Friday, December 03, 2004

My first successful sourdough


DSC00798
Originally uploaded by michelle1975.



It came out of the oven last weekend.
I was like a proud mother... My bread was perfect (to me, at least).
Some (guess who?) said it needed salt, it could have been more sour, it could have been more uniformly shaped...
I listened and took these things into consideration, but this one... It was perfect.
My first.
More soon.

m

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

It is beautiful but looks just a little tiny bit like pac-man

aj kinik said...

thanks, anonymous
Neither of us noticed that pac-man thing. We still don't really see it. OK, only just a little. We devoured that loaf like pac-man and ms. pac-man, though. That's how good it was.
am/km

Anonymous said...

excellent. you know ... pac man eats just one bite at the time - it is very good for the digestion.

kelli ann & lorie said...

...i can almost smell it. what a gorgeous picture, too. (and then the proud mother devoured the bread.)

i stumbled on a store that you may already know, called "3 femmes et un coussin" (behind the mont-royal library) - - terrines that would be proud to stand beside your loaf of bread.

cheers
kaf

michelle said...

Thanks for all of the compliments, guys.
I've made 5 loaves since then, all successful despite my absent-mindedness, like forgetting to add any salt to a loaf. (It was still good.)
As far as bread in Montreal, I think there is only one bakery: Fromentier (Laurier just east of brebeuf, on the northside, down some stairs...)
They have an amazing selection of breads, all sourdoughs, and sweet breads which are to die for. Anyone else have any tips?

aj kinik said...

C'mon...
Only ONE good bakery in all of Montreal? Yeah, Fromentier is great, and it's probably the most distinctive bakery in town--one of the only ones to do true artisanal sourdough and do it well. Première Moisson is very good for a (local) chain of stores. I'm not a huge fan of Gascogne (also a local chain), but their 36-hour baguette is stellar. Yet another good bet for excellent French bread (and some of the best croissants in town) is the Duc de Lorraine (an independent), up near l'Oratoire St. Joseph. Then there's Olive et Gourmando in Old Montreal. I'm not crazy about the name, but they make very good sourdough loaves (in styles both French and Italian). I'm sure there are others I can't remember right now, too.
THEN, there are all the bakeries that make top-notch non-sourdough bread: Eastern European styles, Middle Eastern styles, etc. Chesskie, at Bernard and Parc, would be at the top of my non-sourdough list right now.
One last thought: anyone who's been to New York or San Francisco, or Vancouver for that matter, knows that although artisanal bread baking is a fixture in most big cities these days, you generally have to pay an arm and a leg for a decent loaf ($4 (US) is not uncommon). One of the good things about the bread scene in Montreal is the relatively low cost.
aj