Assignment Training the Creative Body

Thomas Wamsteker B1.1 E t.a.l.wamsteker@student.tue.nl P +31 (0) 6 - 28 29 12 01 November, 2012

1 This was my first bread, created by gently squeezing the lump of dough.2 I made these breads together with Tobias. We tried to copy each other’s work, but with a personal twist.3 The next week, same procedure. The bread on the lower right got a lot of attention, because of the dynamic shapes.4 The result, well baked and spreading an irresistible fragrance across the room.5 With this bread, I tried to incorporate as much texture as possible. It worked out really well and the bread was incredibly crunchy. I really learned to work on the different textures.6 We couldn’t wait to attack the breads we worked so hard on. The breads had good textures and shapes.7 This might be the craziest bread I made during this assignment. The flatbread, which consisted of three parts twisted together in the middle, turned out a bit too crunchy, because the dough was too thin.8 Our bread seems to really open up conversations.9 Use all your senses in order to explore the different aspects of the bread.10 These are my teammates for the assignment, Sam and Xenia.11 A fresh lump of dough, set apart to leaven. From this time, we used live yeast, because this turned out to work with way better than the Dr. Oetker dried yeast we used the weeks before.12 This was one of our most extraordinary creations: a lot of bread flaps stacked together on a pile. This bread was very easy to share, because we put some extra flour between the flaps so they won’t stick together and go apart easier.13 Unfortunately, the creature turned over. However, that didn’t affect the success of this bread.14 For our final project, we experimented with egg yolk to give parts of the bread a special texture. Actually, some people thought these parts were sausages.15 This was the funniest moment during the assignment. After Ms Klooster had watched our video, her first remark was: “What a horrible presentation!” This made us even more aware of the high expectations for the final day.16 The most important ingredient of the breads is of course flour.17 Our final result: stacked flatbreads pointing in three directions, to allow three people to share the bread. The flat pieces were designed to top with cheese and cold cuts and the sausage-like pieces were designed to dip into green pesto, butter and honey. However, not everyone did stick to the rules, which resulted in some remarkable situations.18 It was really interesting to watch (and listen) our guests eating and exploring our breads.

This is where it all started.

1

2

3

4

56

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

And this is where it ends.

At the start of this assignment, I didn’t know what to expect at all, because I have chosen this assignment because of the lack of alternatives, rather than personal interest. However, I instantly liked the initial instruction. The first bread I had to create was formed by a soft squeeze in the dough. I instantly learned that dough always needs a place to go. If you press the dough down- or inwards, pieces of dough will run out elsewhere. The same is experienced with the leavening of the bread, when the dough expands under influence of yeast. After the first week of the assignment, I decided to pay extra attention to different textures in the bread.I experimented with special ways of tearing and stretching in order to crack the ‘skin’ of the bread. This makes the bread look more appetising and easier to handle at the same time. Moreover, I experimented with lumps sticking out of the bread, which will become extra crispy when baked (see image 5). In the week after, I teamed up with Sam and Xenia. We worked towards a bread that consisted of different layers. First, we decided to use live yeast instead of dry yeast, because this maked the bread more fluffy and therefore tastier. Our first bread (see image 7) turned out too crunchy to eat. We learned that if the dough is too thin, the bread will only consist of crust and have no fluffy texture inside. The next week, we tried to stack the layers, in order to enhance the co-operation between the consumers. Unfortunately, the pile of flatbreads fell over. However, this shows the way the breads are stacked together even better. We received some feedback concerning our ‘pile’ of bread. It had to be easier to share, so we started to work on this for the final presentation. We created a bread that is much larger, but also a lot easier to eat together. The bread stacks point in three directions towards the three consumers. We placed the bread on a revolving plate, in order to improve the co-operation between those who eat the bread. They are able to share the dips and toppings by simply giving the plate a twist. For the final presentation, we added some thin, sausage-like rolls to the bread. These pieces are easy to dip in the honey and pesto. The presentation and technique incorporated in our final bread has been widely appreciated among our guests.From this assignment I really learned how to make people co-operate by means of eating and preparing food. Not only those who consume the bread, but also the creators learn how to work together on a bread. I hereby trained my body to create something that brings people together. It is interesting to know that not only my mind is trained by creating breads, but also my physical body. This assignment has changed my mind in a certain way. I invented creative solutions in order to knead towards a appealing piece bread. I learned to ‘play’ with the texture, consistency and flexibility of dough, which is an extraordinary material to work with. Working with this material was a kind of a learning process for me, as I really had to understand the dough: how it reacts to a movement, how it will change in the oven and how I could influence its properties. I really developed a sense for working with such an influenceable material and I learned to use both my physical and my mental body in order to ‘compose’ the dough. I love learning about new materials, but the dough is special, because it’s literally alive. One of the most important things I have learned from this assignment is that the creation of a product is not about working towards a goal, but about the techniques involved to achieve full satisfaction and therefore about the way it is created.

Training the creative body | Reflection“It is not about the goal, but about the way how the product is created.”