Bread

This blog has no theme. I write about whatever I want. This entry is about bread.

Sourdough loaf.

Today I baked a sourdough bread. It was a lot of effort. First there's the idea of a starter. It's basically a jar of flour/water mixture that you feed constantly with more flour and water to keep the yeast and bacteria alive and flourishing. You get that going for a few days, then you make your dough with it. That's step 1 of 13.

I followed the recipe from this NY Times link. Not counting the starter business, the whole ordeal was a 2 day effort, with a lot of mixing, waiting, folding, waiting, shaping, waiting. And more waiting. But the whole process is a bit therapeutic, and pleasantly enjoyable. A Carmex once told me he felt the same way about gardening.

The taste of this sourdough is amazing. Really soft and chewy interior, and really crisp, almost crackling crust. Actually when you take the dough out of the oven, you can hear the crust crackling. That's how you know it's a good crust. The taste rating is very close, just slightly behind, the taste rating of a fresh baguette.

Almond pistachio cherry biscotti.

Few weeks ago, I baked biscottis. They were really easy, compared to baguettes and sourdough. And tasty. They were gone real quick. I should bake more of these.

Baguettes.

I think I've gotten my baguettes down pat now. The ones above turned out really nice. They will taste different from the ones in Paris, but I kinda prefer mine. The crust is a bit crisper and the crumb a bit softer.

With baguettes and sourdough under my belt, I feel like I can take on pretty much anything. Next on my list (not in any order)

- pretzels - oh those glorious pretzels I remember from Germany. Can I come close?

- bagels - these might be too much work for their value, but something I'm considering

- naans - who doesn't like these? I mean, c'mon.

- that super-crusty-super-hard-but-so-tasty-bread from Norway. I don't even know what that bread was called, or how I'm even going to research it. But I still dream of it.

The Halal Guys

The famous NYC street food gyro, The Halal Guys, finally opened in my home town of Atlanta. Well, not exactly in Atlanta proper, but in a po-dunk area called Chamblee (a.k.a. Chambodia, due to the overwhelming population from the country of Cambodia). Which is great for me, because I'd much rather drive to Chamblee than try to battle my way through the Atlanta traffic, only to be met with more anxiety and stress as I try to find an empty parking spot.

I actually went there on opening day, Saturday, about 90 minutes after the opening bell, and saw this:

The line on opening day. Must have been at least 200 people standing in line. I decided to try again another day.

The wait then must have at least been 4 hours, because when I went today (730 P.M. on a Monday night), there was about 50 people in line, and it took me an hour to get my food. I cradled it back home, making sure nothing got tossed around during the drive. Upon arriving, I hastily popped the plastic top and stoked the center with a fork, to give it a good mixin', if you will. 

The goodness.

Let's get one thing out of the way: that pita bread is atrocious. I admit I have become some sort of a snob when it comes to anything baked, but this pita was flabby and lifeless. If I were some disrespectful punk in another universe, I would have flung this back at the chef, or the robotic machine that made it.

Ok, now the good part. The top of the platter is almost entirely covered by the gooey, but slightly tangy white sauce, with a dash of the spicy red sauce. And that red sauce packs a kick. The dude behind me asked for extra red sauce. I merely snickered to myself, judging him silently.

Underneath the sauces, there are some shredded lettuce and tomatoes, the crispy slices of the beef and chicken gyro meat (you did get the combo platter, didn't you?), and the impossibly-bright-neon-glowing-but-oh-so-tasty orange rice.

bowl.mix();
eat.begin();

The ratio of meat to rice to sauce seems to have been a result of years of careful experimentation, as the combination tastes simply delicious and delightful. The meat is crispy on the edges, packed full of flavor, and the white sauce complements it exquisitely. The orange rice adds some body to the mix and at the same time, adding yet another layer of aroma. The lettuce and tomatoes do an excellent job of softening the heat from the red sauce. You almost begin to recall some faint, hidden memories of your Afghan grandmother cooking up such a dish for you in the country side.

As good as it was, the portion was huge, and I could only finish about 2/3 of it. I think a small sized platter will suit me just fine. I will go back to try their falafels as well.

10/10, would eat again