Water, flour, yeast, and salt.
What I love about bread it is simple.
Bread is about patiences, solid technique and love.
2017 has been a year of fast moving, hype, over complication and fear.
We experienced a year filled with the Fear Of Missing Out (FOMO)
Bitcoins, eclipses, fidget spinners, and every other new passing fancy.
In all this, baking has always been a great way to take a moment to contemplate something so simple.
It doesn’t require a complex algorithm, just good technique.
When you walk into a room with freshly baking bread, you are snapped back to reality.
You don’t need $200 virtual reality goggles to experience the satisfaction of creating something real in front of you.
The feeling of kneading bread in your hands reminds me of when I was a kid playing with clay. It gives you the ability to create something good. It doesn’t require a charger, or app (although I am sure there are some).
In particular, two books have stood out to me this year.
The first is Tartine’s Bread book. This is the second year I am recommending it, because it is really good. I love making their english muffins. They are so tasty.
Again, for me, there is nothing like the satisfaction of making something yourself vs. getting it from the store.
In addition, the pictures in Tartine’s book are beautiful. Call me old fashion, but I much prefer flipping through pages in a book and looking at food vs. instagram (although, I still do plenty of scrolling on instagram). But nothing can replace the real thing.
The next book that was a great read as well as guide for my bread baking this year was Flour Water Salt Yeast. It really is all good bread is.
Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza
From there, this book helps guide the reader to find out how these 4 ingredients can make a plethora of breads.
It does more than just provide recipes. Flour Water Salt Yeast is a great reference book as well. For those looking to deepen their understanding of how bread works, this book will provide that. It talks about the effects that acidity, time and temperature have on bread as well as discusses recipe comparisons.
It provides a chest of knowledge for those looking to go deeper in their understanding of bread.
I decided a long time ago.
Just because life seems to move quickly and technology tends to overcomplicate things. Bread should remain simple.
If you enjoyed reading this post. Feel free to read some of our other food related posts!
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