The struggle to make decisions for ourselves in our craft are universal across fields. But then you realize at some point a pro that developed the recipe you’re trying to follow tried something unorthodox to get a desired result.
This is great, and so many similarities to making coffee. There aren’t many great coffee brewing resources out there, so learning how to brew is still an oral tradition, mostly. It’s gotten somewhat better, but there are still a lot of tentpole goals and a million roads to get there.
I can’t wait to try making these pretzels. It is difficult to buy really good pretzels of this sort these days. They sold soft pretzels daily at recess at my grade school. Yum! But that was a long time ago.
One of the eye-opening things about going to pastry school: we were always taught traditional French methods, but I came armed with at least a decade of reading Cook's Illustrated. So, I would challenge the chefs, asking "I saw this technique in the magazine. Wouldn't that be better?" and I would get blank stares and they sometimes couldn't justify the traditional method any further than "that's how it's taught" because that's how THEY were taught. During my first job where I had complete control over morning breakfast production, I could choose my own methods and it was the most freeing thing. I always found Alton Brown's depiction of grumpy French chefs on Good Eats very amusing and spot on for this reason.
“…still being open to novel approaches to doing things if they are easier or better than the old ways.”
This closing line sums up something I love about you and that has made your bread recipes more approachable for me, someone slightly intimidated by baking. Thank you for the willingness to be open to novel approaches, Andrew!
A young couple got married. And the new wife decided to treat her new husband by making her families famous pot roast recipe. He's watching her work her magic. She salts and peppers the meat, cuts off the end, and puts the main piece and the end in the pot.
"Why do you cut off the end?" he asks. She responds, "I don't know. That's how my mother taught me."
Tick, tock. Time passes. They're having Thanksgiving dinner at her parents' place. He starts a conversation, "Do you make the family pot roast recipe?"
"Oh, of course!"
"How do you do it?"
"Well, I salt and pepper the meat, cut off the end, and put both pieces in the pot."
"Why do you do it that way?"
"Hmmm....I don't know. That's how my mother taught me..."
Tick, tock. More time passes. Now it's Christmas and they're having dinner at her parents' place. This time the grandmother is there. And he's got to get to the bottom of the mystery.
He asks the matriarch, "Do you make the family pot roast recipe?"
"Oh, of course!"
"How do you do it?"
"Well, I salt and pepper the meat, cut off the end, and put both pieces in the pot."
"Why do you do it that way?"
"My pot isn't big enough to hold the whole piece uncut."
I love this and is something I struggle with myself. I love to learn, but I often find myself trying to emulate exactly what someone else is doing and don’t give myself permission to question and try something out of left field just for the hell of it.
I went to SFBI and always twitch a little when formulas are written out using the “final” formula as the “total” formula (even though I often do this for myself at home). It’s not a big deal at all, but my rule abiding brain often shouts about doing it the “right way”. 😆
The like button is wholly inadequate to convey how deeply this resonates and how many thoughts I have in response to this post. I think doing things a certain way per a teacher’s expertise helps to distinguish lineage of teaching (maybe more professionally) and proper attribution of source (for lay people). I like to know where people source techniques and recipes and it irks me to recognize a distinct process and people don’t cite the original source. (Yes I know not much is truly original, but at least the most proximal source.) The other main thought I had is that I think fusion baking (e.g. Japanese interpretations of classical French baking) is a great place where innovation happens to add non conventional techniques to a recipe. Also, I think defining the objective of the recipe (the qualities of the product that the recipe developer is aiming for) is so important for the end user (and probably the recipe developer too). Obviously CI is known for this; it was useful to me to see what the goal was, and if I didn’t really care or agree with the ideal characteristics they were going for, it helped me decide whether or not to make the effort for the recipe. In this case, having no pretzel making experience, I am curious: was the lack of extensibility an issue that everyone just accepted and just told you to rest the dough a few minutes if it was fighting you? If so, definitely speaks to a lot of things we’re there’s collective diffusion of responsibility and inertia to change anything that doesn’t work optimally, until someone who has a fire lit on the subject, takes the effort.
I've been baking for 50 years. Aside from what I've read, I'm self taught. I do what works, based on what I know about the fundamentals. The only "tradition" I worry about is making good bread.
I cannot wait to try that approach to pretzels!
