Metric or Bust! (Or, bakers weigh everything, part deux)

Recently a reader wrote that, while he understood why I measured all ingredients by weight (in grams) in the recipes included in 52 Loaves, he didn't own a metric scale and suggested I post volume equivalents on this blog. It's a legitimate request, but I think I'd be doing him (and all bakers) a disservice if I did so. Here's why:

• First of all, bakers weigh everything. Even, as I've mentioned before (in this blog's initial post) the firewood that goes into the brick oven. This is because measuring by volume (especially flour) is inherently and unavoidably inaccurate and inconsistent. Someone's 2 cups of flour is someone else's 2-1/4 cups. Even water is hard to measure by volume, given the miniscus (the curvature) in the measureing cup. And just 5 grams of water (inperceptible in a measuring cup) can make a difference in your bread.
• Secondly, you're going to be investing a lot of time and a little bit of money to master artisan bread. A really nice, accurate, digital kitchen scale like the one I use can be had for just $19 -- the cost of a few of bags of flour. I don't know if people realize how cheap these things have gotten recently. I like mine so much, I even use it for weighing the water for coffee every morning. Okay, so I'm a bit anal, but...my coffee is consistent.
• Thirdly, I'm on a personal, one-man campaign to convert the United States to the metric system. Weren't we, like, supposed to do this 40 years ago? I remember being prepared for this "calamity" in high school science classes. So, bakers unite! Let's go metric!

PS: If you have a serviceable scale that only has Imperial (US) weights, use Google or Bing to do the conversions in my recipes for you. In the search window, just type, e.g., "500 g in ounces" and it will give you the equivalent.

52 Loaves interview on NPR's Weekend Edition

I had the pleasure of recording an interview with Liane Hansen, the host of NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday, which aired on May 2. Liane's one of the best in the business, and we had a great chat.  You gotta love NPR: they actually ran my comment that a threshing flail (for wheat) "looks more like something more likely to found smacking the buttocks of a member of Parliament in a London S and M den than used in the preparation of food."

You can hear the entire interview here.

Follow- up on New York Post bread review

So, a funny thing happened on the the way to the New York Post article featuring my review of restaurant breads. A reader helpfully pointed out I never included a link to the article. This is because the Post chose not to run any of my reviews, perhaps because I found so much of the bread, well, forgettable. So here's a brief summary of my ratings:

• The bread served at Nice Matin, which is baked by Pain D'Avignon, is a beautiful miche (a large, slightly flattened loaf). This is real, artisan bread. You can almost feel the hands of the baker on it.
• Danny Meyer's newest place, Maialino, serves a nice, mild sourdough, perhaps the best bread I tasted the entire day.
• I'm confounded by the so-called "lardo" served at Del Posto, which is yet another Mario Batali operation.  This cured pork fat, which has the consistency of butter and the taste of pig fat is unpalatable. Give me some cold, sweet, unsalted butter anytime.

Reviewing NYC Restaurant Bread (Be Careful What You Wish For)

I spent yesterday afternoon in the offices of the New York Post reviewing restaurant bread, which the Post had assembled from over a dozen NYC restaurants. I know this sounds like a dream assignment for a baking enthusiast and writer, and I have to admit, I was the proverbial kid in a candy store --- until I started to taste the candy. By the tenth loaf I was about ready to pack it in. Not only did I skip dinner (does beer count?), but I don't know if I'll be able to even eat a slice of toast for a month.

But it was a great adventure. I got to walk the length of a real newsroom (rows of business-attired women and men in ties -- until you hit the sports desk, which is exactly what your think it would be. Everyone looks -- and dresses like -- Ray Romano)

As for the bread, I don't want to steal the thunder from the article (which will be appearing, I believe, the weekend of April 24-25), but the most shocking thing to me was how many of the breads were incompatible (salty, garlicky, cloyingly sweet) with a cocktail or a glass of wine. Or the food to follow, for that matter. I'll post a link to the article when it comes out, but in the meantime, home bakers rejoice: Your bread is better than what 99% of restaurants are serving.

You Want Mice With that Pizza?

So, winter's over and it's time, I figured, to So, winter's over and it's time, I figured, to pull the tarp off the clay bread oven I built in my garden (with assistance from number-one son), build a good fire, and make some pizza. Never got past step one: seems the oven has acquired some tenants  -- make that squatters -- over the winter. The back of the oven is dominated by a huge mouse nest, complete with mice. Could be worse. Last year is was wasps. Maybe next year it'll be foxes. Foxes are cool.

(Footnote: I made pizza indoors; the mice should be moving on shortly).