the Bread Man

[EddMarkStarr]

A young bread baker, after only one month online, has become a bit of an internet sensation.

Jon, and his partner Amanda, have converted a garage into a bakery where Jon shares his love for making bread, that nourishes.

 

[Cormac135]

He's a bit of a dull boy, lovely looking loaf though.

 

[ShadowCat]

eeh maybe after a bath haircut and shave

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Lol

Here's the best half-hour you'll ever spend talking about sandwich bread!

 

[rareboy]

I love this breadman....

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Every video I watch about making bread becomes a sort of time machine. Bread is the story of who we are. It's amazing to see so many people ready to share bread making even after decades of living with factory bread.

Both Patrick and Jon are natural teachers, however Jon is less focused. Jon tends to ramble and as a result he reveals his years of working in commercial bakeries.

Btw, I noticed in one of Jon's videos that he kinda hinted that the effect of this virus event could be the return of the neighborhood bakery in large urban centers. Maybe - but at least the interest in quality bread could mean less of the factory stuff. Home delivery of milk has made a comeback in Seattle. Maybe home bakery delivery will too.

 

[rareboy]

We have not bought bread for about 3 years since I returned to making it from scratch myself.

And yes, I think people who make bread love to share their recipes and techniques.

Last year, for a charity auction, I offered a 2 day sourdough bagel and breadmaking 'class' and had lots of fun showing people who had never baked bread or used sourdough starters some of the things I had learned along the way.

On the other hand, it is hilarious to see that in our grocery store, the only flour available is now in 20 kg bags. I know for a certainty that most people who have been baking some bread will stop after a couple of months as they see how much weight they are adding....or just fall out of love with kneading.

As I noted in the other bread thread though, nothing beats a great book on bread.

This is one of my favourites.

 

[rareboy]

Also worth repeating in this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2B...YcdfV2463aOnhJiJWWZpx6jw0VdvORnymfKgYfmHX2fNY

 

[me203]

Every video I watch about making bread becomes a sort of time machine. Bread is the story of who we are.

I hadn't thought of that, but it's an interesting point.

I know I've been thinking off and on a lot more of memories of bread making in my family--both memories that I remember (like a period when my father regularly baked when I was young), as well as stories I heard that go as far as back as when my mother was growing up.

Maybe - but at least the interest in quality bread could mean less of the factory stuff.

One can hope... Although I wonder if the factory stuff won't win in the end. I don't think this is the first time there has been an interest in baking bread. I get the impression there was one in the 70s from bits and pieces I've heard or read (including a comment in Beard on Bread). Factory bread apparently won that round. And I've seen individuals who've baked who cease. I'm in that camp, myself. And I remember my father doing some bread baking when I was young. I get the feeling from stories I heard that he did a lot--he might have even supplied most or even all of our bread. Then, that tapered off. We got bread from a small bakery for a period (I still remember going there--it was fascinating for a 5 or 6 year old to see a loaf of bread run through a slicking machine. And they had interesting cookies I liked.) Then, somehow we ended up with zero baking, and bread from the grocery store. I think my father felt like he had too many other things he needed to do, and I gather from what my mother told me that he was a bit discouraged by how fast homemade bread vanished (the first loaf gone almost at once). And, because of where we lived and where we went, it was less viable getting to that one bakery. (We ended up in that neighborhood when I was in high school for some reason, and got some of the cookies I'd liked. It was fun having them again.)

I also see one problem with getting away from factory bread: the cost of anything better. This could be significant if we end up with a long term really horrible economy. As someone who has seriously limited grocery budget, I can say it's bad enough dealing with the higher prices of the better factory bread at the grocery store, let alone the next big jump. The only bit of hope is that my maternal grandmother lived near a pretty good small town bakery. My grandmother bought their bread, sometimes, saying it was better than the grocery store stuff--but the grocery store bread won most of the time, because it was noticeably cheaper. And I think that bakery bread had less of a price gap than one would see with many bakeries.

 

[rareboy]

Homemade bread is much more expensive than factory loaf.

And if you pay for the labour when it is made in a bakery...it is a luxury for too many people.

I stopped baking bread years ago because it is way too good to leave alone and we were eating way too much. I don't eat bread any more (except one half slice from each loaf to see how it turned out....so I am happy to bake it for my partner.

Some of my favourite memories are from my mother and my dad's cousin baking rolls for us. It was magic then. Still is.

 

[Alistair]

^ you're right. The memories of going to my grandmother's house and fighting over who got the heal of fresh out of the oven bread is priceless to me. No one has every made bread that has come near to what grandma used to make.

 

[me203]

The memories of going to my grandmother's house and fighting over who got the heal of fresh out of the oven bread is priceless to me. No one has every made bread that has come near to what grandma used to make.

You're lucky to have those memories! Do you have the recipe? (Unfortunately, I know a lot of Grandma-type recipes were never on paper. For that matter, I don't think there are things I remember my mother cooking that were ever recorded when she was alive.)

