I was right, there was certainly learning involved. I spent half an hour or more just reading the first chapter one day trying to distinguish the key features of this newfangled bread-baking technique. I've made quite a few yeast breads in my time and was feeling pretty confident that I understood the basics. Now I had to throw out all that knowledge and replace it with new methods. Eek! It was like being back in school again trying to desperately pay attention to the teacher so I would know how to do everything right.
Finally after much worry, and some new purchases, I was ready. I had to buy some things I generally didn't have on hand, like unbleached flour and vital wheat gluten, but they certainly didn't break the bank. On mixing day, I did everything according to the instructions and hoped. I fought my desire to make the dough a smooth and elastic consistency. I reminded myself again and again NOT to knead it at any point in time and to touch it at little as possible. Today, I got to see how well I followed the directions....
DELICIOUS! Absolutely delicious. The whole family loved it and gobbled up every crumb. I made a small loaf since I was unsure of the whole thing, but I know tomorrow I'll be baking more and I will make at least double. The dough was quite wet when I mixed it yesterday, but I left it because of my fear of adding too much flour. Today I decided that it was WAY too sticky and I definitely should have added a little bit more. I could barely form it today (or cut lines in the dough as instructed), and even after being baked it still had a little stick to it. Lesson learned for the next batch.
Here are some pictures of the process:
Day 1
Day 2
The finished product was like nothing I had ever made before. The crust was tough, just like you want in an artisan bread, and the inside looked like that beautiful combination of bubbles and crumb--a loaf worth paying money for at the store.
I'm so thankful to have gotten the push to try artisan bread in five minutes a day. I can't wait to keep practicing. And I know my family will appreciate all of the yummy bread I to bring to the table. Having said that, here are a couple of my thoughts after trying it for the first time....
Traditional method vs. Five-minutes-a-day
- It was in the 80s today and that's already pretty hot for a woman who's 7 months pregnant. The fact that I had to bake the bread at 450 degrees did not put me in a particularly cheery mood. The kitchen was hot, hot, hot.
-On top of that, whenever my oven is over 400 degrees, the smoke alarm (that was tormentingly put just outside my small kitchen by my landlord) goes off. It's very, very loud. And always makes me very, very irritated. Grrr.
-Like I said before, for my first try, I wasn't quite sure what the consistency was supposed to be. I found it extremely hard to handle (and the writers pushed hard against adding more flour once made). I feel a little like I'm an old dog learning a new trick.... I think it's going to take a little time to get it just right.
-Also, because this dough doesn't work like a traditional dough, it was very hard for me to tell what size it would be once it was done baking. Again, I imagine this is something that I will learn over time. I hadn't intended to make quite such a small loaf today, but, oh well. Now I know for next time.
-And lastly, on a good note, WOW! This bread takes so much less active time than traditional dough. It makes me feel like it might truly be possible to have healthy, delicious, homemade bread in our house more often than just once a month. What a thought!
Now it's time for you to try. :-) (Or, if you've already tried it out, tell me what you think!!!)
No comments:
Post a Comment