What makes a good cook book?

A good friend of mine borrowed me a cook book published by a well known food writer from New Zealand. I do admit, I am ot a huge fan of Anabel Langbein. And even that might be an understatement. don't like her. Yes I was prejudiced which mainly came from browsing through her books in book shops and the local library. I had a better look now at her book "The Free Range Cook" and I admit - I do like her even less now. Most of the pictures are so full of "lifestyle" that I almost felt sick browsing through the pages. The author is pictured in many "lifestyle" situations. For example out fishing, having caught a fish and presenting it to the camera. She wears a mint cardigan and a brilliantly white spanking clean top. Everybody who ever set foot on a boat fur the purpose of catching a slimy fish will know that it takes a nanosecond and your white top would be - well - not white anymore. The book is filled with these clean, emotional, look how down to earth I am , "lifestyle" imagery. It also makes me wonder "Does she own another cardigan than the mint one?"

But it could still be a good cook book, right? Theoretically yes. But is it?

The well known author who is "one of New Zealand's best loved food writers" and is the "star of her own international TV series" is not a trained chef. My experience is, you do see this throughout her recipes. The knowledge is missing. The background is missing. She leaves the reader with too many unanswered questions. She gives too many incorrect information. She, who is decorated with prizes and has her "own international TV series" just lacks the professionalism of a Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey.

Examples? Ok. "3 tsp dry yeast granules" What the heck is that? And how much is it? She has a conversion table in the back which tells me a tsp is 5ml. But "ml" is a measurement for liquids! And what are yeast granules? Is it Instant Dry Yeast? Which you can add straight to the flour? Or is it Dry Active Yeast which needs to be started with some liquid and maybe some sugar? We don't know. Does she?

Rule #1: A good cook book uses weights for ALL ingredients. We don't know how much "3 medium eggs" are but we do know how much 275 gms egg is. 3 tsp = 15 ml of salt can be 10 gms if you use rocksalt or 25 gms if you use fine grained salt. 6 cups of flour can be anything between - I don't know - 850 gms and 1 kg. Yes nowadays we have google and can convert it. But do we want to? Do you cook with your laptop on your side? What's wrong with saying "Use 850 gms of flour"?

Rule #2: Be precise. If you say dry yeast you should know that there are different types of dry yeast. Another recipe lists "mixed spices". What spices are mixed? Don't let your readers feel stupid standing in front of a shop shelve and not knowing what to buy. "200 gms of mushrooms" there are hundreds of mushrooms. If it doesn't matter then say "200gms of mushrooms, you can take any you like".

How much of doing it yourself do you expect in such a cook book? Would you expect a recipe for a pie to include how to make the pie crust? Or would you be happy if it says "1 pack of ready-rolled pie pastry"? I would expect from a good cook book to have probably a pie crust recipe in a general section and refer to it in the recipe. Maybe with a comment saying if you are n a hurry you can as well use a ready made pie crust.

Rule #3: If you take shortcuts clearly mark them as such. If I want to make a pie I will be disappointed if I don't get a recipe for a pie but rather get a recipe for a pie filling using supermarket pie crust.

Rule #4: Don't bullshit! You might get away with it. Sometimes. But not always. Do you really want to risk it? Saying things like "creamy Haloumi" and "I prefer to use Cypriot-style haloumi" is bullshitting. Haloumi, a cheese from Cyprus is anything else but creamy. And here comes my favorite bullshitting part of this specific book: A recipe for Soft Fresh Cheese introduced with the words "There is something wonderfully satisfying about making your own cheese ....". The recipe asks the reader to drain yogurt overnight and voila - say cheese! Sorry but that's bullshit.

One rule this specific book doesn't break is Rule #5: Don't use exotic ingredients nobody will ever find in any shop in their country. So that's a plus. How often have you read "Use 2 tsp of Japanese Toko Yakishima grown on the south side of Mount Fukujikajaki harvested at full moon by Geisha Virgins"? Don't google that, I made that up! Honestly, a cook book which has ingredients like this goes straight back onto the shop shelf. I currently have another book on my desk I got from the local library. This actually saddens me even more since I would love to see books in libraries people find useful. Who made the decision to order a book which - and I swear by the god of chopped onions I just opened it randomly - asks for 4 tbsp of Yuzu Juice or 2 tblsp of Sriracha sauce? This book is an example of an absolutely useless recipe book. At least it doesn't even have lots of sickening "lifestyle" photographies showing the author who has her "own international TV show". Still useless!

What do you expect from a cook book? I do expect easy, clever, healthy recipes. Recipes which work and don't leave me with questions what the author had in mind when writing it. Recipes I can actually cook without having to travel to South Korea to buy a bottle of some sauce. I love tips and tricks. I love shortcuts as long as I don't have to use them. I would expect mainly shortcuts in a "Make a 3 course menu in 15 minutes" cook book. I want to make the food at home. Don't use tools and things not everybody has. One of my pet hate is a microwave used in recipes. That might be rule #6. We don't have a microwave so why do you write recipes using a microwave. Don't make assumptions. If you write for one group of people make it clear. If you have your "own international TV series" and you use ingredients only available in New Zealand then people living in the UK might find your book not that helpful.

