I’ve making bread at home now for what…??? 6 or 7 years… at first I started easy, not every weekend, just once in a while, now it is just part of my daily weekend routine, and even when I could I was baking bread during weekdays!!! I have tested all kind of recipes, followed the books, then went on my own, using my experience and feeling, and except croissants, that I still feel not confident making, I’ve never failed a brioche or a bread. Two years ago when I discovered breadin5, I understood some of what my experience and intuition were suggesting me: the bread making is not such a rigorous process for which quantities and time are that important. If you think about it billions of humans have been making bread for more than 20 centuries… so it wasn’t about 1g plus or more of yeast, or the exact temperature of water! Breadin5 showed me that we can be more playful with bread making, but last winter, my parents offered me a book about bread making “respectus panis” and what they were saying in this book was exactly what I was waiting for: less yeast, less salt, little kneading, long proving time. Well long at 18degrees so I had to wait until the warm weather was there to test properly, otherwise the house temperature is rather 15degrees or less and long would have mean forever!!! I finally did test the method. And I was not disappointed. With half of the regular amount of yeast and salt the dough takes about 12h to bubble well in the current situation, which will shorten as temperature increases, the bread is a lot tastier and enjoyable and keeps very well. I have tested only with some of my classic white bread and campagne bread and was really surprised by the result! I must say the campagne was a huge hit!!!
So now I can save on yeast, which given that recently it’s been hard to find baking powder and yeast, is definitely a good attitude!!! And I can’t wait to try again this weekend!!
