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I would think that people that were baking all the time would build up so much practice and experience that they could probably be surprisingly consistent. If
by douche 11y ago
I would think that people that were baking all the time would build up so much practice and experience that they could probably be surprisingly consistent.
If you were a professional baker, or you had to bake all your own bread, I'd think you would become intimately familiar with the performance of your oven, with the characteristics of your leavening agent (probably a continually refreshed yeast or sourdough culture that you'd keep going for years), and with the local flour.
Although, since I'm currently reading through the Aubrey-Maturin novels, I wonder if the predominance of all these puddings they are always eating had something to do with them being easier to prepare reliably, compared to baked deserts.
- Xylakant 11y ago> I would think that people that were baking all the time would build up so much practice and experience that they could probably be surprisingly consistent. I used to live round the corner from a baker that was still doing most steps by hand. I could tell from the shape of the rolls whether he was up long the day before. Practice makes you pretty consistent, but there are so many factors influencing the result that it's never exactly the same - which is part of the appeal.
- mseebach 11y agoYes, or course there'd be some level of consistency, but nothing we'd recognise as the industrial level of consistency we're used to today. The specific characteristics of the local flour will change from harvest to harvest, and plausibly through the season as well depending on storage conditions. The sourdough is a living organism with "temperament", and ambient factors like temperature and air moisture (which obviously change from day to day) affects the outcome as well.