Some Real Bread Folklore:
A loaf falling with the
crust down
means a quarrel, or a
death in the family
"Mist in May, and
heat in June,
Makes the harvest
come right soon."
Wheat should not be cut in
the light
of the moon or the
bread will be dark.
Leave bread and coffee under
the house to
prevent ghosts from calling.
If a crumb of bread drops out of
your mouth, death will be upon
you in a week.
A big hole in a loaf of bread is
a sign of an open grave.
To burn bread means a preacher
is coming, or your sweethart is
mad at you.
If a boy takes the last piece of
bread from the plate, he'll have
to kiss the cook.
Never break cornbread from both
ends.
To make sure of good bread,
mix your dough with rainwater
collected on Ascension Day.
Gibbet your bad or ropy bread
by running a stick throuh it, then
hang in a cupboard.
This will
prevent reoccurrence.
If all he bread is eaten at table,
the
next day is sure to be fair.
It is bad luck to turn a loaf upside
down, or to cut an unbaked loaf.
In coastal villages it meant that
a s
hip would sink at sea. It
is bad to
cut bread on baking day.
"She that pricks bread with a fork
or
knife. Will never be happy maid
or wife."
"This Ile tell ye by the way,
Maidens, when ye leavens lay:
Cross your dow, and your dispatch
will be better for your batch."
Set your bread to rise with the
sun
Make a cross on your dough,
or on the mixing trough, to make
it rise right.
Make a cross on your dough
to let the devil out.
Bread won't rise if a corpse is
nearby.
Cut bread at both ends and the
devil will fly over the house.
Bread Cures whooping cough.
Give bread baked by a woman
whose maiden name is the same
as that of her husband-good for
cures.
-So you see...
Real care
with real bread is essential
How to Achieve a
Crisp Crust
1.Introduce steam
into the oven-steam jets etc.
2.Put a pan of water
on the bottom of the oven.
(use boiling water)
3.Toss Ice cubes into oven
while bread is baking.
4.Quickly brush the
loaves with water ever few minutes
after they begin to color.
Real Bread Avoids
these Faults:
1. The Crust is too thick
This may have been caused by
insufficient baking,
with too low an
oven temperature,
or perhaps insufficient
sugar. A tough
crust means that water has
been trapped
beneath the crust and
turns it hard when the
loaf is cooling.
2.Bread Stales too Quickly:
Perhaps the bread has been
made too quickly,
The first period of
rising terminated too soon.
Otherwise due to too warm
a dough, not enough
salt or sugar, oven temperature
too low,not enough moisture in
dough,soft flour.
3.Texture of the crumb too open
or contains large holes.
Usually due to excess leavening
failure to punch down ,or
insufficient salt. Also due
to insufficient Mixing.
4. Crumb is too dense and
close textured.
Not enough leavening, or
use of weak sourdough
starter, oven too hot,
too much salt,
insufficient proving.
Also caused by hurried
fermentation, or over-kneading
producing a tough dough.
5. Too much volume-loaf
rises over the tin.
There may have been too much
dough for the size of the tin, or
insufficient salt.
6. Crust blisters, cracks or
br eaks
Dough was too weak or too
much liquid used,
or oven too hot.
7.Crust too Pale
Oven temperature too low,
too little sugar used,
or loaf placed too low in the oven.
8. Crust too dark
Oven too hot, too much sugar,
too much glazing or
egg wash. Also occurs with
bread that requires a long
period of ba king and needs to be
covered by foil or paper.
9. Crumb too Tacky or
"chewy"
A moist dense crumb may mean
that the loaf has had insufficient
baking, that the oven temperature
was too low, or the fermentation
too rapid. This also occurs with
poor leavening, especially in
sourdough breads.
10. Loaf is too crumbly:
Due to a slack dough, too
much liquid having been
used, or insufficient
kneading. Also due to oven
Temperature too low,
or dough left too long at
proving stage.
-Source-The Blessing of Bread
Also - bread that is kept in
plastic bags without
ventilation will loose any crispiness
and the proper crust will
be damaged. Bread should be
stored in the open air and be
served fresh. One may revive
a damaged crust
by careful baking however the
product will loose some of
its fresh original quality.
