Today I did something I've been wanting to do for a long time: I baked bread. From scratch. All by myself. (Well, with a little help from Stella and Kitchen Aid.)
Helpful Stella
Waiting patiently during the kneading
"Filthy Floor" by Stella
Making bread is hard work!!It didn't take long to realise that this bread wasn't going to turn out very well. Even during the mixing I couldn't tell when I'd added enough flour, and the directions I was following were rather vague on that point. During the kneading my dough was neither "smooth" nor "elastic" as the directions specified, and it became obvious that it never would be. However, I persevered.
Here is my dough after the first rise. While it did rise some, it didn't double like it was supposed to, and, well, does this dough look SMOOTH to you?
I could not get the dough to form into one cohesive ball. I also forgot to grease the bowl before I let it rise, so it stuck to the bottom of the bowl when I tried to dump it out. I did like "punching" the dough in, though.
In the end the bread was super dense, which wasn't a surprise. Making bread is actually kind of complicated at first, because so many things have to be just right (even the temperature of the water!), and I think it just takes time to get a feel for those things. I'm pretty sure I used too much flour, I think something went wrong with the yeast at the very beginning, and I should have made a recipe about half this size. I actually ended up throwing half of the dough away because I decided to try kneading by hand and I couldn't work with it all, and anyway I only have one loaf pan and this recipe makes 2 loaves! Whatever. After some more reading online, I have some ideas of what to do differently (including trying a different recipe), and I bought some different wheat flour this evening (not sure if what I had was the right kind, and it wasn't very fresh). I shall try again tomorrow!!
I will end by saying that my dear husband ate a piece of the bread and said that it actually tasted pretty good, other than being a little too dense. I thought it tasted like dust. Stella ate it because she wants to eat whatever Daddy is eating.
Here is my dough after the first rise. While it did rise some, it didn't double like it was supposed to, and, well, does this dough look SMOOTH to you?
I could not get the dough to form into one cohesive ball. I also forgot to grease the bowl before I let it rise, so it stuck to the bottom of the bowl when I tried to dump it out. I did like "punching" the dough in, though.
In the end the bread was super dense, which wasn't a surprise. Making bread is actually kind of complicated at first, because so many things have to be just right (even the temperature of the water!), and I think it just takes time to get a feel for those things. I'm pretty sure I used too much flour, I think something went wrong with the yeast at the very beginning, and I should have made a recipe about half this size. I actually ended up throwing half of the dough away because I decided to try kneading by hand and I couldn't work with it all, and anyway I only have one loaf pan and this recipe makes 2 loaves! Whatever. After some more reading online, I have some ideas of what to do differently (including trying a different recipe), and I bought some different wheat flour this evening (not sure if what I had was the right kind, and it wasn't very fresh). I shall try again tomorrow!!
I will end by saying that my dear husband ate a piece of the bread and said that it actually tasted pretty good, other than being a little too dense. I thought it tasted like dust. Stella ate it because she wants to eat whatever Daddy is eating.
5 comments:
The bread did actually taste good. The crust was a little bit hard, but, though 'dense' it was good.
(The dog didn't mind the crust.)
All in all, it was a good meal, Sarah, I enjoyed the meat, salad, and bread.
Stella's Gumpa
Now you know why I used my bread machine! Actually, the humidity can make a big difference too. The whole yeast thing can be tricky - did it expire, was the water too hot or cold?
I do like the picture of your sleeping helper - what a sweetheart!
Shipping your pictures today after work :)
yeah, bread is complicated. i got into baking bread in SLC...but it seems time intensive and finicky. I like cooking better because it's more of an art, less of a science.
What is this "baking" word you all keep referring to? I've heard of it before...
At least we're all taking about eating bread and not some crazy "low-carb" diet...can you imagine-a life without BREAD???
"low carb bread" would not be able to have flour in it. you'd have to make it with sand instead.
"sand?"
"sand."
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