WELCOMES

JOHN DOWNES
OCTOBER 21 AND 22 2007

ARTISAN BAKING WORKSHOP

CAPE OTWAY ROAD BIRREGURRA

03 52 362276 gbiron@bigpond.net.au

Coming Soon
www.sunnybrae.net.au
 COMPARATIVE LOOK AT ORGANIC FLOUR

Lauke

Unbleached Baker’s

Wholemeal

Westons

Unbleached Baker’s

Wholemeal

Kialla

Unbleached high protein white

Bio Oz
Spelt white

Spelt Wholemeal

Kamut

Four Leaf Milling

Whole-wheat 100%

White

Light

Wholemeal spelt

Egyptian Gold
Eden Valley Bio Dynamic

Unbleached Bakers Flour

Powlett Hill Biodynamic

Classic wholegrain

Wholegrain Spelt

Lotus

White Spelt

OTHERS
Judging Sourdough bread and Artisan Breads……. John Downes

The first criterion in judging sourdough breads is that they must display authenticity.
Because there are no legal or even trade agreed standards, yet it is clearly understood
in the wider (world) context, what constitutes a genuine sourdough; it is important that
Australian judging standards accord with what is understood internationally.

Sourdough breads are clearly made without bakers yeast. This must be the first criteria.
This regulation must be stated as a standard for entrants. The starter culture also must
not be made with any bakers yeast, at any stage. It must be called into question
whether the sourdough “powders” available actually initiate a sourdough, or are mere
flavouring agents. As none seem to contain anything like the polycultures which have
been identified in genuine sourdough bread, how they could then enable a sourdough
needs clarification.

Because bakers yeast is used widely, and often put in what is purported to be a
sourdough bread, there should be a category for a “semi-sourdough”, which may have
a proportion of bakers yeast, but which should clearly, by organoleptic and structural
criteria, be different from a conventional yeast bread, with overt characteristics of a
sourdough.

(1) Structural criteria of sourdough:

“Good looking bread is not always good bread” (Bernard Ganachaud)

“Bread is both an architectural and a gustatory phenomenon” (Steven Kaplan)

Because sourdough is generally a hearth or sole baked bread, the loaf must display
skill in this modality. It should be well risen, and slashed appropriately to
accommodate oven spring, both technically and creatively. That is, bursting is
undesirable; the spring should be confined skilfully to the cuts or slashes. These
should display some creative characteristics, and boldness.

The moulding of the loaf must also be skilful, although not technically perfect, as
this is too structured for a sourdough, which should display character. Exterior
moulding signs are less desirable, as the dough should be well fermented, which
will decrease obvious moulding marks.

“Bread is one of the rare foods which is not picked up with a fork….by touching,
breaking and feeling bread, the fingers participate in assessing the quality of its
crust and crumb” (Kaplan)

The crust should be well developed and attractive, with bloom (colour) indicating
both good fermentation, appropriate flour and creative baking. Wise choice if flour
will enable good bloom. The use of steam in baking should be appropriate, with
highly glossy crusts less desirable. A thicker crust is desirable, as this is a “crusty”
bread. This crust should have good edible texture, and not be leathery from too
much steam.
Internally, the structure should display bold and adequate fermentation, with
irregular alveolation, interspaced with dense crumb. Good fermentation is evident
in a shiny internal surface of individual alveoli. The aeration should not be overly
irregular as this is not sensible eating quality, with butter or spreads simply
“leaking” this sort of aeration is more suitable in a baguette, rather than a loaf.
Over irregularity is also technically faulty, in that the moulding has not sufficiently
redistributed the gases.

The internal crumb should have some colour, indicating both good flour and
possibly a blending of flours to enhance the loafs character. This should also be a
facet of the reflection and capture of light.
The crumb should tear well without easily forming small crumb, or damaging the
structure.
The crumb should be springy and resilient while still dense, but not damp.

(2) Organoleptic criteria for a sourdough:

“The deeper and truer reality of its smell, its taste and its consistency-that is its
flavour” (Calvel)
A cognitive structure as in wine assessment is required. Bakers and judges should
articulate their criteria, rather than talking in uncorresponded generalities.

