I am a bread snob. Why? Because I grew up in a country where you can survive on bread alone for months at a time, and not get sick of it. Because our local bread store had freshly baked, still steamy and hot bread delivered twice a day. Because our bread varieties were many, flavors were plenty, and freshness was the first and foremost priority.
We were buying bread every day. If we were lucky enough to score ‘just-off-the-bread-truck-fresh’ loaves, we’d always purchase extra, because walking one-and-a-half blocks from the bakery to the house were enough to devour that extra, or at least pinch the delectable crust off of it. We had white, sourdough white, rye, gray, black, and everything in between. The loaves had names. Our bread stores were self-serve, and special long neck forks were provided for customers to probe the loaves for freshness and crustiness. No one ever thought of packing the bread in plastic “to lock in the freshness” for long term storage. Even now, after fifteen years of living in the States, the idea of packaged long-shelf-life bread makes me chuckle: those bleak looking pre-cut loaves with a texture of a cotton ball and no taste, no matter how much corn syrup you put in them, are a disgrace to the very essence of what bread really is — a living bold spirited yet peaceful creature, a product of miraculous transformation of powdered grain consumed by yeast.
Since I’ve started my all-things-fermentation streak, making wild yeast sourdough has been on my mind. I did some sourdough experimentation last year, when a friend shared a “secret” of rye bread starter with me. I learned early on that bread requires patience and persistence, just like gardening — you do your job, and the nature will take care of the rest. Things should not be rushed if you want truly good results. And of course, if you want the nature to do its job, you need ingredients that are as close as possible to nature — unbleached unenriched organic flour, chlorine free water, unrefined salt, whole grains and freshly ground seeds and spices. And of course, wild yeast, naturally occurring … well, everywhere really.
The purpose of this article is not posting a recipe, but rather make the home made bread noticed. It’s very well worth the effort and is far superior to whatever you find in stores. If you are lucky to have a good traditional bakery nearby, this may be not for you, but if you are like me, a fan of making things from scratch and learning about traditional methods of food preparation, making a loaf at home should be on your list of things to try.
A couple of websites I found which may be helpful:
Wild Yeast Blog — http://www.wildyeastblog.com
The Fresh Loaf — http://www.thefreshloaf.com
Food Wishes – http://foodwishes.blogspot.com – make a search for bread, this guy has lots of instructional videos.
A very nice write up on wild yeast bread in Russian — http://forum.say7.info/topic3949.html — this lady definitely knows her stuff.
And of course, more bread photos of mine, right here: More Bread Photos, Please!
Eat Already!
Eat Already! 
Bread, buns, bagels, they are all so easy to make and you can find your favorite recipe and tweak it a little differently each time. We found that store bought bread is blah now. You can have so much fun experimenting… and it smells so wonderful.
I stumbled on this thinking it was a post about The Lord’s Prayer; what a happy accident! Anyone making food from scratch with ingredients that can be pronounced is to be commended. Like manna from heaven, may God give us (good) bread each day!
Thanks for your kind words!
I have had my own starter for over a year now and I use it for everything from Pizza Dough to pretzels. Once you have a good starter everything else is easy, it just takes time. Everything mixes quick and easy, you just need patience to let it rise.
I love my homemade bread and the reactions it gets
Looks oh so good…now I am inspired to get my starter….started!
Loved the photos :)
Here here! I have hated ‘sliced bread’ (i.e. the pre-packed, uniform in size, bland variety) for so long but it is accepted as the status-quo. My sourdough starter is abouy 6 months old now and I simply can’t believe the taste difference between this verus some of the so-called ‘sourdough’ on the market. A real revelation!
Kindred spirits. I love “real” bread. I just bought today a fresh loaf of SF sourdough. Not the cheap imitations. My guilty pleasure real Irish butter and sourdough. I do recommend if you are in Berkeley CA, Acme Bread Co. is ridiculously lovely. http://www.acmebread.com/ :)
I don’t eat much bread these days so when I do I want something with a substantial crust that crackles when I rip into it and has lots of texture and yeast formation on the inside. I don’t even bother looking in the isle of the supermarket.
Funny story: My partner and I were in a Panera Bakery for lunch one day. A mid-western man who was sitting a table over ordered Roast Beef on a french Baguette. When the sandwhich arrived, he studied it for a moment then complained, “How do you eat it, it’s all crust!?”.
I love your blog!
“those bleak looking pre-cut loaves with a texture of a cotton ball and no taste, no matter how much corn syrup you put in them, are a disgrace to the very essence of what bread really is” – I chuckled. Brilliant! And what beautiful bread!
Oooh, I’m a such a sucker for breads. Carbs! Your creations look good enough to pluck off the screen and devour :)
Hi!
As a fellow bread-maker I am delighted that you have written such a lovely post about bread!
I, too, have moved from a country where fresh, crusty bread is the norm, to one where the sponge-like, long-life “bread” reigns.
I started baking my own about 2 years ago, and have been experimenting with sourdough for a few months now.
I would never go back to shop-bought, especially as making your own is so much fun!
:-)
Lovely pictures, and yo! for sourdough breads… About ten years ago I read the ingredients on a packaged loaf of bread, quickly put it back on the shelf and have not looked back (though I did have hiccup when my six-year old starter died). It takes time to get your bread making as good as yours evidently is, but boy is it worth it!
PLEASE…check out THE WHOLE LOAF and QUICK BREAD MASTER (Not me, if you may guess!)…at ourpoetrycorner.wordpress.com!
Beautiful post – thanks for causing a craving of huge proportions for a really nice piece of bread! Do share some of the recipes though – i can make the normal oven loaf but would like to try sophisticated ones for a change :) I’ll be checking in to see what other recipes you have here on offer :)
I started baking bread 25 years ago, having thrown up my hands at the revolting mass-market kitchen sponges the local supermarkets were trying to pass off as “bread”. I was determined not to feed that slop to my children so started on a mission to bake bread with flavour, texture and a good crust.
Now I pass the bread aisle in the supermarket with a careless glance and pride in my heart, knowing I’ve got the “good stuff” at home.
Thanks for sharing your photos and advice, and congratulations on being FP!
Wendy
delectable! I’d love to try those bread! :D
ahaan! successful or not ?
Great post! I love the way baking fresh bread fills the house with its delicious aroma. Best part aside from eating it all up afterwards ;) I’ve been wanting to make my own starter for a while now but have been putting it off until now. Thanks for the resources, will definitely check them out and give the starter a go.
I have had a starter for years and most always make our bread. Next step–wood-fired bread oven. :-)
Great post. I agree, there is nothing nicer than fresh, warm, homemade bread. I recently started making it myself rather than buying it from a supermarket. I will keep doing so too as I can definately tell the difference.
wow ….. certainly delicious and hopefully, I’ll be able to try baking one, one day.
mummmmmmmmm…. delicious! want to know recipies.
I haven’t quite got to the making my own bread but we like making our own Pizza bases at home, I do a plain flour and spelt flour mix. Sometimes you can get pre-wieghed packets for bread making here with the yeast in that you just add water/ olive oil to and the raising time is less.
I lived in Romania for a Year, after growing up on what the call bread here in the states I was released into this whole new world, with fresh bread bought daily. It spoiled me and now that I am back in the states I miss the daily indulgence of fresh bread. You have inspired me to perhaps learn to make bread, maybe not everyday because time for it isn’t available but an occasional foray it seems would be more than worth it :-)
Drooling here over your pictures, mmmmmmm.
oh man. i have all the same feelings about bread. i used to work at a bakery when i was in high school, and i have never looked at bread the same way. bread snobs unite! x