"A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" to quote Lao Tzu. Anyway here I am starting a blog, something I never foresaw happening. Before I get started with the bread and the challenge I would like to introduce myself.
My name is Mike Callihan. I am retired engineer residing in the Cincinnati, OH area. I have many hobbies/passions. I say passions because I really don't know how get into something casually. If I become interested enough to dabble it usually leads to full bore ahead immersion until it has run it's course and I am off to something else.
Cooking has been a passion of mine for some time now. While I have always been interested in cooking when I retired and my wife continued working it only seemed fair that I take over the daily cooking chores. From that point forward I became intrigued with the science of cooking (It is the engineer in me). While I can follow a recipe, more often than not I will put together my own take on the dish in question. Understanding the science of cooking is a huge plus when using that approach.
An episode of "America's Test Kitchen" baking their "Almost No Knead Bread" peaked my interest in Artisan breads. I had Peter Reinhart's " The Bread Baker's Apprentice" in my library for some time. While I had found it a good read the formulas seemed like a lot of trouble. Revisiting that book and trying a couple of formulas led to this current obsession. I have been at it for a couple of months and just now do I feel like I am truly making progress. I will however admit to feeling like the more I know, the more questions I have. When I saw this group forming on TFL and "Bread" was a recent addition to my library, I decided it might be fun to take this "Julie & Julia" trip together with like minded folks. As my questions arise I feel fairly confident that the sum total of the knowledge of this group will provide an answer.
Thank You Brian for your efforts on all of our behalves.
Now off to the kitchen. Mike
My name is Mike Callihan. I am retired engineer residing in the Cincinnati, OH area. I have many hobbies/passions. I say passions because I really don't know how get into something casually. If I become interested enough to dabble it usually leads to full bore ahead immersion until it has run it's course and I am off to something else.
Cooking has been a passion of mine for some time now. While I have always been interested in cooking when I retired and my wife continued working it only seemed fair that I take over the daily cooking chores. From that point forward I became intrigued with the science of cooking (It is the engineer in me). While I can follow a recipe, more often than not I will put together my own take on the dish in question. Understanding the science of cooking is a huge plus when using that approach.
An episode of "America's Test Kitchen" baking their "Almost No Knead Bread" peaked my interest in Artisan breads. I had Peter Reinhart's " The Bread Baker's Apprentice" in my library for some time. While I had found it a good read the formulas seemed like a lot of trouble. Revisiting that book and trying a couple of formulas led to this current obsession. I have been at it for a couple of months and just now do I feel like I am truly making progress. I will however admit to feeling like the more I know, the more questions I have. When I saw this group forming on TFL and "Bread" was a recent addition to my library, I decided it might be fun to take this "Julie & Julia" trip together with like minded folks. As my questions arise I feel fairly confident that the sum total of the knowledge of this group will provide an answer.
Thank You Brian for your efforts on all of our behalves.
Now off to the kitchen. Mike
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