Wild Yeast

Mike Zakowski loads breads and rolls into the oven.

Last month, when many people had World Cup Soccer on their minds, I was privileged to meet a small group of hugely talented bakers who came together at the San Francisco Baking Institute to prepare for a very different world cup: the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie. In the 2012 “World Cup of Bread Baking,” which is said to be the Olympics of the baking world, teams from twelve countries will compete for Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals as they promote international awareness of baking as a highly skilled craft.

Craig Ponsford, Chariman of the Bread Bakers Guild of America, sponsor of the USA team, graciously spent some time discussing the history and structure of this prestigious competition.

The Coupe du Monde was founded in 1992 by Christian Vabret of the Ecole Française de Boulangerie d’Aurillac to honor the art and craft of artisan baking, promote baking education and technical skill, and foster international goodwill and appreciation of traditional regional artisan breads and techniques. It is held in Paris every three to four years in conjunction with the trade show Europain. The previous Coupe du Monde’s top three teams are invited back to participate in the next event. Other countries must compete for the remaining nine slots through four regional qualifying competitions, the Louis LeSaffre Cups.

Jeremey Gadouas works on Viennoiserie.

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Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Kneading Conference in Skowhegan Maine, where bakers, farmers, millers, teachers, students, and friends came together for two days to celebrate grain and to bake and break bread together .

The keynote speakers, author and master baker Jeffrey Hamelman and sustainable agriculture leader Fred Kirschenmann, gave thoughtful and compelling talks.

All baking was done in wood-fired ovens…

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The piece of gorgeousness you see here is the cover of a brainy new cookbook — and I’m in it!

Thinkfood is a collaboration between Posit Science and 50 food bloggers, each of whom has contributed a recipe featuring an ingredient known to improve memory, concentration, mood, or other brain-powered functions. With foods like flax seed, almonds, tuna, spinach, cinnamon, and more — doing their brilliant thing in everything from snacks to side dishes to main courses to desserts — you can eat smarter to be smarter.

You’ll have to stay tuned to find out what recipes I and the other bloggers contributed, but I think you’ll agree that the list of blogs is pretty damn impressive, so you just know the recipes are going to be wonderful.

The hard-cover book will be available in July, but you can start cooking more cleverly right now by signing up for the Thinkfood Recipe of the Week. Beginning today, one recipe will be distributed by email every Wednesday for the next 50 weeks.  You’ll have free access to the printable version of the recipe, which includes more information about the brain-healthy ingredient.

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These baguettes were made with a small amount of diastatic malt powder. Perfectly good bread is possible without malt, but in some cases it can help your bread be just that much more lovely.

Malt contains several enzymes; the most significant to bread bakers is amylase, which breaks down the starch in flour into simple sugar. Sugar is important for two primary reasons: it is what yeast eats (so fermentation would not be possible without it) and caramelization of sugar contributes greatly to a rich crust color. Most white flours have malt added at the mill, and even when they do not, both amylase and simple sugars are present naturally in wheat flour, so you can get fine results without adding more malt to the dough at mixing time.

However, when dough has a long fermentation, the yeast consumes a lot of sugar, since it grazes pretty much constantly. This means there is less sugar left over for caramelization of the crust, so the crust color might be paler than you’d like. For doughs with preferments (such as the poolish used in these baguettes), where a portion of the flour is fermented over several hours, the addition of amylase in the form of malt can make the crust a bit nicer. You might also add some to your dough if you are baking with unmalted flour.

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In 2009, Dan Buettner’s invesitgation of “blue zones” — regions whose inhabitants have much-longer-than-average lifespans — took him to the Greek island of Ikaria, where one in three people lives past the age of 90. Buettner identified 13 lifestyle factors that may contribute to the Ikarians’ longevity. Not surprisingly, more than half of these relate to diet. What may surprise you is that one of the dietary elements Buettner claims can contribute to a long and healthy life is sourdough bread.

This is a sound assertion; scientific research on sourdough offers several reasons why sourdough can be health-enhancing. These benefits are probably primarily derived from the acids produced by the lactobacillus bacteria that are an integral component of a sourdough starter and give the bread its sour flavor:

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Image courtesy of SF Food Wars

Hey, guess what? I am honored and excited to have been selected to compete in the next SF Food Wars smackdown: “Amuse Brunch (brunch in a bite).”

As with Yeast Affliction, my previous foray onto the culinary battlefield, 20 cooks and bakers will attempt to dazzle three judges and 200 brunchists-at-large and capture the title of most amazing/amusing brunch bite. The roster of competitors and their dishes will be announced soon and will undoubtedly promise a brunch spread that will amuse even the most astute bouches.

All this amusement will transpire at noon on Sunday, May 16, at Thirsty Bear in San Francisco. Tickets, which are $15 and include a beer, mimosa, or Bloody Mary, go on sale on May 4 at noon sharp, on the SF Food Wars website. If you want one, plan to have your clicking finger poised on the mouse at 11:59 a.m.; these gems sell out fast!