By Sarah Johnson
I recently had the opportunity to travel to Petaluma, CA to attend a bread making fundamentals class hosted by the Bread Bakers’ Guild of America, in which participants from various corners of the country gathered to broaden our bread horizons and collaborate with professional bakers. Over the course of three days, the twelve of us mixed, shaped, and baked almost 800 baguettes along with an assortment of water bread!
Monday morning, I awoke at 3 A.M. and headed to Cincinnati for my redeye flight to Santa Rosa. This was my first time flying, so I was initially a bit nervous, but settled in once I had boarded. Several hours (and a few time zones) later, I landed in California, heading straight to Petaluma to begin learning. It was amazing to see the geography there in the North Bay for the first time: palm trees growing alongside evergreens, rolling hills covered in wild grasses, vineyards along the highway. I was a bit late to our class, so when I arrived I dove straight into learning. Our first day was primarily a lecture on the scientific factors involved in the baking of bread, followed by a short tour of the Central Milling Company’s Artisan Baking Center. It was incredible to see how they’d shaped their workspace to meet the functions of the work: everything had it’s place. I got acquainted with my classmates following the lecture and then enjoyed a relaxing evening after a day of travel.
Tuesday consisted of group demonstrations of different mixing techniques and their effects on the final product. Undermixing produces a more “artisanal” looking and tasting loaf, while intensive mixing tightens the crumb significantly and reduces the flavor of the finished product. Our instructor, Craig, took time to explain the effects of flour types and dough hydration before we began, and pointed out the differences these made in our final products. He also showed us the traditional technique for hand shaping baguettes. For the practical portion of the workshop, we were split into four groups of three. I was paired with Sam, who owns his own bakery in Utah, and Adam, who currently doesn’t bake, but is hoping to open a cottage bakery in Northern California. I felt that the blend of skill levels was beneficial for all involved as it allowed us to explore different perspectives within the trade. Each group ended the day by mixing different preferments before we hung up our aprons, so they would be ready to be used in our baking experiments the next morning.
Each preferment method (poolish, sponge, pate, and BIGA) changed the taste and crumb of the finished baguettes but also changed the baking process itself. Each dough needed a slightly different touch, reflecting the different strengths of the gluten chains in each. For example, a baguette dough made with a sponge preferment is much stiffer and resilient than one made with a poolish preferment. Because the class was collaborative, we also had the opportunity to see how different people’s shaping methods changed each loaf in the end: shape too tightly, the bread fails to rise; shape too loosely, the bread also fails to rise, but in a different way. Craig also warned us against “signing the dough,” or collapsing the crumb with over-shaping. We finished Wednesday with a dissection and tasting of that day’s massive bread production.
After goodbyes, we each went our separate ways, back to our own corners of the country with a greater understanding of baking as both an art and a science.
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