bake bread

After a couple of successful runs with basic wheat bread, I decided to get fancy and try for baguettes. Ta-da! This was a fun project, though it required a lot of planning. You have to make the starter TWO DAYS before the bread actually goes into the oven. Day 2 requires the most work in terms of additions, kneading and rising. Day 3 entails pulling the tray out of the fridge to sit for 30 min. and then just putting it in the oven, so this is an easy bread to bake same-day in conjunction with a more elaborate meal.

I wish that they had turned out a little more golden, but I was afraid of over-baking them. They’re also a bit wide for baguettes, but I figure that I’ll improve on the shape next time around. I was quite pleased with the taste and texture, which proved a perfect blend of crunchy crust with soft bread inside.

I had a successful baking session this weekend. I used the basic recipe from The Tassajara Bread Book and was quite pleased with the results! The suggested ingredient proportions seemed to work quite well. (Or perhaps I’m developing a better sense for improvisation.) I thought the dough looked really good after the second rise and decided to use loaf pans. So pretty when I pulled them out of the oven!

I liked the taste of this batch, but I’d like to work on achieving an even lighter (less dense) wheat loaf before I move on to something more complicated.

Crust and Crumb is now the top book on the stack next to my bed.

Baked again last night. Definite improvement over last time. Better kneading experience, though I’m still not able to work in all the flour that the recipe calls for. I still need to pick up the book that Nikki recommended.

I bought a bread box!

Not only do I have a place to store (and, I hope, keep fresh) my baking efforts, I now have a bona fide, 3-D, true-to-life version of the proverbial “bread box” required for any serious game of 20 Questions.

I baked two loaves of whole wheat bread last night. Yeah! They taste really good, but I’ve definitely got to work on the presentation. My analysis: I think I tried to mix in too much flour at once, and that caused the dough to break into many small pieces, which I was not able to reintegrate. This also made kneading very difficult. Fortunately, I was able to mash the pieces together well enough to produce some tasty bread.

I guess I could say I’ve reached this goal, but my real objective is to get good at it, so I’m going to keep baking and reporting back!

I lived in a co-op my last year of college. People took turns baking bread every night. As much as I loved the bread, I usually signed up for other chores and cooking duties. And now, all I can think about is that bread and how I should have paid more attention!