Baking Bliss

24/10/24. 3 min read

author at Baking Academy

I am a paniphile – or a bread lover. There was a time when I broached the subject of bread-making to my older sister, and she said, ‘ What a hassle. I will just buy my bread.’

I am glad I was not deterred. When my retired older brother insisted to learn about bread making, I was quite hesitant at first. But knowing that he likes working with his hands and is a perfectionist, who knows? He may turn out to be a very good baker with the potential for a second career.

He has always being proud of his hands, building his craft, painstakingly designing and creating water fountains and painting statues for his customers.

When his shop folded due to high rentals, he was bored to tears.

I tried to enroll him into a bakery course funded by the Govt for seniors to upgrade their skills.

At the baking academy, the waft of freshly baked bread struck me immediately as we entered the premises.

Nothing could be compared, not the world best perfume nor the world best cooked dish. Its distinct scent soothed my soul.

The soft, savory, and scented waft of the warm bread baking in the backroom. of the bakery drifted to us at the reception. I decided to enrol as well.

It was a workshop of three Saturdays from 10 am to 6 pm.

I was happy that the instructor was detailed to bring the basics of baking to us which included the principles of making bread, equipments involved, materials required.

It was indeed comprehensive as he emphasised on how the different flour may produce different results. Even the same type of flour with different protein content requires different amount of water that can affect its texture and consistency.

The rate of whisking the mix into a dough, checking when the dough is properly proofed which is allowing the yeast to work its magic of making the dough rise is critical. The handling of the dough must not be over managed.

I love the exact science and art of baking. It teaches me to be dead accurate about measurements, the importance of the speed of whisking the mix and proper handling of the dough.

To smell the aromatic mix, then manipulate it into the desired shape with just the right amount of gentle pressure and then patiently leaving it aside to proof before baking.

I have never tasted such joy in touching a proofed dough. As soft as a newborn baby’s skin, I think it’s softer, with a life of its own!

Then to dust each shaped dough with flour and perform some art by slicing it any which way you like with a sharp razor. The various shapes would split open to reveal their individual designs.

Finally, they were ready to be baked. I liked that the instructor was so intelligent and rational. He sprayed the shaped dough with water as well as the inside of the oven which was to prevent the bread from drying up.

The oven was preheated to the exact temperature and the tray of bread then inserted into the oven.

To watch the bread brown and anticipate its taste was an ascend to paradise.

When the bread was ready, our patience was further tested as the thermometer inserted into the bread showed 90 degrees so they were not ready to be sliced and eaten.

When the temperature finally reached about 40 degrees, we used a bread knife, one with sharp jagged edges in order not to crush the bread slices.

Then we applied butter, jam or any spread you like, and savoured it. It was an indescribable joy, one that restore our spirits.

Baking bread is a blissful activity. You are engaging all five senses – sight, smell, taste, touch and sound(if you consider the timer. used.) You may even develop your sixth sense – an intuition or hunch of better things in life.