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Mangez Brioche
I've always been an pen and paper kind of person. Often, I hand write these posts before transferring them to the computer. Math, as in excel spreadsheets, I always do with pencil and paper first. My great Aunt Naomi, we called her Nelma, was an English teacher who had a thing for grammar, penmanship and the like. I have horrible handwriting but maybe I picked up the rest from her. I can't stand text messaging because the messages require using improper grammar. I've always loved letter writing, even in the advent of email. There's nothing better than getting a thoughtful note in the mail.
When I was in 5th grade (I think but it could have been 7th) I was given a pen pal from Stara Tura, Czechoslovakia (that's what it was then). The circumstances surrounding the pen pal distribution are very foggy. I can't remember if the whole class was given people to write to or if addresses were given to the students who wanted to write or maybe it was just me. Anyway, my pen pal's name was Hana and we wrote all the way through middle school, high school and I think some college. We lost touch as our addresses and lives changed and grew. Once she wrote to say she was going to be in the states but I was away and I didn't get her letter in time. I always wondered what happened to Hana and one day I typed her name into Facebook. Low and behold, there she was! I sent her a note and she replied.
Here's where the story gets really "made for Oprah" interesting. She and her fiance live just south of us in Pennsylvania. Hana is a photographer and a talented pastry artist. Sunday afternoon, our little family met with her little family for a BBQ in her garden. We had a fabulous time. The kids were happy, the guys were happy (they got to talk and play 'real' football) and Hana and I caught up on our lost years. I have to think Hana and I would have crossed paths if I didn't look her up. Our lives, interests and locals are just too similar.
Here's to friendship, serendipity and the written word! (and boys and football!)
I went to Dunkin' Donuts before I took the kids to the doctor yesterday. I know, I know...support your local coffee shop but my local was closed and DD makes great iced coffee and I'm a sucker for Munchkins. At any rate, Josie, Keego and I were snacking on some greasy goodness when I overheard a well dressed, super skinny, business? woman, placing her order.
Lady: Latte with steamed cream, not milk
Girl at Register: We can't do that, would you like whole milk?
Lady:Yes you can, it's called a 'Breve', give it a try. Milk has too much sugar, cream doesn't.
Girl:No, I mean we can't do that, we don't have a steaming wand only a machine that doses the milk, skim or whole
Lady: That's absurd, they do it up the road.
Girl: That's an older store, they have different equipment.
The lady, I'm using this term loosely, went on to tell them she lived a block away and it's a shame she won't be giving them her business. She still has to drive down the road to the other store, her and all the townies who are watching their sugar. Apparently, Milford, PA has an abnormally large population of people who take cream instead of milk in their lattes.
All I could think was, what a bitch! Number one, they're not loosing anything by letting this lady take her $2 elsewhere. The other store is probably loosing money by giving her cream instead of milk because they probably don't have a register key to charge for cream and the scared teenager getting reamed out by the old bag doesn't want to go through the trouble of figuring out a new price. Furthermore, why isn't this woman supporting her local coffee shop where the barista surely knows how to make a 'breve'. The real kicker, I saw the woman, who supposedly lives just a block away, leave and get into her car which she had driven to the store.
A few months ago, I left the vacuum cleaner too close to the baseboard heater and it melted the hose. I tried duct tape which may have worked except, I can't find the right size replacement bags anywhere in Milford so I rigged the wrong size to "fit." Bottom line, our cheerio filled, crumb crusted carpets haven't been vacuumed in weeks. I finally broke down and ordered the replacement part and the proper sized bags online. They should have been delivered by now but, so far as I could tell, they haven't been shipped. I called the company and talked to the most stoned, clueless teenager minimum wage can buy. He said is wasn't shipped and he didn't know why.
Me: Do you know when it will be shipped?
Stoner: Let me check
10 minutes pass
Stoner: Tomorrow
Me: Is it being shipped via overnight mail?
