Good morning folks. I am well aware of world events at the moment and I hope that the Russian invasion of Ukraine de-escalates soon, that the people of Ukraine are safe, and that democracy is returned to the Ukrainian people. I also hope that the Russian people and the folks in power have realized that Vladimir Putin is insane and that they do something to remove him from office.
On a brighter note, today is Arseblog’s 20th anniversary and of course I extend my congratulations to him and everyone working there. I wouldn’t have gotten in to blogging if it hadn’t been for Andrew – whether you think that’s a positive or not is another thing – and I wouldn’t have had the chance to reach nearly any of the audience that I have if it hadn’t been for him asking me to write for Arseblog. His figure looms large over the entire landscape of sports blogging, and even journalism, not just Arsenal blogging. There are probably hundreds of people who earn a living now off Arsenal either directly because of Andrew or his inspiration. As his site once said “it’s fucking excellent”.
And speaking of excellence, I wanted to share a banh mi bread recipe that I found on YouTube which is, uhh, excellent. I found an old photo I took of a loaf of bread I baked in 2008 which was, to be blunt, a very bad loaf of bread. At the time I was incredibly proud of my work and I think I posted it either on Instagram or Flickr (ha! remember Flickr?).
I think it was a loaf based off the book “Artisan bread in 5 minutes a day”. Not that that was the reason that the loaf sucked – that was entirely me. In fact, if you want a starting point into your own journey into bread making, I would recommend trying their basic bread recipe. It’s available for free on their web site. To this day I use techniques I learned in that book to bake bread. And more importantly, it taught me to be brave and embrace my mistakes.
2008 was the year I started this blog, the year I started trying to make my own bread, and the year my child was born. I turned 38 that year. I guess it was my mid-life crisis? Anyway it was a transformative year.
And now here I am 13 years later and I have finally, finally cracked the code for how to make light, fluffy, crackling crust banh mi baguettes. Well, ok, Mai Loves Cooking cracked the code (which was cracked by someone in France hundreds of years ago) and all I did was find her video.
The only “problem” with the video is that it’s in Vietnamese and it’s 30 minutes long. For those of you who are pretty experienced with bread making and would like the shorthand version, I have printed it below. I’ve also added my own “touch” to the recipe which I think adds more flavor but which you can skip entirely (especially for your first bake).
Banh Mi (Vietnamese recipe from YouTube)
The entire bake from start to finish takes about 4 hours so plan accordingly.
Special equipment suggested:
- Kitchen-aid mixer
- 2 – 4 loaf baguette pans
- Kitchen scale accurate to 1g
- Heavy tray for the bottom of your oven (for steam)
Step 1, mix a poolish
- 100g 75F water
- 100g bread flour
- 7g yeast
Mix the ingredients in a bowl and allow to rest an hour or until thick and bubbly. Meanwhile get the rest of your ingredients ready and at room temp (70-75F).
Step 2, mix the dough
Put the following ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer
- All of the poolish
- 500g Bread flour
- 100g pate fermentee (this is saved dough from your last bake, not in the original recipe, skip if you don’t have it)
- 215g water
- 50g egg (1 large)
- 20g lemon juice (about half a lemon)
- 17g sugar
- 11g salt (original recipe called for 7g, which is unusual but my increase in salt still works)
Mix on low for 5 minutes. Once the dough forms a ball, switch off the mixer and add in
- 10g oil
Mix again on medium for another 5 minutes. Then switch the mixer off and cover with a damp towel or a plastic bag. Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes.
After resting, switch the mixer on again, this time mix on medium high for 5 minutes or until the dough is smooth and elastic. THERE IS NO BULK FERMENT IN THIS RECIPE. YOU MUST FULLY DEVELOP THE GLUTEN IN THE MIXING PROCESS.
Once the gluten is fully developed, dump the dough out onto your shaping table. At this point, you should take 100g out and put it in an air tight container in your fridge, this is your pate fermentee for the next loaf.
Now cut the dough into 8 equal pieces (or 7, if you’ve saved a pate fermentee for the first time). These should be roughly 125g each (mine were 123g). Shape each piece into a ball, cover the balls and allow to rest for 15 minutes.
Prepare your baguette pans. I recommend using a slice of parchment paper in each of the baguette slots. I also agree with Mai that you don’t want to bake these two to a tray. They will stick together if you do that.
After the dough balls have relaxed, you will need to shape them into a loaf. This is where the video is helpful so spin up to 8:30. The basic gist is that you really need to roll these babies tightly. Your entire job here is to create a gluten cloak so that your loaves have good oven spring.
Place the loaves on your baking tray, cover them, and put them somewhere warm to rise. I put mine in my oven with a couple cups of boiling water in the heavy tray I keep in my oven. But you may need to cover yours with plastic. I use a medium sized garbage bag for this because it’s large and reusable.
