Bread

First time I made bread by myself was back in summer ‘21. I showed up majorly hungover ((this is a VERY uncommon thing for me, for the record)) and had zero idea what I was doing, despite having been trained a few times with the then Sous Chef, Liz ((this is not a poor reflection of Liz’s teaching skills, she is truly phenomenal and is a major player in my career growth, again, I was VERY hungover)). Anywho, long story short, I made my bread without knowing how much flour to use, I used all AP flour, & I didn’t know how much water to add. Needless to say, my bread was super airy & poofy & misshaped. Still tasted good though!!

Over the past two years, I have almost mastered the seeded Tartine demi baguette we serve at Lodgepole. I don’t have a proofing machine thingymerbob; my baguettes just proof on a flat proofing cloth on sheet pans on the speed rack. It has been a long, difficult, frustrating, but still fun, project trying to master the shaping and proofing process with so much temperature & moisture variation throughout the year here in Moscow, Idaho.

I have yet to venture out and try to make other breads/starter based flour products beyond simple basic buns, crackers, & larger loaf versions of the seeded Tartine baguette. I look forward to furthering my bread knowledge through out my upcoming years. People always tell me I know more about the bread making process that I let on. That might totally be true.