Head space

I have been somewhat distracted lately by mundane activities of daily living and nagging thoughts. The creative juices have been running a little sluggish and maybe the endless winter has been wearing on my nerves. I need spring, a Vancouver spring where cherry blossoms and tulips fill the wet green spaces which we inhabit.


When too much clutter starts polluting my brain, I lose sleep and go inwards, even more than my usual introverted self. Why can't I be one of those disgustingly well-adjusted people who run 10 kilometres to clear their heads? My solution is to bake something with lots of butter in it.

Not being a bread lover, if I am to enjoy bread, my preference is for something soft and enriched, not crusty and rustic. Brioche à tête are rich and tender French breads packed full of butter and egg, in a characteristic shape resembling a little person's head and torso baked in a small fluted tin. Clearing my head of internal clutter might need more than these brioches, but it's a start.

Would we?

My husband and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary last week and despite the record snowfall in Vancouver, we had a superb time. In fact, five years earlier, our wedding day was preceded by snowfall which gave the perfect backdrop to our ceremony, cold and crisp but clear with freshly dusted North shore mountains glowing at sunset. Oh I'm gushing.


This year's gift, in accordance with the traditional anniversary gift list, is wood, seemingly not the most romantic of substances, but nonetheless worthy of giving in some form to the one you love. The Scrabble Premier Wood Edition game was the obvious choice for him, especially appropriate for wintery house-bound evenings. So far, we are tied at one game each and I am expanding my vocabulary with legitimate 2-letter words.


After some brainstorming, my secondary gift which had to be wood-related but edible was the cinnamon bun. True cinnamon is the bark from the Cinnamomum zeylanicum tree, although, what North Americans call cinnamon is more likely a related species, Cinnamomum aromaticum, which is also called cassia, a more intensely flavoured and woodier bark.


As seasoned alumni of the University of British Columbia, Eric and I both have a soft spot for those legendary UBC cinnamon buns and several years ago, I found the official recipe (I use butter instead of margarine). These buns are not as gooey and smothered in icing as typical cinnamon buns; instead, they have a lovely caramelized crust and soft interior. As a freshman, I may have consumed one per day before my waistline begged me not to. Happy Anniversary!

Tasty hiatus: Part 2

Besides eating my way through Pierre Hermé's showcase, I did venture to other eateries in Paris in search of novel eye-catching items such as Sadaharu Aoki's bon bons maquillages, a rainbow assortment of enrobed ganache sticks. Flavours included yuzu, matcha, wasabi, and black sesame in addition to more traditional fare. Having been obsessed with rainbows as a child, my first impulse was to buy every flavour so that I could arrange them in the correct prismatic order, but I controlled myself and instead, purchased several pre-packaged boxes.


The main reason for visiting Paris this year was to attend Europain 2008, a massive trade show featuring 644 exhibitors representing the baking, pastry, chocolate, confectionary, and ice cream making industries. La Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie and Le Mondial des Arts Sucrés competitions were also held concurrently at this event. As a relative neophyte in the world of artisan pâtisserie, the experience was overwhelming due to the sheer size (80,000 sq. metres of exhibition space) and scope of Europain.


Because I do not own my own pastry shop or bread factory and happen to be Canadian, not European, the majority of exhibits were irrelevant to me from a commercial standpoint; however, seeing the range of innovative products and technology available to the smallest artisanal pâtissier all the way to the largest industrial bread producer was fascinating. I will know where to come whenever I am in the market for a mixer large enough to fit six people with two whisk attachments that are each taller than me. Only some exhibitors were actually selling items direct to visitors, mainly half-price Easter chocolate molds, Flexipans sheets, and colourings.


To my amazement, my attention was drawn more towards breads and Viennoiserie because of how refined, beautiful, and diverse these yeasty products could be. Baguettes may have outnumbered humans at Europain but the other creations from the simple origins of flour, yeast, and water were most impressive, making my jaw drop on multiple occasions in wonder and awe.


