I believe his official name is evil Italian chef. It should be printed on his chef’s coat to give fair warning to those unsuspecting souls around him. Since nature must balance the scales between prey and predator, you can tell when he is coming by the slight chill that enters the room just before he approaches and the sudden shortness of breathe caused by the suffocating animosity that fills the air with the ever faint smell of doom. Am I exaggerating? It’s been a hard couple of weeks.
One of my responsibilities at the restaurant is to make fresh focaccia bread everyday. Let me preface by saying that I have made a lot of things in my life and bread is not one of them. I’ve seen documentaries and watched the Food Network and the Cooking Channel enough times to realize that baking bread is an art. Some people have worked on this art for years. I however learned this art in 1 hour from a lackadaisical intern counting down the days until his last day of work.
This bread… This delicious bread, baked fresh daily with fresh rosemary and chopped olives has been the bane of my existence, well at least the bane of the past couple of weeks. I come in early to let the dough proof before popping it in the oven. I mise out my ingredients and make more dough the night before so the following day I have time to bake the bread before service.
The problem with making Italian bread is that the Italian chef will no doubt have a vested interest in this recipe. He will look after your every move, your every mishap, your every mistake, every tear shed over this stupid flat oven-baked Italian bread. After being yelled at many a times over not getting the bread making process correct, I have taken to my old nerdy strategies and opened some books. Turns out the library has many books about the bread baking process. Some neurotic thoughts have plagued my mind about visiting a bakery and 3 am and getting some tips. If anyone knows of any bread documentaries let me know and I will set my dvr.
The good news is that I am learning some very interesting information about feeding the yeast and making a starter. When I get better at making bread, which I’m hoping is sooner rather than later, I can post some interesting bread tips and maybe even a focaccia recipe. This day will come, but for now I’m off to start my work day and hopefully get my focaccia dough nice and proofed.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
I have to say bread is probably the one area where the FCI program is lacking most. Having moved over from culinary to pastry… bread is far more complex than one can imagine. I’d highly recommend picking up a few books “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” or “Artisan Baking”. Who knows maybe you can swing by the shop sometime and do a stage. We don’t do Italian style breads, but it couldn’t hurt to pick up a little extra info.
Hey Lily! The bread baking has been getting easier since I started rolling out the dough the night before to give it more time to proof. I agree that the FCI Culinary program greatly lacks in the bread making department but I knew that going in. Thanks for the tips. I’d like to come in one day. How are things going over there?