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We drove down to Disney for our last weekend before the girls head back to school, and there is a new demonstration by Boudin, the San Francisco sourdough company. These are the guys who claim their sourdough culture is 150 years old, and dates back to the gold rush. Lactobasillus Sanfrancisco.
Anyway, the demo was very informative, in that it helped me understand by why even mass produced bread where they try pretty hard still isn't good. The process takes 72 hours, including the bulk fermentation, and the final proofing. They have created some nifty machines that cut the dough into the right weight, shape it into a round, and rock it back and forth while it is proofing. They have temperature and humidity controlled final proofing and a steam injection oven that turns while the bread bakes. They bake at 450?F.
Still, there is no real "handling" of the dough, and the boule is never really shaped, other than the conical machine that makes it round.There is no crackle in the crust, which as they point out in Pixar's Ratatouille, is one sign of nice bread. If you have had it before, it's the type of bread you use for clam chowder in a bread bowl.
It reminds me of the way Korbel makes sparklinig wine. They also came up with some nifty ways of automating the methode champagnoise process, and they also make a pretty mediocre product. The Korbel tour is also very educational.
I guess it goes to show how hard it is to make great bread, and that it is probably impossible to make great bread on a large scale. It also reminds me how lucky we are to have brick ovens, and to have bakeries like Jim's Mary Gs.
Here's to great bread.
James
Anyway, the demo was very informative, in that it helped me understand by why even mass produced bread where they try pretty hard still isn't good. The process takes 72 hours, including the bulk fermentation, and the final proofing. They have created some nifty machines that cut the dough into the right weight, shape it into a round, and rock it back and forth while it is proofing. They have temperature and humidity controlled final proofing and a steam injection oven that turns while the bread bakes. They bake at 450?F.
Still, there is no real "handling" of the dough, and the boule is never really shaped, other than the conical machine that makes it round.There is no crackle in the crust, which as they point out in Pixar's Ratatouille, is one sign of nice bread. If you have had it before, it's the type of bread you use for clam chowder in a bread bowl.
It reminds me of the way Korbel makes sparklinig wine. They also came up with some nifty ways of automating the methode champagnoise process, and they also make a pretty mediocre product. The Korbel tour is also very educational.
I guess it goes to show how hard it is to make great bread, and that it is probably impossible to make great bread on a large scale. It also reminds me how lucky we are to have brick ovens, and to have bakeries like Jim's Mary Gs.
Here's to great bread.
James
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