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 Kendall of Flour Child in LA
Kendall of @flour____child is a California native living in LA. who was recently featured on former VP Joe Biden’s Instagram account.
She is a copywriter for a social impact - focused startup up by day and a baker by night. She is happiest when “eating some form of carbs and cheese while singing along to Taylor Swift.”
How did your love for baking start?
I remember baking a lot with both of my grandmas as a child. My dad’s mom taught me how to make bread and my mom’s mom taught me how to make what is still my favorite cake recipe ever. My mom always baked a ton during the holidays to give out plates of assorted cookies to friends and family and I loved helping (and mostly eating) alongside her. My dad was always big on making educational cupcakes for my sister and my birthdays every year to share with our classes which was such a fun way to celebrate.
What emotions provoke you when you bake?
I find baking so calming. It’s a nice moment to disconnect from work, the news, social media and just focus on one thing. Then there’s the excitement of getting to share and eat what you’re making!
What are your favorite things to bake?
My grandma’s Sand and Dirt cake recipe (mentioned above) is a long process, but one of my favorite things to eat. It’s a double-layered chocolate cake with mint frosting and semi-sweet chocolate melted on top. I rarely make it, but when I do it’s heaven. I’ve only been baking bread for the past year or so, but I played around with a couple of recipes and created my own garlic rosemary loaf that I could probably eat solo in one sitting.
What’s been inspiring you lately?
So much has happened this year and there are so many causes I’ve wanted to support, but knew I only had so much money to donate myself. After baking bread for a few friends during quarantine, around June I decided to start baking in exchange for donations to a few key causes. The response from my peers was so encouraging! Shortly after I found Bakers Against Racism and saw other bakers on Instagram doing similar bake sales to raise money. I’ve raised over $700 at this point for Black Voters Matter Fund, Fair Fight, ACLU, When We All Vote, and the Biden campaign.
What does bread symbolize for you?
For me, bread is all about bringing people together and spending quality time over a shared fresh loaf of bread.
What is the most challenging part of baking bread?
Honestly, it’s not eating the whole loaf at once!
What’s the most important thing to you when baking?
Bread brings me so much joy—both making it and eating it—and I just want to be able to share that joy with others when I give them a fresh loaf.
What are some things you’ve learned about bread?
Every time I make a loaf, it always amazes me how few ingredients you really need.
How do you like to eat your bread?
Any and every way! My go-to ways are just warmed with some butter or in a nice toasty grilled cheese.
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.
Sunday’s We Bake Bread with Emerald who lives in Phoenix
Emerald Green (@thegemthecolor) is a 32 year old bread baker and artist living in Arizona and is also a a bread artist for @proofbread and the cofounder of @bakers4good which is a collective of bakers in the Greater Phoenix Metro Area changing the world the best way they know how: through baked goods.
How did your love for baking start?
My mom taught me how to cook as soon as I was old enough to assist in the kitchen. After college when I was living on my own, I realized I still hadn’t learned how to bake. I had a friend who had a range of dietary restrictions who was lamenting about not being able to find any bakeries that had cupcakes she could eat without making her sick. So I ordered a specialty cupcake book to make her cupcakes as a surprise. I haven’t looked back since.
What emotions provoke you when you bake?
I love the alchemy that comes with baking. Mix some things in a bowl and watch the magic happen. Makes me feel like a wizard.
What are your favorite things to bake?
I work in an all sourdough bakery, which happens to be where my passion is. More than anything else, I love to intricately score bread and then eagerly wait for the results.
What’s been inspiring you lately?
My specialty is decorative bread scoring. For my scoring designs, I am often inspired by the environment around me (the Arizona desert), produce that is in season, animals, portraits. As far as flavors go, I enjoy bringing Korean flavors into sourdough bread. I am half Korean and half German. Bringing the flavors of Korea inside an artisan loaf of sourdough bread is like the culmination of my heritage.
A lot changed for me when I started to see bread as an art medium. I’m always challenging myself to see what the limits are to manipulating bread in different ways. It’s challenging but lights a childlike wonder in me at the same time.
What does bread symbolize for you?
Sourdough bread is universal. Every culture has their own history and traditions when it comes to naturally leavened bread. It’s one of the most basic and essential food staples. It brings people of all walks of life together.
What is the most challenging part of baking bread?
Like everything else, it’s a skill. It takes repetition to build up the muscle memory required. Sourdough is a long process that’s a refined science but also necessitates a level of intuition and flexibility. It’s a lot of hands-on hard work.
What’s the most important thing when baking bread?
Patience with both the process and yourself. There are so many factors that come into play to have a successful loaf of bread. Keeping detailed notes, being mindful of temperature and timing, and not feeling defeated when a loaf doesn’t come out the way you’d hoped are all important as a bread baker.
What are some things you’ve learned about bread?
Every sourdough loaf is unique to the baker who made it. The microbes that live on your hands have a relationship with the microbes that live in the dough. The more you are touching your bread as you’re mixing, folding, and shaping, the more those microbes flourish and become an intrinsic characteristic of your bread. I think that’s the coolest thing.
How do you like to eat your bread?
Most often I’m eating it as avocado toast with a bed of arugula tossed in a light dressing and topped with fried eggs. However, the simplicity of a toasted slice of bread with a pad of butter is undefeated.
