This amazing artisan bread is the result of the Craftsy Class, Artisan Bread Making, taught by Peter Reinhart.
One of the things I love about Craftsy, besides the wonderful instructors they find, the exciting courses they offer, the fantastic, interactive platform, and the ease of use...is that they offer classes from beginner to professional and do not limit the content to basic instruction. This excellent class takes you through the 12 stages of bread making and teaches artisan bread-making techniques the pros use. I thought I was pretty comfortable with my bread-making skills but I learned so much from Mr. Reinhart.
This class says good-bye to the old school way of working with yeast doughs. There are plenty of new methods for mixing, working, shaping, and proofing the dough - all new to me and very cutting edge! The recipes range from a basic, straight dough to delicious chocolate babka (cannot wait to try that!). There are detailed explanations of formulas and definitions of terms & techniques learned by professional baking students. Nothing is 'dumbed down' for the home baker and I really appreciate that. It is like taking a class at a famous culinary institute...except in your comfy clothes!
As far as the bread goes...my first round with the process went smoothly until it came time to slash the proofed bread before putting it in the oven. When I scored the top of the loaves with my knife, they instantly deflated to (almost) dough! After corresponding with Mr. Reinhart himself (I LOVE that you get personal attention with Craftsy), we determined that my dough OVER-proofed (I had used the proofing setting on my oven and I think it was too warm) and had no where to go but down when I 'popped'
it! The baguettes I made were not very pretty structurally but the boule (round loaf) was quite nice. The crust was just amazing! The flavour was excellent and it even had a nice crumb (the inside part) - just a tad moist.
Even though I had a couple challenges with my oven and the over-proofed dough, I will definitely not give up with this method of bread-making. I have several more recipes to try (including that amazing chocolate babka) and I want to make the sourdough version as well. There is a lot of content in this class and although I always want to rush through and do everything at once, it will give me lots to work with over the next couple of months (perfect for fall - a lovely, artisan loaf baking in the oven on a crisp Autumn day - mmm, and a big pot of Beef Barley Soup simmering on the stove!). Remember that Craftsy classes are yours forever so once you purchase one, you can refer back to it anytime you want! Use the link to the right if you'd like to check out this amazing Artisan Bread Making class!
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