Alongside the great books that are available on baking, there is some tremendous talent around offering even more learning for the curious - from blogs on baking, websites devoted to domestic and commercial doughmaking, forum communities on that focus specifically on wood-fired ovens, sourdough baking, cakes and so on, and websites around the world that offer hands-on classes in pastry and breadmaking.
Here is a list of links on sites that I think sound useful, but do exercise a little caution before you part with any cold hard dosh.
Free and easy websites for learning
Floyd Mann hosts thefreshloaf.com, undoubtedly the best collection of bread recipes on the internet combining his own immense skills as a home baker with that of a extraordinary webmaster. So when Floyd first thought "what home bakers really need online is..." he had the technical skills and savvy to make it happen. There are downloadable excel sheet to help with building up a sourdough starter, a google-based bakery finder for the US and UK, a baker forum where you can see great examples of home bread baking, imaginative kitchen problem solving posted by enthusiastic breadheads around the world. The site is also available as a feed so if you're looking for extra wholewheat content for your budding blog thefreshloaf is the site to go to. http://www.thefreshloaf.com
Now with the magic of videos to explain some of the techniques Australian bakers use for their signature breads. Proving to be a remarkable and important resource for all bakers, whether budding novices or seasoned pro's. The website is primarily about baking without the support of commercial packet yeast. Baking simply with a bubbling mixture of flour and water that contains yeast and bacteria that have colonised the mixture through successive additions of fresh flour. This is the sourdough process, and at www.sourdough.com.au you can chat in the forum with other bakers - some newbies, but many skilled and thoughtful others open and happy to share recipes and methods. The website also includes galleries showing detailed photographs of Australian artisan bakers at work. http://www.sourdough.com.au
I think it would be apt to call Alan Scott the Johnny Appleseed to the woodfired oven movement. He continues to be an inspiration to bakers around the world, both those who a lucky enough to use the ovens he crafts but also to those bakers who admire his beautiful approach to his doughmaking - to be sensitive to the ingredients and the natural characteristics of the local flour, to nurture the dough through observation and respect. The last are too often missing from that prescriptive approach to breadmaking responsible for the loaf full of chemicals stuffed in the modern loaf, that serve to encourage intolerance and carelessness in the baker. If you're curious about getting a wood-fired oven, either for your home or community, or want to see bakers working with wood fired ovens in Australia and the US, then do look at http://www.ovencrafters.net
Once, long, long ago in a land far, far away (USA, 1979), two graduates named Tom Truscott and James Ellis set up three machines in North Carolina to exchange text messages. This grew to be called the Usenet, and allowed individuals to form groups to exchange messages. By the beginning of 1992 a specific sourdough mail group of just under 100 people had formed with the aim, as suggested by co-founder David Adams, to exchange "information about sourdough cooking, where to obtain cultures, bragging about cultures, how to swap cultures by mail, swapping sourdough recipes etc.". Early on it was agreed that a sourdough FAQ (frequently-asked question) document would be useful and the de-facto group editor Darrell Greenwood maintains this FAQ and the group. It's a volatile and extraordinary collection of opinions, and an important record that has driven our understanding of the San Francisco sourdough process and tradition since its inception and, as Greenwood rightly claims, is the definitive web source for information on the San Francisco sourdough process. Access it through:
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.food.sourdough
Founded by Regina & Jeffrey Dwork in 1990, bread-bakers.com is supported by a mailing-list and is one of the oldest (or perhaps "the oldest", those these things are hard to tell) groups for home bakers on the internet. By subscribing to the list, either to the Bread-Bakers Digest (a collection of the weekly postings) or the Daily-Bread mailing lists (the individual posts are emailed on to you as they arrive), you can get everything from useful posts by great home bakers and authors (Maggie Gleezer, author of Artisan Baking, and A Blessing of Bread, posts often), to tips from new bakers that make you think and question your own methods. http://www.bread-bakers.com
Sarah Phillips online compendium of every tip, good idea and useful hint that will save your baking from the brink of disaster is extraordinary. It has a lively, helpful forum where everything from cake baking to chocolate work is discussed, argued over in true forum style, making it easy to pick through the ideas and find a solution that suits your recipe and kitchen. Back on the main site the "what went wrong" sections in each heading are really helpful, so if your cookies are to dry and crumbly or if the crust falls off the edge of your pies, the answer is here. The step-by-step pages are excellent, especially on pie pastry making.
http://www.baking911.com
Advertise
Here | Contact
Us | Terms
of Use | Privacy
Policy
Website design and content © Copyright 2008 danlepard.com