Time now for our weekend spotlight, my conversation and some time
spent in the kitchen with award winning Baker and author Brian Ford.
Brian Ford catapulted to prominence during the pandemics bread baking
frenzy, inspiring millions with his blog and instagram account full
of innovative twists on sour dough bread baking all while celebrating
the baking cultures of Latin America. Brian invited us into his home
in Queens, New York, His kitchen is a baker's treasure trove.
Complete, of course, with vats of pungent sour dough Starter the
most important part is getting a nice whiff of it. So you gotta don't
be scared. Easy. Wow.
Who that shoot. I got a little too close. You got shook
Man. His first cookbook, released in the summer of 2020 New World.
Sour Dough sold out its first printing that led to starring in his
own cooking show, baked in tradition on Chip and Joanna Gaines Magnolia
Network All of a sudden, Yeah, like
People was just started baking and like
You already know. I don't even have to tell you, man. I mean, y'all.
Y'all kept up with the news. It just became a whole thing. Everyone's
baking bread. Brian says he's been cooking and baking for as long
as he can remember, ultimately finding his calling after leaving
behind his career as an accountant about baking sort of dropped jury
you in baking is romantic baking is like
It's like a meditation. It's it's simple. It's
You know, you don't have to be so precise. I mean,
The dough is a living creature to I mean every single time you bake.
It's different. Even if you use the same recipe to the T every single
time. It's going to be different. I mean the temperature variables
and your emotions your mood. How you feel gets translated into the
dough. If you having a bad day and you bake, you're gonna make some
bread that's probably not great When you're having a great day. Your
bread is going to be great. The child of Honduran immigrants, Brian
imparts lessons learned from cooking in his mother's kitchen.
Parents worked so hard they came to this country and my mom.
Put herself through school. She put herself through three different
colleges to ultimately get her accounting degree. When she was like
46
days, when she was working hard, especially in the summertime, I
would be home taking care of my little sister and I would cook for
my mom because she was she would wake up should go to internship
and then go to school at night. You should come home exhausted. Yeah,
you know, And so I learned quickly from what she taught me how to
cook.
I read somewhere where you said that you know you go into any bakery
across the country and you're gonna see croissants and baguettes,
Man. I love it. I love the same be true for Honduran food 100% and
that And the reason I have that sentiment. It's not because I don't
like the taste of croissants and baguettes. I think they taste great.
Um, like most bakers, when I started, I was obsessed with making
those things. When I was an accountant. I was like every day perfecting
croissants at home. It was like I was like I've got to learn how
to make croissants.
That's like the
Right. The gold standard. Um, but the fact remains that this kind
of Western European ideology seems to permeate people's thoughts
when they want to open a bakery, and I'm trying to be more in touch
with, you know, the indigenous people of the new World Latin America.
I mean, we are very, very beautiful people.
We have beautiful bacon traditions as well. I grew up eating Sammy
TAAS
ideas like you know what I'm saying, like delicious dunked in coffee.
Um, but everyone wants to just make embryos. So we're gonna play
with no brio, right? Alpha Horta's or a different story. We're gonna
make some alcohol arrests. Okay? Alright, which is essentially, um,
one of the most popular cookies you'll find in Latin America. The
recipe is simple Cream together. Butter and sugar, egg yolks. You
can see here. It's creamy.
Smooth. That's kind of the base. Incorporate the dry ingredients.
Got a little bit of salt baking powder. I've got white flour. I've
got whole grain flour, and most importantly, I have cornstarch. Lastly,
add some vanilla extract and lemon zest. Roll the dough. Chill it
and bake the cookies until they're barely brown the bottom very carefully.
That's a beautiful color spread on some dulcet aleck sandwich them
together, enrolling and shredded coconut and now we have great.
Yeah, definitely gone to
Mm hmm.
Wow. Great. Yeah, I'm wearing it, though. For the kids. I'm saying
make it quick. Something fun. You can do a little bit about some
history some Latin American history and eat something delicious.
Absolutely. Through his baking. Brian encourages exploration. And
I think people just focus on the wrong aspects of baking aesthetic
stuff. Instead of focusing on flavor, focusing on the fact that you
made something with your own two hands that you should be proud of,
like focusing on sharing what you made with your friends and family.
Those things should be
First and foremost, Then you can start like, well, it doesn't doesn't
have the big air pockets and all that kind of thing. People get obsessive
about crumb structure, which is just crazy bread. Imagine like ancient
civilizations when they started making bread that they imagine them
sitting down. Be like, damn inside. Don't look good man and start
over.
What did I do wrong? Some trial and error as Brian Ford redefines
what Artisan Baking Ken and should be saying I tried to focus specifically
on Latin American baking, tapping into my culture and my experiences
and trying to make the best possible breads and pastries around and
just a lot of patients.
A lot of time down here in the kitchen and a lot of messes to clean
up.
Brian show, baked in tradition can be streamed on the magnolia app