Bread

While donuts are good and delicious, making and frying donuts is not an everyday (or even once a week) activity. After making just one batch of donuts, I've been completely untempted by all donuts. Normally walking past Dunkin' Donuts would make me go "YUM! I need a donut NOW!" but now, I'm a bit donut-ed out. My other baking skills are for cakes and cookies. These also should not be everyday baking adventures because I don't think I can do enough Wactive to counterbalance tons of sweets. All of this has lead me to bread. At first I thought that bread making wasn't for me because there is so much waiting and time required while it rises and ferments and gets yummy. I thought that I didn't have enough patience to bake breads, but then I thought "duh, your a knitter... knitters have tons of patience (usually)." And there's no rule that says you have to sit and stare at the bread as it rises for 3 hours, you can work or knit or exercise or watch TV. So I decided to learn more about bread...







I purchased this book from Amazon after reading the reviews of many, many, many bread baking books. While it was newer and with fewer reviews, I did like that it is essentially a break baking textbook (I'm a big nerd and like textbooks). I read through the entire book and it gives a lot of great information about the science of bread making and what the importance and role of each ingredient is (kind of like reading an Alton Brown "Good Eats" episode, but less funny). I know a lot of people really like "Artisan Breads in Five Minutes a Day" book, but as several reviewers noted it is kind of a cheat. Not that that's a bad thing, but (remember the mega-nerd comment above) I want to know how to do it the hard way first, and then I'll start cheating.



After reading the book, I attempted a baguette. I created my formula, took notes on what I did, and recorded my methods (the book includes worksheets that help you record all of this information. The book is very much geared towards baking students who plan to open their own or work at a bakery making large quantities of bread, and so making formulas instead of recipes helps you to keep your product the same no matter the size of the batch. And recording your methods also helps you to keep consistency in your products.) I made two baguettes and they were... well... edible. Not pretty, not super-fantastic, not the most tasty. It was a good first attempt; the crumb was squished and the shape was not anything like a baguette. By recording things on my worksheet, I realize at least a few of the areas in which I screwed up (too rough during pre-shaping, too cool of an oven, etc).



I want to get pretty good at a basic bread like a baguette that only requires flour, salt, water, and yeast before I expand into different types of bread. Basically, I want to be sure that I like baking breads before I run out (or log-on to King Arthur) and buy tons of various flours and other baking supplies.