After the loaves have risen for about an hour (mine took 75 minutes) fire up the oven. Ok, so, here’s a bit of a problem. Mai used a convection oven set to 400F. I set mine (regular, boring oven) to 425 and it was actually a little too hot. I suggest setting at 425 but watching the bottom of your loaves VERY carefully and pulling them before they burn.
Put your heavy pan in the bottom of your oven and position your racks so that you can bake two loaf pans.
As the oven was heating, Mai spritzed the tops of the loaves with water and let them rest for 15 minutes. My spray bottle inexplicably died so I just covered my loaves with a plastic bag.
Once the oven comes to temp, slash the loaves. Once again the video shows you how so refer to that. The basic idea is that you want to slash the side of the loaf with the blade parallel to the plane of the Earth, start at the tip, make the slashes deep, and give them a slight curve like a frowny face.
🙁
Now all your work comes to a head so let’s be careful! If you used parchment paper be super careful because the loaves will slide around. Place the loaves on their racks, pour in a cup of water, and close the oven. Now turn the oven down to 375F and set a timer for 8 minutes.
I baked mine according to Mai’s timing (which was 10 minutes, rotate, 10 minutes) and the bottom of my lower rack loaves burned. So, I’m adjusting the timing based on my experience. You will need to use your experience and common sense.
After 8 minutes, open the oven, swap the trays (again, be careful, things are slippery!), and close the oven again. This time, you want to set a timer for 8 minutes but keep an eye on the loaves and check after 5. My loaves on the bottom rack burnt.
When the loaves are browned to your liking, pull them out and cool them on a cooling rack. Allow the loaves to FULLY cool (30 minutes at least) before you crack one open. I suggest making a simple jambon beurre (ham and butter*) for your first sandwich. Enjoy!
*Really needs to be Jambon de Paris and good French butter, lol.
Heh. The arseblogosphere is something special. Really enjoyed your hat tip to Andrew/Arseblog.
The reason I started coming here was because of your pieces on Arseblog, in fact more to the point, I came here because you interacted with me (many years back) on one such piece…
If memory serves me right, I asked you if Arsenal were playing periods (of +-20mins) of intensity. And your very next stats piece you broke it down in periods of 20mins to see if it was by instruction of Wenger. I can’t remember what the verdict was 🤷🏼♂️
Also thoroughly enjoyed your segue into baking. Thanks for a top blog!
PS: I haven’t seen Devlin around for a while. Always enjoyed his contributions. Hope all is well Devlin 👍
Bread!
Oh, and happy birthday to Arseblog too! I’ve enjoyed reading the stuff there for many years, and I hope it goes on for at least 20 more years!
Tim, thanks for your insight into football and bread. I share your passion for both of the aforementioned. Arseblog and 7am are my absolute Arsenal essential reading. I am not at all adventurous when it comes to bread making but love reading about all your experiences with different types of bread. I stick to my sourdough recipe every time but never get bored of making it. It’s therapy for me and each loaf is different. I’ve been doing it for a couple of years and can tell by the feel of the dough when it’s going to be a good one. I’m much braver about high hydration which I find makes for a truly delicious sourdough.
yep! High hydration is the way to go with sourdough!
Happy birthday Arseblog , you have been consistent. Thank you.
PS – But 7 am is PHD level for standards
PS2 – am not saying this to pump Tim on his own blog
I’ll string a guitar in any gauge of string, in any tuning you want – but I’ll never make a Bahn Mi loaf now or ever – I’ll say that up front – but I actually found this a fascinating read. It’s takes a lot of expertise to make great bread.
Is Bahn Mi bread the saving grace of the old French Indo-China? Of course not, but it’s one of the great s/w breads of the world.
Enjoying the 20 episodes of celebrating 20 years of Arseblog.
Amy Lawrence tells a cracker of a story about a certain player despite Wenger’s admonishment (and his comment, after) over-celebrating over four days between trophies in her episode (2002). Highly recommend the entire series.
happy birthday, arseblog. i have to admit that i never really got into arseblog; i got to know tim, doc and a few others on arsenal america. however, i have to admit that i’ve been there a few times and gotten decent content from many of the writers and posters on arseblog. i appreciate who they are and what andrew means to the arsenal community. congrats, brother. keep up the good work.
btw, what are the thoughts on mike riley apologizing to frank lampard and even bill kenwright on not awarding a penalty to everton on saturday? i don’t think i’ve ever seen a referee hold his hand up before and retrospectively admit to getting a big decision wrong. i think it’s refreshing to see an official show a bit of humanity but, at this point, it doesn’t help everton. we’ll see if it’s a way forward.
Thanks for the post Tim.
