What and why

Having recently bought a KitchenAid stand mixer for the home and setting out on a quest to never buy tasteless loaves of bread from the racks of Kroger again, I have convinced Bill (convinced in my own mind, at least) to set out on "The BBA Challenge" with me. BBA stands for "The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread", an excellent book written by Peter Reinhart that explains not just how to make bread, but why bread making... makes bread.

"The BBA Challenge" is similar to the concept behind "Julie & Julia": bake your way from cover to cover. I hope to bake a new bread every weekend, from "Anadama Bread" to "Roasted Onion and Asiago Miche". Until now, Bill has been in charge of a majority of the baking we've done, mostly involving focaccia and wheat bread, while I've only done a loaf or two. With "The BBA Challenge", I will attempt to perform at least 50% of the work on each loaf, roll, baguette, round and whatever other form in which this bread will be made. From this, I hope to gain a better insight into the magic behind the food and flavors I enjoy and to develop a passion for a skill that I have great respect for.

I will attempt to provide pictures of the bread I make from beginning to end, along with my own analysis of the flavors and processes involved in the baking process. I do not really expect anyone to follow this too closely, but if you see something you like, feel free to ask for a piece. This will be a lot of bread, as we will most likely be preparing plain loaves each week as well for sandwiches and other uses that call for a more mundane slice. I would love feedback from others on not only the look of my bread, but also the taste. If you see something I made that you think you would love, let me know, and I may just make you a loaf of your very own.

To wrap things up, I will tell you about the name of this blog. Fornax was the deity worshipped by the ancient Romans for the purpose of both ripening corn and baking bread ('fornax' itself meaning oven). A festival, the Fornacalia, was held every year to honor Fornax, that, by toasting spelt to her, the Roman ovens would not burn their bread in the upcoming year. In the same way, I hope Fornax bless my own oven, that I may learn, grow, and produce wonderful bread from beginning to end.