Amy's Bread

Took a family trip to NYC yesterday. We started out at Lombardi's Pizza, where we had to wait about a half hour for a table. Not too bad, but we never had to wait before. The pizza ... again, not bad, but not the awesome pie we've had before. The fresh mozz was gummy and the crust not crispy, but burned on the edges. It was good, just not the high quality we've had before.

Then we headed over to the Chelsea Market, which was just fun to be there. Lots of interesting people of all stripes. Mostly everyone was eating something. If they weren't eating, they were shopping. We had some gelato and some terrific hot chocolate from a new Jaques Torres store.

And then we went to Amy's Bread. There are a number of bakeries in CM - some sell bread, most sell cakes and desserts. Amy's space is huge, most of which is taken up by the industrial part of the bakery, which is all visible through the glass walls. The actual store is quite small.

I just bought one baguette. The price - $2.25. That's it! Just $2.25!!!

The bread was perfect - crusty and chewy at the same time. Saltier than my bread. Ton's more flavor. The crumb was moist, like mine, but more delicate.

It's not right to compare a boule to a baguette, I suppose. But her bread had way, way more taste than even the last loaf.

Her baguette bag was funny. It's a long paper bag (the baguette is about a yard long), and lists the ingredients as Wheat Flour, water, yeast, kosher salt and a poolish. I wonder why she added the "poolish" part, since it's made from the same ingredients. Does she think of it as something else? Maybe I'll get her book and find out.

So .... I'm a little depressed. Here I thought I was making bread, as good as bakery bread according to Jim Lahey, and that just isn't so. Looks wise, texture wise, maybe. Taste wise, not even close.