About ten loaves in now since the first time I tried it, my bread stenciling game is getting quite good! The process itself isn't difficult -- simply wet the top of your dough with a spritzer, lay on the stencil, then sprinkle either rice flour (white) or cocoa powder (brown) over it -- it's getting the sprinkling exactly right that's the challenge. (A bit too little and the powder disappears because of the water; a bit too much and it becomes a blurry mess.) I have four stencils and am already getting bored with them, so I think another purchase is in the cards soon, plus this week I'm going to try making my own stencil (featuring the "two trees" logo commonly used by co-ops) out of the mylar I usually use to wrap rare books.

#bread #breadmaking #boule #french #white #rustic #artisan #stencil #riceFlour #cocoaPowder

Here's the latest loaf of homemade bread this winter, smaller and denser than normal for two reasons -- first, because it's cold as hell here in Chicago right now, including in the kitchen of our co-op's ancient 125-year-old building; and second, because it's 50% whole wheat flour, another 25% rye (and 25% white to round it out). That said, the tighter and dryer dough responded well to my curved lame (lah-MAY), and here I got that fabled lip crust you're always looking for in your $7 artisanal loaves at the farmer's market and on Instagram. Another semi-blurry stenciling using rice flour, but it's at least enough that you can see the pattern!

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This month begins my fifth year now as a breadmaker, and I'm celebrating by making bread literally every weekday this winter, because it's endlessly cold and crappy in Chicago right now and this is a much better way to spend my hours these days than being outside, plus provides such a warm and nice-smelling environment for those who have been forced to be out and are now just getting back home. Here in year 5, however, I've made something like 300 of these Rustic French boules you're seeing here, so I decided this winter it's time to up my game, to what I euphemistically call "you know, that Instagram shit." That includes not just the rice-flour-covered white-colored loaf you're seeing (which we covered in the last post), but now my new stencils, which you make with rice flour (white) or cocoa powder (brown). This is my first time, so they came out only so-so; they'll be getting more precise and less messy with future loaves. More of this all winter!

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I'm spending the winter making bread for my co-op housemates several times every week, and this time I'm taking the extra step to post photos throughout the entire breadmaking process. (See my timeline for the entire series.) One of the big secrets behind artisan bread is that there are two halves to the baking process; after wetting the top of the loaf, first the lid of the Dutch oven is kept on for 15 minutes of baking at 500 degrees, which prevents the top from cooking while the inside is busy plumping up (a phenomenon called "oven spring"); then you remove the lid and bake another 15 minutes at 475 degrees, which is what lets the top of the loaf finally dry out and turn a golden brown. Here's how my first loaf is looking halfway through the process, right when taking off the lid for the first time. Looks like my experiment today at dusting the entire top of the loaf with rice flour is going to be a success! Picture of the finished loaf in another 15 minutes!

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Our kitchen at the co-op was entirely non-functioning for three months this fall, as we did a to-the-studs complete renovation of the space; and everyone's nerves were frayed by the end, with a lot of petty arguing going on every day. The kitchen is now finished and open again, and I'm celebrating by making homemade Rustic French artisan bread boules several times a week all winter, using house ingredients and meant for house eating. This will let me do something I find fun, plus provide something meaningful to my housemates, plus encourage what I hope will be a "back to good vibes" attitude around here, breaking bread and hanging out in our newly open kitchen (the main hangout space of the entire house), the room and hallway constantly filled with the aroma of fresh bread. I even tried stenciling a common logo for co-ops (two trees whose tips are touching in the middle) on top of the loaves with rice flour, but only did so-so; but this was also the first time I've ever tried bread stenciling, so I'm sure future tries will go better. Here's to all of us hopefully achieving happy, homey vibes this winter, after a particularly challenging last autumn for so many of us.

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Here's the fully baked version of the homemade Rustic French "artisan" bread in a boule that I was documenting halfway through in the very last post of my feed before this one. In the first 15 minutes of baking this at 500 degrees, the top of the dough was kept wet, by spraying it down right before baking and then covering it with the lid of a Dutch oven, trapping all that moisture in there as it perpetually evaporates and condenses; then in the second 10 to 15 minutes, the lid is taken off, allowing the top to dry out quickly and then achieve that perfect golden-brown crusty consistency without worrying about overcooking into burnt. This will be the hit of the dinner party later, I think!

P.S. The frosted top is achieved with rice flour, which retains its sturdiness under more water than wheat flour does. Once you spray the loaf down, then dust the top of that watery surface with the rice flour, and it will still remain in its powdery form at the complete end of baking.

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Chewy Black Sesame Rice Cake Recipe https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/4aw8xm/chewy-black-sesame-rice-cake-recipe #Vice #RSS #News #Bot #CookbookClub #blacksesame #vegetarian #riceflour #Dessert #Recipe #Korean #Sesame #sweet #easy #cake