Artisan Bread

I recently had a minor epiphany…

Recently I spent some time on YouTube because I was interested in seeing how some of the commercial bakeries bake their bread.

At first I was impressed with all the neat machinery and gadgets that make it possible for these facilities to turn out thousands and thousands of loaves of bread every day. They had neat gadgets like dough dividers, molders, and automated proofers; I even saw one video where all this machinery was connected by an automated conveyor system that seemed to run by itself without any human intervention at all!

However, after a while I started to lose track of what I was watching; was I watching footage of bread being baked in a bakery, or was I watching footage of an automated factory making roof racks for cars?

All this reminded me about something I read a while back; in his book “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice”, Peter Reinhart recalls meeting the famous French baker Lionel Poilâne for the first time:

I have a vision, the Poilâne vision, of how bread should be made. Much has to do with commitments to the ingredients and to the baking process. As much of the work as possible should be done by hand, by one person taking responsibility for his loaves from start to finish – no assembly line. Each loaf is the expression of an artisan…

“Now hold on Cor, are you serious? We are talking about bread, right?”

I know, I know... All this does seem a bit esoteric and idealistic, but please bear with me as I attempt to explain my revelation. The revelation that came to me is that I am very happy and proud that I am involved in every step of the process of turning raw ingredients into the bread that I bake; from measuring the ingredients to mixing, folding, and stretching the dough to shaping and scoring the loaves to the actual baking in the oven. I enjoy handling the dough and sensing exactly how the dough changes over time. I enjoy handling the dough and shaping it, even when the dough does not do exactly what I planned.

I am not casting any aspersions to bakeries/bakers that use automated machines to make bread. I am not averse to using machines; please be aware that I would love to own a real oven with a loader, but for now I am happy to use what I have.

My epiphany was that my goal should not be that all my bread looks and tastes perfect; but rather, my goal should be that I continue to strive to make the best bread that I can make according to my vision for as long as I enjoy baking bread.

“Yes, we are talking about bread. But not just any kind of bread, Artisan Bread…”