Confessions of a French Baker Read Free Page B

what was usually a very simple daily diet.
    In Gerard's recipes, he has chosen ingredients that add to the taste without overpowering the basic flavor of the bread. To approximate the white flour he uses, we had to use two flours: King Arthur Bread Flour and King Arthur All-Purpose Flour, mixed half and half. The substitution works. Not even a Frenchman could taste the difference.
    As for the look of the loaf, here are two tips:
When cutting your loaf with a razor to decorate it, never cut deeply; keep the blade flat, so that you just cut the surface of the loaf.
By all means use a water spray on your bread when it is in the oven, to encourage a handsome crust. But make sure you keep the oven door closed for several minutes afterward so that the steam can't escape.
    And here is a simple test to check that your bread is ready:
Tap the bottom of the loaf with your knuckles. If the bread is fully baked, you should hear a hollow sound.
    You are now ready for what Gerard, when he's feeling lyrical, refers to as “the magic of creation.” Enjoy it.

Essential Items for the
Advanced Baker
    A S REWARDING as it is to make your own
baguettes
and
boules
, there will probably come a time when you will want to expand your repertoire, venture beyond the everyday loaf, and try your hand at some of the more popular highly seasoned breads—the
pain aux olives
, the
pain aux oignons
, the
pain a Vail.
For these, you will need the ingredients listed below.
    It goes without saying that these should be the best you can find. Unlike wine, they do not improve with age, and nothing is as disappointing as bread made with oil that has long since lost its virginal youth, elderly and wizened olives, or last year's garlic. So be firm, and insist that everything you use is fresh.
Olives and Olive Oil
    For many people, the olive is merely an accessory to the aperitif, to be enjoyed with a glass of something chilled and delicious. But a baker sees olives as jewels set in bread—green and juicy, or dark, fat, and rich, with just the right hint of bitterness, they look wonderfully picturesque and appetizing dotted into a plump loaf. You will find that Gerard Auzet and other distinguished bakers are generous both with the quantity of olives used and the size of the pieces. Mean little slivers are forbidden. Chunks or thick slices are recommended. And if you want to stick to the Auzet recipe, the olives should be from Provence.
    As for the oil, it must be young, cold-pressed, and extra-virgin (while an impossible condition in humans, the latter phrase is used to identify oil with an acidity of less than one percent).
Onions
    This is very much a question of personal taste, or
chacun a son oignon.
Some people like the chopped onions intheir bread to be crunchy and almost raw, with a discernible bite. Others prefer their onions simmered in oil and butter, sweet, melting, and subtle. A few sessions of enjoyable experimentation—preferably in the company of your greediest friends—will tell you which suits you best.
Garlic
    The Egyptian laborers building the Pyramids once went on strike because their garlic ration was late in being delivered. Athenian wrestlers and Roman gladiators ate raw garlic as an aid to strength and courage. And even the most modern medical techniques have failed to discover a more effective vampire deterrent than a clove of garlic. In the hands of a skilled baker, this most potent member of the onion family can add a delicious and distinctive tang to bread. In unskilled hands, it can taste sour, overpowering, and dreadful—to be used with caution. Note: If there is a
germe
, or tiny green sprout, in the middle of the clove, it should be removed.
Saffron
    Included here for real enthusiasts, saffron comes from the stigmas of the crocus flower. These have to be picked by hand, and it takes seventy thousand flowers to make approximately five hundred grams or a little more than half a pound, so it is, not surprisingly, the most expensive of