[From the 2025 Fall Magazine]
Hello My Foodie Friends!
Bread is life and to many people bread is the first part of a meal. The comedian Sebastian Maniscalco likes to say, “I’m Italian and I have to have bread within fifteen seconds of sitting down.” Most of us at one time or another have been asked our opinion of the quality of the bread on the table. Have you ever buttered your bread and looked at your spouse after taking a bite and announced to them “GOOD BREAD!” John and bread have shared a long history.
When I was little boy, I was a very fussy eater and disliked many foods. My dad who liked all foods, would recite to me the same story night after night, “There are kids starving in Africa and you refuse to eat this great food that your mother worked hard to create?” Hence, our power struggle began, and it was off to bed without my supper. He never backed down and neither did I. My mom was the one who disciplined us but not in this case. After dinner was over, my dad would usually make me clean up and go right to bed while the other kids watched TV. I would sit by the door of my room with my arms crossed refusing to give in to eating something I did not like. Suddenly, the bedroom door would open quietly, and in the dark my mom would sneak in with some of her fresh baked Italian bread with butter and a glass of milk. She would give me a loving smile and whisper words of love and wisdom on how to deal with dad and dinner. While I was eating my favorite meal of bread and milk, I told mom that I would try but I couldn’t wait to grow up and eat what I wanted. It took a few weeks of gritting my teeth and negotiating with mom where she would secretly fix me a different variation of the same meal as everyone else so I would look like I was obeying my dad’s orders. The variation of the meal plan worked, and my dad never noticed. The win was that I never had to go to bed without supper again. Whenever bread is served, whether at a restaurant in Saratoga Springs, or during a meal at other homes or mine, when the bread comes out, I always smile and think about my mom the saint, and the love she made me feel.
Bread has been part of human history across many cultures for centuries and has been prepared in different forms for thousands of years. So many of our foodie friends come into our store and share stories of how they challenge their skills while baking. While cakes, cookies, noodles and pastas are all proving popular, bread has emerged as the baking project of choice. Foodies are finding pleasure in learning a new skill, especially something tangible, as opposed to all the things we do virtually. There is beauty and satisfaction in transforming flour into a beautiful loaf of bread coming out of the oven. Bread is playing that role for many people these days.
Sourdough is making a big comeback in American kitchens, and it's not just about the unique taste. This resurgence taps into deeper cultural and health trends reshaping food relationships. Baking sourdough bread emerged as a comforting, hands-on, at-home hobby for people during the pandemic lockdown and continues to maintain its momentum with more and more people choosing to make their own bread. Families may pass down starters and sourdough bread recipes through generations like treasured heirlooms, each carrying distinct flavors shaped by their specific regions and environments. With these recipes, come the tools to help you make, maintain, and bake your bread. Items such as a dough whisk, bench scraper, thermometer, bread proofing basket and a bread lame are key tools to help you with your creation.
While you can certainly mix your dough using your hands or a wooden spoon, a go-to mixing tool for sourdoughs is a Danish dough whisk. This stiff metal curlicue-on-a-stick is far better than any other tool for turning a mass of wet and dry ingredients into a uniform dough.
A bench knife is another essential tool for working with dough, whether to divide larger quantities of dough into smaller ones, to move pieces of dough around, or to shape a dough piece into a loaf (not to mention cleaning the work surface of flour and stray bits of dough once you are done).
Sourdough breads are sensitive to temperature, so it's useful to have a way to track the temperature of your dough and the ingredients that go in. (One key bread-baking practice is setting your dough at a specific temperature at the start of proofing by raising or lowering the temperature of the water you use since that is usually the only component that can easily be adjusted up or down.) For this reason, every sourdough baker will want to have an accurate instant-read thermometer.
A bread proofing basket is used to hold shaped bread dough as it rises. The basket helps the dough maintain its shape, which is particularly helpful if it’s a wet, high-hydration dough that, without the support of the basket, might otherwise flatten into a pancake. With the sides of the proofing basket providing support, the dough will rise upwards, instead of outwards.
Once a sourdough loaf is proofed and ready to bake, it needs to be scored, so that it expands fully and in an ordered, symmetrical way in the heat of the oven. While you can get away with using a sharp serrated knife to do this, most bakers use a dedicated tool known as a lame. Scoring bread dough cleanly and quickly requires a sharp tool, preferably one where the blade is easily replaced after just a few uses, and a lame is a double-edged disposable razor blade held on the end of a handle.
Stop into Compliments to the Chef, Your Neighborhood Kitchen and Cutlery store located at 33 Railroad Place for the essential tools you need to create your traditions with making bread, memories, and weaving threads of connection that bind us together as a family and friends. It is in these shared moments, amidst the flour and laughter, that we learn the importance of cherishing our times with those we love.
Remember my Foodie Friends:
“Life and Love Happens in the Kitchen.”
Take Care, John & Paula
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast (9 grams)
- 1 teaspoon sugar (4 grams)
(use honey if you prefer) - 1 ¼ cups warm water (300 grams)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons (8 grams) kosher salt
- 2 ½ to 3 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour (400 grams) plus extra for dusting
Instructions
MIX THE DOUGH & FIRST RISE (1 HOUR):
1. Combine yeast, sugar, and warm water in a large mixing bowl (you can also use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook).
2. Let the yeast proof for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is foamy.
3. Add flour to bowl. Mix with a sturdy spoon or dough whisk until the dough starts to come together, then add salt and mix until all ingredients are incorporated. For best results, mix until no dry bits of flour remain.
4. Cover bowl with a clean tea towel and let rise on the counter for about 1 hour, until dough has doubled in size.
SHAPE THE DOUGH & FINAL RISE (30 MIN):
1. When dough has risen, lightly flour a large cutting board.
2. Tip the dough out of the bowl and onto the cutting board. DO NOT PUNCH THE DOUGH DOWN - you want to keep all those nice air bubbles intact so you have an airy, delicious loaf. (Note: If the dough is sticking to the bowl, wet your hand with a bit of cold water and gently separate the dough from the bowl to get it all out).
3. Shape the dough into a round loaf: Pull each corner of the dough in towards the center (like you're folding an envelope) and repeat until the dough feels tight and begins to resist your folds. Flip the dough over and pull it into a round loaf.
4. Flour a proofing basket or a medium bowl and place your loaf into it seam-side down. Cover with a tea towel and let rise another 30 minutes or so while you preheat the oven.
Baking:
1. HEAT THE OVEN: While bread is rising, place an empty Dutch Oven (with the lid on) in your oven and heat to 460° F. When the oven is hot, you're ready to go! Use oven mitts to pull the Dutch Oven out and remove the lid.
2. Lay a piece of parchment paper down on your counter or cutting board (optional - it makes transferring the bread easier!)
3. Tip your bread dough gently out of the proofing basket onto the parchment paper. Make sure the seam side is up this time. Very carefully (without burning yourself!) use the sides of the parchment to lift the bread up and place it into the hot Dutch Oven. With a bread lame, score the bread to the design you want. Put your oven mitts back on, place the Dutch Oven lid back on the pot, and slide the whole thing back into your oven.
4. Cook bread for 30 minutes.
5. After 30 minutes, remove the lid from your Dutch Oven. The bread should be taller, crusty, and very lightly browned. Continue cooking the bread, uncovered, for 10-15 minutes more until the bread has deepened in color and you have a beautiful brown crust.
6. When bread is done, use oven mitts to pull the pot out of your oven. Use a long spatula or the corners of your parchment paper to lift the bread out of the Dutch Oven and onto a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.
7. Slather with butter and enjoy!
Recipe courtesy of lifeasastrawberry at lifeasastrawberry.com