Breadmaking by Feel

I don't like to get too fussy, and I'm not going to recommend that you spend a lot of money on stuff. I'm sure some people will disagree with my choices, and that's fine with me.

Here's my first inflammatory opinion: I don't use "baker's percentages." I understand them. As a soapmaker, I have a great scale, and I know how to use it. I use it in cooking, all the time.

But I don't use it for bread. I don't weigh ingredients for bread. I don't actually measure my flour either. I learned to make bread 50 years ago, and back in the dark ages, we learned to do it by feel. And I still do it that way.

If you're a beginner, your reaction--very likely--is "Thanks, Grandma, but I don't want to take fifty years to learn to make bread."

However, it doesn't take fifty years. One or two loaves that are less-than-perfect, supposing you don't have an experienced breadmaker looking over your shoulder. (And even imperfect bread is awfully good.) And after that, you have "a hand for bread." You can do it every time, and do it right, even without a recipe.

I originally learned from my mother and sister, from friends, from the "Joy of Cooking," and--most of all--from the "Tassajara Bread Book." I learned from my own mistakes. I experimented--sometimes with great results. I learned from my husband, Aaron, who wrote a small book called "Simple Sourdough." Lately, I've learned a lot from my friend Linda, a microbiologist who explains what's going on in those sourdough cultures in terms a layman can understand.

The next few posts will be about equipment, some of it standard or even upscale, some of it my own jury rigs. I admit to a special fondness for jury rigs--they make me feel like I've pulled one over on the universe. And maybe I have.