Barking Dog Farm

I began my bread baking education one year ago, in response to Jeremy’s stated goal of building a wood-fired oven in our yard. We were making a lot of pizza, experimenting with doughs, and trying to get our kitchen oven hot enough to produce the flavor and texture we were after. The truth is, there is a reason that all the great pizza made in the world is cooked in fire, and its flavor is not something you can create in a regular oven- don’t get me wrong, you can make very very good pizza, its just not the ultimate. Additionally, Jeremy’s catering company is based on cooking over fire, so we really plan on making an entire outdoor wood-fired kitchen, with grill top as well as the coveted oven.

Baking bread in fire is different than in the oven, I figured that I should start baking in our regular oven so that by the time we had our wood fired oven, I would have a grasp of baking in a controlled environment. That was about 1 year ago- since then I have baked dozens upon dozens of loaves, of many different styles and techniques. I am self taught, with the help of some really fantastic books. I have learned shaping techniques from youtube, and new theories on a few favorite blogs and finally feel I have a ‘feel’ for my bread.

All creative endeavors evolve into a unique expression of the person, and bread baking is no exception. There is a definite technique, which includes the chemistry of yeast, sugar, protein, and time, which is fascinating and challenging (why is this recipe behaving like this today?) but  what I love is the feeling, the smell, and the transformation of the dough. The silky, cool texture of the dough as it begins to relax from kneeding, noticing how the dough can now stretch into elastic threads, the smell of the flour and water as they are mixed, and how that changes into a heady scent as the yeast begins to work. The sour smell of our very own starter (which is called Bea) and how the kids notice the similarity to Jeremy’s hard cider, and so we talk about yeast and sugar. Bread making is sensual, mental, intuitive. Its sexy. I won’t call myself a master baker, or even a great baker- I have so many loaves to go, but I can call the bread I bake ‘Emily’s bread’ now, and that is deeply satisfying.

Post script: we still don’t have our wood fired oven, but we are looking forward to building one some day, and by then breads will come out of that oven that will truly and fantastically Barking Dog Farm Bread.

Tags: wood fired oven