Sunday’s We Bake Bread with Christine from Maid In The Shade in San Jose CA
On Sunday's We Keep Calm and Eat Bread with Christine from @maidintheshade83 who is based in San Jose California and is navigating 2020 with sourdough and food. Christine is also a Disney/Star Wars/Gaming/Game of Thrones nerd.
How did your love for baking start?
I’ve been baking for years because for much of my life I was gluten intolerant. I had to make my own food especially since gluten free food wasn’t widely available at the time. After the birth of my son, my body changed and I didn’t need to be GF anymore. As for sourdough, I’d always wanted to try but it wasn’t until quarantine when I had the time to devote to it.
What emotions provoke you when you bake?
I feel tremendous amounts of love when I bake. It makes me feel like I’m doing something good for my family and friends. Always happy.
What are your favorite things to bake?
I love baking bread, obviously, but cookies are a close second. Oh, focaccia is a favorite too.
What’s been inspiring you lately?
I see so many people in the bread community making challenging things and that’s what keeps me inspired. Also, if it’s ok to say, the US election has inspired me greatly. Feeling good about that!
What does bread symbolize for you?
Family. Plain and simple.
What is the most challenging part of baking bread?
Eating it all! No I’m all seriousness, keeping up with my obsession while working a full time job and having a family. Baking bread takes time.
What’s the most important thing to you when baking?
The most important thing to me when baking would have to be the art. I love creating stencils that bring in different fandoms and I love sharing those even more. Bread and art are universal.
What are some things you’ve learned about bread?
Science. I’ve learned so much by having to tweak my baking to the weather and seasons. It’s given me a newfound passion for learning how food is made and what each ingredient does. It’s fascinating.
How do you like to eat your bread?
Any way! But on day one, fresh and warm with cold butter or oil/balsamic/herbs. After that, I make avo or ricotta toasts for breakfast, or cut up into croutons for a Caesar salad. Served with cheese on a charcuterie plate is also great!
Sunday’s We Bake Bread with Melanie in Bethlehem, PA
Hi I am Melanie. I have a small business (Made by Lino / Lit Coffee Roastery & Bakeshop) and I am someone's mom, which I'm still trying to wrap my head around!
How did your love for baking start?
I was trying to find my purpose in the world and tried out a few hobbies until one stuck. Baking is the one that was the most therapeutic. People seem to always be incredibly intimidated by baking but, idk, maybe that general intimidation is what intrigued me to give it a try.
What emotions provoke you when you bake?
I feel calm, playful, excited and comforted
What are your favorite things to bake?
I love making pies, cookies and sourdough croissants... OH and Sourdough Brioche Sticky Buns.
What’s been inspiring you lately?
To be honest, not a whole lot. Savory food has been a really fun space. That's inspiring me to play with food in a different way.
What does bread symbolize for you?
Bread is life lol. To me, is symbolizes connection, unity, togetherness.
What is the most challenging part of baking bread?
When it comes to working with wild yeast, you get a different result every time ... unless you're extra and take your air's temperature and your flour's temp... I am not about that life. Truly Old World over here. But, you're basically always taking a risk. When you get to know your Sourdough Mother, you then understand the needs of the temps and the rising times. It's a whole thing. But, I'd say calculating how much time your dough needs to rise perfectly.
What’s the most important thing when baking bread?
Patience is the most important thing.
What are some things you’ve learned about bread?
All bread is NOT created equal. Different types of flours create different results, etc. Quality is EVERYTHING if you want to do it right.
How do you like to eat your bread?
Toasty with Cultured Butter, Valley Milkhouse Clover Cheese with a fresh tomato salad and a Balsamic Drizz., on it's own, PB & J toasted. Grilled Cheese with Sauerkraut or Clubhouse Kimchi.
Baking Bread on Sunday’s with Andra from Romania
Sourdough Explained is passionate for sourdough baking at home. Which is about patience, perseverance and commitment. About joy and satisfaction. About life.