Now you know what's
wrong! Fix it!
To Refresh Crust!
When bread sits after being
baked its crust may become
tough and leathery. Never
Never! Eat it when it is
this way. Simply
wrap bread loosely in foil and
place fora short while in a
warm to hot oven-check
frequently. You do not
want to dry
the bread out!
You want to remove the
bread from the
ovven when the crust is
once again crisp.
To Slice Bread
Never slice bread
until you need it.
Businesses slice bread thin
to maximize profit. I
trust that your slices will be
thicker! Bread is best sliced when
cool and using a
very sharp
serrated knive. Never cut across
the long dimension if the
loaf is oval in cross
section. Hold bread on
its side and cut across
the narrowest width.
You may wrap the cut
end of the loaf
in plastic. Never keep
an entire loaf in plastic
-it will turn soggy
and loose its crust.
Store bread in
paper or in loose
foil wrap.
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Our
Goals and Objectives-What is Real Bread?
Goals
and Objectives
The
Baltimore Real Bread Restoration Project seeks to restore real bread which
is appropriate to its setting to Baltimore. We wish to focus regional and
local governmental concern upon this goal. It will be important to
recognize establishments which currently produce and serve real bread appropriately.
We shall also foster the exchange of information between individuals, bread
producers and eating establishments which will assist in the restoration
of Real Bread to the eateries and bakeries of Baltimore.
We
do not attempt to advertise for any company.
Our purpose is only
to identify and characterize.
What
is Real Bread?
For our purposes Real
Bread has two essential
qualities:
1.The recipe selected must be followed properly
and the product should be cared for so that the bread reaches the consumer
with its essential characteristics intact.
2.The recipe selected must match its context or
purpose. Greek Souvlaki must have real Pita bread
a corned Beef Sandwich must have real crusty
jewish rye bread. While we realize that individual
establishments have their traditions the global
tradition
of relationship between bread and meal
or food must dominate. This global tradition is not a single recipe
but a number of variations in an acceptable range which
produce an acceptable product.
Of course you may offer a selection of breads!
However, your selections must be real and appropriate.
The bread representing the global tradition should be available.
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How
Can I Help?
Send us Information-
-
Recipes
-
Names and addresses/phones of Real Bread Bakeries
-
Places that serve "Real Bread"
-
Convince local governments to help provide tax breaks and funding
for those who wish to restore real bread to Baltimore
-
Support seminars and events designed to promote real bread
-
Send a donation to the webmaster to keep these pages and this project
going- Note we are not a non-profit we however operate on an at cost
in-kind basis.
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Where
has Real Bread Survived in Baltimore? Does Baltimore have its own
Bread?
Send in your suggestions: Bakeries,Eateries,Stores.
Please indicate which breads are sold
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Businesses listed below arelisted for information purposes only.
We accept no advertisements and we will list any establishment which provides
Real Bread only after we have tested it. We do not wish
to sell products, however if you find your favorite eatery trying to pass
off poorly made bread from plastic bags- we would suggest that you pass
on to them the names below in the hope that they might improve their offerings
in the future.
Stand by for further details. Editing is in process. Let us
know if there are corections. e.mail click
here Uptown Bakers
301 864-15600 -Artisan bread. They turn up at the weekend farmer's markets in
Baltimore: http://www.uptownbakers.com/
Editor's Note- imho...profit taking when it comes to simple, inexpensive to
produce bread is an outrage. Uptown's prices are quite steep. The product is
desirable but no one should turn bread water salt and yeast into such a high
cost item. But a reader writes....(what do you think...let us know)
Unfortunately I highly disagree with you that Uptown Bakers is "Artisan Bread".