It is difficult to distinguish between tastes and smells. The organoleptic evaluation

should discern harmony between these two faculties as a primary objective.
The primary aromas may be from the crust. Grilling, roasting and caramelisation,
even chocolate, and possibly frying analogues obviously dominate. The next most
reported are of “nuttiness”, referring to hazelnuts and almonds and often butter.
The taster should evaluate the balance of these, and be free to make associations
with the familiar. What are important are the synergy displayed, and the strength
and intensity of aroma.
The crumb will exhibit a wider range of aromas. Which will in a sourdough be
underscored by acidity. Lactic is more skilful than acetic, and while maintaining
the “twang” of a sourdough is important, attenuating acidity is desirable. The
development of fruity and floral aromas is characteristic of a good sourdough.
These range from dried fruit, honey, spices, herbs and extend to buttery and
farinaceous (cooked cereal-oat porridge). It is important that judges attempt to
access these aromas, and record them. This is part of the evaluatory structure
which must be developed, and is as viable and possibly more far-reaching than
oenological assessments, and should include parameters celebrated in wine tasting.
This is possible because the advanced fermentations of sourdough enable the
liberation of all manner of aromatics in the bread, released from the wheat matrix
and “volatilised”, and are hallmarks of appropriate fermenting (as in wine…and
cheese). Such criteria are not appropriate with yeast breads, or ersatz sourdoughs,
as the fermentation does not proceed past inflation generally, and acidity is not
developed.
All of the characteristics mentioned, and more, are evinced by the crumb as it is
chewed. A major criterion here has to be the length of flavour…how long it
actually lingers, and how it changes or develops. Lengthy, lingering taste equates
to quality. The mouth-feel of a sourdough must be of creamy softness, it must
dissolve after minimal chewing and be easy to swallow and digest. The redolent
creaminess exposes the quality of the acidity, and it is here that often the clear taste
of wheat and perhaps other cereals such as buckwheat or corn is liberated, and
lingers.

Any artisan or sourdough bread must have character of appearance, structure, taste,
aroma, mouth-feel and be tactile. The category is defined by these really, as made
not by the uniformity of machines or factories, but demonstrating the hand made
quality.
Recipes (1)
1.Crusty white bread.

550gm unbleached white flour.

1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 cup leaven
1 2/3-2 cups warm water.

2.Crusty Spelt bread.

300gm white spelt flour

250gm wholemeal spelt flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
1 cup leaven
1 2/3 cups warm water.

3.Wholemeal wheat bread with sesame seeds

550gm wholemeal wheat flour

1 cup leaven
1 teaspoon salt
1 2/3 cups warm water
1/3 cup sesame seeds.

Sourdough leaven.
1 cup stoneground organic wheat flour
1 ½ cups water…preferably spring water.
Recipes 2.

1.Saffron buns.

2kg u/b white flour

1.2 kg leaven
20g salt
400ml milk
400g real sugar
1 teaspoon saffron threads
40g caraway seeds
3 medium sized pref organic carrots diced
2 cups apple juice
750gm currants
5 eggs
2/3 cup e/v olive oil.

2 Chocolate and wattleseed bread.

1st leaven…overnight…1 heaped tablespoon organic

cocoa powder, 1 cup stoneground organic wholemeal
wheat flour, 1 2/3 cups warm water. 2 tablespoons seed
leaven.

500gm u/b flour.

2cups cocoa leaven
2 tablespoons roasted wattleseed
1 tablespoon kutjera
4 tablespoons organic cocoa powder
4 tablespoons real sugar
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups very warm water.
½ teaspoon salt.

3.Kamut pitta / flat bread.

2kg wholemeal Kamut flour

5 teaspoons salt
6 cups warm water
4 teaspoons ajwain seed.

4. Spelt foccacia w Quandong

1 kg wholemeal spelt flour

1kg white spelt flour
5 teaspoons salt
6 cups warm water
3 brown onions diced
300gm dried quandong soaked overnight in water
2 tablespoons ginger powder
3 tablespoons cummin seed
½ cup e/v olive oil
3 tablespoons fennel seed
½ knob garlic chopped coarsley.
Artisan what?

Simply “Google” the word “Artisan” and it will be revealed that the term is an
anachronism....that is, it applies to skilled workers before the Industrial revolution.
What will also be revealed is that the term is applied to everything from computer
graphics/orthotics/switchboards/condominiums and furniture stores. It is clear that the
term means as much as the other pirated words like “natural” even “organic”, that is,
they are merely buzz words for the latest trend, and any intrinsic meaning they may
have had is long lost. Such words are merely for selling a product and trying to get
more money for it because, well, it sounds better and we can have good thoughts about
it. The term no longer distinguishes an authentically made product, constructed by a
craftsman/woman.

