Romain's life

2010-11-08T06:33:00.000+01:00

How to make a good french baguette ?

Poolish is a starter made from the same ingredients as the dough, but is left to develop for a long time. Traditionally, poolish is left overnight, but if you are in a hurry you can get away with only leaving it for a few hours.
The poolish is then mixed in with the rest of the ingredients, and mixed to a dough. From this point, the process is very similar to baking ordinary bread. Poolish imparts a unique flavour, and improves the development of the bread dough.
Poolish:

    * 1.5 cups flour
    * 0.75 cups cool water
    * 0.75 teaspoon dried yeast

Disperse the yeast in the water by stirring for 20 seconds or so. Use ordinary dried yeast, not the 'easy blend' stuff. Easy Blend isn't really any easier, and it's much more expensive.
Put the flour in a mixing bowl (I use a casserole pot). Add the yeast and water mixture and stir thouroughly. Traditionally, you should stir it only in a clockwise direction, as this is supposed to help develop long gluten strands. Of course, stirring it only anti-clockwise would achieve the same result. The point is to only stir in one direction, but I don't think this is critial.
You want a very slack batter-like mixture. You will probably need a little extra water (2-3 tablespoons) if the air is dry.
Lumps are nothing to worry about here.
Cover the bowl with cling film and put it in a place out of draughts to develop. Leave overnight, or for a shorter time if you must.
In the morning, the poolish will look very much alive. There will be bubbles on the surface, and the poolish will be much larger in volume. You may see a 'tide-mark' on the side of the bowl indicating that it has collapsed slightly. Ideally you want to catch it at its maximum volume, but don't worry.

Now for the dough mixture.
Dough:

    * 2.5 cups flour
    * 0.75 cups cool water
    * 2 teaspoons dried yeast
    * 2 teaspoons salt
    * The poolish

Disperse the yeast in the water as before. Mix the salt into the flour. You don't need to sift the flour (flour isn't stored in hessian sacks anymore), but fluff it up a bit as you spoon it out.
Add the yeast and water mixture to the poolish. Mix roughly. Now add the salted flour in four stages, mixing thoroughly each time. I use a wooden spoon, but you could use a dough mixer.
Add a tablespoon of flour at a time until the mixture starts to pull away from the bowl. Don't add too much flour; a little too wet is better than too dry.
Turn the dough out onto a well floured surface. Now wash up the bowl. The dough will develop a little as you do this, and you'll want the clean bowl in a moment.
Now for the kneading. If you don't know how to knead, it goes something like this: Fold the dough in half towards you. Flatten the dough a little, turn through 90 degrees and repeat. It's not very easy to explain, so Google for some kneading movies if you want more information.
Knead for 5 minutes or so. You will need to add a fair amount of flour to stop the dough from sticking to the surface or your hands. I probably add another 3 tablespoons of flour whilst kneading.

Now oil the mixing bowl lightly (too much oil will make the crust soft) and put the dough into it. Cover with cling film. Set the kitchen timer for 30 minutes and leave the dough to develop and rise. This part is called the 'long knead' in french (sorry, can't remember the original french expression). After 30 minutes, you should lift the dough out of the bowl, stretch it out, and put it back in (in a heap).
The purpose of the long knead is do stretch out the strings of gluten in the flour, and to further mix the dough. You should repeat the long knead two more times, so the dough gets three long kneads. At this point, the dough will still seem very loose. Don't worry.
Now you wan't to 'knock back' (or degazer the dough. This involves kneading out some of the air. If you were to fully degaz, the bread texture would be very smooth, with many tiny holes. Bread tastes far better if you can achieve a mixture of large and small holes, so leave about half the air in the dough. This is fairly easy, because at this point, the dough will be half air by volume. Simply knead very lightly until the dough is about a three quarters of its risen size, which should be the same as one and a half times its unrisen size (There. I said it was easy).
Divide the dough into four portions, and shape roughly into sausage shapes. Dust all over with a little flour, and cover them with an oiled piece of cling film. Leave to re-rise for 30 minutes.
Roll, stretch and flatten each potion into a long rectangle, fold lengthwise. Repeat the rolling and folding. The purpose is to distribute the texture throughout the loaf. Otherwise, the loaf would tend to be heavy at the bottom, and light at the top.
Roll and stretch each loaf into a long, thin baguette. Place them on a greased baking tray.
Set the oven to 230° C.
After 30 minutes, the loaves should be noticably fatter. Boil a kettle, and put an inch or so of boiling water in the bottom of a deep roasting tin. Put it in the oven on the bottom shelf, or directly on the oven floor (be careful with that!). Shut the over door.
In five munites, the oven should be full of steam, which is essential for a good french style crust. An oven full of steam is also ideal for scalding novice bakers (which can be very nasty indeed). Remember steam burns, steam can be invisible, and if you spill boiling water on yourself; it's going to hurt. Lock the cats up, Send the kids into the garden. You have been warned. When you open the oven door, let the steam disperse before putting your head or hands near it.
Spray the baguettes with water until they are really wet, and slash them three times diagonally. Put them in the oven on the top shelf.
After five minutes, open the oven (careful with that steam!) and spray the baguettes with water again. If they are browning unevenly, turn the baking tray around. Repeat this after another five minutes.
After a further five minutes (that's fifteen minutes since you put them in the oven), take out the roasting tin of water. Be very careful doing this.
After twenty minutes, remove the baguettes, and put them on a wire rack to cool. They will be ready to eat in half an hour.

