Baking Bread

For quite a long was thinking to prepare bread at home which I would

have never thought of in my wildest dream if I was in India. But staying

at Paris it just clicked why not to try once on experimental basis as it

is there staple food. It’s like an icon of France. This is why French

people visit the local “Boulangerie” (hot bread shop) at least once

a day and this shop is there at least at every street corner. Filled

with delicious sensations and smells of warm, just-baked bread will

definitely increase your appetite for sure while passing by these

boulangeries particularly at morning and evening time. As this is the

time when fresh bread along with other baked items like croissant

comes out of the oven.

While staying at Paris, I often see people riding bikes, mopeds or

motorbikes with baguettes strapped to the back, or walking the streets

with their baguette under their

arm racing to get home at end of the day. So, it might be another reason

for thinking of baking bread at home.

Anywayz, I wanted to get Santanu’s concern on this matter although

answer was known to me… “No way”. As he said “no” now I was bit

determined to do it so was trying to gather all my courage to do the

same by myself when he is not around.

First was to get ingredients particularly leavening agent such as yeast

which I got it from nearby super store rest others are normally there at

our Indian kitchen. As Santanu is bit health conscious so keeping that

in mind I opted for wheat-flour which has superior nutritional value

rather than plain all purpose flour and thought to encrust with either

sesame or poppy seeds to give a special taste.

Well, there is wide variety of breads and preferred varieties often vary

from region to region especially at France. This variation is done by

just manipulating rising times, kneading techniques, and with the use of

especially traditional brick ovens though basic ingredients like water,

salt, yeast and flour remains same. It can be served ranging from room

temperature to hot. But always best to have fresh. This can be used as

an enclosure for sandwiches other then topping it with jam, butter or

cheese. Even it can be served with pasta or as a complement to a crispy

fresh salad or hearty bowl of soup. Once baked, bread can subsequently

be toasted. And its better not to be stored in fridge as it becomes

stale rather one can store in zip-lock plastique so that there is no

room for air to get in.

Here, I used very simple technique as this was my first experiment on

bread and voila unexpectedly my experiment came out quite well then I

thought. Even Santanu was astonished to see that.

Once you have tasted the fresh bread either from boulangerie or

home-made I am sure you will never forget its taste. A crisp, crunchy

crust and slightly chewy, soft spongy center make this bread bit

traditional.