David Tamarkin
speaker
1,765 appearances
15 recordings
2 series
first heard Apr 2025
last heard 4d ago
David Tamarkin’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.
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recordings per month · last 12 monthsRecordings per month over the last 12 months — 9 in all, peaking in May 2026 with 3.
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So I think expanding our idea of what sourdough culture is even for is an exciting new terrain for sourdough. Although I know today we're pretty much sticking to sourdough bread.
Literal years of our lives.
Today we're sticking to sourdough bread because that's how most people get into sourdough. And when we called for questions about sourdough, 90% of the questions were about bread. So we're going to bring in one of our amazing colleagues, Amber Eisler. Amber Eisler, King Arthur's Director of Baking Education, was also a bread baker in our bakery for five years.
And she's been teaching at our baking school for over 15 years. In other words, she knows a lot about making great bread, particularly sourdough bread. Amber, thanks for coming on the podcast.
My first question for you, Amber, is what are you seeing in your sourdough baking school classes these days? Has there been any shift in students' interest or knowledge of sourdough in the last few years?
I know exactly the loaf you're talking about. We're talking about a crusty loaf with an open structure. How hard is that to get for a beginner sourdough baker?
I feel like I've been doing that the past five years. Let's move on to fermentation and proofing. This was a real pain point for me when I started baking bread. Sometimes, honestly, it still is. Nailing the proof on a final loaf of bread before you slide it in the oven has such an enormous impact on that bread's bake. And I kept on pulling... flat loaves out of the oven in amber.
I don't think I have to tell you that I was not trying to make flatbread here. I was trying to make big, beautiful, bulbous loaves of bread. But I wasn't nailing the proof. I was either under-proofing or over-proofing. What are your tips for bakers for nailing fermentation and proofing?
Another thing I want to talk about, I just was talking about this with my husband yesterday as he was baking bread, is color. There's a lot of different opinions about color. I'm now at a point where my loaf's really dark and I love that sort of almost bitterness that you get from a very dark crust. My husband is not there yet. So when he bakes bread, we have lighter loaves.
And then sometimes I see some very, very pale loaves. Is there a right color for sourdough?
So when you talk about the score mark, are you talking about the deepest part of the score or perhaps the ear that forms around the score?
And you want to see that golden brown?
That's a great tip. I love that. What is one tip, Amber, you would give to a beginner sourdough baker looking to level up their bread?
For everything, really, not just for bread. I was thinking about practice and hours put into bread as you were talking. And I was thinking about the five years you spent in our bakery making bread every day. And I just imagined that when you're a bread baker in a professional setting, that you were constantly...
doing what you just said you're constantly doing the detective work to know like is the dough right it's not it's never quite predictable right like because like you said it's about the moisture in the room the temperature everything there's so many elements um you said it was engineers who who were initially taking several classes i think of an engineer as somebody who like wants to design something that works each and every time i don't know my feeling is i just wonder if you agree with this that bread is never going to be like that
And I think some of that, you don't get the same level of that, of course, as a home baker or as an occasional home baker. But I think the spirit of that is getting up and trying again. And just temporary art is perfect for that. I love that. So thank you, Amber. Okay, Amber, where can people find you if they wanted more of your wisdom on bread?
I'm obsessed with that class. It's such a great class. And if anybody wants to learn more, we'll have a link in our show notes. As you know, Amber, people have so many questions about sourdough. It's not just me. And so while you've done a great job answering my questions, I wonder if you'd stick around to help us answer some listener questions.
I love that thing. It's like a little electric blanket for your sourdough starter. You put it on it and it's like the perfect temperature to make it rise and get all bubbly. And you can put your breads on it too. And it makes your breads rise easily. I'm trying it with my wallet to see if I put my wallet on it. It makes like my 401k rise or something or whatever.
It's a great book.
It's time for our next segment, Ask the Bakers. For Ask the Bakers, we want to hear from you. If you have a baking question for us, head to kingarthurbaking.com slash podcast to record a voice message. And we may end up using it on the show. That's kingarthurbaking.com slash podcast.
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