When it comes to bread, it's technology versus technique
Kerry McCluskey
Northern News Services
Coral Harbour (Mar 14/01) - Nothing starts a morning off quite so right as a helping of home-made bread. Whether toasted or plain, topped with strawberry jam or honey, the aroma and the taste can't be beat.
In fact, the only question that remains unanswered at the breakfast table is which is better? Is bread made by hand the way to go, or is it OK and acceptable to introduce grandma's scourge (a.k.a. the bread machine) into the kitchen? Only the experts would know.
Coral Harbour's Leonie Duffy is one such expert. A pro at baked goods of any and all kinds, Duffy is practised enough at baking up her heavenly carbohydrates that she regularly puts them on the table for hotel customers at Leonie's Place.
"It's just like any other job," Duffy explained, about her skill with yeast and flour.
"When you start, you don't really have confidence ... but it's all in my head now," she said.
While she started her bread-making career alongside her mother, learning how to mix and knead the bread just right, Duffy said she now prefers to use a bread machine -- at least in her work environment.
"When I'm busy running around, it's easier," said Duffy.
It is however, a Catch-22 situation. In the three hours a bread machine takes to crank out one loaf of bread, Duffy could probably do about seven by hand. And, she has to measure everything just right when using the store-bought apparatus.
"You have to put the exact ingredients in, otherwise it will be too low or hard as a rock," said Duffy.
Coral Harbour isn't the only Kivalliq community in which customers can munch on home-made bread. Every now and again, diners at Rankin Inlet's Siniktarvik Hotel experience the bread expertise of kitchen manager Phil McDonald.
"It all depends how often I get around to doing it. I'm pretty much the only baker here," said McDonald, adding that the availability of the bread depended on what time he got to work in the morning.
And while he has access to a bread mixer and a proofer -- a device bakers use to allow their bread to rise perfectly -- McDonald tries to stay away from bread machines.
"(Bread machine bread) is really heavy as opposed to the bread I make from scratch," said McDonald.
"I find the other bread rises nicer and comes out fluffier," he said.
Ditto for Leanne Anawak, the front desk clerk at the same hotel.
"I make it by hand," said Anawak.
"It's better. It tastes fresher," she said.
Anawak uses her talents to make about two loaves a month, specializing in white, dill, and brown bread. When asked if she thought it might be easier to rely on technology or whether or not she was ever tempted to go over to the other side, Anawak replied firmly and promptly.
"No," she said.
