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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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There is science and there's
also arts about baking.

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When apprentice
comes to Poilane,

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we train them for nine months.

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And at the heart
of hearts, what we

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teach them is how
to attune their five

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senses to their environment, to
the ingredients, to the dough

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they're baking that day.

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We have very little
measures in the bakery.

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We use our hands, which are
some of the most sophisticated

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tools.

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Using your five
senses is something

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that's absolutely key
at Poilane to bake

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a consistent, perfect loaf.

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At home, it's your
gateway, the way

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you're going to start baking
without feeling daunted

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by the scientific
numbers, without being

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daunted by the artful talk.

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The five senses
approach is a way

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of opening your senses to
what is the right sound, what

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is the right sight for
a well baked loaf, what

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is the right smell
for a starter or when

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that starter has gone off.

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What is the feel of a loaf?

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Does it crackle
in the right way?

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And of course, taste.

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Baking for me is a
sensory experience.

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And I will be walking
you through how

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each sense is engaged in
different stages of baking.

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Once your loaf is baked, I
like to think that there's

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four stages of freshness.

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The first is the
ultra fresh loaf.

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It's the loaf you cut
through that's cooled down,

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but it's still moist.

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It's still full of life.

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And it's the one you want to
bite into right away, maybe

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not even putting butter on it.

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After 24, 48 hours, it's fresh.

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It's not at its
freshest, but it's fresh.

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And you want to put a little
butter on it, a topping.

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It makes for the
perfect sandwich.

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A third stage is when the
bread starts becoming dry.

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At that point, you start
wanting to eat it by toasting it

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or transforming it.

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Because on its own, it's a
little too dry to bite into.

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And then, the fourth stage
is when the bread is stale.

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When your bread is
stale, when it's

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so hard that you are having a
hard time cutting through it,

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you definitely don't
want to bite into it.

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A lot of people tend
to discard the bread,

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but if it gets to
that stage of dryness,

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then you can use it to transform
it into bread cooking material.

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And I'll show you
some of the ways

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you can cook with bread in
the second half of the class.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Bread has very
little ingredients--

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water, flour, salt,
and a rising agent.

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Most people use the word
"flour" quite generically.

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I like to describe
the grain of the flour

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because flour is just a word
to describe a grain that's

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been ground so finely that
it becomes that texture we

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associate with the word flour.

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I love to use stone
ground flour because it

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keeps its natural oils.

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Whether it's a flour of wheat,
rye, corn, or whatever grain

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you're using that day,
you must buy quality flour

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without any additives,
without any whitening--

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pure grain flour.

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If you're in the
US and you don't

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have a small mill or a bakery
that has some freshly ground

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flour that you
can store at home,

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then I like to go for King
Arthur's flour or Bob's Red

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Mill.

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Butter-- I am very
lucky to live in France

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and have fabulous butters.

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You want to have the
best quality butters.

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Ideally, it's a raw milk butter
because throughout the season,

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it changes in flavors
and in tastes.

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And that adds some
specifics to your bakes.

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I like to use Amish
butter, and that's the one

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that I've been testing
most of my recipes with.

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If you don't have
access to raw milk

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or Amish butter, a high quality,
high fat butter will do.

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The legends that water makes
a difference in your bakes

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is false.

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It should be drinkable
water, and it

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should be water that doesn't
go into any extremes,

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whether it's too
hard or too soft.

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While quality of
ingredients matter,

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the love and passion
you put into your loaf

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will make a difference.

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So care for your ingredients
because from soil to your home,

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there's a whole
value chain here that

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needs to be fed,
maintained, and kept.

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And that will also make a
difference in your bake.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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When you're baking,
you start off

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with mixing the ingredients.

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So some bowls are
really helpful.

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A standalone mixer
for some recipes

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is really useful as well.

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Those tools are the
basics, how you're

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going to bring the
ingredients together.

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Once you've mixed your dough, to
let it rest, using some cloth,

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you'll be able to cover the
doughs and avoid them crusting.

