First Post (And Why Bread is Still a Mystery)

Posted on August 30, 2022 by Trevor

(Originally Posted at Breadwerx on August 21, 2015 by Trevor Wilson, 11 Comments)

100% Whole Grain “Multigrain” from O Bread

So why another bread blog? Surely the internet must be saturated with them by now. With so many great blogs and books already out there, is there really anything left to be said? Anything left to teach? The science is known. The techniques have been relayed a hundred times over. What could’ve possibly been left uncovered?

Well, it turns out that much has been left unsaid. So much. The last 20 years have seen a flood of superb books – books that tell us everything we need to know about the science and technique of making great bread:

Bread Alone

The Village Baker

Breads from La Brea Bakery

The Taste of Bread (Le Gout du Pain)

Amy’s Bread

Crust and Crumb

The Bread Builders

Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes

Tartine Bread

And these are just a few. The bread revolution we’ve been undergoing for the last quarter century has been driven by books such as these . . . and the countless artisan bakers living out the ideals set forth in these manuscripts. But at their core, these are “how-to’s” and recipe books. Just what we needed at the time, for sure, but now I think the pendulum must swing the other way.

Because for thousands of years bread has mystified us. Thousands of years. Think about that. Before the Romans. Before the Greeks. Before the Egyptians. For as long as civilization has existed, bread has existed along side it. Bread was always there. Generation after generation of baker accepted the inherent mystery of leavened bread. So long as they felt its rhythms, so long as they could work its magic, there was no need to understand. They were content.

But times change.

The Renaissance. The Age of Enlightenment. Industrial Revolution. How could ancient mystery ever survive cold, hard modern science? With the discovery of the microscopic world of yeasts and bacteria – and the taming of their very lifecycle – what mystery could there be left?

The craft of baking succumbed to the science of fermentation. Mystery was replaced by formula. And countless generations of accumulated wisdom were lost in the process. But hey, who needs archaic tradition when we have modern technology? Right?

Well I say to hell with that.

Bread is a mystery. It will always be a mystery. No amount of science can ever change that. For as long as fermentation continues to be driven by living creatures, it will remain as mysterious as life itself.

The goal of this blog isn’t so much to shine a light on the mysteries of the risen loaf in the hopes of revealing its secrets. I’m not here to rehash the same old methods that have already been written elsewhere, many times over. No, my goal is simple . . .

Counsel.

What I hope for is to provide you, the curious baker, with insight and advice gleaned from almost 15 years that I’ve spent baking professionally. What I offer is perspective . . . perspective that differs quite dramatically from what’s to be found in the cookbook section of your local bookstore. Not better, mind you, just different.

Now I’m not saying that science is worthless. Not at all. In fact, I find it both interesting and useful. But there’s a danger in concluding that science gives us the entire picture. It doesn’t. Science is just a candle in the dark. At best, it gives us a partial understanding of the processes going on in our bakery or kitchen. At worst, it leads to a reductionist mentality wherein the craft of baking gets lost in a sea of variables.

Great bakers never lose sight of the big picture. Yes, they know how to manipulate variables to achieve a result. But they also understand that often time’s things simply don’t work out as planned; the variables are just too many.

And so they adapt.

They use their intuition.

They’re able to see past the limits of their technical understanding. They’re operating on a higher level, driven by feel and instinct. These things can’t be quantified by science, yet they are real and effective all the same.

These are themes I’ll be returning to over and over again because this is the viewpoint from which everything I write is based. It might not be fact . . .

But it’s truth . . . as I see it.

Cheers!