I have very limited memories like that--pretty much limited to one grandmother baking caramel rolls a few times.

Although my favorite memory might be when I was first baking bread in my late teens. My mother always managed to appear just after the bread came out of the oven. Even if it was baked in the evening and came out after I thought she was asleep. (Theoretically, one is supposed to wait for the bread to properly cool...but it never happened.) I did some other late night making back then, like cookies, and she never had any interest (although she might have grabbed a cookie or two the next morning).

 

[Alistair]

^ grandma never had a cookbook or recipes as far as I know. We never found any when we cleaned out her house.

It's a shame because she made a delicious orange-bbq glaze that she used for chicken and ribs. I've tried 20 recipes and never found one that was as good as hers.

We had Sunday supper with grandma (my dad's mom) every week. My poor maternal grandmother couldn't boil water

 

[me203]

^Too bad recipes never turned up, although not unheard of.

I remember someone in the family getting instructions from my grandmother on how to make her caramel rolls when I was young. There was some obsessive questioning about minute details, and I commented breads--at least in my experience--aren't as temperamental as other baking. I think that was true, but I also now realize the value of having exact details of what Grandma did. Once those are gone and forgotten, they are gone and forgotten forever.

 

[me203]

I've tried 20 recipes and never found one that was as good as hers.

And sometimes it's not just recipes but ingredients. I read a story a woman who'd tried to make some chicken dish like her mother-in-law. She'd tried everything, and failed. And then, by some freak accident, ended up with a heritage chicken--rather than the mass market grocery store chickens of recent years--and finally had the success that had eluded her for years.

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Here's my biggest downfall - southern style biscuits.

As a kid I got used to having fresh made biscuits every weekend thanks to my mom. Unlike yeast bread, my mom called biscuits "quick bread". The taste and texture were wonderful and became even better after about an hour. Years later I realized that my moms biscuits got their taste and texture from lard - not vegetable shortening!

 

[EddMarkStarr]

Also worth repeating in this thread.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2B...YcdfV2463aOnhJiJWWZpx6jw0VdvORnymfKgYfmHX2fNY

Hands down - one of the most fascinating videos I've seen this year. Thank You!!!

 

[me203]

Unlike yeast bread, my mom called biscuits "quick bread". The taste and texture were wonderful and became even better after about an hour. Years later I realized that my moms biscuits got their taste and texture from lard - not vegetable shortening!

I've heard "quick bread" used for a lot of breads/rolls raised with baking powder.

And yes, I think lard would make a taste difference with biscuits. I never had it that way, but I remember noticing that difference when I first had a pie crust made with lard. It frankly didn't make me a fan of lard.

My mother baked biscuits sometimes. Probably a recipe from or based on a recipe from Fannie Farmer. She probably used margarine--we never had lard, and I don't think shortening was a staple. They'd appear at dinner.

 

[NotHardUp1]

My grandmother was a good baker, but didn't excel at bread beyond dinner rolls on occasion. My great grandmother was prone to just making cornbread which was sometimes hot water cornbread (corn pones) which I found very unbread-like. And neither of their husbands ever darkened the door of an oven to my knowledge.

Mother was a terrible baker and cook with few exceptions. She made good cabbage rolls once, or twice, and was just overwhelmed by having five kids and failed relationships, so cooking was just another chore for her, trying to keep abreast as a single mom.

I have come to love cooking as my main hobby, even over gardening, and baking has been my focus. When I was working the assembly line and getting off shift at 1:00 a.m., I would come home and make sourdough as a sort of decompression. IMO, it is the best bread you can eat, and that developed flavor is truly the last thing I could wish for as I leave this world.

Over the years, I also found a love for flat breads, the thin, crisp style that IS the essence of toasted grain.

Although I found I am good at making buttermilk biscuits, it's just not as much a passion for me, although I like to make them when having houseguests and giving them a breakfast they will remember.

I'm sorry to hear the flour is in short supply in the metropolitan markets. We have no shortage of it down here. I wish for all people a secure food source. Home delivery of milk sounds charming, but I fear it could go completely away if just one tampering occurs.

 

[NotHardUp1]

And yes, I think lard would make a taste difference with biscuits. I never had it that way, but I remember noticing that difference when I first had a pie crust made with lard. It frankly didn't make me a fan of lard.

Although lard is unhealthy in the diet, it's almost universally praised in pie dough, and is generally about the texture, not changing the taste really, when compared to vegetable shortening. If yours did, it is entirely possible it used rendered lard from cooking that is not the same as commercially rendered lard from a very specific source. The lard you buy at the market is pretty much tasteless unless it goes off (rank).

Lard in biscuits is often home made leftover, and would obviously have the flavor of the pork and be a desirable flavor (if not old) in a savory biscuit.

We kind of take for granted oil and fat today with huge agribusiness producing it, but it was less plentiful if a family did not have its own farm with hogs and cattle. Even then, it might be seasonal, as there wasn't refrigeration and lard goes rank quickly, which left butterfat as the most readily available fresh source.