COOK FOOD GOOD - BDL's Book Blog; First Entry -- Parts III and IV

III. What’s up Doc?

For the first installment of the blog, I thought it might be interesting for you to follow the recipe development and writing process. It’s a good illustration of the premise – building with common, fundamental techniques.

So... My wife, Linda, loves artisanal olive bread. Hey. Who doesn’t?

In truth, I’ve never been a particularly good or prolific bread baker (they’re usually the same thing). There were a few breads I did fairly well, and were enough for my purposes. But, when I thought about the book, I knew I wanted to include some breads. When I began to participate actively in Chef’s Talk I found there were a lot of people who didn’t understand “the basics” of bread making.

Yes. The pesky basics again. How long to let bread rise? It’s not a time it’s a volume. How do I measure, weight or volume? It’s not that important, you’re making dough with a particular “feel,” and not a Chem 116 quant. analysis (not a pleasant memory for me either); the bread you’re asking about should feel like ... So forth and so on. That level of knowledge at least, I had and could share.

Renewed interest in baking combined with a need to develop recipes, and I started fooling around. Two “first drafts” of the book’s recipes are already posted in the “Baking” section of Chef’s Talk. Search for the Pumpernickel Sour Rye and Onion-Dill Bread – Scandinavian Style threads. (A note about these recipes: The writing is first draft, the recipes themselves are pretty well set. If you’ve any interest at all in intermediate breads which are “simple enough for a beginner,” give them a try.)

izbnso, a Chef’s Talk contributor (and one of the people to whom I owe much thanks) wrote to me about the Onion-Dill bread not long after the recipe was posted. One thing led to another, and she asked if I thought the cheese technique which gave the Onion-Dill bread such a nice, open structure would translate to an olive bread. As soon as I read “olive bread,” I knew I’d give it a shot. For Linda, or else. It’s a good idea to take her seriously.

I had my doubts about using cheese though, especially the cottage-cheese from the O-D. But I live in the San Gabriel Valley of Southern California where there are many Mexican markets. A common Mexican cheese is a type of ricotta called requesón, and I’ve been meaning to fool around with it on general principles. So, why not?

The intention to bake a “new” bread is formed. There’s no recipe to mildly tweak, and nothing really close in my experience. So, what do I know going in? Quite a lot, actually. I know the basic flour, liquid, yeast, salt ratio for nearly ALL bread. That’s a heck of a starting point. I know curd cheeses release a lot of water as they’re kneaded, and that they lighten the loaf. I know requesón is saltier and drier than ricotta, and how to make one work like another – at least outside of bread. I know how bread dough should feel generally. I know which times and temperatures make which kind of crusts.

My imaginary palate told me the bread would need something extra to give it some sourness or it would be salty or, worse, bland. And, I know a few other things. Not many, but a few. In other words, the “basics” we’re all getting tired of being lectured about. Can I get an amen and a hallelujah? (One for the basics, the other for the bored.) Thank you brothers and sisters!

Creating recipes is as much about balance as anything else. You play with the taste bud receptors salt, sweet, hot, sour and “savory,” and the olfactory nerves which form the palate’s taste/aroma receptors on the roof of your mouth. And of course you work with the other senses as well. Particularly sight and touch.

Olive bread is all well and good for the bread. What about the olives? What goes well with olives? I thought I’d enhance the bread with pimentos, garlic, oregano, thyme, rosemary. The combination isn’t reinventing the wheel, but bread is essentially a comfort food. Besides these are common with olives, because they work. “Tastes good” is important. Since I was using requesón, I decided to add a little tang with cotija (the Mexican version of Parmesan) – since I knew I’d have to add Parmesan to ricotta because ricotta is so bland compared to requesón. Whether or not all that makes sense to you, it does to me.

The fact that I already have an Italian style garlic/herb bread in my quiver was a help – even if that one is built around a biga instead of cheese. I wanted a little less chew than the garlic/herb bread, but didn’t want to go as soft as the Onion-Dill bread where the cheese makes for a very tender bread. The proposed answer? Ciabatta. The large surface would make the bread bake in such a way as to impart some chewiness. Also: I wanted a hand-formed loaf after all the loaf pan breads I’d been doing; ciabatta’s an easy shape for beginners; and the texture I envisioned is typical of a Tuscan/Umbrian bread (a little finer and softer than a ciabatta from further south.) It all fit in my imagination. Taste, aroma, texture, new and familiar at the same time. Certainly good enough to take into the kitchen.

I baked off two ciabattas on Friday. How did it work? Fantastic, right? More like “Fantastic BUT.” The making went easily and Linda loved it. By her, it’s fantastic. So much for the big two.

BUT: Not enough and the wrong kind of olives (half a jar of salad olives). I don’t want to change the taste but have to quit fooling around and make a recipe adjusted for ricotta and Parmesan. The nicest part for me was getting the right amount of herbs on the first try, I’m constantly fighting a tendency to over season. The worst part was accidentally turning off the oven when I was fiddling with the timer, just as the bread went in. Overall, I’m lucky it worked this well, it doesn’t always.

That’s how a recipe gets made: A little knowledge of the subject, fundamental techniques, plus never growing out of the mud-pie stage, plus a little imagination. Can you do it? Of course. Don’t care? Just want the recipe? The Chef Talk version should be ready next weekend. I’d very much like it if you tried it. http://www.cheftalk.com/forums/pastr...ive-bread.html

IV. Is that all there is?

Next installment – two to three weeks.

Thank you (in advance) for the feedback I am about to receive.

BDL