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The Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge

Following on the idea begun with watching the film, Julie and Julia, over the December break in 2009 I decided to give "cooking a book" a try.

I had purchased The Bread Baker's Apprentice when it first came out, and (like I do with most cookbooks) found and used a couple of favorites. But this time I decided I would indeed aim to cook all the recipes in the book, abeit with a few twists.

There are many blogs, websites, and even a Facebook group devoted to this particular undertaking. Many of these home bakers have set themselves timelines that I would find difficult to follow; namely, a recipe a week. Some have also vowed to work their way through the book in page-number sequence: an approach I have decided not to follow. The rationale for going out of sequence is fairly simple: I don't think that way, and I see some recipes as having a seasonal component (e.g., "Greek Celebration Breads"), so I plan to save them for appropriate seasons. And finally, I have elected to not write a blog about this project, as they, too require a style of commitment to which I can't relate. And I don't need the external affirmation of all those sappy, vacuous comments that seem to populate most blog posts.

So this page is simply a random collection of images, posted with neither a particular schedule nor with any significance to the images. I have taken editorial liberties by not sharing my most glaring failures, so only one side of my endeavors is being shown here.

My equipment is simple but necessary: a Kitchen Aid 5-qt stand mixer, several dough-rising buckets and banettones, several couches, and miscellaneous other tools essential to the craft. All of my breads are hand-formed, and baked in a gas oven with unglazed tiles.

Bon appetit!

	Anadama bread 15 Feb 2010
	First Bagels 19 Jan 2010
	Ciabatta 24 Jan 2010
	Pain de Campagne Couronne Bordelaise, foreground Epis, middle ground Supervisor, background 20 Feb, 2010
	Pane Siciliano started 11 March; baked 13 March 2010
	Pane Siciliano Seems to agree with the book: note the blisters in this close-up (supposed to be there).
	Boules Not from the BBA recipe book, but another project I'm trying: used the master recipe from "Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day" - entire recipe made these 3 boules approx 500 g each.
	Lambropsomo (Greek Easter Celebration Bread) 2010 April 03 Used Fiori di Sicilia instead of the called-for extracts: kitchen smelled heavenly for the whole day!
	More bagels: got a little carried away with the egg wash on a few of them, 2010 April 11
	Pain a l'ancienne 2010 April 11
	Multigrain Bread Extraordinaire 2010 April 24/25 Above: rounded batard Below: various boules

	Lavash 2010-07-28/29 Upper: Under construction with rows of various seedy & tasty things Lower: 2 baked flats (used 1.5 times given recipe; retarded in fridge overnight)

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