I learned to make bread one summer in northern Florida while staying with my boyfriend’s aunt and uncle for a few weeks. Since then I’ve become pretty obsessed with it. I started trying whole wheat bread, naan, pizza doughs, and my dear friend the sourdough who I personally consider a genius because it comes from the air!
Learning to make bread has also ruined me. I love the crustiness and the yeasty flavor that comes with homemade bread, and I’ve really come to dislike the squishy texture of the store stuff.
Baguettes are one of my favorite kinds of bread. The recipe I used is from Macheesmo. You start with an overnight starter and then add the basics – flour, water, yeast, and salt. 15 minutes of kneading (and 15 minutes of kneading is always way longer than I think. Check out my bread muscles), 3 hours of rest later and you get these! From left to right: Lumpy, Stretch, and Pretty Good Lookin’.
These probably could have stood a few more minutes in the oven but they still taste pretty good.
My standby cooking album: Vampire Weekend.
I just got caught up on some podcasts yesterday and Re:Sound, produced by the Third Coast International Audio Festival, had an episode about food that is quite lovely. I really like the way they transition between pieces by returning to the same piece of tape about two people making a cake (there’s a surprise about it at the end!). My favorite pieces are “Sonja’s Dumplings” – because I love stories about families sharing recipes and there all sorts of wonderful detail like the fact that the woman uses floss to cut her dough – and “Concerning Breakfast – because “What did you have for breakfast?” is such a common soundcheck question and I love how it becomes a central theme to the story.
