Heh. Remember what I said about yeast-risen things and how I'm terrified of them, etc, etc? Well, the joke's on me because that's just what the February Daring Baker's challenge was.... great. French bread, no less. The fewest number of ingredients, but the most fiddly. However, since I skipped January's Challenge of Lemon Meringue pie, I had to do this so here I went!
I will say that, while bread is one of my favorite things to eat, it's not really at all my favorite thing to make, unless it's a quick bread like zucchinni or banana or date-nut bread. There's no rising involved, you mix everything together, and throw it in the oven. An hour or so later, it's done, it's delicious. I have always envied those who enjoy making bread - my uncle, and my mom's best friend each take a day each week to make their bread for the coming days. I love the concept.... but I don't love the execution. I haven't ever had success with breads that require rising time. I don't know if my yeasts are old, or if my house is too cold to foster a proper rise, or what. But they usually come out like bricks.
To get the full recipe, you can go here
Here are some pictures and notes of my progress:
The Ingredients, Part I
Salt, yeast, all-purpose, unbleached flour, and water. See my thermometer? It was 100 degrees on the mark.
The Ingredients, Part II
After mixing the yeast with the water and the flour and salt together, right before everything was mixed together.
I Need to Knead
After mixing everything together, here's the kneading for the first pass. I have to say, I do enjoy kneading - it's a great movement that really works the arms and feels fantastic when the ingredients blend and merge.
After the first rise
My little helper got a little piece of dough to beat up so that I could futz with the dough and get it ready to rise again. I did the first 2 rises in the oven, which seemed to work out well, but the 2nd time I put the towel on over the plastic, it kind of fell into the bowl and I think it kept the 2nd rise from true success.
Ready for More
This was post-2nd rise, getting the dough ready for its resting and 3rd rise. Because I am slightly lazy and pregnant, I opted to do 1 large boule-type of loaf.
I think this is where I ran into a little more trouble - my house is cool, and it was a cool, not-sunny day. If the sun had been out, the room that this third rise took place would have been much warmer. It did go to be fairly large, though, with the wrappings and all. And my cats didn't bother the dough, which was unprecidented.
Baker, Baker
Here's the hedgehog loaf (so-called due to how the cuts in the dough came out), after I brushed it with water. I did this, and the crust was lovely.
After coming out of the oven. Nice color, a little flat but still lovely.
I couldn't wait for the bread to cool before eating it - for one thing, it smelled too good, and second, this bread had taken all day to make, and it was dinner-time so we had it with our supper.
Overall, I'll say that this was a fun challenge, but it wasn't fun enough or worthwhile enough to commit to making my own bread. I have a high respect for those who do make their own bread - it takes time and patience, and I don't have much of either of those qualities right now. It was tasty, and it makes some delicious toast with honey in the morning. So, thank you for the challenge! It's certainly a departure from what I would normally bake!