The struggle to make decisions for ourselves in our craft are universal across fields. But then you realize at some point a pro that developed the recipe you’re trying to follow tried something unorthodox to get a desired result.
This is great, and so many similarities to making coffee. There aren’t many great coffee brewing resources out there, so learning how to brew is still an oral tradition, mostly. It’s gotten somewhat better, but there are still a lot of tentpole goals and a million roads to get there.
Love this...you cover every twist of the pretzel😉
I can’t wait to try making these pretzels. It is difficult to buy really good pretzels of this sort these days. They sold soft pretzels daily at recess at my grade school. Yum! But that was a long time ago.
One of the eye-opening things about going to pastry school: we were always taught traditional French methods, but I came armed with at least a decade of reading Cook's Illustrated. So, I would challenge the chefs, asking "I saw this technique in the magazine. Wouldn't that be better?" and I would get blank stares and they sometimes couldn't justify the traditional method any further than "that's how it's taught" because that's how THEY were taught. During my first job where I had complete control over morning breakfast production, I could choose my own methods and it was the most freeing thing. I always found Alton Brown's depiction of grumpy French chefs on Good Eats very amusing and spot on for this reason.
“…still being open to novel approaches to doing things if they are easier or better than the old ways.”
This closing line sums up something I love about you and that has made your bread recipes more approachable for me, someone slightly intimidated by baking. Thank you for the willingness to be open to novel approaches, Andrew!
A young couple got married. And the new wife decided to treat her new husband by making her families famous pot roast recipe. He's watching her work her magic. She salts and peppers the meat, cuts off the end, and puts the main piece and the end in the pot.
"Why do you cut off the end?" he asks. She responds, "I don't know. That's how my mother taught me."
Tick, tock. Time passes. They're having Thanksgiving dinner at her parents' place. He starts a conversation, "Do you make the family pot roast recipe?"
"Oh, of course!"
"How do you do it?"
"Well, I salt and pepper the meat, cut off the end, and put both pieces in the pot."
"Why do you do it that way?"
"Hmmm....I don't know. That's how my mother taught me..."
Tick, tock. More time passes. Now it's Christmas and they're having dinner at her parents' place. This time the grandmother is there. And he's got to get to the bottom of the mystery.
He asks the matriarch, "Do you make the family pot roast recipe?"
"Oh, of course!"
"How do you do it?"
"Well, I salt and pepper the meat, cut off the end, and put both pieces in the pot."
"Why do you do it that way?"
"My pot isn't big enough to hold the whole piece uncut."
I love this and is something I struggle with myself. I love to learn, but I often find myself trying to emulate exactly what someone else is doing and don’t give myself permission to question and try something out of left field just for the hell of it.
I went to SFBI and always twitch a little when formulas are written out using the “final” formula as the “total” formula (even though I often do this for myself at home). It’s not a big deal at all, but my rule abiding brain often shouts about doing it the “right way”. 😆
Oh man. Just based on this post, I can tell I am going to love your book when it's ready.
The like button is wholly inadequate to convey how deeply this resonates and how many thoughts I have in response to this post. I think doing things a certain way per a teacher’s expertise helps to distinguish lineage of teaching (maybe more professionally) and proper attribution of source (for lay people). I like to know where people source techniques and recipes and it irks me to recognize a distinct process and people don’t cite the original source. (Yes I know not much is truly original, but at least the most proximal source.) The other main thought I had is that I think fusion baking (e.g. Japanese interpretations of classical French baking) is a great place where innovation happens to add non conventional techniques to a recipe. Also, I think defining the objective of the recipe (the qualities of the product that the recipe developer is aiming for) is so important for the end user (and probably the recipe developer too). Obviously CI is known for this; it was useful to me to see what the goal was, and if I didn’t really care or agree with the ideal characteristics they were going for, it helped me decide whether or not to make the effort for the recipe. In this case, having no pretzel making experience, I am curious: was the lack of extensibility an issue that everyone just accepted and just told you to rest the dough a few minutes if it was fighting you? If so, definitely speaks to a lot of things we’re there’s collective diffusion of responsibility and inertia to change anything that doesn’t work optimally, until someone who has a fire lit on the subject, takes the effort.
I've been baking for 50 years. Aside from what I've read, I'm self taught. I do what works, based on what I know about the fundamentals. The only "tradition" I worry about is making good bread.