"Baking With Julia" by Julia Child (2004)

[SethG]

I was wondering about what happens when you extend the chilling time myself. I am fairly new to bread baking and would love to know more. Anyone here have experience that can recommend a good resource?

Any of peter Reinhart's books would be a good place to look for answers to questions like these.

I'm pretty new to this stuff myself, but I believe that when dough is chilled, yeast activity comes nearly to a halt. Bacteria in the dough continues to feed, however, which creates depth of flavor in the dough. Eventually, this bacterial activity will create a "sour" flavor-- which I'm guessing Steve Sullivan likes just fine, but not in this bread.

The galette sounds good to me. I made the savory one last week, and would love to try with fruit. The recipe suggests using apples or pears in the winter.

I was going to suggest croissants for after that, but how would people feel about matzoh?

[SethG]

Any of the rest of you use particular flour or just what ever's at the super market?

I use King Arthur flour. I get it at the supermarket in Brooklyn.

[Rhea_S]

The walnut bread was great. I added a little bit of roquefort and it's been difficult to stop eating. I'll definitely make it again but with a bit more patience. I didn't let it proof properly because my house was too cold and it was taking too long. I slashed it a bit deeper than usual, so it wouldn't explode. It still had way too much oven-spring, but the loaf stayed relatively round. Not the prettiest loaf on the outside, so here's a pic of the crumb.

Edit to add: I also mostly use King Arthur, bought whenever it's on sale at the supermarket although I sometimes use Bob's Red Mill or Hodgson.

Edited March 23, 2004 by Rhea_S (log)

[Dahomechef]

Arbuclo- I use King Arthur 90% of the time. It's available here (about 20 miles north of San Francisco) at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. For specialty flours I usually order from the King Arthur catalog.

Rhea, your crumb looks great--light and airy. Yum. I'll have to add the walnut bread to my wish list.

SethG, I've made matzoh (from The Bread Bible) and it's fun! Looking through the book this evening, I was also quite taken by the Savory Brioche Pockets. Too many recipes!

[arbuclo]

I was going to suggest croissants for after that, but how would people feel about matzoh?

Do you all have ovens that get hot enough to do the matzoh? (If I recall it calls for something like 500 degrees!) My oven doesn't go that hot otherwise I'd definitely give it a try.

[mdt]

I use King Arthur flour that I buy at the supermarket or Whole Foods here in VA.

I did not think about apple or pear for the gallete, but that does sound good.

[Rhea_S]

My oven doesn't go that hot otherwise I'd definitely give it a try.

I think most domestic ovens here in North America get to at least 500F. Bread Baker's Apprentice says something about that in the instructions for pizza. The pizza crust in that book is excellent if you like the crisp, thin, cracker-like crust (which I do), and it bakes at 650F or the highest temp you can get your oven (550F for mine).

[SethG]

Mixed Starter Bread-- epis!

[Rhea_S]

Your epis look beautiful, especially the poppy seed! I'll give that a go next week. I have lots of pizza dough left in my freezer.

[Ling]

Wow...what a great thread! I can't believe I missed it until now.

The pictures are beautiful. I especially like the potato bread and the apple tart pics.

I think I'm going to order this book off Ebay...

Oh, and coincidentally I tried Julia's brownies just the other day and they are DELICIOUS!

[EllenC]

So I finally baked the brownies, but stupidly put them in too small a pan and they never really baked all the way through. However, the Little Darlings and I picked off all of the overdone top and scooped out the delicious center with our fingers. Some friends came to dinner Sunday and one of them wanted to try it, but I was forced to explain that activity was for family only.

I need to get back to bread. The epis look awesome. I made twice baked brioche again and it is definitely a new family fave. I didn't have enough almond filling for all the slices, so I took the other slices I had soaked in that terrific syrup and made french toast out of them. It was SOOOO good!

[arbuclo]

Those epis look absolutely perfect. Well done!

[SethG]

Thanks for the compliments! I owe it to arbuclo. That King Arthur tutorial made it very easy. I wouldn't have even tried if I hadn't seen arbuclo's post. Now that I've made a lot of the bread in Baking With Julia and done some other loaves from some other books, I think the BWJ directions on forming loaves can be a little cryptic sometimes. Of course, if you saw the television segments you'd have a much better guide. Must have been a challenge for Dorie to describe so many different bakers' methods-- there's no universal method used by all of the bakers to form a batard, or whatever. It helps to have another resource to look at for guidance when you occasionally get stuck.

I'm not dissing the book. It's been very good to us! Just an observation of one of its relative weaknesses.

I loved this mixed starter bread, by the way. It tasted like regular French bread, but it had great depth to it. Great crust, too. I saved a nugget from the completed dough, and I think tomorrow I'll start again, with the aim of making walnut bread on Thursday.

P.S. I also made a baguette that looks like crap. My rolling and slashing both suck. I couldn't sully the picture of my attractive epis with that shameful baguette!

Edited March 24, 2004 by SethG (log)

[Dahomechef]

SethG, your epis are awesome! I also took a look at the King Arthur link arbuclo provided and it certainly was much clearer than the instructions in BWJ. I have the opposite problem, as my baguettes turn out lovely and with pretty decent slashes, but I'm going to have to take another whack at those epis. They just look totally great to break off into little rolls.