In a purely descriptive sense, that is, without ego connotations, I was the first Artisan
baker in modem Australia, and I have to think about what distinguished me from the
other bakers, in order to get a grip on this “Artisan” revival.

When I started in 1979 in Melbourne, with the wood fired ovens at the now defunct
Feedwell foundry, I was clearly part of what is called, the food “underground”. Now
its very interesting that term, because we were reacting to, and offering an alternative
to the corporate food system, which we saw as exploitative, and which was ruining
peoples health by selling them nutrient-dense food , bread which was mostly gluten (
for which they have initiated a previously unknown sensitivity/allergy among the
public), made by machines~. That is, we had a definite political agenda, or a social
agenda~ which we pursued not by manning the barricades, but by offering high quality
nutrient-dense food. It was based on ideology forsure, but also what is called
“altruism”. That is we cared for the customers, and went to lengths to ensure our
product was the best for them. This also included a skill base. We went to great lengths
to know what we were doing, and strove to improve our techniques This is a part of
the Artisan tradition .A pride in skill and a desire to produce the best product through
knowledge and awareness. We barely survived financially, but that was hardly ever
part of the agenda it was actually “food for people, not for profit”. Some of you will
find that amusing, naive and the other terms that cringers apply to such ideals.

What is most interesting though, is that this mentality enabled the birth of the Artisan
movement. Because people vote with their feet. My tasty sourdoughs were celebrated
in Melbourne, not for any trendy reason, but because they were good simple honest
breads, baked and prepared with a lot of care, and were a viable alternative to the
frankly poisonous breads that were on sale everywhere. As my customers continually
related to me, they loved my breads, because their bloated tummies and gut aches went
away. I used to get in trouble for taking a holiday (rarely) because they all told me
their gutaches etc, came back when they went to other bakeries, even the” sourdough”
ones.

At that time I remember reading an article (or a few really) from within the bakery
industry about how bread sales were continually falling, and what could be done about
it. That was so funny because my sales were soaring, but they never included us in
their surveys, because after all, I wasn’t a “real” baker....right!
You know the Industry never thought that the demise of sales might be because regular
bread was really bad, and customer awareness was on the rise. The Industry never
considered making good bread again, or instituting qualitative evaluations.

The “industry” is a hard to define body, but is largely characterized since WW2 by
trade school graduates, or “ticketed” bakers, and the Professionals, beaurocracy and
corporations associated. The “industry” was largely taken over by corporate bodies
and industrial-scale after WW2. This is a demarcation, as profit alone became the sole
aim of bread manufacture, whereas previously, quality, defined by good ingredients
and skillful processes had been the aim and guiding light of bakers. If this seems
unbelievable, then read some of the baker’s journals and bakery literature of the
preceding period. It is full of debates by tradesmen and women, proud of and
assiduous about their practice.

It took a while for the industry to respond to the drop in sales of regular bread. The
response wasn’t straight-forward, wasn’t based on self-evaluation, and was a bit
underhanded. Its important to keep in mind here, that “the industry” used to be “the
artisans~~ .They had to re-invent the “Artisan” model to suit themselves, and the
industrial approach, and then launch it on the public in their own terms. That is with as
much compromise as possible, and with no concern for the quality of the bread.
(remember, bread was not tasted in bread shows, it was merely a technical artifact).
To the industry, “Artisan” bread is just a style, where in actual fact; artisan bread is the
defining reality of bread....a yardstick by which quality is measured.
A great example of what I mean by the underhandedness is that a lecturer from the
renowned William Angliss college in Melbourne tried to steal some of my dough. I
had generously allowed the graduating class to visit my bakery during production. This
was an inconvenience, but I really wanted the students to see what we did. I gave them
some dough for a textural evaluation. On leaving, the dough hadn’t been returned to
me. When I requested its return, there was silence. It was only when I threatened to
call the police, that the lecturer retrieved it from his pocket. Now, I would have been
more than willing to go to the college, to teach/share, but this exemplified the
industries approach....they had to try and make it their own, steal the whole thing in
reality. Such a negative approach, the complete opposite to the spirit of what I was
doing, and in my opinion to the true artisan mentality.
The curious reality today is that there are some very talented artisan bakers out there
who like me are not graduates of a trade school. They actually form the largest body of
artisan bakers, and they do it because they like it. But the industry has noticed,
particularly that they get press, accolades, and a steady stream of customers. They
provide bread to the classy modern Australian restaurants. Recently, a visiting English
celebrity baker told me he thought he could get better bread in Melbourne than in
Paris. This was from the non-industry artisan bakers.

