Um, You'll Know That You've Eaten Some Bread

I'm not sure what possessed me because I got up and felt like baking some bread. Part of it was that I just couldn't shake the feeling that it was Friday and that I had nowhere that I had to be *shrug*. I was going to try making Pizza Fondue (I'll hyperlink that once I post about it) and through it would be good for dipping since I didn't have a baguette or anything.

Because of that whole Friday thing *shrug*, I started just a little too late for the amount of time that I really had (the really stupid thing is that, even though I had the Friday feeling, I had been reminding myself all day that it was indeed Saturday and that I had to leave at 2:00 to teach. What can I say, I'm an idiot.) so I had to ask Meag to hang around and pull the bread out at the right time. She did me one better and put a thin coat of butter on it when she pulled it out. The other ridiculous thing to do when under a time crunch is to try a new recipe from Jamie Oliver that requires, I think, a certain level of familiarity with bread dough.

Jamie Oliver' Basic Bread Recipe (from The Naked Chef)

3/4 oz active dried yeast (couldn't find neither a scale calibrated that lightly nor consensus on the internet as to what the Tablespoon equivalent would be. I averaged it all out to 2 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp honey (or sugar) (I went with sugar)
just over 2 cups tepid water (I went with 500 mL on the nose)
just over 1 lb bread flour
just over 1 lb semolina flour (if you can't get hold of any semolina flour then bread flour will do) (I figured out that he probably meant a kilo of flour as 2 lb is 908 g and 92 g would definitely qualify as "just over")
2 Tbsp salt

Dissolve yeast and sweet in half of the water. He does his bread dough on a flat surface and, while I would love to dry that someday, I just don't have the counter space so I used my giant bread bowl while the oven was warming. Measure the flour and salt into the bowl, make a well and add the yeast mixture to it. Gradually add the flour with your fingers (you know, that swirly thing they do when they make pasta). Add the rest of the water and once it's mixed, start kneading for about 5 minutes. He say that it will be a wet dough but I have to confess that I didn't read that line and added a little more flour as I mixed it, that would account for the heft.

Proof it in a warm spot for about 40-90 minutes (yes, that's the range he gave. With my time crunch, I'm sure you'll understand that I proofed for 40 minutes... just) or until double in size. Punch it down for about a minute and then shape it. I did one monster loaf that ended up taking up my entire pizza pan and a bunch of what he called snap bread. Mine are more like the breadsticks from Domino's on the snap-to-chewy scale.

Even with the flub, I would probably make this again. Taste? Pretty darned good actually. The snapbread is a little yeasty but it doesn't proof for as long as the big loaf. Density? Wow. You will know that you've eaten some bread.

Maritime Brown Bread - Bread machine

So I took a book out of the library "Canada's best bread machine baking recipes" by Danna Washburn and Heather Butt. I've baked a few of the breads - I'll try and remember what I have made and post them. They have all been pretty good!

1.5 lb loaf

1 1/4 c water
1/4 c skim milk powder
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp shortening
2 c whole wheat flour
1 c all purpose or bread machine flour
1 tsp bread machine yeast (I use fast acting)

put all the stuff in like it says in your breadmachine manual, make the well and yeast in, and go.

use the Whole wheat cycle

my bread was kinda wet and was flat across the surface. It looked weird and wrong but in the end was baked and tasted good. The teens ate this with gusto!

A Foccaccia... (Bread, It's Bread)

So I call Erin around 5 to tell her how amazing this stuff smells. I'm referring to the combination of yeast, olive oil and Foccaccia Spices from Epicure.

I start this post around 5:40 because it's finished rising and my mouth is still watering from the smell and I would feel silly calling Erin to say "It still smells amazing, just thought you'd want an update".

I've got a little bit of olive oil in a dish, a couple of drops of balsamic vinegar in it. I've got a caesar salad using the Epicure recipe. I'm going to be breathing fire all night! I was told once that if everyone eats the same garlic-y meal, it doesn't smell strong to them.

Dissolve 2 packets of yeast with 1 T sugar and 1 c warm water for about 5 minutes. Soak 1/4 cup Foccacia Herbs in 1/3 c olive oil and 3/4 c hottish water, let it cool to lukewarm, add 2 t salt and mix it with the yeast. Add 4 cups of flour, a cup at a time, and knead for about 4 minutes (I used my dough hook). Put it on a baking sheet that has been liberally spread with olive oil and sprinkled with cornmeal (I skipped that ingredient obviously). Let it rise for 40 minutes and then bake it at 425 for 20-25.

Things that I would change: I'd use a little less flour and a little more oil in the preparation of it. I would also use my stone, I had no idea that it was going to be that big although 4 cups of flour and the huge amount of yeast might have given it away. If I was using my stone, I would put it in with the bread cold, because I baked mine on a cookie sheet at 425 for 20 minutes and the bottom was a little too close to burnt for my tastes.

So, dipped in olive oil didn't work for me this time but Oh Lordy, dipped in Caesar salad dressing is something else entirely.