Trevor J. Wilson

Original Comments No Longer Active

Comments

1. Art saysJune 6, 2016 at 7:55 AMLooking forward to reading your blog. I have become very interested in bread baking the last 6 months or so. I’ve done some no knead bread (Jim Lahey), but really want to get into sourdough.Reply
   • Trevor Wilson saysJune 6, 2016 at 9:40 AMThat’s great Art! You’re gonna find that sourdough, challenging though it may be, is a seriously addictive hobby. I hope you’re able to find some good info here to help you on your way. Feel free to let me know if you ever have any questions. Good luck!TrevorReply
2. Irina Smolina saysAugust 4, 2016 at 8:49 PMTrevor,great blog and beautiful loafs !!!
   What kind of starter you use ?:) I have been challenged with mine’s here in tropical country ,so I really modifying techniques to adopt them… But starter out of control Reply
   • Trevor Wilson saysAugust 11, 2016 at 10:25 AMThanks Irina! I’m glad you like my site!I just use a typical sourdough starter — usually fed with white all-purpose flour. Maintaining a starter in a tropical environment can certainly be a challenge. The high heat and humidity makes for an extremely active starter — and if you can’t keep up with the required feeding schedule then it will quickly get old and acidic, and possibly even proteolytic (gluten degrading).Now the easiest thing to do would be to keep it in the refrigerator between uses. That should get it under control real quick. But if you prefer to keep it out of the refrigerator then here are a few things you can do to help slow the activity and prevent acidic build up . . .1) Reduce the amount of seed starter. The smaller the inoculation, the longer the starter will take to rise. Additionally, a smaller inoculum will make for a smaller transfer of acid from the old batch to the new. That should help to keep it from becoming proteolytic.2) You can make your starter stiffer. If you keep a liquid starter then try changing it to a stiffer consistency more like actual dough. And if you already keep it at a doughy consistency, perhaps you can just make it into a stiffer dough. Maybe 50% hydration or so. The stiffer the starter, the slower it will proof and the greater tolerance to acid it will have.3) Convert your starter to a white starter if it’s whole grain, or partially whole grain. White flour starters do not ferment as fast as whole grain starters do.4) Mix it with very cold water and/or keep it in a cooler place like a basement or cellar.5) Add salt to slow the fermentation. You can add up to 2% salt (by baker’s percentage) and that will drastically slow the speed at which your starter rises. Additionally, the salt will help to control the enzymatic activity and help to prevent your starter from becoming proteolytic.6) Refresh your starter more often. I often refresh my starter up to 4 times a day when the weather is hot and humid. I know that’s not possible for everyone, but it’s certainly an option if you have the schedule that allows for such frequent feeding.Following one of those suggestions, or a combination of them, should help to get your starter under control. I hope that helps. Best of luck!Cheers!TrevorReply
     • Ita saysAugust 30, 2016 at 11:04 AMHi Trevor,This answer is really very helpful. I have been having some problems with sourdough bread from mid of June as the weather turned to cca 28 Celsium degrees within the house!!! I was baking really nice sourdough bread with nice open and airy crumb up until mid of June when everything seemed to go in the oposite direction. I noticed a different smell of the starter and not the same fermentation behavior but was not sure why. In the end it could only be the heat.Thanks for this inisght, it’s really great.Best,
       ItaReply
       • Trevor Wilson saysAugust 30, 2016 at 1:19 PMHi Ita, glad I could be of help. It definitely sounds like your starter became overly acidic due to the heat. I often have to adjust my starter maintenance routine throughout the course of the year in order to adapt to the changing weather. It’s just part of the process of sourdough baking as far as I’m concerned. Hopefully the suggestions from the previous comment will help you get your stater under control. Good luck!Cheers!TrevorReply
     • Anna saysMay 31, 2017 at 8:28 PMHi Trevor I´m so glad to find you, I´m a beginner at sourdough and I´m grateful for your videos and explanations, they are very clear to understand. As I live in a tropical country I don´t know if the recipes should be twisted a little or maybe the times to rise, what about a 100% hydration breads? Will the heat and humidity change the outcome? I´ve noticed that when I leave the dough in a plastic bowl it sweats, sorry so many questions but I would love to get a good bread like yours, thank youReply
3. David Jallen saysOctober 21, 2016 at 7:27 PMTrevor is the Vincent Van Gogh of bread dough.I said that to him in a private email but I trust he won’t mind me saying that in a public forum.Reply
   • Trevor Wilson saysOctober 23, 2016 at 12:59 PMThanks David! I don’t mind at all!Reply
4. Dotty J saysOctober 23, 2016 at 8:34 PMHi Trevor,Is there a chance in the future you can provide some insight into the life and management of our starters?There is a lot of information available on making one and using it to make bread but not so much quality detail on how to ensure it remains healthy and viable over the years.I don’t want to make bread every day as I work and am not home all day, and also there are only two I. Our home, so make bread every day would be a bit much.So, information on how to retard, refresh, timing the starter would be great.At this point I’m doing okay with it but I’m sure there’s a lot more I can learn.CheersReply
   • Trevor Wilson saysNovember 1, 2016 at 6:58 PMHey Dotty, I may very well write a post about starters in the future. It’s something I get a lot of requests for. The reason I haven’t is that there’s already so much information out there on how to create and maintain a starter. And since every baker’s situation is different, there are far too many possible ways to include in just one article.That said, here’s an excellent article on starter maintenance from theperfectloaf.com . . .https://www.theperfectloaf.com/sourdough-starter-maintenance-routine/I know it’s not exactly what you’re looking for, since you don’t have a need to keep such a feeding schedule. But the descriptions of the signs that Maurizio is looking for are very helpful. And now that I think of it, here’s an interesting method that requires very little maintence . . .http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/40918/no-muss-no-fuss-starterPerhaps something like this might work for you? I sometimes do a variation of this myself. I’ll stick my (stiff) starter in the fridge for a week or two and just pluck little pieces from it as needed. I’ll use those pieces to either make a fresh levain, or just toss it into the dough with the understanding that I’ll likely have a very slow rise.See what I mean by so many options?Starter maintenance is something that must be personalized for each baker. And finding just the right method that works for you is something that can take a bit of time.TrevorReply