Raking over the coals

Getting the oven ready again … only two out of six of us volunteered to clear out the embers once the oven had heated. I was wearing similar sandals to Samira, and I didn’t want my left-handed clumsiness, repeatedly demonstrated as I battled with the 2-metre long baker’s peels, to dump a load of burning coals onto my feet. She’s one of the bakers who already uses a wood-fired oven, so she had no fear.

Today was “ancient varieties” day. We made bread with six different types/blends of flour. That was a lot of bread … in two days we’ve used 29 kg of flour (why bother lighting a wood-fired oven if you don’t fill it up?). It was very interesting trying the different types of flour — even the same type from different mills can behave differently, for example today’s pain de campagne turned out better than yesterday’s, because we used a different bag from another mill. See extra 1 for just some of our production — all the bannetons on the rack behind Thibault are full of dough.

A lot of sniffing and tasting of dough went on as we worked with the old-fashioned varieties. One (rouge de Bordeaux) gave off aromas of Earl Grey tea, while my favourite, barbu du Roussillon, smelt and tasted as if cinnamon had been added to it. I definitely need to be more adventurous with my flour choices. We also learned a lot about the history of wheat and its impact on human society.

We were more efficient than yesterday, and got stuff into the oven a good hour earlier. Lovely caramel smells emerged with the steam, and by 6:30 we were tasting a warm loaf of one of the ancient varieties. Obligatory photo of some of the loaves in extra 2.