Sunday, January 07, 2007
Mmmmmmm, yeast. Again, this is what happens when I'm bored.
No, not so pretty. But how pretty would you be if you were just a bunch of wheat flour, honey, oil, and stinky, wildly multiplying yeast bugs? Yeah, that's what I thought.
This was so much fun! I've never baked bread before so I was kneading on hope and just keeping my fingers crossed about the alchemy around this whole yeast blooming thing. When I unveiled the dough ball after the first rise wow was I excited. It had grown like the blob! When I dumped it out to shape it for the loaf tin it was WARM. This thrilled me beyond all reason.
Every couple of seconds I kept checking the recipe. How many times did I squash it? Should I cover it with a damp cloth? Or is this the time I use oiled plastic wrap? THE STRESS! The second rise was in the tin and well, it was perfect.
Then...THEN...it had to bake. My oven runs a little hot so I was a little worried. I angsted while it baked. Should I have put a bowl of water in there for a crisper crust? Should I have buttered the top? Should I have carved my initials in the dough like Zorro? Should I use a foil tent? Should I leave it in the whole time or take it out early? What if I fall asleep and it sets the whole freaking house on fire? By the time it was almost done the only thing I was worried about was if I would be able to stand the in-fucking-credible smell for another second. I wanted to go rip it out of the over, tear it open, and just stuff my whole face inside the loaf.
But I waited, I followed the rules. I pulled it out of the oven, I turned it out, I thumped it on the bottom (Woohoo! I got the hollow thump sound!). I was patient enough to let it cool 10 minutes before pulling out the dreaded bread knife. I inherited this bread knife from my mother and have never put it to its intended use, namely, slicing your very own homemade baked bread. It did its duty beautifully.
I'm thinking maybe I should just be a baker. Except they get out of bed at like 3am, don't they?
No, not so pretty. But how pretty would you be if you were just a bunch of wheat flour, honey, oil, and stinky, wildly multiplying yeast bugs? Yeah, that's what I thought.
This was so much fun! I've never baked bread before so I was kneading on hope and just keeping my fingers crossed about the alchemy around this whole yeast blooming thing. When I unveiled the dough ball after the first rise wow was I excited. It had grown like the blob! When I dumped it out to shape it for the loaf tin it was WARM. This thrilled me beyond all reason.
Every couple of seconds I kept checking the recipe. How many times did I squash it? Should I cover it with a damp cloth? Or is this the time I use oiled plastic wrap? THE STRESS! The second rise was in the tin and well, it was perfect.
Then...THEN...it had to bake. My oven runs a little hot so I was a little worried. I angsted while it baked. Should I have put a bowl of water in there for a crisper crust? Should I have buttered the top? Should I have carved my initials in the dough like Zorro? Should I use a foil tent? Should I leave it in the whole time or take it out early? What if I fall asleep and it sets the whole freaking house on fire? By the time it was almost done the only thing I was worried about was if I would be able to stand the in-fucking-credible smell for another second. I wanted to go rip it out of the over, tear it open, and just stuff my whole face inside the loaf.
But I waited, I followed the rules. I pulled it out of the oven, I turned it out, I thumped it on the bottom (Woohoo! I got the hollow thump sound!). I was patient enough to let it cool 10 minutes before pulling out the dreaded bread knife. I inherited this bread knife from my mother and have never put it to its intended use, namely, slicing your very own homemade baked bread. It did its duty beautifully.
I'm thinking maybe I should just be a baker. Except they get out of bed at like 3am, don't they?
Labels: cooking
# posted by Carol : 7:37 PM
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Nice job! And the pics are great! I have never had any success baking bread from scratch. They always come out too dense. Much easier with the bread machine. Just dump in all the ingredients and walk away... :)
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