Trial #1: I make bread (hopefully)
Jan. 20th, 2006 05:29 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trystinnI've chosen Focaccia as my first attempt because it does not require starter, which I don't have because I just bought the yeast (along with $60 of its favorite baking companions) this afternoon - I am, however, making starter tonight so I can attempt rustic breadmaking on Sunday and Monday. (Details to follow)
Observations
#1: Recipes for bread are suprisingly and shockingly short on details.
#2: There is now more flour in my hair than in the mixer.
#3: Husband was sufficiently wary enough to offer to go pick up dinner from a restaurant - thereby, in a singular master stroke, making himself scarce during this amateur attempt at breadmaking while getting to be the hero when he arrives home with hot food that I have no responsibility or requirement to cook.
#4: The smell of yeast "curing" has got to be the strangest smell on earth, one that not even the bassethound will beg for a taste of.
#5: "Lightly flour surface" is a bald-faced lie. "Massively flour surface" is of considerably more use, exponentially.
#6: There is now more flour on my clothes than in my hair (see #2).
#7: "Room temperature" is too subjective a term to be of any use.
#8: Waiting for yeast to "cure" is almost as boring a task as waiting for dough to rise, and only manages to be a tad bit more interesting because of the science involved in creating new life; albeit yeast-life.
#9: Two kitchen timers are barely enough for this attempt.
#10: "Bread starter" is surprisingly bizarre enough to warrant the need for comparison pictures for grading the accuracy of one's attention to detail.
#11: Friends you have not heard from in months will call you to chat and catch up while you are trying to bake bread.
#12: Baking bread by hand is sufficiently interesting an experience that truly, it should be an assignment for 1st degrees at Lammas. And for all I know, will be.
Update to come when focaccia comes steaming out of the oven. Stay tuned.
"Gorgeous bread, the topping is rosemary, sage and kosher salt:
Willing Volunteers:
And, yes, it tastes FABULOUS"
Observations
#1: Recipes for bread are suprisingly and shockingly short on details.
#2: There is now more flour in my hair than in the mixer.
#3: Husband was sufficiently wary enough to offer to go pick up dinner from a restaurant - thereby, in a singular master stroke, making himself scarce during this amateur attempt at breadmaking while getting to be the hero when he arrives home with hot food that I have no responsibility or requirement to cook.
#4: The smell of yeast "curing" has got to be the strangest smell on earth, one that not even the bassethound will beg for a taste of.
#5: "Lightly flour surface" is a bald-faced lie. "Massively flour surface" is of considerably more use, exponentially.
#6: There is now more flour on my clothes than in my hair (see #2).
#7: "Room temperature" is too subjective a term to be of any use.
#8: Waiting for yeast to "cure" is almost as boring a task as waiting for dough to rise, and only manages to be a tad bit more interesting because of the science involved in creating new life; albeit yeast-life.
#9: Two kitchen timers are barely enough for this attempt.
#10: "Bread starter" is surprisingly bizarre enough to warrant the need for comparison pictures for grading the accuracy of one's attention to detail.
#11: Friends you have not heard from in months will call you to chat and catch up while you are trying to bake bread.
#12: Baking bread by hand is sufficiently interesting an experience that truly, it should be an assignment for 1st degrees at Lammas. And for all I know, will be.
Update to come when focaccia comes steaming out of the oven. Stay tuned.
"Gorgeous bread, the topping is rosemary, sage and kosher salt:
Willing Volunteers:
And, yes, it tastes FABULOUS"
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no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 02:48 am (UTC)Room temperature in WA is closer to 62 degrees, I'd have to put the heat on to get it into the seventies. And why, yes, its very humid here - almost always is, IMHO.
I just yanked the focaccia out of the oven, looks delicious! Will be posting pic goodness in a few minutes!
no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 11:28 am (UTC)I've been baking bread for ever and ever.
I usually do my bread rising in an oven that's either been slightly warmed (or not - as whim and equipment allow) and then leave a light on when it rises. This allows for a slightly warmer environment for the bread.
my brother - who's a trained pastry chef (yes there's a profession devoted to just breads) could have better info but I won't see him 'til Sunday.
no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 06:58 pm (UTC)The book is amazing, has different styles of recipes (loaves, rolls & buns, coffee breads/rolls, yeast specialties (waffles, flapjacks, etc), cool-rise, easy mix, batter breads, quickbreads), and is short--only about 152 pages (including index).
The recipes are simple to follow, and they have excellent tips on how to do the various steps.
Anywho.. :) I believe
no subject
Date: 2006-01-21 06:59 pm (UTC)Btw, the focaccia is almost gone. Next time, I make two loaves!