Whoa, that’s a lovely metaphor, j!

I just spent the weekend making 6 batches of biscuits for Easter breakfast. The whole time anticipating receiving this book and wishing my recipes were in weights and not volumetric measures. I noticed how a wetter batch ended up more dense than a drier batch that rose more and was more flaky.

My dough had sugar in it, and the sweetness was nice. It looks like Ruhlman’s does not. So now I’m thinking I don’t want Ruhlman charts at all. I want a blank page. I want my own chart. These ratios are a springboard from which so much understanding can be realized through experimentation. The end result is real knowledge and a recipe that’s decidedly all your own. This is really exciting stuff

http://twosistersbakes.blogspot.com/

Not affiliated – just an avid baker and reader of blogs.

Anyways, would you send it to Sweden for some extra $?

/Patrik

I’m subbing classical cellist for classical pianist.

As a professional baker, I’m glad to be compared to a classical concert pianist. Too many times has my profession been compared to science, making it sound like it’s strict and by the numbers, which isn’t true of baking or science.

The culinary chef is much like a jazz musician. Take chicken soup. What defines chicken soup? Chicken and some liquid. It can be cream, broth, water, wine, vinegar, etc… The chicken can be cubed, shredded, chunked. Hundreds of vegetable and seasoning combinations. Heck, I’m sure some molecular-gastro chef has taken the essence of chicken soup, gelatinized it, cubed it, put it in a ravioli, and called it inside out chicken noodle soup.

As a baker though, my ingredients are water, flour, yeast, salt. A cellist has four strings and a bow. What I do is defined by understanding, treatment, and technique, much like a classical cellist. We are both restricted. He can’t play Bartok like Glass. I can’t make a baguette like brioche. Take Yo Yo Ma’s Bach’s Suites (I know, they’re almost cliche) – his performance can move people, all with four strings and a bow. He’s not just reading notes off a page, he’s adding his own interpretation. It’s not rote. He adds depth and character. Now take a classic baguette formula. Give it to two baker’s. You’ll get different loaves because of different interpretations. But! Unlike two chefs’ chicken soups, the two baguettes will look like a baguette, have a thin, crisp crusty, and an nice open crumb.

Jazz musicians have all the notes in the world. Good jazz comes from how the notes are combined. The classical cellist only has the notes on the pages, but the great performance comes from interpretation and technique. Both require an intimate understanding, passion, and a certain touch. And I don’t think anyone would argue that Wynton Marsalis is a better musician than Yo Yo Ma, nor vice versa.

i actually find it frustrating that someone of your caliber would reduce it to this pejorative dichotomy of “jazz musician” vs. “classical concert pianist”, as if the two were mutually exclusive.

there are rote aspects of both types of cooking. there can be enjoyment taken from the precision of cooking (as you do mention in your writing), but there is always room for improvisation. the same thing goes for cooking.