Stoner: That will be $14 extra
Me: Can't you do it as a courtesy because I've had to wait a week past what was estimated to get what I ordered? (I said this in a very hateful, my carpet is dirty, tone)
Stoner: Let me check
10 minutes pass during which my husband reminds me that the kid just works there and he continues by telling me how I sound like a horrible bitch.
Stoner: We can get it to you by Saturday at the latest
Me: Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate your time (in my nicest, sweet as pie, sorry I was a bitch tone)
I know I have a tendency to be just as nasty as the Breve Lady when I don't get what I want. I can't tolerate poor customer service. I've been on the other side and I know how easy it is to give excellent service to the customer. I also know that when the screaming chef from River Cafe calls to up his order after the cut off time, I stand my ground and tell him no. When the jovial head of G&S needs to add to his order, I go out of my way to get what he needs and when the manager of Daisy May's BBQ sends me a pulled pork sandwich on my birthday...you better believe he gets what he wants every time!
Bottom line...you get more flies with sugar!
Lady: Latte with steamed cream, not milk
Girl at Register: We can't do that, would you like whole milk?
Lady:Yes you can, it's called a 'Breve', give it a try. Milk has too much sugar, cream doesn't.
Girl:No, I mean we can't do that, we don't have a steaming wand only a machine that doses the milk, skim or whole
Lady: That's absurd, they do it up the road.
Girl: That's an older store, they have different equipment.
The lady, I'm using this term loosely, went on to tell them she lived a block away and it's a shame she won't be giving them her business. She still has to drive down the road to the other store, her and all the townies who are watching their sugar. Apparently, Milford, PA has an abnormally large population of people who take cream instead of milk in their lattes.
All I could think was, what a bitch! Number one, they're not loosing anything by letting this lady take her $2 elsewhere. The other store is probably loosing money by giving her cream instead of milk because they probably don't have a register key to charge for cream and the scared teenager getting reamed out by the old bag doesn't want to go through the trouble of figuring out a new price. Furthermore, why isn't this woman supporting her local coffee shop where the barista surely knows how to make a 'breve'. The real kicker, I saw the woman, who supposedly lives just a block away, leave and get into her car which she had driven to the store.
A few months ago, I left the vacuum cleaner too close to the baseboard heater and it melted the hose. I tried duct tape which may have worked except, I can't find the right size replacement bags anywhere in Milford so I rigged the wrong size to "fit." Bottom line, our cheerio filled, crumb crusted carpets haven't been vacuumed in weeks. I finally broke down and ordered the replacement part and the proper sized bags online. They should have been delivered by now but, so far as I could tell, they haven't been shipped. I called the company and talked to the most stoned, clueless teenager minimum wage can buy. He said is wasn't shipped and he didn't know why.
Me: Do you know when it will be shipped?
Stoner: Let me check
10 minutes pass
Stoner: Tomorrow
Me: Is it being shipped via overnight mail?
Stoner: That will be $14 extra
Me: Can't you do it as a courtesy because I've had to wait a week past what was estimated to get what I ordered? (I said this in a very hateful, my carpet is dirty, tone)
Stoner: Let me check
10 minutes pass during which my husband reminds me that the kid just works there and he continues by telling me how I sound like a horrible bitch.
Stoner: We can get it to you by Saturday at the latest
Me: Thank you so much for your help. I really appreciate your time (in my nicest, sweet as pie, sorry I was a bitch tone)
I know I have a tendency to be just as nasty as the Breve Lady when I don't get what I want. I can't tolerate poor customer service. I've been on the other side and I know how easy it is to give excellent service to the customer. I also know that when the screaming chef from River Cafe calls to up his order after the cut off time, I stand my ground and tell him no. When the jovial head of G&S needs to add to his order, I go out of my way to get what he needs and when the manager of Daisy May's BBQ sends me a pulled pork sandwich on my birthday...you better believe he gets what he wants every time!
Bottom line...you get more flies with sugar!
