In this article Ian Lowe (a baker from Australia) asks fundamental questions about what bread actually is. Raising these questions is a way to break apart what we assume we know and understand about bread:
Are noodles boiled bread?
Is beer brewed bread?
Is rice bread?
Is tempeh soy bread?
This is an interesting starting point because it encourages us to make links with other products with simlar structures or characteristics. In the workshops we sometimes say, “isn’t beer liquid bread?” after all it is fermented grains in a liquid solution. It produces CO2 and alcohol with similar yeasts.
When we talk about the cook piece, we use rice as an example of starchy food to illustrate the absorption of water by the old bread. In doing so, participants understand what a cook piece does, why it reacts that way, but they also get to understand something about rice, and why it cooks the way it does. One day I remember thinking “if bread stales faster at low temperatures, meaning that retrogradation of starch happens fastest around 4°C, is it the same with cooked rice?” And indeed, when we keep rice (or pasta for that matter) in the fridge, it dries out. If we push the comparison even further, we could say that turning rice into sour rice (like sourdough) might help preserve it at room temperature without molding.
These comparisons, metaphors stem from a form of curiosity, and generally lead us to access new knowledge. They are an interesting barometer for creating new products.
Article: Beyond the Crust by Ian Lowe