"the itchiness where you need more sleep but the urge to bake pulls you downstairs" YES!!! Every few months, maybe three times a year, I awake in the middle of the night at an hour earlier than I did when I was still full-time at the bakery feeling full of energy and singularly fixated on making baguettes. I cannot get them out of my mind. I wander the house simply letting my brain play over the sense memories knowing it makes no sense to start baguettes at that hour but hoping if I think enough about it - the smell of the dough, how it feels to pre-shape, stretching, the shifting sound when loading it into the oven - my brain can rest again. I feel so alert thinking about it that I consider going on a run. It usually takes an hour or two until I can sleep again and I know the next day that it is time to drop all plans I had so i may baguette again.
Wow! That’s a potent call! You’ve described it so well I can see it as a story. Like Raymond Carver’s story about a baker calling a family that didn’t pick up the cake—do you know that one?
I'm still here baking breads! Loved your description of dough peeling (or raising!) you off your pillow. Dough or making dough totally gets me out of bed :)
Artisan-style crusty loaves are my jams. Recipes on my website www.reciperose.com Usually about 25% whole wheat, often with a touch of rye, about 80% hydration and always aiming for more open crumb. Topped a sourdough with Dutch Crunch today which was a first and so fun!
"the itchiness where you need more sleep but the urge to bake pulls you downstairs" YES!!! Every few months, maybe three times a year, I awake in the middle of the night at an hour earlier than I did when I was still full-time at the bakery feeling full of energy and singularly fixated on making baguettes. I cannot get them out of my mind. I wander the house simply letting my brain play over the sense memories knowing it makes no sense to start baguettes at that hour but hoping if I think enough about it - the smell of the dough, how it feels to pre-shape, stretching, the shifting sound when loading it into the oven - my brain can rest again. I feel so alert thinking about it that I consider going on a run. It usually takes an hour or two until I can sleep again and I know the next day that it is time to drop all plans I had so i may baguette again.
Wow! That’s a potent call! You’ve described it so well I can see it as a story. Like Raymond Carver’s story about a baker calling a family that didn’t pick up the cake—do you know that one?
I'm still here baking breads! Loved your description of dough peeling (or raising!) you off your pillow. Dough or making dough totally gets me out of bed :)
It’s like an extra brain, or a baby/person you need to check on, right? What breads are you baking these days?
Artisan-style crusty loaves are my jams. Recipes on my website www.reciperose.com Usually about 25% whole wheat, often with a touch of rye, about 80% hydration and always aiming for more open crumb. Topped a sourdough with Dutch Crunch today which was a first and so fun!
Yum!