Roy Basan wrote:

> EJM <llizard@idirct.ca> wrote in message news:<s96jmvo74uj3cl6bjp4pc4ocu5ifr4nj02@4ax.com>...
> 
> 
>>I cannot say the same for any commercially made "Italian" bread that I
>>have purchased anywhere I have been in Canada or USA. For the most part,
>>here in North America, the commercially made "Italian" bread is a
>>travesty that closely resembles dull tasting cotton wool and only looks
>>marginally like anything sold in any Italian Italian bakery. I doubt
>>that there is any Italian bakery in Italy that would stay in business
>>long serving that kind of commercially made "Italian" bread.
> 
> 
> There will always be differing opinions about the credibility of Carol
> Fields book. From the point of the hobbyist, and the part of the
> practical baker.
> I still choose to side with the later as what is important to me in my
> job is what sells and not what some people who sang plaudits that they
> made a fantastic bread by themselves..
> In line to this just recently I had a conversation while reading this
> post from a fellow baker who  commented adversely also against the
> book.
> Anyway,Does it make a difference? Various  people have differing ideas
> what a bread should be.And its not uncommon that those individuals who
>  just  learned to make bread as a hobby  by following a recipe make an
> exaggeration  about their accomplishment.
> This reminds me of a  true story as related by a  baker friend.It was
> not about italian bread in this case but of french bread.
> A customers( who was a  hobbyist baker) from his bakery once proudly
> claimed that he can  make a better French bread than any bakery  by
> following  the recipe of his favorite baking  book.
> The baker replied back: Really then why not make a business out of it?
> Or if you have no  capital you can try convincing a  baker to take you
> under his  wings and apply your recipe in practice in his place.He
> would be delighted to improve his French bread sales.I can recommend
> you to a fellow tradesman for trials and job interview.
> That customer who was an avid baking hobbyist was accepted by  another
> bakery in the next town to hire him as the baker and  he  did find  in
>  actual test that he can make a good bread. In the next day he guided
> the new guy in his kitchen and paid him to do a job as one of the
> night baker.
> He asked the baker for help in adapting it to the production run; to
> scale up his favorite  recipe to large scale.This was rechecked by the
> new guy and was satisfied with the calculations.It was found out by
> the production people there was no big difference in the process as
> both of the methods uses two stage method(ferment and dough) and they
> prepared two separate sponges to be used in the dough production as
> well as two different sets of dough later.
> The morning after their were two types of French bread.The standard
> loaf of the bakery and the other one by the new employee. It was
> displayed in  two separate wicker baskets  The  shape were similar 
> but slightly different in sizes  for the standard loaf. Maybe because
> of  recipe difference(or other reason) but the processing were almost
> identical although after baking they appear similar except for a  
> slightly darker crust with the new bakers bread as he want it to have
> deeper crust color  than what the standard loaf had.
> As the standard operating procedure when a new product is introduced
> in that bakery;
> Product sampling were  done by the store personnel and slices of bread
> were placed so that the customer could try it. As the customer
> congregated on the sampling stall and did their tasting and inquired
> about( which is which) they were later told  which of the bread from
> both basket they were the tasting.
> In the end more people prefer the in house bread( and more were sold)
> than the other one which according to the group had a better flavor
> than the other. As that guy who made the other bread was silently
> observing the customer behaviour; he was shocked,
> That   was a form of humiliation to the new guy that in shame he
> resigned from his job.
> That story was relayed back to the baker who recommended to taking in
> the guy in whom I got the news  much later.
> Therefore the morals here to  those  hobbyist do not be too cocky and
> overconfident with your new found breadmaking skills thinking that
> your bread is always better than the bakery. Indeed there are many
> commercialized methods as what you call as flat tasting bread but
> there are  some good ones  as well.
> 
> Roy

At the end of the day, some people agree with you; others will not. Are 
you correct? And in what context? My answer is simple. Yes and no. It 
really depends on what is important to you.
-- 
Alan

"If you reject the food, ignore the customs, fear the religion, and
avoid the people, you might better stay home."
                                 --James Michener