Greetings from Oregon
Hello from another baker in Oregon (Eugene).
I was so thrilled to find this site. What an incredible resource... thank you all.
I used to make bread many years ago when we referred to the healthy whole wheat bread as "lead bread" due to its being heavy enough to use as a door stop. It had been a long time since I'd done any serious baking. But I woke up in 2008 with an overwhelming desire to start baking artisan-type breads. I recalled a newspaper clipping from over 10 years ago that I had filed away -- an article about someone in town who was baking his own breads. After much searching, I located it. His recipe was was quite vague, so I started doing some searching on the internet and found your site -- which, of course, has lead me in a hundred MORE directions!
I got started with the simple instructions in Peter Reinhart's "Bread Upon the Waters" and have moved on from there. I have been very pleased with all the results, my latest being a beautiful, huge loaf of the Poilane-style miche. (I'll have to do a little research to figure out how to share pics.)
In my town, there is no lack for wonderful bakeries, but nothing quite compares with baking your own.
Anyway, I'm very happy to have discovered this lovely community!
Hello Chez-Jude and welcome to the site. You will find lots of friendly sharing bread obsessed people here willing to help out with any problems. I lived in Leaburg for several years and now live on Whidbey Island, WA. I had heard that the owner of Eugene City Bakery was having to sell because he developed an allergy to flour - I remember when he first opened his little store. Also have fond memories of Sweet Life, known in our family as Sweet Treats which is what my grandaughters call it. Whose Poilane style miche recipe did you use? We LOVE pictures, although I still haven't mastered it, A.
Thank you, Annie.
I hadn't heard that about the owner of Eugene City Bakery, but I do have a friend who bakes cookies from her home for income and after the holidays, she suffered for weeks from what she called flour lung.
And, yes... Sweet Life -- I haven't tried their breads, but the pastries are heavenly!
Here's the recipe I used for the Poilane-style miche (from another great site):
http://foppish-baker.blogspot.com/2006/04/miche-pain-poilne.html
And I will attempt to post the pic...
Really lovely. I hail from Corvallis, a transplant from New England since August. Loving it here. I've got to make it down to Eugene sometime, though -- we've just not gotten around to it. Welcome to the Fresh Loaf!
Thank you, JMonkey. This is such a fantastic site. And with the search feature, it makes it so easy to find conversations about specific topics. I'm currently messing with sourdough starters and not yet feeling confident -- my milk-based one smells wonderful and the water-based one smells like wine mixed with paint thinner.
Welcome to the Pacific Northwest... glad to see you've made it through our soggy winter... soon the good part will begin. Do be sure to make it to Eugene once the Farmers Market / Saturday Market opens in the spring. It gets better and better every year... and only a 45-minute drive from Corvallis.
I am another transplant from New England, although I have 4 years on JMonkey. I live in Woodburn. Don't know if you saw the King Arthur baking demo in OR I posted. Perhaps we all will run into each other?
Good evening, Paddyscake. I guess I'm kind of a longtimer in Oregon. Originally from SF Bay Area, but moved to Eugene in 1971 and have been here most of the time since then. I've been trying to get up to Woodburn to visit the fabulous fuchsia nursery there (Monnier's).
Yes, I did see your post about the KA Demo. Thanks. I'll try to make it. Maybe those of us from this forum who go should were a whirly hat or something so we an spot each other.
I may be able to catch one of the Saturday classes too. It would be neat to meet some of the other folks there.