Not a big surprise to see Bielsa sacked. Last year he was the favorite of those who thought playing attacking football at all cost was a legitimate strategy and praising him for his ability as a manager and making a team better then the sum of its parts. Unfortunately there is only so much a manager can do with an undertalented group of players. Style over substance and disregarding team defense in a league like the PL never works over the long term and it was predictable their relative success from last year would not last. You have to build your strategy based on the players you have available even if it means the style of football will not always be expansive and eye pleasing.
I have never suggested that managers do not matter but I think the idea that some managers have an ability to year after year improve players and consistently build teams who are better then the sum of there parts is more myth then reality. Occasionally you see teams like Leeds last season or Ranieri with Leicester in 2016 who clearly exceed expectations but it rarely lasts more then a season. I suspect there are a few managers who can consistently improve players and make teams a lot better then they should be but if they exist I think they are very rare
Bill, I don’t follow the PL as closely as I used to – what is the big deal with Bielsa and Leeds? I gather it’s his personality? Ranieri will always be a beloved figure at Leicester City because of the title, but I’m not familiar with Bielsa’s deal.
This is a nice piece on Bielsa’s spell at Leeds and why sometimes someone special comes along and makes fandom all worthwhile
https://www.planetfootball.com/in-depth/marcelo-bielsa-leeds-united-miracle-fans-never-forget-phillips-dallas/
Amazing man. Shades of Wenger, not in their similarities, but in the sense that they both – in their individual ways – seem to transcend the sport…thanks for the share.
come on, bill. who thought bielsa “playing attacking football at all costs” was a legitimate strategy? it was entertaining but i don’t recall anyone suggesting it was remotely sustainable. however, with the players he had available, it was the strategy that gave them the best chance to win. he got this team to the premier league and kept them up. losing kalvin phillips and patrick bamford to long-term injuries is the real reason for their relegation battle. cdm and center forward are, in my opinion, the two most important positions on the field. one screens the defense and the other facilitates the attack. replacing top quality in that position is incredibly difficult to do. any team would miss those players but especially a team with a roster as weak as leeds united has.
more important bill, your argument lacks legitimacy as no one has made them. you, seemingly arbitrarily, created poor talking points and then argued against them. i don’t know why you often do this. there’s plenty to argue about in football.
marcelo bielsa is a coach with incredible pedigree. he’s mentored many great managers including mauricio pochettino, diego simeone, gerrardo martino, pep guardiola, and one of claudeivan’s favorites, jorge sampaoli. guardiola, says he’s the best coach in the world and his knowledge dwarfs guardiola’s. bielsa has forgotten more about this game than any of us knows. if it weren’t for him, leeds would never have made it to the premier league and stayed up with that group of players. so, as the kids say, put some respect on that man’s name.
Bielsa is not only an amazing coach but he’s an inspirational coach, leader and human being. Gold medal winner with Argentina, two time winner of the Premira division in Argentina, and the EFL winner with Leeds united.
He not only overperformed with his group of players, it’s impossible for me to think of how that team will stay up without him. My guess is to go back to basic football (low block/counter).
Sorry Bill, but your straw man argument is bunk. Leeds suffered two major injuries to Phillips and Bam bam, and while I think that his man-marking system is probably not suitable for the Premier League, he’s still getting that team to punch way above its weight.
If you want to criticize the man for anything it’s that he refused to spend money available to him because he’s pretty stubborn about who he will and won’t work with. But hey, all coaches are stubborn buttholes!
In my ignorance, I had no idea who this guy is, but reading MattB’s link and looking at some other stories, it’s clear that he’s a special individual. His next club will be lucky to have him. Wondering now, how he’d do at the mighty Arsenal….hmm…
When it’s quiet I take stock. Some positive vibes, some negative.
Positive: Arsenal are joint third in the form table over 6 games (same record as Man City) and also third over 10 games. The teams with better form than us are kind of irrelevant for us – City and Liverpool at the top of the table and Newcastle at the bottom. So we currently have the best form of any team around us.
As usual, United are the ones we have to watch – they have found some consistency but still sit behind us, and they have City, Spurs and Liverpool as their next 3 fixtures. Chelsea too are stuttering, and if that continues we could very feasibly catch them. I expect them to rally though.
Watford coming up are comfortably at the foot of the form table – well, the ankle. Brentford are the foot. Not taking anything for granted though.
Negative: As noted before, statistically we’re on track for 71 points which is where I think we should be. Working through the fixture list however I can see a few difficult fixtures and banana skins. Maybe it’s just the fear talking but I think we will need a bit of luck to get 26 points from those 14 fixtures.
I’m already getting geed up for Liverpool on the 16th, I’ve already booked an evening in the pub to watch it, I’m going to be a bag of nerves by the time we actually get there…