Shows about baking bread
Does any one notice or is it just me that what's conspicuously missing from their TV line up are shows about baking sandwich breads,dinner roills,baguettes,sourdoughs ,etc....Just bread in general ! There is a movement in this country and I wonder if the TVFN is going to be asleep at the wheel ????
Ask your self how many bread machines are sold across America anually and also how many publications about bread are sold at B & N and on Amazon in a year ????
I would love to see just one . Any thoughts out there ???? I hope there wasn't a show and I just completely missed it ...lol
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14 Comments:
It is one of the reasons why I used to LOVE "Baking with Julia" so much. On that show, I saw bread being made, as well as bagels, croissants, from-scratch puff pastry, pies, pastries, cakes cookies, foccacia, and so much more. And, she always had on a chef whose specialty was what they were making for her.
I really miss that show!
Brownie at 5:38PM on 06/29/08
Yes I notice this, that's why I get Julia Child's videos from the library and watch them repeatedly! (examples: The French Chef series and Julia's Kitchen Wisdom)
I get so disheartened when people talk about making homemade pizza using store-bought dough. It takes minutes to put together homemade dough that most likely tastes a whole lot better.
I know for a certain website's test recipe many said they bought dough when making the dough was an integral part of the recipe. I think too many people are concerned with convenience these days and if they would just take some time to work with doughs they'd know how much better homemade can taste. I'd love to see (yeast) baking back on tv too!
bobcatsteph3 at 6:01PM on 06/29/08
Baking with Julia is on the local PBS station here, and I've been watching. Yes, I'd loooove to see a current show about bread, but I don't have high hopes about that.
One problem might be that the people who are professional bakers are doing vast amounts of dough at a time, and they might not be so interested in paring that down to single loaves at a time for the home baker.
dbcurrie at 6:04PM on 06/29/08
You are so right about the Julia series in the library. Just released (well a few months ago) on DVD, I got it from mine as well and it is not only great detail, it's hilarious at times. Check out some of her first show when she was just learning. I wrote a reasonably successful and nationally well reviewed baking book and will never know a fraction of what Julia knew.
myspicekitchen at 7:23PM on 06/29/08
Alton Brown has done several shows on bread including an entire episode on sandwiches.
bravian at 7:31PM on 06/29/08
I have a cookbook here - Mary Ann Esposito - on bread making - great book - and I think she used to be on one of networks - PBS, maybe? - the book's truly wonderful, loaded with Italian specialty breads and rolls and such.
moibec at 8:14PM on 06/29/08
I'd love to see Baking with Julia--but I'm one of those people totally intimidated by yeast breads!
Here is why, perhaps:
1. Most bread recipes have lots of instruction to 'wait several/18 hours' for the starter/dough to expand and so forth--not very cinematic, and a pain for the crew to create the product in various stages for continuous filming.
2. Dough is not pretty and kneading it is hard, sweaty--not exciting like flaming something on a grill or pretty, decadent cake decorating.
3. I'm not alone in being scared of yeast!
HeartofGlass at 8:31PM on 06/29/08
@heart, the Baking with Julia series did a good job of having the dough in various stages, so if they could do it back then, they could do it now. Even more fun would be one stage where they do time-lapse photography of the rising. That would be different.
Seems like a large majority of people have food processors and/or Kitchenaid-type stand mixers, so kneading in there would make a some sense, and make it a little less intimidating to the home cook.
As far as being afraid of yeast, I have a quote on my fridge that came from one of the Julia shows. You should not be afraid of the dough; the dough should be a little bit afraid of you.
dbcurrie at 1:09AM on 06/30/08
It would be a great addition to any sort of cooking TV roster - be it PBS or if TVFN ever gets its... stuff together. I'd love to see a show on bread becauase there are a lot of techniques that don't translate well to printed cookbooks. Still shots don't always transmit the message either.
It would probably have a very small audience and therefore not be of much value to whatever station aired it.
chiff0nade at 10:05AM on 06/30/08
dbcurrie, that time-lapse thing is an awesome idea. I think a sort of edgy, fun, non-scary approach to baking would make a great show. Some chefs and people have sort of painted bakers and pastry chefs in general as more or less brittle little snips who do something so tedious, methodical, and exact-measurement-dependent, that none of us mere mortals could possible accomplish what they do. Not so. I would love to see something like that on TV.
BangieB at 12:24PM on 06/30/08
I love the ones Alton Brown does since it's verrrrrry informative especially if you want to add your own twist to it.
fritesandfries at 12:30AM on 07/01/08
It took a lot of years for me to finally realize that baking bread isn't rocket science. On any given day...even the same day...the exact same recipe will raise differently. And, even though most of my bread is single-rise (instant yeast), I still create a few things from time to time that are double-rise.
I bake a LOT of bread - small batches, no more than 4 loaves at a time in my big Kitchen Aid.
In all of my cookbooks, all the old Julia shows, everything seemed so rigid. Alton Brown has shown me the light (on many topics), and searching the 'net. I would have loved to have had someone tell me that for some people, the bread may raise in 30 minutes. In other kitchens, it may take 90 minutes.
Someone above was correct...the directions for bread baking rarely translate well to the written word.
thewrighttaste at 11:06PM on 07/02/08
Did anyone every watch the bread baking show on PBS. I can't remember what it was called, but the show featured a monk who would teach you how to make several different recipes.
tekrox at 11:46AM on 07/04/08
There are many variables in the bread baking process that just won't translate to the printed word. Bread baking is about touch and is also visual . The environment of the baking process also comes into play...Humidity ,temperature....etc.. That is what I'd like to see being discussed along with the nutritional advantages of homebaked bread in a show.. If you compare all that is on the supermarket shelves I think none of it will even remotely touch what comes out of the home oven if done properly...
All the equipment and ingredients are available...and there is enough literature to help along the way....Professional formulas and home recipes are not a problem side by side because they are all based on chemical formulas based on %'s of flour ...all you need is a calculater...All this stuff could be taught in the show
grizz518 at 2:16AM on 07/11/08