Damn you Mark Bittman, damn you!! (imagine I'm shaking my fist angrily whilst yelling that to get the full picture of my frustration). I really do wonder why I bought that Food Matters book. Don't get me wrong, I'm still all in favour of the concept, but I've just remembered that every recipe of Bittman's that I've ever tried has always been a real disappointment. His peanutty noodles were definitely a let-down and several others I've tried and forgotten were also distinctly average. And on reflection those meatballs of his I made the other day really weren't that good (this evaluation is based on the fact that I've got about 300 of the damn things in my freezer and apparently freezing does not improve them. At all. They become all squishy and gross which is just not appetising).
So anyway. One of his recipes is for a no-knead brown bread that I thought I'd try. I really miss a particular bread from home (Vogels) which is whole grain but sort of dense and chewy rather than cardboardy (like most other store-bought brown bread tends to be) and for some reason I thought Bittman's brown loaf would be the answer. It wasn't. It's flat, heavy as a brick, crumbly and weird tasting (I seem to be over-salting everything lately...is salt getting saltier or am I getting distracted while I put the salt in the dishes?).
Basically it's a dud. Another dud to add to my growing pile of food-crap. Sigh. I seem to have lost my food mojo of late. Has this ever happened to you? And how do you reconnect with your food mojo when it seems to have absconded??
Oh dear! This is sad to hear indeed. Was the no-knead bread like the one I have been making recently? I think I came across it via Bittman but it is actually the genius of a baker by the name of Jim Lahey, who has his own book of different styles of no-knead bread. I've only looked at the book in a bookstore but he has variations of the no-knead principles for all types of flours and grains as well as different styles of bread.
ReplyDeleteAs for the over-salting thing, I've noticed that as well, even though I am a renowned salt fiend. I've taken to using measuring spoons for baking recently (something I've always found infinitely tedious) but it seems to always result in over-salted bread. Infuriating. They tell you how careful you have to be about measuring carefully for baking but must relax the rules themselves when it comes to salt. I've reverted to learning the basic principles (i.e. what purpose does each ingredient and process serve) and returning to instincts.
So, in order to reconnect with your food mojo I say: Ditch the recipes and re-embrace your instincts! Consider recipes as inspiration only and use the pictures (not the ingredient list or method) as your only guide.
On a separate note, the security "word" I was required to type then to post my comment was "unpiness". I'm trying to work out what it means. (A silly game I sometimes play - providing definitions for non-words.) I can see it's relationship to "unhappiness" and "unpiousness". Any ideas?
ReplyDeleteIt is a version of the famous no-knead bread and I've tried that (using the Le Creuset as a means of replicating the steaminess of a baker's oven) and it worked very well. It turned out to be a sort of ciabatta style whiteish loaf and was delish. In fact, the denseness of that loaf was what made me think of trying this wholemeal version to replicate Vogels. I guess the cooking universe is trying to tell me to stick to white bread! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think you're right though, about the salt. My over-salting has been with recipes where I've actually measured the salt - and like you, I am a total salt-fiend so over-salting really is quite unbearable. So, I shall take your advice and go back to instinct. Bollocks to crappy recipe authors!
Hmm, upiness...the feeling of your spirits soaring 'up'wards as if you have been 'unpinned' from the ground?? Fun game! :-P