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When there's a second
proofing stage,

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then you want to use a basket.

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Proofing baskets are
typically wicker baskets

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covered in linen or cotton.

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But if you don't have either of
those, you can use a colander

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and use another linen
or cotton fabric.

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Once you're baking the bread,
some breads call for mold.

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You can use typical kitchen
molds that are open on the top.

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And if you want a flat top
and you find it easily,

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you can use this more
professional material.

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A baking sheet to put some
loaves and a Dutch oven,

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a cocotte that will give an
additional boost to your loaf

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as you start baking them.

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That is a great tool to have.

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Then, as you're putting
the bread into the oven,

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we're going to draw the
scoring, the designs

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that you can see
on these loaves.

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For those, you need
a pair of scissors.

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It should be pointy,
and it should be sharp.

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And the other great tool
is to have a razor blade.

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There are different types of
razor blades to score breads.

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The ones that are
slightly rounded

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are less practical,
but just as good

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if you want to work with those.

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At the bakery in
the bake house, we

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tend to use ones
that are straight

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A few other pretty obvious
tools when you come to baking,

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brushes are really practical
to brush the inside of molds.

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Dough scraper is
also quite practical

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to scrape out the dough, but
you can use your hands as well.

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Parchment paper to
avoid anything sticking,

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and once your dough is ready,
once your bread is baked,

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a cooling rack.

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Another tool that's
really useful

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is a food processor
or a food blender.

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Those are really practical
to break down bread

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into breadcrumbs.

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There's always a fine
line between my world

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of baking, science and
art, feeling and precision.

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Here in home baking,
especially because we're

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baking one loaf or two
loaves at the time at most,

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we want to err a little
bit on measurements

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and on the scientific side.

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I highly recommend that
you use a digital scale

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to weigh your ingredients
instead of measuring them

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by volume.

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And so, a good scale, maybe
even a temperature probe

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will be useful.

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But know that at the bakery,
because we work daily

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and because we have other
sensory tests and probes,

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we don't need those tools.

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And in time, I reckon that
you will probably also develop

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that understanding.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]

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Your environment does
influence the way you bake.

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And this is why attuning your
five senses is so important.

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By learning and experiencing
different bakes,

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different seasons,
different environments,

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you build a mental library
of how the dough reacts,

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how your ingredients react, how
you react to that environment.

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I have a simple scale to
adjust to the environment.

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It's about how hot or cool it
is, how dry or how humid it is,

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and whether it's the dough
or the bread you've baked.

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You have to learn how to adjust.

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When it's super
cold, the dough you

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will want to cover it and make
sure that it doesn't crust.

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Conversely, when it's
super hot, the dough

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will tend to grow much faster.

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When it comes to
dryness or humidity,

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if it's super dry out,
your load will tend

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to dry out and become stale.

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Conversely, if it's
super humid, your bread

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will become very moldy
because it just absorbs

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the humidity like a sponge.

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When it comes to
the dough itself,

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a very dry environment will tend
to help the rise of the loaf,

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whereas a very humid environment
will tend to plump it down.

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And this is the
balance we're always

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trying to strike between
these four elements.

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We'll revisit all these details
throughout the class, so don't

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worry about memorizing.

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Some ovens react
differently than others.

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And so, your initial
bakes will be a good test

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to say if one gas
mark or one degree

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is accurate for your oven.

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I discovered recently
that my oven consistently

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is a little
overpowering, so I've

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come to learn how to reduce
my oven for certain bakes.

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To accumulate your knowledge,
to not waste a crumb,

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to help you build
that mental library,

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take a nice little book that
you want to feed and write into

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and start logging.

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It's about realizing what
are the different effects,

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the trends, what are things that
are specific to your kitchen.

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Then that log is a
good way to remember

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those environmental factors.

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And in time, it will
develop your mental library

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of how to react to them.

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But you have the basics here.

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[MUSIC PLAYING]