Can you introduce yourself and where are you located.
I’m Andra, originally from Romania, but living in London for more than 4 years now, a city I absolutely love and would never leave. In my day to day life I’m a marketeer, working for a paint company. Couple of things I love besides baking: traveling, food and cats.
How did your love for baking start?
I’ve been baking bread for 6 years now, but i’ve been using commercial dry yeast for most of this time, until last year, October time when I’ve met my starter, Hector. The moment of truth was when a friend invited me over to taste the sourdough she has baked at home, after attending a sourdough class. I was amazed by sourdough you can m(b)ake at home, so close to the loaves you could get in a bakery, so I accepted right away her offer to share with me some of her starter. Have been baking every week since then, and probably every second day (if not more often) since the lock down. It’s delicious and baking it is addictive.
What emotions provoke you when you bake?
Joy and accomplishment.
What are your favorite things to bake?
Chocolate & dry cranberries sourdough, if only you could imagine the smell in my kitchen. And of course, the sourdough pancakes on almost every Sunday morning
What’s been inspiring you lately?
A strong desire of improvement, there’s no such thing as the perfect loaf, it’s all about continuous learning. The power of the home-bakers community and how much can be achieved with so little.
Advice for someone who would like to get into bread baking?
It’s all about patience, perseverance and commitment. Failure is inevitable when baking, that’s why you need to keep your confidence and enthusiasm. Also, if you can get a starter from a bakery or another home baker, I would encourage you to do so, as sometimes this is the critical step in getting you started.
What does bread symbolize to you?
Childhood memories - my grandma used to sell sourdough when I was little, so basically I grew up with it and the smell of a good bread
What is the most challenging part of baking bread?
Getting to know the texture of your dough and what a good dough should feel like. But also learning to know when the dough is perfectly proofed.
What’s the most important thing to you when baking?
The crumb, but also getting a crispy crust.
What are some things you’ve learned about bread?
That baking sourdough can quickly become addictive. The good kind of drug I’d say.
How do you like to eat your bread?
I always save the last bite of bread to end a meal, this is how much I love bread.
Sunday’s We Bake Bread with Raphaelle who lives in Berlin
Raphaelle (Instagram) is a 34 year old french girl who likes to bake bread in her free time. She has been living in Berlin for 8 years and she is a mother to a lovely girl name Louise. She is also a store manager at Sessun, a french brand from the South of France.
How did your love for baking start?
I used to bake some breads sometimes but always with yeast. Every time I tried to do my sourdough I quit too earlier because I didn’t have the time to take care of it.
During the lockdown I thought it would be a good time to try again and this time it works. So I began to bake one bread a day and after some fails I found the good combination !
What emotions provoke you when you bake?
Satisfaction ! Baking with sourdough is a very long process. It takes between 24 to 48 hours. I use to bake it in a dutch oven. You can’t imagine the satisfaction when you open the lid and see the oven spring.
What are your favorite things to bake?
I love to bake basic sourdough loaf but my favorite is cheddar with pumpkin seed !
What’s been inspiring you lately?
I began to do some “artistic” scoring on my breads and found a good mix between the flour to get a good bread, where I can score what I want. I love for example the work of Linda ring which her face on breads and the work of Sarah Vignon, who does some lovely drawings, which I tried to score on breads.
What does bread symbolize for you?
As french girl, bread has always been really important for me ! A meal isn’t complete if you don’t have bread on the table!
What is the most challenging part of baking bread?
To master the good hydration level of the dough to get a lot of big bubbles in the crumb!
What’s the most important thing to you when baking?
A nice crumb and crispy crust.
What are some things you’ve learned about bread?
To be patient and take the time. If you bake it to early you will always get a flatbread.
How do you like to eat your bread?
I love it both sweet or savory. For the sweet part, I love it with salty butter and honey. For the savory I love to dip it in the juice of fresh tomatoes or with comté cheese.
