diff --git a/book/intro/acknowledgements.tex b/book/intro/acknowledgements.tex index b29761e..c8f4093 100644 --- a/book/intro/acknowledgements.tex +++ b/book/intro/acknowledgements.tex @@ -1,5 +1,9 @@ -This book would not have been possible without the help of the community. Thank you very much for all the support. \\ \\ - +This book would not have been possible without the help of the community. +All the donations have made it possible that I was able to take +some time off from my job and YouTube to write this free book. +By providing this information free to everyone we can +enable more people around the world to bake delicious +sourdough bread at home. Thank you very much!\\ \begin{filecontents}{supporters.csv} \end{filecontents} @@ -13,9 +17,8 @@ This book would not have been possible without the help of the community. Thank \pgfplotstabletypeset[col sep=comma, header=true, - columns={Name}, % display specified columns + columns={Name}, columns/Name/.style={column type=l,string type}, - % requires booktabs to place horiz rules every head row/.style={before row=\toprule, after row=\midrule\endhead}, every last row/.style={after row=\bottomrule} ]{supporters.csv} \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/book/intro/foreword.tex b/book/intro/foreword.tex index 718c6e3..5695e5e 100644 --- a/book/intro/foreword.tex +++ b/book/intro/foreword.tex @@ -1 +1,2 @@ -Still need someone to write a foreword \ No newline at end of file +Hopefully one day there is going to be an awesome foreword +by another break baker! \ No newline at end of file diff --git a/book/intro/preface.tex b/book/intro/preface.tex index 3cb1c1c..e3d4d20 100644 --- a/book/intro/preface.tex +++ b/book/intro/preface.tex @@ -1,7 +1,185 @@ -If there is the one food from Germany it is probably bread. There are thousands -of different varieties of bread in Germany. Making bread has been an integral part -of our culture. Beginning my studies in Göttingen for the first time I was faced -with buying bread on my own. In Germany that is no easy task -as the varieties of bread are endless. I started to check the packaging -of different bread types and noticed how there were surprisingly -many ingredients in most of the breads found in a common supermarket. +If there is the one food Germany is known for, then it is probably bread. +There are thousands of different varieties of bread in Germany. +Making bread has been an integral part of our culture. + +My bread journey began already a earlier in my childhood. My mother being parent +of 3 would always use saturdays to bake a delicious loaf of bread for the family. +It was a white fluffy sandwich bread made within 1-2 hours using yeast. +Being a bit more experienced now I know that it's +ideal to wait a bit before cutting slices of your bread. But back then +we kids couldn't help it. Mom had to directly cut us a few slices. We would then +directly proceed and pour butter or jam on each slice. Within a few minutes 1kg of +flour has been consumed. Bread became an integral part of my weekly food. + +I was lucky that my parents were able to afford a yearly skiing trip to +Alto Adige in northern Italy. In the small town called Valdaora we +would try new restaurants every year, but ultimately always end up in our favorite +pizza place. The pizzas we had were incredibly delicious. The dough +alone was so tasty that we ordered blank pizzas with purely the dough and a +bit of olive oil and salt. +Of course my question was always, mom - can we make this at home too please? +So over the years as we became friends with the owners we would receive +more and more clues as how to make the perfect pizza dough. There +are no secret ingredients inside. It's just flour, water, salt and a bit of yeast. +How can such a simple combination of ingredients create such an incredibly delicious +pizza dough? My parents being persons of habit would return every year with us. +Each year my interest grew. At home mom and me would try to replicate +the recipe. We tried baking on a stone, a steel, adding oil to the dough, +adding herbs to the pizza sauce. We ended up in a never ending cycle +of experiments. However, we never managed to get close to the experience +that we had on vacation. + +A few years later I began my studies in the small German city Göttingen. +For the first time I was faced with shopping for my own bread. It was never +on my mind to actually start baking my own bread. I would just buy me +a good loaf of bread while shopping in the supermarket. My favorite variety +used to be a Schwarzbrot, Korn an Korn. It's a very dark hearty rye bread, +consisting of lot of rye berries and sunflower seeds. Being a little naive +I never before looked at the packaging of what I was actually buying. That +changed one day. I looked at the packaging and was shocked. The seemingly +healthy bread consisted of all sorts of things other than flour and water. +The black color was not coming from the flour, but from caramelized sugar. +The packaging stated it was a sourdough bread. Why was there additional yeast +added to the process though? I thought sourdough doesn't require additional +yeast? I realized that something is utterly wrong with the bread I was buying. +Quickly I proceeded to check all the other supermarket breads, only to +notice that all of them contained ingredients I never heard of. I lost trust +in all supermarket bread. + +At home I decided to read on how to make bread. Much to my surprise I learned +that the recipe for making a pizza and bread are quite similar. Some recipes +would call for fresh yeast, others would call for dry yeast. Deep diving +into some forums I read lengthy discussions and was even more confused. +I tried to use different flours from different brands, organic flours, +non organic flours. I realized I know nothing about making bread. Recipes +would very often confuse me, because they contradicted each other. The recipes +were just a collection of seemingly random steps to follow. The baking instructions +and temperatures were all different too. + +Having completed my studies I started to work as an engineer. +When working as an engineer you are faced with challenges. The compiler or runtime +always screams at you with errors you have to fix. Sometimes it can take hours or +even days to fix a simple problem. If you want to become a software engineer +you have to develop a certain never giving up mindset. Frequently when writing code, +a set of pre-made routines is used by developers. These routines have been +programmed before by other engineers and can then be used to ship code faster. +The pre-written code is commonly known as {\it a framework}. In many cases +these frameworks are not built by a single person. The source code is published +and other engineers from all around the world can help improving and changing +the source code. Frameworks have made many successful businesses possible. Working +with frameworks in most cases they do exactly what they say they do. However +sometimes you are faced with issues you don't understand. In 99.95 percent +of all bugs in software, the developer writing the code is probably the issue. +Sometimes though the framework has a bug. This is when you have to dig deeper and +see what and why the