What bread should look like... {image via}
Occasionally the recipes that I make flop – remember my comment about ALWAYS burning granola? I just don't post those pictures on Facebook or my blog...
Most of the time {like 97.54%*} I am a pretty good cook, baker, chef, whatever. I enjoy being in the kitchen and trying new recipes. I have spent countless hours working on making good food. I think enjoying what you do and spending a lot of time doing it goes a long way in how recipes turn out.
So. Yesterday. I attempted to make homemade bread. I thought I had found a fool-proof recipe. It had great tips on proofing the yeast. Yeah. It didn't work out so great. The dough didn't rise. I thought I would cook it anyway. It came out like a hard brick of dough. It didn't even make my house smell good.
Cue disappointment.
I suppose that, like with all things, this bread making thing is going to take practice. I really want my house to smell like fresh bread. I really want to take a loaf out of the oven and smother butter on it so that it melts and absorbs into the grain. I am sure that I can do it. But for now, bread is definitely not something I am good at making.
*Don't ask where I got my percentage on how often I make good things. It is a random number I chose to reflect that I generally make good things. There is no actual math that supports this arbitrary percentage.
I highly recommend borrowing a foodie book from the library about bread. It's so interesting to learn the science of what makes bread work. There are so many things, like humidity, gluten levels, mixing time and method, rising time, yeast type, baking temp, baking medium (stone, cookie sheet, bread pan) and so on. I think you'd really enjoy learning about it!
ReplyDeleteMy local library is pretty small, but I will see what I can find. Good thoughts Wanda.
ReplyDeleteYou could also order from Amazon if you're *really* interested. This is the type of book I'd recommend:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.amazon.ca/The-Bread-Bakers-Apprentice-Extraordinary/dp/1580082688/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1330834017&sr=1-1
Thanks for the reference Wanda. I'll check my library first, but that gives me an idea of what to look for.
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