Comments on: Advanced Bread and Pastry Giveaway

By: Lou Allard

Lou Allard — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 20:06:22 +0000

This is better than entering the lottery.
A coupointers may earn me a book.
Raising dough in a cold house: put digital therometer in over (with dough) turn on
electric oven until temp reaches 80 degrees then turn off oven. The temp will rise to over a hundred ,then start to decline.( record your own settings, results)
a hour later give it a brief boost of heat.
Next Wheat berries google will tell you where to buy them.
Boil a batch for 1 full hour. Cool put desire amounts into plastic bags and freeze.
Add some to any bread you are making.
Enjoy.
“Painting” loafs pre bake: experiment wit
egg white only, egg yoke only, whole egg mixed with a bit of milk. Record results.
20 years agowhen I moved south I could not find any decent bread so I taught myself. Finally I’m pretty good at it.
PS easy way to get a good sourdough starter : buy from King Arthur.
Yes I also make my own.
Cheers Lou

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 13 Jan 2011 16:16:26 +0000

I have been baking breads for years and am a true fan of Peter Reinhart, Nancy Silverton and Maggie Glezer among a few, but this book by Michel Suas is obviously a necessity in my collection. I can’t wait to test his recipes in our new Earth Oven (compliments to Kiko Denzer and his direction) and share with friends!

Thank you for sharing your talents with the world!

By: Alyson

Alyson — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 11:54:33 +0000

They all look so mouth wateringly deelish, I could just lick the pages!

By: Brady

Brady — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 03:00:42 +0000

I just finished Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking Certificate a little over a year ago. I loved my Bread classes and bake bread at home when I can….Challah is my favorite so far. Work has me learning about “Pueblo Bread” (New Mexico bread) and I love altering the recipe just a little to see what come out.

Love the site
Keep on Baking

By: Janie Ficara

Janie Ficara — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:20:30 +0000

Hi Susan,
My heart fluttered when I saw that you were giving away a copy of that book — it is high on my wish list! My sourdough/fermentation journey has been a long one, beginning in San Francisco and traveling on to an apartment in New York and now a farmhouse in upstate NY. These days I’m maintaining two starters — one at 75% hydration and one at 50% — but there was a time I had six different kinds going. Your blog was a bright discovery over the holidays (searching for panettone!) and now I visit it faithfully for inspiration and your lively writing. Thank you for all the beautiful work you put into it. I’m enthralled by your photography and was thrilled to have my own bread photography mentioned by Dan Leader in ‘Local Breads’ after I took a sourdough class from him at ICE in New York City (not mentioned by name, but the next time I saw him at his Boiceville bakery he pointed it out to me in the book at the end of his introduction…!). One thing I know for sure: bread springs from my heart. It settles me. The process thrills me like no other. A big thank you to you and SFBI for offering this amazing book to one of your lucky readers.

By: Angel

Angel — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 22:32:16 +0000

Your blog and the “Bread Bakers Apprentice” has changed my life. No longer do I worry as I knead but instead I lose myself in the magic of yeast and dream of oven spring.

May all of your crusts be crisp and may your bread always rise.

By: Douglas

Douglas — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 20:16:44 +0000

This book would be an amazing one to have. I worked at Della Fattoria on the west coast last year and was able to meet one of the authors named Tim from the SFBI. He used to be the head baker at Della and made some incredible bread.

One of the most interesting experiences while working at Della was their brick ovens and utilizing their natural starter to leaven all of their bread! There was no commercial yeast in sight of the place (and its quite a large farm). All of their doughs were super hydrated resulting in outstanding crumb structure. Everything was done by hand except for mixing. The brick ovens (2) at the beginning of the bake day had a core temperature of 750 degrees!
The first duty I learned while I was at della was how to unload the oven when the bread was baked which is quite a challenge for a number of reasons.
These oven are huge and loaded by another baker by hand with a 15 ft. long peel that can hold only one or two loaves at a time. To load the ovens fast enough there is a table in the corner of the room with a whole stack of peels which another baker continuously loads bread onto as the other baker wheels the loaded peels around and loads into the oven. Now, since these peels are so long when the loading baker turns with one to enter the oven you have to duck to avoid getting hit by the handle and knocking of the precious bread (!).
Since I was the unloader and typically the bread in the first oven was done when the second was being loaded I participated in this unique “bread ballet” with the other baker as to not collide with each others whirling peels.

The most amazing part of these ovens, is that after the door goes on the oven when the first batch is loaded, I would normally be taking loaves that were baked out of the back after only 5 minutes! Incredible!

By: jan

jan — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 15:41:17 +0000

I would love to win this book… OK… my family would love it if I won this book! YUM!

By: Kathy

Kathy — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 13:50:57 +0000

I just happened to click a link to this site for the first time today. Your photos are lovely and inspiring. You are generous to share your knowledge and creativity. Thank you!

By: Teresa - Discovering Sourdough

Teresa - Discovering Sourdough — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 01:49:27 +0000

Great looking breads Susan. It is my fondest wish to attend the workshops at SFBI. Maybe you could obtain a free workshop for one of your lucky readers? Happy Baking, Teresa