framework is doing something. You will need to read other +engineer's source code. You are forced to understand why things are happening. + +Being not happy with what I was baking, my engineering mindset took over. I had +to deep dive and understand exactly what happened. Much to my surprise none +of the recipes I could find would tell me why I should use exactly amount X +of water for flour Y. Why exactly should I use fresh yeast over dry yeast? +Why should I slap my dough while kneading on the counter? Why is a standmixer +better than kneading by hand? Why should I let the dough sit for this long? +Why is steaming the dough during baking important? Do I really need to +get myself an expensive dutch oven to bake bread? This became even worse +when I started to read about sourdough. It sounded like dark magic to me. +Some sourdoughs were made from fruits, other from flour? Why do some +people have a wheat, a rye and a spelt sourdough? How often should the sourdough be +fed? All my questions back then could probably fill 20 pages. I was confused +but became more and more determined to find out how decent bread at home +should be made. + +The feedback from my friends had improved and improved with each +iteration of homemade bread. Compared to coding where +you sometimes have to wait for months to receive feedback on what you do, +bread making is much more direct. Plus you can eat your successes and failures. +Much to my surprise even my failures would start to taste +better than most of the store-bought breads. Eating a homemade bread that +took you hours to make allows you to develop a different relationship +with your food. Making a bread from scratch with my bare hands +was a much welcome change after hours of working on the computer. +I would keep learning more about the process of fermentation and +various techniques of bread making. I approached the topic of sourdough bread +in a very similar way how I approach software. + +After several years of learning and documenting my progress I decided it was +time to share my ideas with the world. When working on open source projects +it is important to see a history on how the code changes over time. This +way you can jump back to previous versions of the source code. This was +the perfect tool for documenting my recipes, because my recipes would also change +with each subsequent iteration. Much to my surprise my open source sourdough +work had been appreciated by many other engineers. The project became +very popular on the website GitHub, originally built to share software +source code. When baking great bread you also need to learn certain techniques. +I figured it was easier to share these techniques as a video. That's how +my YouTube channel was created. I chose the name {\it The Bread Code} to +visualize my software engineering approach to bread. The channel only gained +viewers when I started to choose more engaging thumbnails and titles for +the videos that I made. 3 years later I now reserve 2 days per week +to follow my bread baking passion. 3 days per week are used for my engineering +job where I still write code on a daily basis. My bread days continue +to fill me with a lot of joy and passion. To me there is nothing better than +seeing how people make amazing bread thanks to my tips and explanations. +The community has grown and grown, providing many interesting discussions +and ideas surrounding the topic of bread making. There is always something +new to learn and I feel that even now I am just barely scratching the surface with +what I know and teach. Would you ever have imagined that fruit flies are like +bees and are part of the wild yeast's success story? I made a video where +I tried to cultivate wild yeast spores coming from fruit flies in order +to bake a bread. It worked, the bread turned out amazing and even tasted +very good. These kind of experiments spark my natural interest. Conducting them +and seeing how other people share my interest makes me very happy. + +The problem with running a YouTube channel is that all the information +you see is filtered and provided to you through an algorithm. I am very +worried how algorithms are shaping modern information. They tend to +put users into certain categories where you only see news related +to the bucket that you have been placed in. A key metric is how many +people click on a video after it has been shown. The content you create +is not even shown to every subscriber of your channel. If the algorithm +determines the video is not engaging enough, your content starts to +decay in YouTube's nirvana. If your video goes viral, the algorithm +will stop showing it once engagement rates with new users go down. +Older videos are slowly fading over time, as the decay punishment +factor increases and increases. I have been developing similar algorithms +myself as a software engineer. + +I decided I want to try taking some time off from the algorithm cycle and +work on something more long term, something even more meaningful. +My mission has always been to share my knowledge with as many people +on the world as possible. That's also why my content has been provided +in English and not in German. After discussing with members of the community +I figured that writing a book could help me to achieve that goal. Most +current books are collections of recipes. My idea was to provide you +with a deeper solid knowledge foundation that you can use to follow other recipes. +In software terms a {\it bread framework}. This book could help everyone +facing issues with flour, fermentation, baking and much more. It would provide +a detailed understanding on why certain steps should be done and how to +adapt when things go south while making bread. However +I want my knowledge to be accessible by everyone around the world. I do +not want to charge for the book. I want the information to be freely accessible, +no matter your budget. That's why I decided to make the book open source +and ask the community to support funding my project via my ko-fi page +(https://ko-fi.com/thebreadcode). +The feedback from the community has been amazing and I already raised +a lot more money than +I initially expected. The first version of the book will only be available +digitally. This way everyone can read the book. There might be a hardcover +version too in the future, depending on how well this book is appreciated +by bakers around the world. The hardcover version will cost a bit of money, +while the digital version will always be completely free. + +With this book I will try to be as scientific as possible, but in no way +claim that this is a work of science. I have conducted several experiments +myself that I will show you in this book. But to call this science, you would +probably need to repeat the same experiment a thousand times in a lab +environment. I will do my best to provide scientific references where possible +and clearly distinguish between facts and my personal opinion. + +I hope you have fun reading this book and that you learn a lore more about +the fascinating world of bread making. I sincerely wish that this work +will provide you with a solid toolchain that I wish I had when starting +to make bread. + +Thank you. +Hendrik \ No newline at end of file