Thread: Artisan Bread Making

Looks good Humbert..where I come from, that would cost you about $12..plus.
Can't beat the taste of freshly baked bread..thanks

I bought an all singing and dancing Kenwood bread machine about 18 months ago. It's got about a years worth of dust on it now.

Not being able to rise to the occasion really gets a man down.

Dutch ovens are hard to find here, but how about this?



No Knead Bread, Baked in a Flower Pot

Originally Posted by misskit

Dutch ovens are hard to find here, but how about this?



No Knead Bread, Baked in a Flower Pot

I think that would work. I am using an aluminum foil cover for the first half hour of baking now and then 20 mins of baking uncovered to crisp up the top. I might be able to get a dutch oven at Central or Verasu. Will check it out next time I'm in Bangkok.

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I bought an all singing and dancing Kenwood bread machine about 18 months ago

Don't bother with it. The artisan method makes much better bread.

Originally Posted by Humbert

I am using an aluminum foil cover for the first half hour of baking now and then 20 mins of baking uncovered

Doh! Why didn't I think of that? Will give it a go to see if I can turn out some Makro-style crunchy baguettes. It's the same cover/uncover method as a dutch oven.

When I was in Atlanta recently I picked up some really good stone ground whole wheat flour at the farmer's market in Decatur. I am mixing it with a locally sourced unbleached bread flour at a 20/80 ratio.

Originally Posted by Kurgen

I bought an all singing and dancing Kenwood bread machine about 18 months ago. It's got about a years worth of dust on it now.

Not being able to rise to the occasion really gets a man down.

Can you give some more info on that bread machine, where you bought it from and how much. I can't fine one anywhere here in Thailand.

Originally Posted by misskit

It isn't clear to me why the dutch oven is needed to get the good crust. Maybe because it holds water vapor better than an oven alone or because it gets hotter and holds the temperature more even than the oven alone.

A dutch oven does just that, keeps the moisture content better and the heat even.

I used to bake the daily bread in a large tripod camp oven (dutch oven) over hot coals with more hot coals shovelled on top of the lid, no flames allowed.

Perfect every time, no burned or soggy crust ever, as long as the breeze didn't cool down one side of the oven.

I'm confused. Are you claiming you are an Artisan or that the bread is good at something.

Don't you mean Homemade bread?

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Don't you mean Homemade bread?

It's referred to as artisan bread because of the techniques used that produce a high quality, unique end product. Are you quibbling about the terminology I used?

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

I'm confused. Are you claiming you are an Artisan or that the bread is good at something.

Don't you mean Homemade bread?

That's what we used to call it, until the ghey 'entrepreneurs' got in and called themselves artisans instead of bakers and sous chef instead of salad hand.

Now we're gonna see 'boutique' bread.....sounds like sh *t in a frock.

Originally Posted by Humbert

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Don't you mean Homemade bread?

It's referred to as artisan bread because of the techniques used that produce a high quality, unique end product. Are you quibbling about the terminology I used?

Much as I applaud your efforts, Humbert, there is no art in breadmaking, it's a skill and at it's acme, a craft, but not an art in any sense of the word.

PS. Prostitutes, courtesans and portrait painters are artisans, by definition.

If it comes to it, anything hand crafted is an artefact, so yes, made by an craftsman/woman or artisan.

So pancakes are thus also made by artisans, as is pad thai.

Whatever.

But would you call exquisite home-made bread using the "best" recipe available made in a bench top electric machine, artisan bread?

ar·ti·san


/ˈärdəzən/


noun

noun: artisan; plural noun: artisans

a worker in a skilled trade, especially one that involves making things by hand.

synonyms: craftsman, craftswoman, craftsperson; More
skilled worker, technician;

•(of food or drink) made in a traditional or non-mechanized way using high-quality ingredients.
"local artisan cheeses"

Originally Posted by ENT

Much as I applaud your efforts, Humbert, there is no art in breadmaking, it's a skill and at it's acme, a craft, but not an art in any sense of the word.

PS. Prostitutes, courtesans and portrait painters are artisans, by definition.

Take it up with the complaint department.

No complaints mate, just arguing about the bastardization of the English language by promoters.

Originally Posted by ENT

No complaints mate, just arguing about the bastardization of the English language by promoters.

The horses are already out of the barn. Artisan beers, artisan cheeses etc. have taken hold in a big way in most civilized places. I have no qualms at all with a younger generation of entrepreneurs marketing their products by trying to differentiate themselves from their more pedestrian, aging competitors.

Originally Posted by misskit

Originally Posted by Humbert

I am using an aluminum foil cover for the first half hour of baking now and then 20 mins of baking uncovered

Doh! Why didn't I think of that? Will give it a go to see if I can turn out some Makro-style crunchy baguettes. It's the same cover/uncover method as a dutch oven.

I've never seen or eaten a real French style baguette in Asia, except in Pai, Thailand, where a Japanese lady Naomi makes the best I've ever had.

The local French expats buyout her stock every day.

A tough, yet springy crust and dense well baked dough, the kind of baguette you have to tear apart before dipping in olive oil.

In Cambodia or Laos, the only baguettes available are nappy-bread rolls, called baguettes, which they're not, thy're crusty white bread rolls, only, more akin to a French bread roll than a baguette, or barruet.

Originally Posted by VocalNeal

Exactly. What is wrong with the term homemade bread if you are making it at home?

Tell you what, when you start a column about bread, you can call it homemade bread. If you just want to sidetrack the discussion to rant about your personal disatisfaction with semantics that's actually very petty in my opinion.

Originally Posted by Humbert

Originally Posted by ENT

No complaints mate, just arguing about the bastardization of the English language by promoters.

The horses are already out of the barn. Artisan beers, artisan cheeses etc. have taken hold in a big way in most civilized places. I have no qualms at all with a younger generation of entrepreneurs marketing their products by trying to differentiate themselves from their more pedestrian, aging competitors.

You forget that bread recipes are ancient, not something some ghey in a village invented last year.
Same as cheese making or brewing beer.

Sure, US, especially, loves to hype things up, make it sound more than it really is.

By the way, there are a lot of older generation folk out there in the culinary market place, not as in yer face as younger sprouts are with their attention demanding promotions, but they're there, and making good homemade bread, cheeses and homebrewed beers and wines.

Call some of them 'artisans' and they'd look at ya funny like.

^ Makro Mae Rim has real baguettes and croissants. Other Makros have "baguettes" with the watery white crusts. Guess it has to do with who is doing the baking.