Baking & the Big Screen: Homemade Bread & Ratatouille
I wasn’t totally sure what i wanted to pursue, baking wise, this month so I just decided to go for a movie that I was certain had to at least show some kind of baked good: one specifically about a French restaurant. And I lucked out! Ratatouille had a whole small conversation about bread, and since that was something I’d never done before, it was a perfect combination.
“How do you tell how good bread is without tasting it? Not the smell, not the look, but the sound of the crust. Listen. Symphony of crackle. Only great bread sounds this way.” And since I watch enough Great British Bake Off to know that when bread is properly baked it sounds hollow, I was on board to follow these instructions - with a simple enough recipe for honey wheat bread that I was able to understand.
Ratatouille
Starring Brad Garrett, Lou Romano, Patton Oswalt, Peter O’Toole, Janeane Garofalo, Will Arnett
Director/Writer: Brad Bird
Released in 2007
Available on Disney+
I vaguely remember seeing part of Ratatouille when I was walking through the living room at my grandparents’ place closer to when the movie was released and it didn’t make much of an impression. But this time, I thought it was impressively creative and very funny. The voice cast was perfect and it kept me entertained the entire time. I’m crossing my fingers they never decide to make a sequel to this one since it’s pretty solid as a standalone.
There’s a guy named Linguini who just really needs to keep a job and a rat named Remy who has a deep appreciation and understanding of food. When you combine the two together, you get a weirdly talented chef. He (They) learn the ropes and try to navigate some situations where they aren’t sure who has some evil intents and who is just trying to survive in the French culinary world, keeping alive the dream and vision of the chef who created the restaurant.
When I saw the scene about how to make perfectly baked bread, I was irrationally excited. Bread was so out of my comfort zone, but I wanted to give it a shot. I figured my first attempt wouldn’t exactly win me star baker on Bake Off, but it actually turned out pretty decently! It took quite a few hours, but the majority of that was for proving and baking. For only about 30-45 minutes of work total, I got two solid honey wheat loaves out of it. I’d definitely do it again - but I need to learn how to cut it a bit better because while the bread may taste good, the slices themselves look abysmal. Oh well, I’ll put it on the to-do list for future bakes.