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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

From Gérard's bakery in Vermont

I am back in Vermont, working on a project with baker Gérard Rubaud, including a step-by-step description of the creation of a levain "à la Gérard" to be posted on Farine. Stay tuned!

12 comments:

  1. Such lovely photos! Lookin forward to the levain...

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  2. Thank you, Miriam! Gérard's way isn't necessarily the easiest one but after only one day, the levain already looks soo alive and smells so delicious, it seems like an enchanted culture!

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  3. ... waiting with anticipation.

    Shiao-Ping

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  4. Very curious. MC, can you ask Gerard if he ever has problems creating a starter? I mean...has he ever ran into the problem when his starter is dormant after a couple of days of starting his culture?

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  5. Does it hiss, bubble and talk back sometimes?

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  6. What an exciting experience! I'm sure you're enjoying every single minute of it +++!
    Bisous et je suivrais tout ça de près (grâce à Twitter qui me prévient de tes billets, c'est bien commode).

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  7. Hi MC,
    Looks like a magical place with all the snow...it must be great to share some time with him...
    Judd

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  8. That's great! You're lucky MC.
    Giovanni

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  9. @Shiao-Ping, the levain is growing fiercely. Even Gérard is amazed... Must be the new grains. More info when I get back home.
    @Carl, yes, I'll ask him.
    @Jeremy, believe it or not, it's actually almost bouncing!
    @Flo, bisous too and thanks for Twitter!
    @Judd, pretty amazing, yes...
    @Giovanni, if you have questions, now is the time!
    For ease of reference, I will post all of the questions with Gérard's answers in a single post.

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  10. Lazy Baker, when I create a starter, it doubles or sometimes...tripples in volume, but after the 1st, 2nd or 3rd feeding, the starter is dormant, and it doesn't rise at all. There are bubbles after the 2nd or 3rd feeding, but it is not until after a week or two, that the starter will then rise. I am curious to know if Gerard encounters the same problem when he creates a new starter.

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  11. MC, the questions are for you. Strange? I think no.
    You are an experienced home baker (I hope to be too, maybe one day) and you had a lot of baking experiences with other bakers. Every time I have such opportunity I try to catch what are the key differences respect to my actual knowledge of the bread baking process. So, what's the key in Gerard's baking process (levain, timing, ...)?, what didn't you expect (dough hydration, type of flour, ...)?, what's the flavour of Gerard bread? I hope I give you the "philosophy" of my questions.
    Thank you, Giovanni

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