On Sat, 7 Mar 2009 18:28:00 -0800 (PST), Will
> wrote:

>On Mar 7, 5:27 pm, Boron Elgar > wrote:
>>
>> There are female bloggers all over the place who weigh bread
>> ingredients. You can find them quite easily. It is much tougher to
>> estimate how many people - male or female - make their bread by sight
>> and feel as that isn't shared as easily online.
>
>
>Boron,
>
>I'm not going to argue with you about weighing bread ingredients. I've
>seen your pictures. I know, you know what you're doing. But you are a
>vanishing species. I can make bread by sight and feel too. I am a
>vanishing species. I've been making bread 2 or 3 times a week for 30
>years. The question is how do we pass this on...
>
>My answer is to measure stuff, not because I am a control freak, but
>because I see no other way...
>
>
We teach by example. It makes it easier when the tight assed among us
do not belittle the use of the hands and eyes when working with doughs
or insist it is inferior to weights and measures.

The Hub's company does a lot of work with a corporation that makes all
sorts of breads and bread products for upscale markets or restaurants.

The guys in R&D there are a fine mix of true artisan and food science.
They know what they are capable of, but they also know what is needed
for customers. TH chats with them all the time about my latest
adventures (these are the guys that send me a fine block of fresh
yeast every so often) and one of them voiced his opinion that being a
true bread maker means throwing away the recipes. Of course, this guy
cannot throw away formulas, as his products must be exactly the same
each and every time, so any instructions that come with them can be
followed by bakery workers in stores, the size of each loaf is as
promised, as well as all the (often) agreed upon and dispensed
nutritional information be correct when it goes out.

I have no doubts whatsoever that measuring is imperative in a
commercial setting. And I fully understand that if one is making
something new and based on a recipe, that is can make perfect sense to
follow quite closely to try and duplicate what the recipe creator has
promised. After that, as far as I am concerned, all bets are off. That
doesn't mean that one shouldn't measure, chacun à son goût, but that
it is not impossible, in fact, quite easy, to get spectacular results
without doing so. Does it take a bit more effort initially and have a
learning curve? You bet, but it allows one to take any recipe and, if
desired, change it to best accommodate tastes or needs.

One of the problems with blindly following recipes is that so many of
them, both in books and online, are filled with errors. The more one
understands how bread is constructed, how the ingredients work, how
the flours in one's own panty absorb liquids, when the mixer is
mightier than the hand, or when the hand is best, how proportions of
yeast/sourdough to final dough affect rise, taste and texture, how
time and temp come into play...yadda yadda, the better one can truly
achieve the bread that is sought.

Any or all of this is passed on in the same way such things have
always been passed on - in the kitchen. I watched my grandmother make
strudel, her neighbors bake breads and cakes, my own mother and father
make their specialties. My own kids and the neighbors' kids watch me.

I'm not out to change the world back to the way it was before every
kitchen had a Soehnle or a stack of impeccably matched stainless steel
measuring cups. I don't really give a damn if someone is happier with
a scale or itty bitty spoons in hand. Mimi Sheraton is quoted as
saying, "Are we going to measure or are we going to cook?" We cannot
lose sight of the goal. The goal is not to teach someone how to weigh
or measure. I just don't like being told that NOT weighing and
measuring is bad, produces inferior product or is just plain wrong.

Boron