Maybe when the company first started. Now that it is under owner Mike McCloud,
the company has become the equivalent of Godzilla in the guise of the Pillsbury
Doughboy. They are a 10 million dollar a year operation, have been sued for
discrimination, churn out 30,000 loaves a day, and have just entered into an
agreement to add bar codes to their plastic bagged loaves in a big expansion
effort to move into Pennsylvania supermarkets. Not that there is anything wrong
with pursuing corporate expansion and profits, but I would hardly call their
product "artisan" It is mass produced on a scale larger than any other bakery
in the area. Euro American Baking Company
Wholesale Only
Linthicum, Md.
410-789-7896
F&S Maranto Hearth Bread
Since 1912
(410)625-1591
New Systems Bakery
529 E. Belvedere Ave.
(410)323-7224
Near East Bakery
2919 Hamilton Ave.
(410)254-8970
Fenwick Bakery
7219 Harford Rd.
(410) 444-6410
Big Sky Bakery
509 West Coldspring Lane.
(410)662-6070
Graul Bakery
(In the Market)
11800 Tullamore Rd.
Timonium(410)308-2100
Stone Mill Bakery
(410) 532-8669
(This list has been prepared with the assistance of Mr. Jacques Kelly
of the Baltimore Sun)
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Eating
Establishments with Real Bread
Send in your suggestions, Include a phone number.
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Books
about Real Bread
Please
let us know of your favorite books!
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Bread Bibliography
Bailley, Adrian,
The Blessings of Bread, Paddington Press, New York and London,1975.
A
good history of breads and good ethnic recipes.
Jeff Smith,
The Frugal Gourmet Series (On or Immigrant Ancestors etc...)
Several
books which pay attention to good bread take your pick.
Time Life Books,
Foods of the World.
A
series of volumes on regional Quisines which pays attention to real bread.
Malgieri, Nick
How To Bake.,Harper Collins,N.Y. 1995.
Johnson, Ellen Foscue,
The Garden Way Bread Book, A Baker's Almanac.,Garden Way, Charlotte,Vermont.1979.
Elizabeth David,
English Bread and Yeast Cookery, Viking Press, New York.
Intro and Notes
for the American Cook by Karen Hess.
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Real
Bread Recipes
I will not complain unless I can provide a solution!
So see below. Print them out and give them to your eatery chef
or local bakery! Spread the word. Maybe they have lost their recipe or
just don't know better!
These recipies have been tested and they produce great Real bread.
Just work on it- Breadmaking takes practice!
(This is a work in progress more later as the recipes are tested!)
New York Style Jewish Rye
Application: Deili Sandwiches
(note that there is no mention of plastic bags)
For best results hand slice bread as needed a slice at a time. Store
in a paper back and refresh crust in oven.
(see note on left side)
SOURDOUGH (Starter)
Ingredients
2 cups of rye flour
1 cup plain yogurt at room temperature
3/4 cup warm water
2-1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 tablespoon dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon crushed caraway seed
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
To be added each of the last three days:
1 cup rye flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar dissolved in 3/4 cup warm water
Mix first 7 ingredients in a large bowl and beat until blended.
Cover and let stand at room
temperature for 24 hours.
Beat in 1 cup rye flour with brown sugar/water mixture. Let stand at
room temperature for 24 hours.
Repeat previous procedure again. Let stand another 24 hours.
Repeat previous procedure again. Let stand another 24 hours after which
the sourdough starter will
be ready. You will have far too much but you can give some away and
use it for other
sourdough purposes.
Now that you have the sourdough, you are ready to make the bread. As
you take from this supply to
make the bread, you must replenish it with a mixture of 1 cup of rye
flour, 3/4 cup of warm water
and 2 tablespoons of brown sugar for each cup of sour you have taken.
Allow this replenished mix to sour at room temperature for 24 hours
before storing in you
refrigerator.
If you do not use the sour for a month, it would be wise to replenish
it even should you not intend to
use it. It is a living thing and needs to be fed. If left alone for
more than 6 weeks, it is likely to die and
then you have to start all over again. In the referigerator, it may
be stored in a jar with the lid loose to
avoid pressure build-up.