Traditionally, a baker had to spend a lengthy apprenticeship with a master artisan

before they could eventually become one themselves. My lengthy apprenticeship was
spent with books, traveling and alone, continually experimenting. There was nobody to
teach me, and all the trade schools taught was to make no-time dough with masses of
yeast and improvers . . . or to push buttons. I was continually visited by bakers who
had the spirit, but were frustrated because they had hardly touched a dough at trade
school. They knew what I was doing, and had been searching for that experience, and
just loved it in my bakery. I was also visited by experienced bakers who were
embarrassed because they couldn’t handle my critical doughs. They had become so
used to “safe” baking.

Now, “Artisan” is being taught at TAFEs. This is essentially a good thing, but what
worries me is that those teaching “Artisan”, aren’t artisans. Where did they learn to be
artisans so they could teach it? And what are their criteria? Because the criteria was
actually established by bakers like myself who have had no input into the systems
being taught. It is a peculiar reality. Consequently “Artisan” is just a style of bread, not
a way of bread making. How can an artisan make anything but artisan bread? Do they
change coats when then making conventional bread in their bakeries. An artisan
bakery ONLY makes artisan bread; they do not then turn around and make a gluten
sugar/chemical filled loaf. Artisan is not a style of bread; it is a way of life, a way of
thinking and a way of baking.
On another but related tack, what is also worrying is the growing and officially
sanctioned tendency to put yeast in a sourdough. This is simply inauthentic.
Sourdough is actually defined by the absence of saccharomyces cerevisiae (bakers
yeast)....otherwise, what defines it? This is a recognised microbiological reality.
Some do it as an insurance policy. An artisans insurance is skill. lye never done it and
there is no need to do it. Its just plain wrong. If it is done, label the bread
accordingly... it is a semisourdough, or a yeasted sourdough, not a sourdough, which
is fine if honestly labelled. As a deception it just demonstrates poor technique and an
inability to do the real thing.
It is also worrying that some use yeast in the same bakery where sourdough is made.
Well I did this in the late 70’s before it became increasingly clear that the yeast
continually infected the sourdough. And this is well established microbiologically
also. So stop fooling yourselves! I just do not understand why this all has to go on. Its
so easy to make good sourdough. If you have customers that want “something
lighter”, point them to the nearest yeast bakery.

The next worry is the use of “sour powders”. Give me a break. What a deception is
this! They contain none of the polycultures known to form a sourdough, and are a
cheap deception, simply put. I say it again, it is so easy to make good sourdough, why
all this deception and smoke and mirrors....a real baker does not use “sour poxvders”
and those pushing them should be run out of town. But they are powerful players in
the industry game, and because of the really poor laws governing, basically, the truth,
they will continue to push their gear. This is strictly forbidden in proper culinary
cultures like France, where there are laws governing authenticity in food. The bottom
line is that the customer is simply ripped off with a fake product, and the industry
takes advantage of their ignorance.
In no way am I trying to sling off at anybody in the industry. In fact I have been
heartened by such industry figures as Leon Bailey in Adelaide, whose input is genuine
and worthwhile, and will serve to improve the standard of bread for consumers.... I
just want to initiate a vigorous debate, because it is needed, and is what revivified the
French bread industry. Leon lent me a work called “The first sixty years”, about the
early baking industry in Australia. What I see in it is vigorous debate, which I haven’t
heard for too long!
Just a word about the French bread industry. When faced with declining sales, they
did an honest evaluation, and realised they were making bad bread. They had blindly
accepted industrial rules( profit profit profit), and subsequently engaged in a raging
debate about it for years, until those on the side of authenticity triumphed, and strict
laws were enacted to prevent the sort of deception forced on customers in Australia.
You simply cannot call yourself an “Artisan” there and make factory bread, or
“handmade” factory bread. Besides, the savvy French consumers would laugh you out
of town.

“Woteva” say the doubters among us. And today they are right, because “woteva” is
the prevailing way to think. But there would be no such thing as “Artisan” if that was
the prevailing mode of thought and discourse in the past.