man bread

When I lived in California, there was a great big fair for three adjacent counties. Lots of agricultural competition! And the baking competitions were fierce.

I grew up urban and took some persuading to enter the Tri-County Fair. Aren't county fairs strictly for shitkickers? There was no resisting the Farmer's wife's relentless good cheer on this point, especially when I was already disappointing her by not reproducing. But the first time I read the rules, I was shocked to find the category "Baked By a Man" ! It could be crackers to tiramisu, so long as the baker had the Y chromosome. Hilarious. One of the Deep Springs students smoked'em with his tiramisu my 3rd year.

Anyway, the bread in the photos was made by my husband, start to finish. It's an olive oil bread from poolish; the dark flecks are flax seed meal. The round loaf was baked the same day it was mixed. The rectangular loaf was refrigerated for the second rise and baked, cold, in the morning. Note the tiny blisters freckling the crust on the rectangular loaf--that was done without steam.