My favourite two things at Europain were two dresses, one constructed from Flexipan bakeware and the other from bread. Complete with fedora, the little black silicon dress would be useful in any sticky social situation whereas the yeasty couture creation, France's bread showpiece for La Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie, is a feast for the eyes and stomach.


Speaking of fashion, Milan proved to be a formidable destination for the couture-challenged person that I am today. Every Milanese woman was dressed right off the runway, complete with the big trophy purse and 4 inch stilettos. I, on the other hand, dressed in comfort flats and the chicest travel clothes I possessed, was more appropriately suited for window shopping and frequenting a renowned gourmet store, Peck Deli, which was steps away from our hotel. The Peck community also includes a lunch bar and the very upscale Michelin two-star Cracco Peck restaurant.


I could have spent many euros at Peck Deli but not having my own kitchen in Milan nor sufficient gastrointestinal capacity limited me from indulging in the many tantalizing terrines, pastas, salads, meats etc. The singular item which I fancied the most was a union of two things which I hold dearest to my epicurean heart, the macaron and gelato. There were small and large gelato-filled macarons as well as piped gelato roses on nougatine bases. I chose the large chocolate macaron with chocolate gelato and was impressed with how it was packed on dry ice within its own styrofoam box. In my haste to consume my hybrid dessert, I did not let it thaw enough and consequently, the macaron was not as soft as desired. Regardless, just when I thought macarons could not get any better, they do!

Time and thyme again

My watch broke recently and required a major overhaul. I purchased it in April 1992 on the day after the completion of my first year university final exams in order to mark the occasion and to reward myself. Although the crystal is scratched and it lacks a second hand, this watch has served me well over time and has great sentimental value, representing the endless hours of study and academic anxieties which were endured over the years. It knew me when I still did not know myself, during a time when my life could have veered onto a completely different path had I listened to that tiny inner voice which was shy and uncertain.


But time passes and life evolves. I find myself thinking less and less about my previous incarnation, although recently, pangs of reminiscence (not regret) were evoked when I served two customers with obvious ophthalmic ailments. A sense of curiosity combined with sadness was felt because of the realization that I possessed the knowledge but no longer the privilege of inquiring about their eye condition. I am surprisingly indifferent about this loss probably because what I have gained by taking the giant leap out of medicine into pastry is the recognition of my own parameters for success and happiness. I have learned to define what success is for myself, task by task, day by day.


Having said that, this chanterelle mushroom and thyme bread was certainly my personal success today. Giving it time to ferment overnight in the fridge gave it wonderful flavour. The crust is crackly and crisp, despite my unpredictable oven, because I threw ice cubes into the hot oven as the bread went inside in order to mimic the steam injection of a commerical bread oven (my boss' suggestion). The soft airy interior is enough to transform me into a breadlover. These loaves are the best breads I have ever made at home.

Perhaps the biggest lesson in all of this is that all good things take time and for me, sixteen years later, my watch and I are still ticking, even if it is to a different rhythm.

Dough-re-mi

Some people can not live without bread. I am not one of them. You will rarely see me eating bread except at a restaurant. During the bread section at pastry school, 80% of the products which I brought home were desperately given to my sister, my in-laws, my in-law's in-laws and whomever else because my rate of consumption was too slow and my freezer was too small. My appreciation for bread making and the baker has certainly grown exponentially since pastry school.


Making bread by hand (no bread machines, no KitchenAids) is very satisfying and I do not do it often enough; however, since obtaining a block of fresh yeast recently, my interest in baking bread has been rekindled. I prefer using fresh yeast but it is quite challenging to find so I resorted to asking a local bakery whether they had a block to spare and they kindly gave me one for free!


There is something inherently pleasing about mixing the simplest elements like bread flour, water, yeast, and salt, and with your hands alone, forming a shaggy mess into a supple smooth perfectly spherical ball of dough. Bread dough is a living thing, full of happy budding yeast, which bring flavour and texture to the final product. With just a few variations, additional ingredients, and different techniques, the possibilities are endless, from the simplest baguette to the most complex Viennoisserie.