Voyage

2010-11-07T15:01:00.000+01:00

I love horses. I love Hermes. I love the song. I just fuc*ing love this ads.

From french TV :)

The Prestige

2010-11-06T15:39:00.000+01:00

Another nice movie by Christopher Nolan

The Prestige is a 2006 mystery thriller film directed by Christopher Nolan, with a screenplay adapted from Christopher Priest's 1995 novel of the same name. The story follows Robert Angier and Alfred Borden, rival stage magicians in London at the end of the 19th century. Obsessed with creating the best stage illusion, they engage in competitive one-upmanship with tragic results.

The film features Hugh Jackman as Robert Angier, Christian Bale as Alfred Borden, and David Bowie as Nikola Tesla. It also stars Michael Caine, Scarlett Johansson, Piper Perabo, Andy Serkis, and Rebecca Hall. The film reunites Nolan with actors Bale and Caine from Batman Begins, and returning cinematographer Wally Pfister, production designer Nathan Crowley, film score composer David Julyan, and editor Lee Smith.

Priest's epistolary novel was adapted to the screen by Nolan and his brother, Jonathan Nolan, using Nolan's distinctive nonlinear narrative structure. Themes of duality, obsession, sacrifice, and secrecy pervade the conflict. The film was released on October 20, 2006, receiving good reviews and strong box office results, and obtained Academy Award nominations for Best Cinematography and Best Art Direction.

See it !

Daft Punk - One More Time

2010-11-04T22:21:00.000+01:00

I specially thanks Daft Punk, I'm proud to be french for them.

Memento Trailer

2010-11-03T19:28:00.000+01:00

Memento is a 2000 American psychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan, adapted from his younger brother Jonathan's short story "Memento Mori". It stars Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby, a man with anterograde amnesia which renders his brain unable to store new memories. During the opening credits, (which portrays the end of the story) it is shown that Leonard kills Teddy (Joe Pantoliano). The film suggests that this killing is in vengeance for the rape and murder of his wife (Jorja Fox) based on information provided by Natalie (Carrie-Anne Moss).

This film is often used to show the distinction between plot and story. The film's events unfold in two separate, alternating narratives — one in color, and the other in black and white. The black and white sections are told in chronological order, showing Leonard conversing with an anonymous phone caller in a motel room. Leonard's investigation is depicted in color sequences that are in reverse chronological order. As each sequence begins, the audience is unaware of the preceding events, just like Leonard, thereby giving the viewer a sense of his confusion. By the film's end when the two narratives converge we understand the investigation and the events that lead up to Teddy's death.

Memento premiered on September 5, 2000, at the Venice Film Festival to critical acclaim and received a similar response when it was released in European theaters starting in October 2000. Critics especially praised its unique, nonlinear narrative structure and themes of memory, perception, grief, self-deception, and revenge. The film was successful at the box office and received numerous accolades, including Academy Award nominations for Original Screenplay and Film Editing.

Wasted Penguins - Invaderz!

2010-11-02T23:08:00.000+01:00

Hardstyle is an electronic dance music genre mixing influences from hardtechno, hard trance, hardcore and rave music. The average tempo is between 140 and 160 bpm (beats per minute).

The hardstyle sound typically consists of a "heavy" sounding kick, intense reverse basslines, and "adrenaline-rushing" melodies. It bears some similarities to hard trance. Many hardcore artists produce hardstyle tracks as well. One of the most recognizable characteristics of hardstyle is that the 4/4 rhythm is made up of 4 triplets where the main beat is heard on the first of the three notes, and a secondary beat, chord, or sound effect is heard on the third of the three notes; just before the next beat. This creates a somewhat "pulsating" rhythm that characterizes the genre.

