Aliyya Swaby Photo
For Fred Walker, kneading mountains of dough to prepare Chestnut Fine Foods & Confections’ classic French bread is a combination workout and therapy session.
Once a neophyte in the kitchen, Walker now makes most of the Upper State Street shop’s bread himself, using recipes he modified and experimented with over the course of almost 30 years.
“Once you make bread and you enjoy it, you’ll always love to do it,” Walker said. “It’s sort of therapy for me.”
He made the experience sound so fulfilling, I had to try it. A bread-baking newbie myself, I decided to make my first baguette using Walker’s simple four-ingredient recipe — scaled down to feed a few friends instead of dozens of customers.
When Walker and his wife Patty first started Chestnut (originally in Wooster Square), they bought frozen bread “commercially” and baked it warm to sell. “It was a little slower in the beginning as most businesses are. And I said, ‘Well, you know, instead of just standing here unhappy with the bread, I’ll try making some.’”
Of all his breads, French bread is the most basic and “always popular,” Walker said. “Almost everyone’s French bread is the same.” Some people decide to use a “starter,” a continuously fermenting piece of dough that adds a tangy taste to the final product. But Walker decided he didn’t want to use the starter. “I’m happy with the way this one turns out. It’s sour enough for me,” he said.
Original recipe
• 2 tablespoons of fact-acting French yeast
• 6 tablespoons of salt
• 10 cups of “plain old water”
• 24 cups of “high-gluten” flour
I converted Walker’s recipe to make one baguette instead of eight. I substituted his fancier French yeast and high-gluten flour for standard grocery store versions, which were already sitting in my pantry.
Original recipe divided by 8
• 0.25 tablespoons of active dry yeast (.75 teaspoons)
• 0.75 tablespoons of salt (2.25 teaspoons)
• 1.25 cups of plain old water
• 3 cups of all-purpose flour
Walker began the process using a tablespoon to measure out the yeast into a bowl, then poured out six tablespoons of salt one-by-one in the cupped palm of his hand. He dumped in 10 cups of water. With quick circular motions, he dissolved the yeast and salt in the water.
Starting the recipe later in my kitchen, I considered using my hand to measure out salt, then quickly came to my senses. Best not to ruin the dough before it even had a chance to rise. I dissolved the yeast and salt in hot tap water, after reading the instructions on the packet of yeast.
The brown granules of dry yeast foamed, then calmed, when submerged and mixed.
Chestnut sells gluten-free pastries, but Walker makes most bread with a “high-gluten flour” — the same flour, he told me, that most New Haven pizzerias use for their pizza dough. He rolled out a garbage can full of flour from under the metal table and scooped out 24 cups, then poured half in the bowl.
He used a Swedish whisk — a flat wire spiral — instead of the traditional curved whisk to blend the wet and dry ingredients, to avoid getting dough stuck between the spokes.
With the second addition of flour, he used a spatula to coax the mix together. “When it’s in the bowl, it’s a little more manageable. So you keep it in the bowl until it’s nice and formed,” Walker said.
I was pleasantly surprised when my non-Swedish whisk and wooden spatula did the trick, not even holding much of my dough captive after the addition of flour.
I enjoy baking because I get a rush from properly following all the steps of a good recipe. So I was apprehensive when Walker stressed that “you don’t always measure everything the same.”
It’s all about the way the dough feels to the touch. “You can see it’s still a little sticky,” he said, showing me the dough caked to his fingers and palms. Sticky means add more flour. Walker kneaded the dough in the bowl at first, then dumped it on the metal table and liberally applied more flour. He used his body weight to push into the dough.
“It’s a pretty good workout, too,” he said. “I don’t have to go to the gym.”
My smaller dough ball took less physical force — and much less extra flour — to knead into submission. I left it a little bit sticky, so I wouldn’t risk adding too much flour and causing it to disintegrate.
Walker leaves the yeast to feed on flour overnight and bakes the bread in the morning. The carbon dioxide released from the fermentation process grows the dough ball to two or three times its original size. It also makes the bread slightly sour, though not as extreme as sourdough.
He tore off four large swatches of plastic wrap and covered the bowl of dough, to keep the air out. I used five pieces of Saran wrap, to be sure, and left the bowl on the stove with a post-it note to my roommates: “Plz do NOT refrigerate! Needs to be as warm as possible till tomorrow.”
I left my bread to expand in the bowl overnight and then rolled it into a baguette-like form the next morning. The dough was pitted, sticky, and reeked of alcohol — not quite Walker’s smooth, soft second-day dome. I baked it in the oven at 450 degrees for 25 minutes, placing a pan of water on the rack below to form a crust.
The result: one lumpy, sour-ish baguette, with a crisp outer layer covering a soft core. I slathered a piece with strawberry-rhubarb jam and told myself it’d be prettier next time.
Walker and his staff make about 60 loaves total each day, all completely by hand. In the winter, he hosts a breadmaking workshop for any neighbors who want to join — a relaxing session with plenty of wine and chatter, he said. And Saturdays, he sells loaves and pastries at the Upper State Street Farmer’s Market in front of the store. “I sell quite a few French breads,” he said.
“I take out all my aggressions on my bread,” Walker said, his gruffness melting into a smile. “My wife knows when it’s been a good bread day. When I come home, I’m in a good mood.”
ALIYYA,
Too hot tap water (@130) can kill the yeast and too cold (below 100 degrees) will release an amino acid that is undesirable. Run the tap until you can't feel it either hot or cold and it will be@99, then increase until you just sense the heat. Be aware of your flour temp if you're doing this in winter and you have a very cold kitchen.
[Aliyya: Thank you for the tip! Always looking for ways to improve my recipes.]