The mixed starter bread is a fantastic and adaptable recipe, and the gradual fermentation really builds depth of flavor. Glad we made this!

[SethG]

So.... galettes this weekend?

Doesn't seem like there's any real consensus for next weekend.

[helenas]

Seth, very sexy picture

[mdt]

I am planning on the galettes as I made the dough last night. I think I am going to make 1 apple and 1 pear... Yum!

[alacarte]

I got all inspired by this thread to do some baking too, so I ordered the cookbook (yes Rachel, though the link that supports eG). If I ever get my act together I'll try some of the recipes.

Though knowing my typical M.O., I'll page through the book, get insanely hungry, and run to the nearest Pain Quotidien to buy some bread rather than baking up a batch on my own.

[Dahomechef]

Galettes it is. We have some nice looking berries at Whole Foods.

For next weekend, how about the amazing looking Baba or the Vanilla Hazelnut cheesecake? Or the Savory Brioche Pockets? SethG--any preferences?

[SethG]

For next weekend, how about the amazing looking Baba or the Vanilla Hazelnut cheesecake? Or the Savory Brioche Pockets? SethG--any preferences?

Well, I had suggested croissants or matzoh, and matzoh seemed to spark a little interest, but only a little. I'm going to try matzoh anyway, but I have no problem with us doing something else if there's not a lot of interest. I don't blame anyone for wanting to avoid matzoh. I do the same thing 51 weeks a year!

My own preference among the enticing choices you've selected, Dahome, would be the Baba. I have a third of my brioche dough from a few weeks ago in the freezer, so it wouldn't be hard for me to do those savory pockets either, and they sure look good. I'm not sure I'm ready for another cheesecake yet.

What do others think? Any interest in croissants? It's a big undertaking, I know. Baba? Whichever we choose, I'll probably make it in advance of the weekend, since Passover looms on April 5.

[Dahomechef]

Oops... forgot about the matzoh idea. I'll be making it also, but you are probably right that there may be little interest. Since I missed making the brioche dough I'd love to try the Baba if others are agreeable.

[devlin]

Greetings, I'm new here, reading for the past several days whilst waiting for my application for membership to go through. I'm enjoying the pics and the discussion. Have had the JC book for a few years now and always enjoy dipping into it now and again. Although, truthfully, I've had better luck with Carol Field's bread-baking methods from her very wonderful Italian Baker. But I love the JC book for a million other reasons.

May I suggest trying Nancy Silverton's to-die-for pecan sticky buns (also from the JC book)? If you've never tried them, you'll never think of sticky buns in the same way again. They are flat out one of the best things I've ever eaten in my life. Her brioche tart with the white secret sauce is also very fabulous (the one that made JC cry on her "Baking with Julia" show, a delightful and quintessentially Julia Child moment, very sweet and funny), although the sauce was a bit finicky. But I may just be remembering it that way only because I screwed up and burned it the first time and had to do the whole sauce over again.

I don't know whether any of you who are having trouble with the mixers overheating and such might find this useful, but Silverton notes in her bread book that "mix to combine" = speed 1 on the mixer, "slow" = speed 2, "medium" = 3, and "high = speed 4. That may help.

Also, if you reserve a cup of the flour called for in the bread recipe you're working with, mixing for a few minutes to get everything kneading, add only what you need for the water and the flour to make a fairly wet dough (I tend to add only enough flour so that the dough still pools a bit in the bottom of the mixer while mixing). Having worked through Field and Silverton and several other bread making books over the past handful of years, I've realized they're right on: wetter is better.

And a question. Have any of you worked with wood-fired ovens? Any experience building them? I've recently got the plans from Alan Scott to build one of his ovens, and my husband and I are going to try to get the thing built by the end of April. I look at the plans and immediately go cross-eyed and get pretty crabby, although my husband is just fine with them.

It's so nice to be here and to have discovered so many dedicated baking folks.

Edited March 25, 2004 by devlin (log)

[Rhea_S]

I'm in for the galette if I get a chance to go to the store and buy fruit. I like the matzoh, croissants, babas and savory brioche pockets since I've never made them before and I already have most of the ingredients in my pantry.

[EllenC]

Devlin - Welcome to eGullet!

Seth, galette sounds good. I need to figure out a way to stay home for a couple of months to bake like you!

[Dahomechef]

Devlin, welcome. Thanks for the info on mixing speeds, this has frequently caused confusion. Curious if you've baked from Rose Levy Berenbaum's The Bread Bible. I've had the most success with her recipes, but I haven't tried The Italian Baker. Wondered how you would compare them.

Stifling jealousy here about your plans for a brick over. I had a neighbor who built one in his back yard a couple of years ago--quite impressive, about 7 feet tall. I guess the only downside for him was that he lost about 1/4 of his backyard, and when it came time for him to sell the house, it took months. The new owners were musicians, so not sure what they made of the pile of bricks out back. Neighbor went on to open a bread bakery somewhere in Oregon.

Good luck!