Julia Child was not a trained chef. But she knew she needed training and attended the Le Cordon Bleu Institute and became a chef. Ask yourself what the qualifications of the author are. Why should they give you instructions how to cook? What qualifies them? Nice photographs are not a qualification.

What makes a bread? Flour!

It is like Milk and Cheese, like fruits and jam, like eggs and Pavlova. The flour dictates the bread. You need to chose the right type of flour for your bread. Try making a Ciabatta with a low-protein (low gluten) whole grain flour – Failure!

So where do you get your flour from? Well there the problem starts. I am still in the process of setting up my little farm bakery. Of course I use organic products. Of course I wouldn’t use anything else than local products. Yeah Right. Organic isn’t the problem, local is.

A while ago I read an article on Azelia’s Kitchen Blog titled "The broken relationship between farmer, miller and baker". Don’t let the blog title fool you. It sounds like Annabel Langbein or something from Women’s Weekly. But Azelia has a huge knowledge about flour, grains and the process of baking. If she does something she does it right meaning she has an almost scientific approach to everything.

Now the core message in her article is that the three roles – Farmer, Miller and Baker – need to be experts in their field but also need to talk the language of their customer. So the farmer has to understand what the miller says and the miller needs to know what the baker wants.

This made me realise one thing – and it came as a shock: we do not have millers in New Zealand! (I do exclude big flour factories like Champion and Weston on purpose. They don’t provide NZ Organic flour as far as I know) We have farmers who operate a grain mill. I am sure they understand everything about growing wheat etc. But they sadly don’t understand a lot about flour. And even worse, they do not understand what the baker wants. What the baker needs.

I contacted local organic flour companies and asked for a flour analysis. They can not tell me what type of flour they sell. They do not blend the flour. They can not provide a consistent quality. Imagine, baking a bread blindfolded, not knowing what is in your flour bin! Impossible!

On top of this, the flour is especially milled for my order. They even say it should be used in 4 weeks after receiving the shipment. This is proof that there isn’t a lot of knowledge around. Green flour is not the best flour. Flour needs to oxidise and is best after a couple of months after milling. In the case of flour, fresh isn’t best! If you want to read more, here is another excellent post from Azelia: "oxidising fresh flour"

This all sounds very harsh. Which is not my intention. The problem is that these companies do sell their flour to some bakeries. So the “Well other people don’t have this problem” argument might be used. But bakers I talked to confirmed to me that they would never even consider using a flour they don’t know anything about. So how does one make bread, organic healthy bread on a high level, from local flour? The answer: You can’t in NZ!

I meanwhile buy from a company who import flour from Italy and Turkey. Which drives me insane when I start thinking about food miles (which I try to avoid – the thinking and the food miles).Talking to them about the NZ local flour situation I was told that they would love to sell local organic flour but that their customers are not happy with the quality and the inconsistent variations of the quality. Every flour they sell has a fact sheet which lists the nutrients and most importantly the proteins. Even if the quality would change, at least I would know about it and would know how to adjust my recipes.

It fills me with sadness that I can’t use a New Zealand flour and still produce a high quality product.It actually took away a big part of my dream to create a local healthy food. So what is the solution? I only see one way and that is to have a milling culture in New Zealand. We would need small mills with flour experts who can produce local flour from local grain. We already grow the grain, but we don’t mill and blend it properly. But I don’t think there is a market for this. Or let me re-phrase this: I don’t think anyone sees the market for this. One baker in Auckland tells me he would love to use NZ Organic flour if it would be available in different types and blends. I would guess judging from the silos he gets from Champion or Weston that his demand would already use a big part of a local mill’s production. And thinking of bakeries like Paris Berlin, Zarbos, Olaf’s, Two Hands Bread, Matakana Bakery and The Loaf to just name the few I can list from the top of my head I wonder why there is nobody who sees the market. None of them seem to use NZ Organic flour.

Will we ever be able to bake New Zealand bread with New Zealand flour?

Cheers

Peter
Coquo, ergo sum.

Pain a l'Ancienne - Baby its cold out there!

Thinking outside the box most of the time results in some pretty amazing things. The box in this case is "Dough needs temperature to rise". Which is true. But also "Dough needs time to develop flavour". Peter Reinhart is one who thinks outside the box. His passion is slow rise. He actually dedicated a whole book to it: Brother Juniper's Bread Book: Slow Rise as Method and Metaphor.

In his other book (see on the left) he has a recipe for Pain a l'Ancienne which is used to make Baguette and can be used for other breads as well. Because it introduces a method rather than a specific recipe: cold fermentation. The secret is to keep your dough as cold as possible and maintain a cold temperature for a long time to develop maximum flavour.

In his recipe he states that the water should be at 4 deg Celsius. But since I use my new dough mixer and this mixer is quite efficient in doing its job I wanted to keep the friction temperature to a minimum. The idea is to put the stainless steel bowl and the dough hook for 30 minutes into the freezer as well. I meanwhile learned that people even put the flour in the fridge overnight before using it.

