread, and in every one of them the author has a pet theory about the best way to create a starter. I'd rather have a situation where you could choose a desired end product and have a definitive reference for the best way to get there. 

[cakewalk]

I think it's unfair to refer to other baker's methods of making starter as "pet theories." And there's not all that much variation in the long run. Flour, water, mix, wait. I appreciate the precision. There's bread, and then there's bread. I appreciate the pursuit of perfection. I'm not sure where I stand on the presumption of its attainment. 

[Chris Hennes]

With sourdough we're basically talking about optimizing the growth of certain strains of microorganism while suppressing the growth of others. I think it's perfectly reasonable to state that there is an optimum technique, and that some techniques espoused by some bakers, no matter how successful they seem, are at best "not that damaging." As another example, with any sort of bread, for a given style, you are looking for a particular crumb. That's going to depend on a number of factors related to gluten development, moisture content, ingredient distribution, etc. Instead of just guessing at what's going on at a microscopic level to yield the desired results, we're actually going to get to see it. I think that's really cool, and I think it will help us get at the best technique to yield a given style of bread.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Just four ingredients but so many variables.  The slashes of my previous baguette opened beautifully, picture worthy, but the taste was merely OK.  Tonight (from the same fermentation) the scarifications failed to open fully.  I wouldn't say the crust and crumb were to die for -- but perhaps to live for!  Beautifully delicious translucent crumb, shatteringly thin crisp crust.  It makes all the work worthwhile.  But I cannot replicate it at will.

 

Now if MC can only tell me how to have everything all together.  The book would be cheap at any price.

 

And if they are looking for suggestions for their next fermented publication project, how about a five volume set on methode rotuts?  Think of all the high tech imaging of bubbles!

[rotuts]

"""   a five volume set on methode rotuts?  """

 

Im in

 

[MikeMac]

I love and own all their books.  It's unfortunate Moderenist Cusine's relationship with  inking is not going further.  The big books are great to look at in fact they live in our front room but using them to cook from or reference sucks.  I use my iPad in the kitchen. 

 

Hopefully with a purchase they include the right to reference the material digitally.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 hours ago, MikeMac said:

I love and own all their books.  It's unfortunate Moderenist Cusine's relationship with  inking is not going further.  The big books are great to look at in fact they live in our front room but using them to cook from or reference sucks.  I use my iPad in the kitchen. 

 

Hopefully with a purchase they include the right to reference the material digitally.

 

 

 

What is inking?

[Anna N]

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

What is inking?

I think that is a typo and should be Inkling.  It is an e-book subscription service  if I recall correctly. I have their electronic copy of  modernist Cuisine @ Home. 

[Lisa Shock]

I am looking forward to a clear description of how additives, particularly those in commercial breads, act upon regular bread ingredients. Things like DATEM are still not well understood, even though they are commonly used.