It’s incredible how many amazing things that you can make with such few ingredients such as flour, water and salt…however, it’s equally surprising how challenging it can be to do so.
What we don’t realize is that often recipes with few ingredients end up being the most complex, because the quality, quantity, temperature and texture of those ingredients become primordial.
the smallest difference in the process can totally change the outcome.
Consistent, high quality products are harder than what they seem.
While traveling teaching cooking classes and consulting outside of France, I visit bakeries that are often examples of enterprising business owners that have said to themselves “How hard can it be? Surely I can figure this out.”, and then have proceeded to spend a lot of money buying useless equipment and designing a production space that is unsuited to the task.
For example, while traveling in Louisiana and in search of fresh yeast before teaching a bread class in someone’s home, I met Brian, the owner of a local artisan bakery. Bryan is an extremely nice guy and we became best buddies at our first handshake. Bryan, a hardworking and courageous guy, bought this bakery and has been trying to figure things out. But after touring his bakery, seeing his products, examining his equipment and meeting his employees, wow, I felt really sorry for him. Here are some of the problems I diagnosed:
The oven. The heart of a bakery, and one of its biggest expenses, is the oven. To bake artisan bread, you need a four á sole, or deck oven. His mammoth, horrible oven cooked the crust of his bread first, limiting the expansion of the bread, causing it to crack on it sides. It also was unnecessarily huge, but with little usable cooking surface, and consumed vast amounts of energy.
Untrained personnel. Brian himself didn’t know what he was doing, neither in technique nor in science, so he couldn’t pass on any knowledge to his staff. The resulting bread was so rustic that the word loses its charm. The staff worked at a snail’s pace compared to what I am used to in France. Furthermore, his untrained staff, paid as such, were quickly lured away by better paying jobs such as a new Amazon warehouse in town.
Risky organization. The daily production was begun during the early morning hours of the day it would be sold, leaving no room for human error, equipment malfunction, faulty yeast or employee absence. This organization creates a stressful environment in which you can only hope that the production is ready when the bakery opens.
Missing or inappropriate equipment. A modern bakery works begins fermenting doughs at least 24 hours before cooking it, and certain equipment is necessary to make this possible. The best bread is made slowly, which increases the quality of the product and creates a lower stress environment.
In other words, don’t make the same mistakes as my friend Brian; bring in a professional to help you get started with correct equipment, provide you with great recipes and properly train your staff. Set yourself up for success!
To tell you a little about myself, I am a licensed baker in France, having studied for one year at the École de Boulangerie - Greta and apprenticed at two prestigious Parisian bakeries - Au Petit Versailles du Marais (owned by Christian Vabret, distinguished Meilleur Ouvrier de France, or “Best Artisan of France”) and Le Boulanger de la Tour, which is the bakery of the world renowned restaurant Tour d’Argent. In 2020, I was the “ghost baker” for Apollonia Poilâne during her MasterClass filming and since early 2019 I teach a monthly professional baking class at the headquarters of the Syndicat des Boulangers de France, which represents the bakers of France. I have been teaching French Cuisine and Baking in two culinary schools in Paris since 2010.
Feel free to contact me for a consultation quote.
chefjustinward@gmail.com