Michael Ruhlman’s Ratio Thing

I’ve got my kitchen pretty much set up and it rained today so I wanted to cook something. All I had was all pourpose flour, water, a package of dried yeast, and some salt; so I decided to make bread. I can make sour dough, brioche, and pain veinois, but I’ve never tried to make regular white bread. I didn’t have a recipe so I tried the Michael Ruhlman ratio, 5 parts flour, 3 parts water, and yeast and salt he says doesn’t really matter. I thought that real pastry chefs would be pissed to hear that exact recipes don’t matter. I was also skeptical especially because I was just making up the method based on other breads I’ve made. I have to say that I was really surprised how well the ratio worked. It’s cool to do it without a recipe like a grandmother. But a good, solid, reliable recipe is good to. I think it’s good to have both.