BREAD
Ingredients
3-6 pieces of rye bread soaked in water and squeezed dry; this may
be either from a previous baking
of this recipe or from a loaf of commercial rye; you need about 1-1/2
cups of soaked/squeezed rye
bread
3 cups of sourdough (see above)
1 package of yeast
1 tablespoon of salt
2 tablespoons or so of caraway seeds
4 cups of white flour
In your mixer using the dough hook, place squeezed-dry rye bread, the
sour, yeast, salt, the caraway
seed, and 2 cups of flour. Mix for 5 minutes. Add flour 1/4-1/2 cup
at a time and knead for 10
minutes. The dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl after
all the flour has been incorporated
The dough should be dense. Allow to rise for 3/4 hour. Punch
down, put on floured workboard, cut in half and make each half into a loaf,
round or longas you prefer. Place on baking sheet prepared with corn meal.
Allow to rise for 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven at 450 degrees keeping an empty pan in the oven while
it is heating. Five minutes
before putting the bread in the oven , pour 1 cup of hot water
into the pre-heated pan.
Cut top of bread with knife, brush with an egg wash, sprinkle caraway
on the egg wash, and bake for
approximately 40 minutes or until done. This cooking time is for a
non-convection oven.
-Source=Dan Leeson
Sourdough Bread:
(Malgieri,see Bibliopgraphy p.61)
Sponge
1 cup warm tap water (110 degrees)
1 cup sourdough starter (see above)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour.
Dough
All of the sponge, above
1 1/2 to 11/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons salt
One cookie sheet or baking stone
Yields one large 9-10 inch round loaf.
1. Sponge: Place the water in a large mixing bowl and whisk in
the starter. Stir in the flour then put the bowl into a large plastic bag
and let the sponge to rise at room temperature for at least 8 hours or
overnight.
2. Dough: Stir the sponge to deflate and
stir in 1 1/2
cups of flour and the salt. Knead by hand to form a smooth elastic,
and slightly sticky dough, about 5 minutes. Incorporate the remaining
flour, a tablespoon at a time, If the dough is too soft.
In a Food Processor, put the sponge, 1 1/2 cups of flour, and the salt
in a work bowl fitted with a metal blade. Pulse repeatedly until
the dough forms a ball (if the dough will not form a ball, add the remaining
flour, a tablespoon at a time, and pulse until the dough forms a ball.).
Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then let the machine run continuously
for 20 seconds.
In a heavy duty mixer with dough hook:
place the sponge, 1 1/2 cups of flour, and the salt in the bowl and
mix on loeed to form a smooth, elastic, and slightly sticky dough- 5 minutes.
Incorporate the remaining flour, a tablespoon at a time, if the dough is
too soft.
3. Place the dough in an oiled bowl. Turn the dough over so that the
top is oiled. Cover with plasic wrap and let to rise at room temperatuere
until doubled, about 1 hour.
4. Put dough on floured work surface and press to deflate. Form
into an even sphere by tucking the sides under at the bottom of the loaf
all around. Invert the loaf into a round basket lined with a heavily
floured towel or napkin so the tucked under part is on top. Cover
the basket with plastic and allow the dough to rise until doubled, about
1 hour.
5. About 30 minutes before you intend to bake the loaf, set racks at
the middle and lowest levels of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees.
Place a baking stone or cookie sheet on the middle rack. Set a pan
on the lowest rack to absrob some of the excdss bottom heat. This
will keep the loaf from burning on the bottom.
6. Invert the risen loaf onto a cardboard , a peel or a cookie
sheet covered with cornmeal. Hold a razor blade at a 90 degree angle
to the top of the loaf and use it to slash a diagonal lattice pattern on
the loaf. Slide the loaf onto the stone or heated sheet pan and quickly
close the oven. Lower the temperature to 450 degres. If you
wish, throw a cup of hot water onto the pan in the bottom of the oven to
create steam which will help the loaf to rise and to crisp its crust.
7. After the loaf has baked for 20 minutes and is completely risen,
lower the temperature to 350 degrees and continue baking for 20 to
30 minutes longer, until the bread is well risen and a dark golden color.
It should reach an internal temperature of about 210 degres.
8. Remove the loaf from the oven and cool on a rack.
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