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Artisan Bread

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Many people ask famous chef's what their last meal would be expecting something along the lines of Quail stuffed with Foie Gras with black truffle sauce or some other elaborate dish only to be met with the response "A crusty baguette with the best butter". The truth is, no matter how high culinary arts are taken, it's the simple things that really satisfy us.

With that in mind, I would like to share with you one of the more simple things you can do to improve your quality of life: bake your own bread. Its really quite easy and probably one of the most satisfying things you can do at home. There is something satisfying about making bread and if you have never tried it its worth doing once just to experience that fresh baked smell in your home. You may just find that it's something worth doing often.

There are many recipes and methods for simple white loaves but I recently stumbled upon a recipe that makes an otherwise expensive artisan bakery loaf in a few simple steps.

The recipe is from Jacques Pepin. If you don't know him, he's a good friend of the late Julia Child and if that weren't enough he has cooked for presidents, dignitaries and some of the best restaurants in the world. For copyright reasons and since he lays out the recipe quite clearly and simply, here is the link. There is even a link attached where you can watch him make it and see how incredible it is:

http://blogs.kqed.org/essentialpepin/2011/09/18/gros-pain/

Read it, it's really a matter of mixing the dough, proofing it overnight, and baking it simply. The key here is spraying water into the oven at the start of the baking. The humidity is critical to a thick crust that will make your friends think you paid $8 at the local French bakery. In addition, the process of proofing the dough for a long time allows flavors to develop that you just can't get out of a bread machine (*shudder*) or most mainstream commercial bakeries.



I encourage you to try it with some high quality European butter, cheese or in a sandwich, you won't be disappointed!

On another note, unfortunately what you gain in freshness and quality you lose in shelf life. Since most of us can't plow through a large loaf of bread in two days logically, the next post will cover how to use leftover bread!

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