My weekend from the cheese counter is usually on Monday and Tuesday, so I have lots of free time while Abby is in school those days. It's still too hot in our apartment for beer to ferment safely, so I've been trying my hand at the other historically (slightly less) important grain product, bread.
My first attempt was about three weeks ago and I let the bread rise while we went to the laundromat. It rose a bit too much, so I wound up with a huge loaf that overlapped all four sides of my baking sheet. It was huge, but not very tall. I deeply regret not taking a photo of it. In spite of its ludicrous size, it tasted pretty good.
My second attempt was last week Monday. I made the same recipe, but watched it carefully during my bench proof to make sure it didn't over rise. It didn't, but I really should have made two round loaves instead of just one. It was also quite tasty but comically large--I'd guess it was about 16 inches across and 6 inches tall. (Wade can confirm how huge it was.) Regrettably, I neglected to take a photo of that one too.
This week Monday, I picked out a new recipe and tried again. My new recipe had only 1 pound of flour instead of the nearly 2 pounds in the first recipe. It also started with a yeasted pre-ferment in the fridge overnight--a new technique for me. I shaped this one into an oval and baked it. It turned out very nicely.
The crust browned a bit more than I wanted it to because I used two tricks to make the crust brown more--next time I'll just use one. The cooler of the two is that I added a burst of steam just like in a professional bread oven. When I preheated the oven , I put a cast iron skillet onto the bottom rack. When I put the bread in, I poured 1 cup of boiling water into the preheated skillet and closed the door quickly. Luckily, I thought to wear gloves when I added the water because it was quite violent.
Here's a view of the top. I slashed it with a knife just before it went into the oven so it would open where I wanted it to rather than splitting anywhere. The bread turned out great; delicious and crusty. (Just like me) It made nice toast for breakfast this morning with the Door County cherry jam Abby and I made last summer.I hope everyone is well. If you're in the neighborhood, stop by for some toast.
David
5 comments:
You know if there were any way Dad could get there for toast he would be right over with a jar of raspberry jam in his pocket. Or a half-dozen tomatoes to slice and eat on his toast. The tomatoes are coming in and there's lots of tomato eating going on here.
Congrats on making good bread. Homemade bread is the bomb. I love it.
Love, Mom
David,
Your bread looks great! I wish you had taken pictures of your earlier efforts. I think there's something about this time of year that makes people crave homemade bread--I've been thinking about making some, myself.
Love,
Ann
Slightly less important grain product??? Dave although your bread does look very delicious lets not kid ourselves here.
Leigh-
Peanut,
There are a number of anthropologists who believe that early humans settled and began farming grain for brewing and only learned how to bake bread later. And come on, wouldn't you rather have a nice beer than a slice of bread?
David
Hi David and Abby -- I love reading about your exciting life out there in Sunny Cal. Your homemade bread looked delicious to me -- browned crust and all!! You two should have some kind of reality TV show but your blog is the next best thing. What fun you're having!! And all us old folks can live vicariously though you! Love Aunt B
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