December 13, 2021 - 4:21pm
Hello
Hello everybody,
Although I've been fairly serious about my cooking for years, I've just started baking in the last few weeks. I'm recovering from an injury (mtbi) and have a lot of time on my hands. My wife got me a sourdough starter and a friend gave me the Tartine loaf recipe... it turned out pretty well, which was encouraging. It's been pretty therapeutic, something about working with my hands, and the feel of flour and dough. I'm looking forward to trying more stuff... tried pizza dough for the first time this week. It was... functional.
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This is a great place to learn and a wonderful community. Making bread is fun and eating it is delicious.
I used home baking as my own therapy to lift out of some dark times.
A few things helped.
1. Let go of expectations and embrace an accumulating mastery over time. Things can be fun with some quick wins at first, but challenges lie ahead just from differences in ingredients, kitchen temp and humidity, etc. It's easy to get caught up in trying to isolate one correct answer or produce one standard of perfection and focus on what went wrong vs. embracing growth over time.
2. Embrace the kind, patient vibe of the community here. Humility and patience keep things constructive and energizing over time.
3. Communicate clearly and share your progress. It's an international site so we all have different frames of reference. Sharing your progress helps people relate to your goals but also to you as a person. That's where you get a payoff from a sense of community.
Best wishes with your recovery and your bread adventure!
We're all learning but at different stages of it.
Well said and good advice.
and the feel of flour and dough". A fine quote, and one after my own heart. You'll learn that the dough "talks to you" and informs you as you continue on your journey. You'll find that it may never end and there's always some new thing or skill to learn and get better at - if you want it.
Welcome to a world class site.
This is one of the premiere bread-making sites on the Internet, with all manner of expert and knowledgable folks, ready to share their expertise. You came to the right spot.
I came here because I had a growing interest in milling my own flour. Had it for years, but last year's Panic made me "pull the trigger" on buying my mill (a GrainMaker model 99).
I then discovered that I had much to learn about making with "100% whole wheat" flour. I needed a mentor / coach who would help keep me driven to cross the victory line, and IDaveIndy was my coach. And to whom I am indebited.
Once you feel confident in your baking skills, you may want to consider milling your own flour. You'll find a number of us home-milling enthusiasts on TFL. The reasons are many, but the flavor is probably the main one.
Once you have mastered baking with home-milled wheat flour, then you can explore blending "ancient grains" with your foundational wheat. At that point there is no limit to the flavors, textures, and properties you can create!
My two winter projects this year is perfecting an amazing, classic, NY Deli Rye bread I saw on TFL. The second is to perfect a superb pasta dough, using home-milled durum wheat. (Not surprisingly, I also like to make my own spaghetti, fettucini, lasagna noodles, ravioli, and extruded pasta. Onec I master how to deal with the bran, it will be the game-changer for pastaI've been seeking.)
So, welcome to TFL! Feel free to ask questions, show off photos of your latest creations, and enjoy the commraderie here.
Thanks for the warm welcome, everybody! I've been poking around on the site and there is tons of good stuff here. I'll probably just lurk while I learn the ropes. Awesome site!