Before becoming a Mom, there were very few things I needed to make it through the day. Sure, I needed to eat but there was always something in the cabinets even if it wasn't the most appetizing, ramen noodles would just have to do. There was the inevitable time that I would need tampons but usually digging through a few old purses would do the trick until I could make a trip to the store.
Mommy life is nothing but needs..need diapers, need wipes, need bananas. This morning, I tiptoed out of the bedroom and down the hall at 5am. On a typical day this would give me about an hour to get to the store and back before the kids and Kevin would start to rise. Last night, Josie drank the last of the milk and if there is one thing we need beyond all else, it's milk or 'melka melka' in Josie-speak. There was enough to get us through this morning but after her bedtime cup was filled, Josie grabbed the carton to take an extra swig and she dumped the last of the milk all over her jammies. I could have gone out for more last night but I too was sporting my jammies and I was excited about getting a bit of soletude and a nice cup of coffee made by someone else this morning.
Milk and I have a sorted past. I've never been one to drink a glass of milk but I've always been a devoted fan of chocolate milk. I love dairy products, ice cream, cheese, yogurt... I used to keep soy milk on hand for cereal because milk would always sour before I could use the whole carton. When I was pregnant with Josie, I started drinking milk by the gallon. I couldn't get enough! It had to be whole milk, nothing else would do. Kevin is a huge milk drinker. He only ever had whole milk in his house growing up. I decided we would be the same. Only the best, full fat, organic, hormone-free, grass-fed cow's milk available for my family unless it's 5am and the only store that sells what I want is an hour away and I would rather just go to the corner store to get the last carton they have on the shelf no matter what kind of white substance it is. On the plus side, now that I'm raising a family of milk dependants, I never have to glance at the expiration date on the jug. My gang goes through a gallon in 2 days and in a couple months when the baby switches from mom's milk to cow's milk, I will need at least a gallon a day to support these fiends!
Why whole milk? Short answer: it tastes better. I don't believe anyone ever got fat from drinking whole milk which contains 3% milkfat. Sure I could shave off a percentage, a few pounds from my hips and go for the 1 or 2% varieties but why mess with nature? I think the reason I didn't like milk when I was younger is because it didn't taste like milk. It was just white-ish water. I'll take the extra fat with added moderation and a dose of exercise, thanks.
Last year, I was out shopping with Josie and she wanted milk. I stopped at a coffee shop and asked if I could have a glass of warm milk for my daughter. The cashier told me they didn't have any 'normal' milk. I had to process this information before asking her to clarify. If they didn't have normal milk, what were they putting in the coffee? She explained that they only had whole milk and skim milk. Well, if whole milk isn't 'normal' milk then what is normal? She said that 2% milk is normal milk and she was pretty peeved when I disagreed. My thought is, any milk that needs a qualifier (2%, skim, etc) is not 'normal'. I got her to fill Josie's cup with abnormal milk and we went on our way.
Now, an hour after I slipped my shoes on and tiptoed out the door, the fridge is stocked. Josie is happily downing her melka melka which is the first thing she asks for each morning I get her out of her crib just after 'where's Daddy' and 'where's Keego'. I'll just have to due, me and the melka melka that is.
Mommy life is nothing but needs..need diapers, need wipes, need bananas. This morning, I tiptoed out of the bedroom and down the hall at 5am. On a typical day this would give me about an hour to get to the store and back before the kids and Kevin would start to rise. Last night, Josie drank the last of the milk and if there is one thing we need beyond all else, it's milk or 'melka melka' in Josie-speak. There was enough to get us through this morning but after her bedtime cup was filled, Josie grabbed the carton to take an extra swig and she dumped the last of the milk all over her jammies. I could have gone out for more last night but I too was sporting my jammies and I was excited about getting a bit of soletude and a nice cup of coffee made by someone else this morning.
