The baking went well. I found a recipe on the web that needed just flour, yeast, salt, and water. I had no idea how much kneading you're supposed to do, but it seems I got it about right. I split my dough into two loaves, one of which I kneaded over a bit more than I think I should have. That one ended up looking very nice and puffy, but the other was a bit more 'artisanal' looking.
Anyways, it's a lot easier than I thought, and the flavour and texture are great.
I think I forgot to mention why I needed to start baking stuff. I went to the Co-op a few weeks ago, to buy a kilo of flour for spätzle. I figured that a kilogram would last me a few months, maybe more, given how often I tend to cook. Well, 5 kg was only a buck more than 1 kg, so I was going to buy that. But, 10 kg was only 30 cents more than that! Wow! So, now I have a 10 kg bag of flour in my kitchen, and it needs to be used.
5 comments:
Dear Tall Med Student,
WOW! You're a bread baker now!
Confession - I bake my own bread too (did I ever give some to you?) It all started with crappy bread-machine bread. I love the freshness but could not stand the crappyness - and the crust was the worst part. One day I marched down to the library and discovered "the Bread Bible" - great book btw - and now for almost 8 months I've been baking bread - about 1-2 times a week. Some advice - get a crappy bread-machine and use it to knead the dough (it's always better and less time consuming than my own crappy kneading technique). Also add just a pinch of whole wheat flour - (about 1/3-1/4 of a cup for a 3 cup loaf) it gives the bread so much more flavour.
And that bread website (from flyodm) - very cool. I feel like I'm part of some cult!
I think that kneading the dough oneself is necessary if you truly want to become one with the dough. To understand the dough, you must be the dough. A bread machine can only interfere with that process... plus, a crappy one is still too expensive. :(
I don't have thye time to "become one with the dough". Besides I have a great story about the bread machine. I purchased it in this small store in the lower east side (NYC) that was operated by two Israeli brothers. The place was as small as my closet, and consisted of wall-to-wall boxes of various electrical appliences. The bread machine was the last one they had and they sold it to us for 25$. Six years later I'm still using it for bread and pizza dough (although just for kneading - i never bake anything in it).
Wow, $25! That is awesome. I'd snap one up ASAP at that price.
It's all erroneous the thing you are saying.
hiphone
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