Hardstyle is mainly produced in the Netherlands, Belgium, Italy & United Kingdom

Hardstyle originated from Hard Trance, gabber and rave music with influences from UK hard house. The place of origin is the Netherlands, where the first hardstyle events started near the end of 1999 and the beginning of 2000.[1]

The English sound was very popular in the Netherlands for a short time, but it soon appeared that the Dutch public preferred a harder bassline. Artists like Dana and Pavo & The Prophet combined the English sound with new productions. This sound also gained some popularity in Germany, where it was picked up by the German label Tracid Traxxx (who defined their own sound as a combination of trance and acid), and later also by Blutonium Records and Resident E Recordings.

Afterwards, hardstyle productions briefly became popular in Italy, and later in Germany. Q-Dance organised a monthly event now called the North Sea Venue under the name Qlubtempo, an event which could be called the melting pot of Hardstyle.

In 2007 the style started becoming popular in several countries in the world, including Germany, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Scotland, Russia, Austria, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Romania, Poland, Estonia, Denmark, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, France and Spain. In 2008 - 2009 the sound started to become popular in the U.S., Canada and some parts of Asia. Today its popularity is increasing very rapidly.

Hardstyle now has several large events hosted by Q-Dance all over Europe and Australia. Qlimax is the largest, spawning several editions since the beginning of the 21st century. Defqon 1 is held yearly at the start of the summer, and other events like In Qontrol and Q-Base are held at different points during the year.

Although Hardstyle is variations of many different genres of music itself, it has a growing number of sub-genres. One new style is called 'Melodic' in which the kick of the track is pitched higher to give a more exciting and more melodic feel to it. Another new style is called Dubstyle. This style combines Hardstyle and Dubstep, and can be described as a harder, faster and more melodic version of dubstep. Dubstyle is currently being used as a breakbeat style, but artists like Pavelow (Bas Oskam from the hardstyle duo Noisecontrollers) are starting to make just dubstyle tracks.

Philosophie quand tu nous tiens

2010-11-02T14:38:00.005+01:00

Un professeur de philosophie se présente un jour devant la classe avec une série d'objets inhabituels qu'il pose sur son pupitre, face à ses étudiants.

Le silence intrigué de l'assistance étant acquis, le professeur prend un grand bocal de cornichons (vide et propre) et commence par le remplir jusqu'au bord supérieur de pierres d'un diamètre situé entre 6 et 7 cm.

Une fois ceci terminé, il demande à la classe si le bocal est rempli.

Les élèves répondent que oui.

Le professeur prend alors un sachet rempli de gravillons et le verse dans le bocal. Il agite le tout, pour égaliser, et voilà que le gravier remplit tous les espaces encore vides.

Après avoir complété cette manipulation, le professeur demande une fois encore si le bocal est maintenant bien rempli. La classe répond, hilare et intriguée, que oui.

Le professeur se saisit alors d'un petit sac de sable et en verse le contenu dans le bocal. Évidemment, le sable se fraie un passage dans les interstices qui sont encore disponibles, au grand contentement de la classe.

«Voyez-vous», dit le professeur en s'adressant à ses étudiants, «j'aimerais que vous compariez ceci à votre propre existence».

«Les grosses pierres représentent les choses véritablement importantes, comme la famille, le couple, la santé, les enfants. Ces choses qui font que, même si vous perdez tout le reste, votre vie n'en demeurera pas moins remplie."
«Les gravillons représentent, quant à eux, les choses qui sont importantes, mais non essentielles, comme le travail, la maison, la voiture».

«Enfin, les grains de sable peuvent être comparés aux choses sans importance».

«Si vous commencez par mettre le sable dans le bocal, il ne restera plus assez d'espace pour le gravier ou les pierres».

«Il en va de même avec votre vie : si vous gaspillez votre disponibilité et votre énergie pour les petites choses, il ne vous restera jamais assez de temps, ni de place, pour ce qui est essentiel à votre bonheur».

«Jouez avec vos enfants, prenez le temps d'être à l'écoute de votre santé, sortez avec votre conjoint, parlez avec vos parents. Il y aura toujours du temps pour réparer l'aspirateur, pour finir un dossier ou laver la voiture».

«Soignez les grandes pierres en tout premier lieu, ce sont les choses qui comptent vraiment. Le reste n'est que sable qui s'écoule entre vos doigts».

Jusqu'ici, tout va bien : «Comme il a raison, comme ce discours est pertinent et élégant, etc. …»

Mais soudain, voilà qu'un étudiant se lève. Il s'approche du pupitre du maître et saisit le bocal, dont chacun s'accordait à dire qu'il était cette fois véritablement totalement rempli.

L'étudiant prend un bock de bière devant tout le monde et en verse tout le contenu dans le bocal. Ainsi, le liquide se disperse harmonieusement dans les espaces qui, à l'évidence, existaient encore dans le fameux bocal.

Présentation !

2010-11-02T14:38:00.003+01:00

Hi everybody ! I'm Romain, and in this blog you'll find everything about things I like ! Hope you'll enjoy ! ;)