Milk and I have a sorted past. I've never been one to drink a glass of milk but I've always been a devoted fan of chocolate milk. I love dairy products, ice cream, cheese, yogurt... I used to keep soy milk on hand for cereal because milk would always sour before I could use the whole carton. When I was pregnant with Josie, I started drinking milk by the gallon. I couldn't get enough! It had to be whole milk, nothing else would do. Kevin is a huge milk drinker. He only ever had whole milk in his house growing up. I decided we would be the same. Only the best, full fat, organic, hormone-free, grass-fed cow's milk available for my family unless it's 5am and the only store that sells what I want is an hour away and I would rather just go to the corner store to get the last carton they have on the shelf no matter what kind of white substance it is. On the plus side, now that I'm raising a family of milk dependants, I never have to glance at the expiration date on the jug. My gang goes through a gallon in 2 days and in a couple months when the baby switches from mom's milk to cow's milk, I will need at least a gallon a day to support these fiends!
Why whole milk? Short answer: it tastes better. I don't believe anyone ever got fat from drinking whole milk which contains 3% milkfat. Sure I could shave off a percentage, a few pounds from my hips and go for the 1 or 2% varieties but why mess with nature? I think the reason I didn't like milk when I was younger is because it didn't taste like milk. It was just white-ish water. I'll take the extra fat with added moderation and a dose of exercise, thanks.
Last year, I was out shopping with Josie and she wanted milk. I stopped at a coffee shop and asked if I could have a glass of warm milk for my daughter. The cashier told me they didn't have any 'normal' milk. I had to process this information before asking her to clarify. If they didn't have normal milk, what were they putting in the coffee? She explained that they only had whole milk and skim milk. Well, if whole milk isn't 'normal' milk then what is normal? She said that 2% milk is normal milk and she was pretty peeved when I disagreed. My thought is, any milk that needs a qualifier (2%, skim, etc) is not 'normal'. I got her to fill Josie's cup with abnormal milk and we went on our way.
Now, an hour after I slipped my shoes on and tiptoed out the door, the fridge is stocked. Josie is happily downing her melka melka which is the first thing she asks for each morning I get her out of her crib just after 'where's Daddy' and 'where's Keego'. I'll just have to due, me and the melka melka that is.
Inevitably there will come a time when a huge mistake causes a production delay. These mistakes are rarely made twice. I remember the time I forgot the salt in the whole wheat dough or when I added the yeast for the double recipe in the single recipe. New bakers tend to make more mistakes than us well seasoned life-ers (because we made them way back when). When a member of my staff makes their first big blunder, this is the story I share to make them feel a little better….
My first week at Amy’s Bread was a whirl wind. I spent three days helping the baguette team shape and bake baguettes. The fourth day, I trained on the rack ovens. At the time there was one convection oven which held 30 pans of product. At the start of the shift, all the rolls and sweet breads had to be pulled from the walk-in cooler and left on the production floor to proof. The spaces in the racks proofed at different times so you had to constantly rotate, turn and move trays. In addition, different spaces in the oven baked faster than others so the same tango had to be danced during the bake. Typically, a new hire trains for a week on this position before being cut loose on their own. I had one night!
My second night, my first solo night, on the rack oven was the night before Easter. There was a huge increase in breads to be baked in the rack oven due to the holiday. I had to bake about 100 dozen hot cross buns as well as several dozen cardamom egg rings. The eggs in the cardamom rings were dyed bright colors. The colorful eggs sit at room temperature and are baked into the bread uncooked. They finish as hard boiled eggs. If they are cold when they go into the oven they will burst open, like a chilled glass run under hot water.
Most of the special Easter products had already been sold. They were for orders that were to be picked up later that day in one of the retail locations. I loaded the entirety of the rings onto the rack to go into the oven. If I remember correctly, there were at least 120 rings baking at once. The rack oven is programmed with the bake times, temperatures and amount of steam to be released for each product. There are several categories of products that bake at similar settings. During my night of training, Jose told me what to bake on which settings...the chocolate twists bake on the brioche roll setting, and so on. I couldn't remember on what setting the cardamon rings baked. I put them in as 'hot cross buns'. I figured, Easter Bread as Easter Bread, check.
