On Tue, 11 May 2010 18:18:38 -0400, "J. Clarke"
> wrote:

>On 5/11/2010 3:16 PM, Boron Elgar wrote:

>> I say if one is comfy with weighing, go for it, or happier with cups
>> and spoons, go for it. Me? I rarely use either...I bake my breads
>> without recipes at all and that is what I primarily bake...tell me
>> what kind of bread you want, grains, flours, flavors, crust and crumb,
>> and I can put it together without any recipe at all, but I've been
>> doing it for a long time.
>
>IMO we should all aspire to reach that stage. I finally figured out
>that there's enough variance in ingredients that trying to slavishly
>make bread to a recipe without understanding the process and what's
>supposed to be happening at each stage is doomed to fail.
>

There are few who aspire to it. Most folks, even the accomplished
bread bakers I "meet" on the bread forums, prefer recipes. I do not
think this makes them any less talented or capable of producing
wonderful breads, believe me, but some are more comfortable sticking
to recipes that provide reproducible results. I cannot fault a person
for that. I just use bread making as a sort of Zen path or comfort, or
personal challenge or lunacy.

Yeah, I'm weird that way, but I sure do make some wonderful breads, if
I do say so myself. Over the past week we have had French baguettes,
prosciutto bread, onion rolls and oatmeal bread with walnuts and
raisins. Makes for some mighty interesting meals and sandwiches.

Boron