Your Gums Will Bleed, But Your Stomach Will Thank You
What do we mean by artisan, or artisanal, breads? Definitions vary. Some insist that they are any breads that are hand-crafted, not mass-produced, while others insist that they also must be low leaven/long rise breads. If you’re a bread lover and you’ve been paying attention for the last ten years, you’ve probably come across Old World style loaves with tough, gum-bleedin’ crusts, soft interiors with large holes, and complex, well-developed flavors. Ciabiatta, boules, baguettes, great crusty rolls, peasant loaves, ficelle – all are breads that contain the simplest ingredients, yet the texture and flavor is unsurpassed. These are what we think of when we talk about artisan breads.
These breads are prepared using a starter or pre-ferment. This is simply flour, water, and yeast, mixed together and allowed to stand and work for anywhere from several hours to several days. (In the case of sourdoughs, no yeast other than the wild ones in the air around us is used – by purists, that is.) Starters can be made fresh each time or replenished and re-used. They can be stored in the refrigerator or freezer until you’re ready to bake. The dough produced from these starters are “slack”, or very wet and soft and take a bit of practice to master kneading and forming them. But the results are well worth it.
I prefer to make my pre-ferments fresh, which means planning on my part, but it’s easy enough to mix up the starter before bed and let it do its thing overnight in the fridge. Then, it’s simply a matter of mixing in the remaining flour, water, and salt and kneading either by hand or machine. When I’m home, I’ll make the bread straight through. If I’m out running around, I’ll just pop the dough in the fridge. Artisanal breads actually do better with a slow, cool rise.
If you love bread or are intrigued by the idea of making your own the way people have been doing for millennia, join us in the Artisanal Bread class on Sunday, September 28.
