International School of Baking

 

I remain truly amazed at the places that baking has taken me. My travels have taken me to many exotic places in this world; from Kenya and Tanzania in Africa, to the non-touristy areas of Venice, Italy and extensive travels through the jungles of Malaysia and so on, but I was not prepared for the beauty, isolation, poverty and untouched originality of the Miao Tribal people of Guizhou, Guyiang. Known as the wild Southwest on the Tibetan boarder of China.

The US Wheat Associates sent me to teach a three-day seminar on European breads and pastries in Guyiang in 1989. 300 people attended of which many had traveled over 3,000 miles to be there. Some of the attendees had become good friends of mine over the years meeting and working with them in previous seminars in other parts of China or while working with and consulting in their bakeries. It was so rewarding to see them advance their baking skills and prosper financially.

Guyiang is extremely isolated, planes fly in bi-weekly from Hong Kong and Guangzhou and roads in China just don’t go there. This makes for a very isolated atmosphere. Five or six years before my trip, a baking technician came to Guyiang from the Philippines. He brought some very different ideas such as Pink, Green and Blue breads. The thought was that, if they were pretty, they would generate better sales. My absolute favorite was a very purple one.

In the Philippines the color purple comes from the use of “Ube” (a purple tuber) and it is everywhere in their breads, cakes and ice creams. In this tribal village in Guyiang, they didn’t have Ube. They were creating the color by substituting the Cochineal bug and blue berries—it’s funny and terribly unappetizing.

 

 

I fell as a baker, we need to be responsible for what we teach and responsible not only for the information but also for the nutrition we create. For example, I try to use butter only where it contributes to the quality, taste and texture of the products. I try to find alternatives such as olive or canola oil that are better for our health when appropriate. We can look at formulas that are high in sugar and we may find that many times it does not contribute to the taste; but adds additional shelf life more calories come with it. We should question ingredients and even techniques and try to produce the best product possible whether it is for your family or the public you serve. Maybe purple bread has a great future but hopefully sans the bugs.

 

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Purple Bread

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Purple Bread

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