Dec 17 2008
Real bread, ale and, uh, dancing
I accidentally came across this video yesterday about bread, and the “Real Bread Campaign”. (The video is from the Do Lectures which seems to be something to do with Howies, the clothing company. I haven’t watched any others yet.)
If you can’t be bothered watching it yourself (and honestly, I don’t particularly recommend it) he:
- talks about industrial milling and bread-making
- makes threatening and evidence-free comments about “enzymes” in your food
- suggests you start baking your own bread
I originally thought to mention the enzyme thing more, but it’s just tediously overdone on this blog I think. Just stop using vague science words in the hope you can make things sound dangerous. All it does is diminish any potential credibility you might have had.
I much preferred the last few minutes of his talk, when the subject settled on bread-making, community, and all that rousing stuff. I do like the idea of a Real Bread Campaign as a parallel to CAMRA, the real ale campaign. They are dealing with something fundamentally different though, so I don’t know what lessons can be learned from the real ale movement.
I recently came across this rather nice post about bread making from someone who obviously likes their bread and the process of making it, and explains it all in a cheerful fashion. And finally a short video on how they made bread back in the 1980s:
Thanks for the link to the good bread post. Sounds like a kindred spirit, like the comment about real butter too. As regards icecubes perhaps I’ll give it a try. I alway maintained my bread was better when I had a gas oven that was producing it’s own steam
I’ve tried water sprays in the past but they’re not effective for really crunchy crusts. The best way is to preheat a roasting tin and fill it with boiling water just before you close the oven door. That gives a good amount of steam!