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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