Two Kinds of Breads

December, 2012

Another trip to Asia, this time with many early meetings: ungodly early like 3am and 5am. I have no problem waking up, but I got hungry. The city (or even room services) would not be awaken by then. Naturally, on the night before, I went to the Asian bakery nearby (yes, there is always one, wherever you are).

Educated on my recent baking experiments, I observed that none of the bread was “plain.” Plain breads have only four ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, and water. The primary skills are fermentation, shaping, and timing. The flavors are subtle, yet very identifiable. The yeast and other ingredients interact in complicated, yet somewhat predictable, ways. Further, shaping the dough into bread is actually a difficult art. French baguettes, for example, takes years of practice. Bakers in western world, wanting to be “artisan,” focus mostly on plain breads.

The enriched breads use a variety of ingredients — butter, sugar, cheeses, fillings, and toppings — instead of relying on fermentation alone, to achieve flavors. You can think of them more as a meal, or sandwich, than breads.

I enjoy both kinds. I am quite surprised to observe the chasm between Asia an Western bakeries. There were practically no plain bread in a typical Asian bakery; for a typical western one, the most enriched one will probably be a brioche, hardly something to stand out in an Asian store.

This is where diversification and multicultural environment work. Right? Having a wonderfully piece of enriched bread and a cup of Starbucks’ best is nice, even in Taipei city at 4am, on a conference call.

Don’t get me wrong. I would rather be sleeping.

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