Wild Yeast

Notes from my kitchen, in which I bake bread and raise a few other matters

World Class Baking


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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Sweet Portuguese Bread

This month, the Bread Baking Babes are smiling even more sweetly than our usual sweet selves, with the Portuguese Sweet Bread (aka Pão Doce) Tanna selected for us. I love crusty hearth loaves, but sometimes you’re in the mood for something softer, richer, and sweeter, and this bread hits that spot nicely.

The recipe allows for a variable amount of sugar, and I opted for the lowest amount, which was just lovely. The result was beautiful for sandwiches as well as morning toast, and would make wonderful dinner rolls as well (maybe without the lemon zest). The inclusion of ground flaxseed and about 25% whole wheat flour might or might not make a healthful difference, but they definitely add flavor and color.

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Orange-Pecan Sticky Buns with Dates and Cranberries

I looked at the ingredient list for this month’s Paper Chef, and this is what it said:

dried dates • cranberries • flour • candied orange peel

This is what I read:

dried dates • cranberries • candied orange peel

And I thought, Hm, only three ingredients. Aren’t there supposed to be four? Apparently I have come to take flour completely for granted. Like air.

Paper Chef is a creative challenge where the month’s host draws three ingredients at random from a collectively-compiled list and adds a fourth of his or her choosing. I haven’t participated often, since the list is apt to include ingredients like salmon or liver, which don’t particularly lend themselves to bread. But this month, I couldn’t resist the combination of fruits that turned up in the lottery.

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Kneading Conference 2010

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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Pane Toscano Scuro

A (or perhaps the?) defining characteristic of Tuscan bread is its lack of salt. I have made saltless Tuscan bread before, and I was pleasantly surprised by its sweet flavor.

This “dark Tuscan bread”, a 70%-whole-wheat version adapted from Carol Field’s The Italian Baker, did not warm my heart quite as well, but I did like the soft crumb and crisp crust. I might experiment with different wheat flours to see how the flavor varies with each. And in fairness, I have to say I have so far only eaten it pretty much straight up, and Tuscan bread is meant to go with the hearty flavors of Tuscan food. Panzanella (tomato and bread salad) is traditional with this bread… stay tuned.

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Chocolate and Raspberries, and Ice Cream and Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Well now, this is a little embarrassing. Looking over my last few Daring Bakers challenges, I see that I have chosen to do a raspberry/chocolate combination for the latest three, and four of the last six. And I wonder why my friends find it so easy to predict what dessert I’m going to order in restaurants.

Not that I’m regretting a minute of it. Chocolate and rasberries go together like, well, ice cream and cake.

And although I have never been big a fan of Swiss rolls (I’m quite certain there is an early-childhood run-in with Little Debbie lurking in my long-repressed recesses), and although my cake looks on the outside like it’s had a run-in with something or other, this bombe was the bomb.

I followed Sunita’s recipes for the Swiss rolls that form the bombe’s outer layer, and for the fudge sauce that ended up sandwiched between the two home-made ice creams inside. My ice creams, churned with my KitchenAid mixer’s ice cream attachment, were both adapted from David Lebovitz‘s wonderful book, The Perfect Scoop. I added cocoa nibs (crushed unsweetened cocoa beans) to the vanilla, and I made the raspberry with Perfect Purée supplemented with a little puree of frozen mixed berries.

Of course it wouldn’t be a DB challenge if I didn’t wind up up with a list of  “do-next-times” so here it is:

  • Notice how my Swiss roll slices are rather crumby? This happened upon slicing, and freezing thoroughly before slicing would help.
  • I think I’d like a fudge sauce based on cream rather than water; this became a bit icy when frozen.
  • Reversing the ice cream layers (raspberry on top, vanilla on the bottom) would give a better contrast between the ice cream and the Swiss roll layer.
  • Whole raspberries should go in there somewhere.

I believe some of the other Daring Bakers offer suggestions for flavor combinations that are not chocolate and raspberry. I might have to grudgingly admit that they might be good too.

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