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When everyone got into baking early covid I couldn’t understand why no one was baking anything, like, good. No pizza or pie or cake or muffins or banana bread o
by vrosas 8mo ago
When everyone got into baking early covid I couldn’t understand why no one was baking anything, like, good. No pizza or pie or cake or muffins or banana bread or even a damn focaccia. The world collectively just decided the end-all be-all of baking was… sourdough.
- 1bpp 8mo agoMaybe because the large time investment and trial+error in making good dough provided something to focus on when stuck inside.
- layer8 8mo agoNot trying to gain weight when being stuck inside, maybe.
- renjimen 8mo agoSourdough is the bomb though. I agree about the lack of variety, but in its defense, sourdough starter can be used for a variety of other baked goods.
- gusgus01 8mo agoPlus bread itself is used in other recipes, like sandwiches or toasts or for mopping up sauced dishes.
- bibouthegreat 8mo agoOr even brew beers and meads.
- edgyquant 8mo agoWith sourdough these would not be great. I did something similar with a mead and it came out like a sauerkraut wine
- rounce 8mo agoAs others have said it’d wreck the flavour but you can go the other way and use spent grain from the mash in making bread which adds some pretty interesting texture and flavour.
- benoliver999 8mo agoYes it's a common misconception that you can only make wide crumbed hipster crusty loaves. Those are great but if you want plain white bread, buns, croissants, etc etc it's all possible to do.
- raffael_de 8mo agowell, i love the smell of sourdough bread in the morning
- DennisP 8mo agosmells like...victory.
- sejje 8mo agoWell, as a less-advanced baker, I get the most pleasure from baking bread. Plus, I can eat it without getting fat.
- malfist 8mo agoSourdough is fantastic, I have two loaves finishing their overnight chill in my fridge right now, will bake them after dinner. I was baking sourdough since before the pandemic, and will continue baking in the future. It's a bit of work, but it's not too much work and the results are pretty damn fantastic. Focaccia though, if I baked that regularly I'd have to go back on a GLP-1. Focaccia taught me to read the seals on olive oil in the supermarket and actually pick the right one for the break.
- raddan 8mo agoWait, did I write this? Same, same, same.
- dessimus 8mo ago>Focaccia taught me to read the seals on olive oil in the supermarket and actually pick the right one for the break. Come on, you can't just drop that morsel without telling us what we should be looking for in the right olive oil for focaccia.
- malfist 8mo agohttps://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YCt2txu11d4 https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YCt2txu11d4 Great video that talks about selecting the olive oil for your use case and which seals aren't just self granted. I personally have been using colavita. Its fantastic. I hate it but it's taught me that freshness actually matters. I bought some for focaccia and it was amazing. Saved it in the pantry for special occasions. Went back six months later and it had zero flavor. Just tasted like generic oil. Flat. It ruined me. Also if you're an engineer and like cooking, check out that guy's YouTube channel, He's very analytical in explaining cooking
- cromka 8mo agoI knew you were talking about Ethan before I even clicked the link. He's the GOAT.
- dmd 8mo ago
- LargeWu 8mo agoFor one thing, yeast was in short supply, so if you wanted to bake regularly, sourdough was a good option if you could keep it going.
- The_Fox 8mo agoIt wasn't for no reason at all though. There were concerns about availability of yeast, which isn't used in sourdough. (Valid concerns or not, I have no idea.)
- dinkleberg 8mo agoI do find it kind of wild how intimidating most people I know find baking. Get a food scale and follow the directions and you're good to go and will have something respectable and delicious. As with anything, you can dive deep and go extreme with it. But baking delicious food is not rocket science.
- mr_mitm 8mo agoFunny you'd say that. Other people say cooking is art, while baking is a science. No room for errors.
- malfist 8mo agoBaking bread is fun because its not science. It had guidelines but thats it
- mr_mitm 8mo agoScience can be fun!
- bibouthegreat 8mo agoCooking is art, baking is a very easy science (weight things and check the temperature), pastry is another thing. That requires talent, experience and a lucky star.
- deadfoxygrandpa 8mo agoif there was no room for "errors", how is it possible that there are tens of thousands of different bread and cookie recipes and stuff like that?
- mr_mitm 8mo agoBecause while the recipes are easy to follow, you can't fix a baked dough. If you messed up the salt, the yeast, etc. that's it. Cooking is more forgiving in that sense.
- 8mo ago
- skyberrys 8mo agoI baked a Napoleon cake. It was amazing, took 11 eggs and it was the one and only.
- vkou 8mo ago> The world collectively just decided the end-all be-all of baking was… sourdough. I can't speak for the world, but: 1. Good bread is really hard to come by in the United States. Unless you're going to a bakery twice a week[1], or your local grocery has a contract with one [2]... Your idea of 'bread' is probably mushy garbage that I would describe as more similar to 'cake'. 2. Sourdough is relatively easy to make. Flour, salt, water, starter, time[3]. --- [1] Going anywhere to buy one item that is eaten or goes bad in three days is a big ask... Which is why this isn't a great option. [2] The overwhelming majority don't, and when they do, they want $7 a loaf. [3] Which a lot of people had plenty of.
- quacker 8mo agoGood bread is everywhere in major cities in the US. There are bakery sections at grocery stores and there are many local bakeries.
- vkou 8mo ago> There are bakery sections at grocery stores There are, and most of them don't have good bread. (Baguettes are about the only good bread that you can reliably expect to find in them. Sometimes they have San Francisco-style sourdough, which in my experience, tastes like someone dumped a shot of lemon vinegar into it. Just because a bread uses sourdough starter doesn't mean it needs to taste sour. I feel much the same way about hops and beer.) Regularly visiting the bakery is, for reasons I've mentioned, a lot of friction for one purchase. My closest one carries... Weird specialty hipster breads (because it is more focused on tarts and pastries and sweets - bread is just an afterthought for it). The one I'd go to, if my closest grocery weren't stocking them is way out of my way. I would not be making that trip twice a week.
- bigstrat2003 8mo ago> Regularly visiting the bakery is, for reasons I've mentioned, a lot of friction for one purchase. That is still not "really hard to come by" as per your original claim. It's very common (not just in large cities!) to have a local bakery where you can get good bread. Whether you choose to go or not, it is available to you.
- segmondy 8mo agoif it makes you feel better, we got into baking during covid and never baked sourdough once. we made pizza, cake, muffins, banana bread, regular bread, cornbread, etc. we just didn't post about it online ...
- globular-toast 8mo agoIMO it's because it's more challenging. I've baked everything you've listed and apart from pizza (which is also bread) it's all trivial to do. You just follow a recipe. Bread is a totally different thing. Only four ingredients: a ground up grass seed, a mineral, a single celled fungus that lives in the dough, and water. The results range from complete disaster to the best thing you've ever eaten. It all depends on your technique. That's why it has captivated so many and in particular men, as you can get really deep and geeky. There's only so far you can go with banana bread.
- theturtlemoves 8mo ago> The results range from complete disaster to the best thing you've ever eaten. It all depends on your technique. Hear hear. I'm at a local optimum where my bread tastes good, but it's a bit crumbly. When I change anything, it's nope nope backpedal. Trying to find the next step that'll improve my home baked bread
- el_oni 8mo agoWe started doing sourdough in lockdown for 1 reason. The shops nearby were out of yeast. kinda limits your options
- Camus134 8mo ago[dead]