I walked away from the oven to set up more racks of product and when I returned I was horrified. All the color from the eggs disappeared. Wait, no, it didn't disappear, it ran off into the bread itself. They were ruined. What happened? Doh, hot cross buns get steamed and cardamon rings don't. The steam washed away the dye from the eggs. I just killed the Easter Bunny!
How did I fix it? Well, I didn't. It was one of those times that I had to send out less than perfect product because not sending it would be a worse tragedy. It was too late to make more dough and at the time I had no idea how to make it. The night was almost over and the orders would be picked up in a couple hours. The only saving grace came much later when I retold the story of killing the Easter Bunny to a new baker who burnt an entire stone deck of rustic French rolls. Everyone gets initiated. I've been told, you're not a real baker until you have a bread massacre under your belt.
Over the Easter weekend, I taught a class at the Patisserie on this bread as well as Hot Cross Buns. The cardamon rings were beautiful and I have pictures to show for it thanks to Barbara Fiore, one of my students who is also an excellent photographer. Her art is visible on her blog http://barbarafiore-
Rye flour can be difficult to work with. When flour is hydrated, gluten forms. Scientifically speaking, gluten is made up of glutenin and gliadin. Rye flour is grossly lacking in glutenin. It also contains alpha and beta amylases which are also present in saliva. Amylase breaks down starch into sugar. What does this mean in practice? It means that rye flour, on it's own, can not create a gluten structure that will trap steam. If you've ever seen a traditional German, 100% rye loaf you'll understand. These loaves are more like doorstops. I love them but they are not exactly what you think of when you think of bread. The Jewish ryes that you find in the grocery store are not 100% rye. They all contain some percentage of white or wheat flour.
The 2nd practical problem with the rye stems from the amylase. If the dough is over-mixed, it starts breaking down and becomes incredibly sticky. This becomes even more so when caraway seeds are added. The sharp, pointy seeds cut through the, already lacking, gluten structure. This brings me to the 3rd, totally unscientifically related, problem with rye. People tend to associate rye with caraway. I hear people claim to not like rye bread all the time. Dollars to doughnuts, it's the caraway they don't like. When you take the seeds out, rye has a very mild, earthy flavor. Rye also has a high ash content which, I think, gives it the earthiness. Ash is a byproduct of the milling process and it is what makes rye flour ferment like crazy, problem #4. If rye flour is present in a sour, it ferments more rapidly than any other flour. Whole wheat has a higher ash content than white flour so it too ferments fast but not as quick as rye.
Enough with the science. What does it all mean and why am I concerned? Rye is one of the products I have been working to improve in the last couple weeks. When I arrived at my current job, the rye loaves were flat (over fermented, over mixed, improper gluten structure...the science is unavoidable) and long. Most often, customers buy bread for sandwiches. They are looking for the most sandwichable slices possible. This means the center of the loaf should be bulbous and the ends should be pudgy, not pointy.
First, we changed the flour from a light, fine rye to a medium, coarse rye. If you've seen regular ground flour against stone ground flour, you'll know what I'm talking about. Then, I paid careful attention to the mixing process and educated my team on the variables....don't over mix and incorporate the seeds gently and quickly. Next we worked on shaping. Instead of pre-shaping the dough into logs as one normally would for a final batard shape, we shaped them into rounds. This, in an effort to get the nice bulbous center. We focused on shaping short, fat loaves for at least a week before we got it right. It's hard to make your hands change what they do automatically day in and day out. We still weren't getting exactly what we wanted so we started looking at the bake. Often rye breads are cut with several short lines going side to side across the loaf. This helps loaves maintain their structures. We decided to change the way our rye loaves were scored. Several cuts call for more handling which is not really a good thing when there are thousands of loaves to be handled. We moved to one cut, end to end for the non-seeded and two cuts for the seeded. This change was like finding the Holy Grail. Our rye went from grocery store blunder to artisan beauties over night.
