I baked bread this morning. For a while now, I have been yearning to make my own bread, and the last few times that I tried, the loaves did not work out. They ended up rather firm. They ended up rather dense. They ended up rather flavourless.
So last night I mixed three cups of flour - just regular old white wheat flour, with a teaspoon of salt, and three quarter's of a teaspoon of bread-machine yeast. I stirred these dry ingredients with a spoon, and then added one and a half cups of tap water.
After mixing this up for a minute with a spatula, I rolled it about with my hands for a minute of two on a floured kitchen surface to make sure everything was incorporated well.
Then I put the lump of dough into a glass bowl, rubbed the surface with some corn oil to exclude the air (so that the dough wouldn't form a dried skin), and lay a sheet of plastic wrap over the bowl.
I put this into the room-temperature oven, along with a pot of boiled water. This ensured the heat from the water would help activate the yeast.
Early this morning - about 8 hours later - I took the risen dough out onto a floured counter, kneaded or pushed it around for a minute or two and plopped it back into the bowl. I put this back into the room-temperature oven, along with a newly boiled pot of water. 
An hour later I plopped the twice-risen dough onto the counter, and turned the oven onto bake at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Into the oven, I put a large enameled covered pot.
After the oven had preheated, I took out the enameled pot, scattered a little flour onto the bottom, and plopped the dough in. This would keep the moisture in, and ensure a nice crust would form.
I covered it up and baked it for 30 minutes, and then quickly took off the lid and let it bake for another 30 minutes.
Out it came, fragrant and with a crispy light crust. I slobbered on some margarine (no butter around) and ate a slice. It was wonderful. Now I'm in a pickle. How will I ever eat store bought bread again?
Cheers,
Mungo
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10 Bahs!:
Sounds and looks great! We've had a lot of bummer loaves come from our bread maker... when the flavor was OK the bread was SO dense, and when it had good consistency it tended to be too salty.
Foccacia comes out well, but we bake that in our oven (only use the bread maker to knead the dough.
A suggestion: rather than margarine, try Brummel and Brown - it's yogurt based, so it's not got the bad stuff margarine has in it, but its a very healthy alternative to true butter.
I suppose you do realise what large ammounts of saliva can do to a computor keyboard!
Looks great! I've been eating nothing but my own machine-made whole wheat bread for a year or so now. You inspire me to try without the machine. Who knows? Maybe some day I'll build a wood-fired brick oven.
Nice bread Mungo, looks delicious.
SBW
That looks delicious. Wow, and makes me want to do the same. Well done!
Your bread sure looks tasty! I love the photos, and now you've inspired me to get baking!!
Wonderful photos and congrats!
Wonderful photos and congrats!
Your bread sure looks tasty! I love the photos, and now you've inspired me to get baking!!
Sounds and looks great! We've had a lot of bummer loaves come from our bread maker... when the flavor was OK the bread was SO dense, and when it had good consistency it tended to be too salty.
Foccacia comes out well, but we bake that in our oven (only use the bread maker to knead the dough.
A suggestion: rather than margarine, try Brummel and Brown - it's yogurt based, so it's not got the bad stuff margarine has in it, but its a very healthy alternative to true butter.
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