Baker Takes Bread Art to a Whole New Level

When it comes to making bread that’s almost too good to eat, few bakers even come close to Hannah P, a North Carolina food artist who has taken Instagram by storm with her intricate bread designs.

From loaves of bred decorated with plant-inspired designs hand-carved into the dough, to pastry creations adorned with colorful fruits and vegetables, Hannah P.’s works are nothing if not eye-catching. Using a razor blade attached to a kitchen utensil the name of which escapes me, the artist posting on Instagram under the name “Blondie + Rye” takes bread art to a level that I for one have not seen before. Sure, there are lost of talented bread artists showcasing their creations online these, days but Hannah is definitely one of the most talented ones, if not the best.

Photo: Hannah P./Instagram

I could go on about Hannah P.’s talent, her 100k followers on Instagram, and how she’s taking the food art world by storm, but frankly words don’t do this skilled baker justice. Just feast your eyes on her crunchy masterpieces.

 

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From yesterday. Happy Thanksgiving, y’all. ✌️

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The Foccaciamiche. 😎🌿

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The simple boule from the previous post.

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Miche 9.0, out in the world. ☺️

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Magical miche 6.0: finally happy enough to share my interpretation of the miche form. My miche is higher-hydration than the traditional, with a small amount of added natural sweetness and a small amount of oil, all three factors contributing to keeping quality. A little more all-purpose flour too. And…I honestly like the flavor of a bit of olive oil and a bit of rich sweetness in the miche. I gotta admit that I’m not a purist. 500 g all-purpose, 200 g spelt, 300 g whole wheat, 100 g rye, totaling 1,100 g flour. 200 g 100% hydration leaven, 800 g water, 50 g light olive oil, 60 g dark brown sugar, 26 g salt. 3 folds during the first two hours of bulk, with 3 more hours, until risen 60%. Shaped and proofed cold for 10 hours. Baked for 45 minutes at 450 f, with about 15 ice cubes thrown on the oven floor at the beginning of the bake. No way I have the capacity to truly steam this thing, but the crust was still excellent because of the moisture in the dough. C’mon. Fall in love with the miche with me.

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From yesterday. ☀️

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From the previous. 🌿🌾🌿

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Still boldly fillin’ the negative spaces of the fougasse…

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From the previous post. 🙂

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From the previous post. And as promised, a very quick rundown of what I did here: -300g water -100g 100% hydration sourdough leaven -100g unsalted softened butter -60g softened cream cheese -80g light brown sugar -17g sea salt -750g all-purpose flour Mix together the wet ingredients, then work in the flour, salt, and sugar. Hand-mix until fully combined. It will be a dense-ish dough. That’s good. Knead or slap or turn however you like 4 times at 1-hour intervals. If you get the dough warmer in the oven by turning it on and off, leaving the container in there at about 100f, it will loosen up a bit, allowing you to do a more Tartine-style stretch-and-fold. That warmth will also encourage faster fermentation. This is a slow bulk, though, and you can’t avoid that reality. There’s butter and cream cheese, and there’s not a whole lot of water. Lean into the leisurely pace. Get some chores done, or read something nice! Depending on ambient temperature, it could take 5-10 more hours after you’ve stopped kneading. But here’s the thing: it needs to double, but it’s totally cool if it triples, too. It’s forgiving. After bulk, you could turn this dough into almost anything. For the two loaves, I allowed 1.5 hours for a final proof at high warmth (100f). Then, I baked them at 400f for roughly half an hour. Kinda like a lighter take on brioche. Real good stuff. 🎉❤️✌️

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From the previous post. 🙂

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From yesterday: Metapoblanos. 😎

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