Bread and Ukulele by Jarrod Trainque.

Bread and Ukulele by Jarrod Trainque.

The Twelve Stages of Bread

From: The Bread Baker’s Apprentice:

  1. Mise En Place – Everything in it’s place is the organizing principle.
  2. Mixing – In which three important requirements must be met.
  3. Primary Fermentation – Also called bulk fermentation, win which most of the flavor is determined.
  4. Punching Down – Also called de–gassing, in which the dough begins to enter its secondary fermentation and individuation.
  5. Dividing – in which pieces are weighed or scaled, while continuing to ferment.
  6. Rounding – in which the pieces are given an interim shaping prior to their final shape.
  7. Benching – also called resting, or intermediate proofing, during which time the gluten relaxes.
  8. Shaping and Panning – in which the dough is given its final shape prior to baking.
  9. Proofing – also called secondary or final fermentation, in which the dough is leavened to its appropriate baking size.
  10. Baking – which may also include scoring the dough and steaming, but in which three vital oven actions must occur.
  11. Cooling – which is really an extension of baking but must occur before cutting into the bread.
  12. Storing and Eating – in production baking it’s primarily storing, but home baking usually emphasizes, ahem, eating.

I really love the concept of mise en place. I definitely try to have everything laid out when I’m in the kitchen. But outside of the kitchen I never consider getting everything in place to create. I’m going to try that.

Using Peter Reinhart’s bagel recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice I made my first-ever batch of bagels! There are four sesame/salt and two onion.

They seem a little big (the recipe makes 12) so I think in the future I’ll stick to my gut instinct and make them a bit smaller.

Using Peter Reinhart’s bagel recipe from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice I made my first-ever batch of bagels! There are four sesame/salt and two onion.

They seem a little big (the recipe makes 12) so I think in the future I’ll stick to my gut instinct and make them a bit smaller.

I just started The Bread Baker’s Apprentice and was excited to find that Peter Reinhart gave a TED Talk on bread back in July 2008.

I can’t recommend his books enough. Last year around this time I decided to pick up his book American Pie(my review here) and have made the recipes from there twice a week every week since. I can’t wait to tinker around with bread recipes.

PS — If you’re in the Charlotte, NC area check out Pie Town, a pizza restaurant he helped set up and oversees. I’m lucky to have a fiancé who has family there and so we all went out last November. The pizza itself wasn’t that exciting because he’s taught us to make awesome pizza at home …so it was more of a validation that I was doing it right.

In other words the pizza at Pie Town is excellent and amongst the best I’ve ever had.