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I think the summation get’s to it.
Maybe it is the case that there’s nothing new under the sun, that all ideas are just mirrors of others before them. Lahey’s “revolutionary” Dutch oven technique is a repeat of a baking method used since Roman times; the wet dough approach was known among professional and home bakers for decades.
This seems to drive a bit of a fad every decade or so. Before Lahey it was Dunaway. My friend’s mom who owns a health food store was baking no-knead breads of this type from hippie books and the Whole Earth Catalog in the 80’s. My grandmother has been making all sorts of no-knead breads starting in the 40’s. Though crusty boules weren’t her style she has clipped recipes for them from newspapers going way back (she likes to mail them to people).
Almost exactly Dunaway’s method was published in Italy by like 1990, and seems to have been well known in Europe before she published. I had family who were doing so at a bakery in the Irish Midlands in the early 90’s.
Lahey is a shameless self promoter. I’d say the issue is less cribbing Dunaway’s credit. Than Lahey basically swallowing up the entire history of this stuff, even as he claims “ancient” and “natural” roots and what have.
Both are part of a bigger issue on this that presses this specific kind of bread. Whether it’s sour dough, or no need, or whatever the specific type. As the only “real” bread, breads by any other recipe or style as compromised or commercialized and unnatural. Despite the sort of artisanal breads in question being really modern, the oldest dating to the 19th century and originating in commercial bakeries.
That just has the effect of zeroing out a whole lot of non-European cultures, a whole lot of people, a whole lot of history, and a whole lot of bread. Whole thing kind of thrives on whoever the latest person is claiming authority by glossing over everything else.
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Sunday afternoon orange coconut cake, made by my SO. One of those “stick the whole orange in the food processor” ones - ■■■■■, slightly bitter and so, so good.
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The division of labour for food in our house is roughly ‘if it has salt in it, it’s me, but if it has sugar, it’s her’. So I made potato gnocchi.
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That cake looks and sounds delicious!
(Edited to fix typo)
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A cookbook about non European sourdough breads was published in the last few months and looked interesting. At the moment I can’t remember it’s title, but I will post it once I’ve found it.
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carambola (star fruit) is coming in on our tree out front
so many in fact, that I am making preserves. 10 star fruit, 6c (1.5l) water, 750g sugar, 1tsp vanilla, 1tsp cardamom, 2 pods star anise, juice of 3 lemons and 1/2 fresh red chili pepper (seeded). boil until reduced by half and thickens and pour into sterile jelly jars.
sweet, tangy and just a hint of heat. this is a winner. we have so many carambola already and this tree will keep making well into the fall, so I had to come up with something! the neighbors are getting tired of them!
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(Australian Women’s Weekly cooking books are a bit of a 70’s and 80’s legend here - they were cheap, amazingly popular and most households would have had at least one. Not the place you’d turn for anything than European, especially UK inspired food, but their cake recipes are always fantastic. Most millennials will have eaten birthday cake inspired by their kids’ birthday cake book.)
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Are those chocolate coated ladyfingers around the outside of that cake?!? 
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Yes! The whole book is full of these wonderfully daft cakes - ducks with potato chip bills, trains with liquorice wheels, ponds of jelly with chocolate frogs in the bottom. There was no end to the way prefab sugar was repurposed!
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Those all sound adorable! I’m making the orange coconut cake later today, hopefully. The recipe looks so easy! (Hope that didn’t jinx it.)
ETA: it’s in the oven!
ETA: done, and delicious, though a couple notes. I used a springform cake pan lined with parchment, but it still leaked a bit, lending a nice smoky flavor to the cake from the leaked stuff burning on the bottom of the oven. Also, I think it could’ve cooked a bit longer. It’s m o i s t AF in the center. Definitely a keeper, though, and will try again. I think it might be nice with some coconut sprinkled on top with the orange zest. Maybe some toasted, slivered almonds as well. All in all, yum.
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“Maybe that’s enlightenment enough: to know that there is no final resting place of the mind; no moment of smug clarity. Perhaps wisdom…is realizing how small I am, and unwise, and how far I have yet to go.”
― Anthony Bourdain
Happy Anthony Bourdain Day everyone!
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In my head I automatically read that quote in his memorable voice.
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I love everything about that… the awesome quote, the way he’s clearly excited about the food… his AWESOME FUCKING SHIRT!
He was an awesome human and I’m sad he’s not around anymore…
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