When you begin delving into the world of bread, there’s apparently a lot to consider. The main issue is timeline. If you want bread on Saturday, you may need to start the process on Tuesday, beginning with the pre-fermentation process with the yeast. In “Bouchon Bakery”, some recipes (such as baguettes) call for a starter called “Poolish”, which needs to be started at least 12-15 hours (overnight) before you begin the several hour process of making the bread the next morning. Then there are some recipes that use the starter of “Levain”, which is more akin to being sour (used in English Muffins). Levain takes one to two weeks to develop, and that’s before you even get to the baking day, but once you do, it can perpetually kept alive for years.
Even before that, you need to obtain the right kind of yeast and know how to work with it, namely “Active Dry” or “Instant/Rapid Rise”. Active Dry has larger granules and should be dissolved in water before it is combined with flour. Instant/Rapid Rise has a smaller granule and can be combined in with the dry ingredients. At Bouchon they claim to use “Instant/Rapid Rise” and have all of their recipes written accordingly in their Bakery cookbook.
Before my next bread challenge I will need to decide which bread to tackle and then schedule my timeline for when I have a few hours midday without appointments and adequate time to get the starter rolling.
Until next time...
Culinarily Yours,