I came on this trip to learnt about artisan breadmaking, the processes and to have a better appreciation of it. I've always known I'd be able to understand it in my head eventually but whether I could make bread by myself, with my own hands was always questionable. Being in the bakery with real bakers who were always ahead of me and have a more watchful eye over the dough, timing and everything else made it more difficult for me to judge what kind of artful skills, if at all, I have managed to achieve. Until Claudio who bakes the bread at Sant Egle had to go to Florence for a few days and I took over. All I had was a lump of biga and whatever flour I can find in the pantry. No recipes, no idea how strong the plain white flour would be, no idea how buckwheat flour would behave, no idea if the dough would rise and proof with the temperature being so cold, no idea how long I would have to wait, no idea if I could make the bread spring in the oven without any steam, no idea if the bread would be edible. What I did know was I wanted to make bread with the boxes chestnuts and walnuts they have picked from around the house and were just sitting there. So I pretty much made bread from scratch, feeling for consistency and hydration all the way through. The first day I made 2 loaves - one chestnut and one walnut. There were about 10 of us and everyone liked it so much, they were gone in a day. The next day, I made 4 tinned loaves which was how many the oven could take. Still, it ran out. I ended up having to use their roasting trays to make giant loaves as well. The biggest surprise came on Saturday night. The restaurant at the B&B was full and Claudio told me no one wanted to eat the normal Tuscan bread in the bread basket. They kept asking for the ones I made. I guess when people who have no reason to be nice pays a compliment it becomes more real. I actually know a thing or two about making bread. There were much nicer looking loaves but they got cut into too quickly and I kept forgetting to take pictures. These were the only ones I managed to take on the early morning I had to leave Sant Egle. P.S. Nasreen, I now have the confidence to make you some should I impinge on your generousity and couch once again.  |
| Very happy I made the bread rise by 50%. |
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| Walnut loaves. One on the right needed more colour but I was running out of time and space in the small domestic oven. |