Ingredients:
1000gm strong wheat flour (100%)
20 gm Salt (2%)
14 gm Instant Active Yeast (0.7%)
795 gm Water (79.5%) at 4 deg Celsius
Additional flour for dusting.

Tools:
Dough mixer
Scraper
Scoring knife
bowl or bin
Refrigerator
Baking paper
baking trays (2)

This dough is very wet so it is recommended to use a machine for mixing. If you want to knead by hand I recommend to use a sturdy wooden spoon as long as possible. This will also keep the dough cooler as if you knead too long with warm hands (which will become cold anyway ;-) )

Mix flour, salt, yeast and water (leave some out for later adjustment) with a paddle on lowest speed for about 2 minutes r until all is combined. Switch to the dough hook and knead for 5 - 6 minutes on medium speed. The dough should come off the walls of the bowl but still stick to the bottom. If it is too water add some more of the water. If too wet add a little (!!!) flour.

Oil a large bowl or bin (I use the Systema Klip-It 7 litre storage container), scrape the dough into this container and put straight into the fridge (5 - 8 deg C). Leave at least overnight.

You dough should have now risen slightly but not too much. This is expected at these low temperatures. Get the bowl or container out of the fridge and leave for 2 -3 hours at room temperature (21 - 25 deg C).

Don't forget to preheat your oven. It need to be ready by the end of the 2 -3 hour period. Set it as hot as possible. Mine goes to 265 deg C. If you can get it to 290 even better. Add a steam pan at the bottom. Straight onto the floor of the oven.

If you want to bake on a stone, prepare a baking tray which is as wide as your oven, use it upside down and put a piece of baking paper on top. This will act as your oven peel. Sprinkle it with semolina and set aside. Otherwise line a tray with baking paper and sprinkle with semolina.

When the dough has doubled, scrape onto a well floured bench and sprinkle flour over the top of it. Be gentle. The less you degass the dough at this stage the better it will rise in the oven. Coat the dough with flour. At this stage you should use a lot of flour on your hands and on the bench etc. The dough will be almost liquid and will flow into a flat oblong shape. Try to steer it gently to get a wider oval shape.

Use a big dough scraper or bench scraper (plastic or steel) and pinch off strips of dough. Everything now has to be done gently and with feeling! Transfer the strip of dough onto your baking paper and stretch it gently to the length you want. Don't force it. If it doesn't want to stretch, leave it for 5 minutes to relax the gluten. Transfer other strips onto your tray, leave a 3 cm gap between the pieces.

I got 7 baguettes from the dough so I needed to bake in two batches. Cover the second tray with a tea towel and keep out of drought.

Score the bread using a razor blade. This can be a bit tricky because the dough is very soft. Peter Reinhart mentions to use some sharp scissors but  haven't tried this.

Put into the hot oven and pour a cup of ht water into the steam pan. Be careful to not burn yourself from the steam. Close the oven door as quick as possible to not loose to much heat. Bake for 10 - 20 minutes. Don't get too hung up on the times but rather the look of your baguettes. Bake them to a deep golden brown. Still stop the time how long it takes to know for the second batch how long to bake.

Let cool on a rack.

So that's it. Really simple. But the results, well taste it for yourself. With the organic wheat flour I use it comes out really delicious. You can taste the grains and some nutty-ness and maltiness. This is one of those breads where I actually don't want to eat anything on top. Maybe some homemade butter. I had it with smoked fish which was great. But I love to just eat it plain and enjoy the flavor of the bread without any distractions.

Cheers

Peter
Coquo, ergo sum!

Am I a baking snob?

Ok following situation:

We visit Kaitaia's farmers market every Saturday. It is a social event for us because many friends have stalls. Two weeks ago I saw a new stall selling - Focaccia! Of course I was drawn to it and had to have a look. Well, let me tell you, these "baking goods" are as close to a Focaccia as our supermarket's Croissant are to a French Croissant. No hang on, actually the Supermarket's Croissants are closer. At least they resemble Croissants, they simulate flaky pastry and they have a sort of buttery taste. They follow basic rules. They are bad Croissants but they are still Croissants. But the Focaccia people sell something between a soggy overloaded pizza and a pita bread and call it Focaccia. Sorry, but this isn't Focaccia.

Now a friend who has a stall said last Saturday to me "Have you seen we now have a baker who sells Focaccia!". She was very excited because she knew I bake (she never tried my goods) and she was excited because they have this special Italian delicacy now available. Right.

I didn't know how to react. But unfortunately my face must have told the whole story. She immediately realized what I was thinking and started to bring up excuses etc.

So am I a baking snob? Honestly, it fills me with sadness if people look up a Focaccia recipe in the latest Alison Holst cook (?) book, then stuff it up (which is an achievement by itself) with their "creativity" (there is a Hawaiian Focaccia on offer, too!!! Aaarrghh!) I want to cry!

Yes I am a baking snob. If someone wants to sell Focaccia then I bloody hell expect they do their homework. They should understand what a Focaccia is. And if they don't make a Focaccia by not following the basic rules, then for heavens sake call it something else.