Big gobs of flour!

[kentauros]

(((I was wrong in my assessment of the Lounge preferring a good rant, so y'all have to put up with it here now :P)))

So, I'd like to frappé the baker or likely "celebrity master chef" that came up with this "artisan technique" of plopping gobs of flour all over the outside of bread loaves and not dusting it off after baking!!1!! I don't want a mouthful of flour that isn't bread!

I've seen as much as an 8th of an inch of this browned flour stuck to the crust and have to knock it off the loaf myself. Plus, it adds that much more weight to the total weight of the loaf, and it isn't getting eaten, so why do it?

Sure, I know those affluent people that can't boil water love the look of 'artisan' breads, but I seriously doubt any sane bakery in Europe uses this technique. I've worked at a Swiss bakery (in the US) and we never did that crap with our loaves. I'll dust the top of a loaf with a hand-sprinkling of flour to cut down on the way the crust browns as well as to keep it soft (or that seems to be the effect.) But I always knock it off the loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven. I even use an old drafting board brush to get the rest.

Oil well. I guess it could be revenge by the bakers to the braindead affluent that only care about the look instead of the taste. I'm not affluent but do buy such loaves sometimes for the known quality of the bread (when I'm too lazy or tired to bake.) Just drop the loaves on the baking pan a couple of times when you take them out of the oven. Then sell spray-on gobs of flour for the idiots

[hippywife]

1. I put it on my artisan loaves

to assist in the ease of slashing the dough before baking. :shrug:

[kentauros]

5. I understand that.

But do you then serve that bread with a thick coat of flour or do you knock or brush it off? I do not want a bunch of flour in my mouth first thing before getting to chew the tasty part, i.e., the bread ;)

[hippywife]

6. I don't put that much of it

on there to begin with. Just throw a little bit on there before slashing it. Not enough to be a problem.


And that was my 18,000 post. Appropriate that it happened in C&B. :hi:

[kentauros]

8. Congratulations!

:party: :hi:

I do that, too. Just enough to do whatever effect it has like I said. I do slice the top, but I don't have a razor and didn't think to use the flour to help that way. I knew it added some color, but I always 'bounce' the loaf upside down to get the excess flour off. It's still not like what I've bought in stores as far as that overdone excess flour goes, so I won't be getting a mouthful of it at home :)

[hippywife]

10. I use one of those

snap off utility knives with the tiny row of blades inside that you just snap off to get a new one. Works pretty well.

Thanx! :hi:

[kentauros]

12. I've used those before, but then forget to buy new ones.

I think I tried to use my Exact-o knife last time and had to use a chef's knife instead. The blade was just too thin and not long enough to get a good draw in one slice.

Well, I'm going out and let someone cook falafel for me, probably a pita sandwich drizzled with tahini sauce :9

[hippywife]

14. Your dinner sounds really good.

Just finished a nice big baked sweet potato with a little bleu cheese and a mixed green salad with onion, olive and pears, apple cider vinaigrette. :9

Enjoy your evening out. :hi:

[Warpy]

15. I love those things, my whole life revolves around those, duck tape,

and WD-40. They come in a pack of 3 in the Dollar Store, a great deal because I immediately lose two of them.

[Warpy]

2. I think revenge against idiots is exactly it

After all, these are the idiots who will keep that bread encrusted with browned flour prominently displayed on a cutting board until it either visibly dries to nothing or mildews while they shove Wonder Bread into the six slice toaster to eat with their frozen scrambled eggs in the morning. The bakers producing this stuff are likely hoping against hope that one of the people in those gleaming stainless steel kitchens with the acres of unused granite countertops will one day find a knife, cut off a slice, and actually try to eat the stuff, to the effect you complain about.

Occasionally I've used a knife to shave the flour off my own loaves when I've gone a little overboard. Plain flour is NOT GOOD, whether or not it's been toasted.

Now a crust of cornmeal, that's completely different. Yum.

[grasswire]

3. frozen scrambled eggs?

ewwww

[Warpy]

4. Sure, they come with frozen sausage or frozen bacon

Yum yum.

[kentauros]

7. Cornmeal at least adds some flavor.

Flour isn't especially flavorful until it's been turned into something else, like bread, Béchamel sauce, or cake :)

It's funny you mention 'those' kitchen, as we all know what they're like and wish we had a large kitchen like that to work in (and a staff to clean it!) The office building where I work uses a parking garage also used by Houston's affluent that are shopping at the Galleria or Neiman-Marcus. I came out to my car yesterday to an expensively printed flyer for granite countertops. You'd think the person distributing would have saved them a little bit of money and focused on the Lexii, Mercs and BMUUs instead of also snagging my Civic. Yeah, like I can afford their "bargain" $14,000 kitchen makeover :eyes:

[Warpy]

9. I remain convinced those kitchens are only for non cooks.

The rest of us work in pure funk with inadequate countertops. The people who can afford the showplaces (some of which won't actually WORK, as you can tell by the pictures) generally go out or have catered food brought in.

[kentauros]

11. Yes, that's true.

I remember a Boston Market ad where they show one of those really nice six-burner Wolf or other high-end ranges. Then the woman comes in and sets down their bag of food just bought at the fast food place. Right. Like the person that owns that range would eat at Boston Market to begin with. The ad would have worked better with your average barely-working-right electric or gas range. At least they'd have marketed to the right demographic ;)

[Warpy]

13. Actually, I think that's right on the money

Boston Market, unless it's changed radically in the last 10 years, is the kind of food non cooks with trophy kitchens eat on a weekday when one spouse is on the road and the kids need to be fed. It's not the same as McDonald's or Taco Bell. Those bags would be opened in front of the TV in the family room, not set down in front of the trophy stove for the food to be taken out of the bags and plated for the kiddies.