Raymond Calvel - The Taste of Bread

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Chapter 2 ............................................................. 15

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Chapter 3 ............................................................. 27

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Chapter 4 ...................................................... 38

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Chapter 6 ................................ 55

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Chapter 7 ........................................................ 67

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Chapter 8 ...................................................... 78

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Chapter 9 ....................................................... 80

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Chapter 10 ................................................. 89

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Chapter 11 .................................................... 102

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Chapter 12 .................................. 131

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Chapter 13 ......................................... 141

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Chapter 14 .................................................. 158

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I first met Professor Calvel during my long internship at the well-known restaurant of Charles Barrier (who is incidentally a friend and mentor of Joel Robu- chon). Barrier used to make his own smoked salmon, hams, pates, etc., but his great love was bread. He had a fully professional breadmaking operation to make bread for sixty lunch-time customers, and then more bread for sixty dinner customers.

At one point there were problems with the bread, and it came as no great surprise to see Raymond Calvel arrive to look into things, since he and Barrier are great friends. The Professor took the train from Paris, asked a few appropriate questions about the formula and ingredients, had lunch in the dining room, and returned to Paris on the train. He left behind a small sheet of paper on which, in his small and extremely neat handwriting, he had written a few suggestions-increase the proportion of prefermented dough, add a bit more water, mix a little less, and ferment a bit more.

I wasn't then a baker, and the changes seemed insignificant. Nor did I realize that by applying these few simple suggestions it would be possible to produce superior bread in just four hours from start to finish. Calvel had applied a principle that can be summed up in an apparently contradictory phrase, of which he is most fond. Panifier vite et bien-make bread quickly, but make it well.