Friday, February 25, 2011

Roots

Bread baking: the latest frontier. This started about a month ago when my friend Lynn convinced me to try a recipe for Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and I'd tasted some of her rolls, which were pretty yummy.

The first attempt wasn't pretty. Kind of like the first few knitting projects. It's dense, and under cooked. Didn't taste bad, but I knew it could be better. I made note of the mistakes.

Bread 1st round

Back to the drawing board, as they say. I found and tried another recipe, and now I am full on into the tinkering.

By round three, I had a decent crust, and it looked more like what I am aiming for, but I think there's still room for improvement.

Bread 3rd round

Bread 3rd round crumb shot

Like knitting and yarn making, bread is simple in concept and can be hard to do well. It takes practice to understand how a few basic ingredients and some simple actions can add up to something quite spectacular. Sometimes I wonder if I have Amish roots?

Meanwhile there's lots of bread consumption going on - which may affect sizing my upcoming sweater knitting! Ohboy.




13 comments:

cauchy09 said...

gah. both loaves look like wonderful vehicles for eating butter. i am in awe of bread bakers.

Susie said...

I'm not much of a cook, although I cook every night for my family, but break baking has been bouncing around in my head the last year or so. Yours looks so yummy I may even give it a go soon!

barefootrooster said...

this looks very tasty! and the tinkering -- part of the fun. and unlike knitting trial and error, you get to eat as you go! hooray!

Gale Bulkley said...

When are you making the next batch? I'll be sure to show up as it's coming out of the oven.

Sara said...

I went through a bread phase a couple years ago. I got a hold of some starter sponge from a bakery in Paris and went to town on it. I find that 1. You need a stone in your oven to retain enough heat retained to crisp the bottom and 2. There are lots of bakeries who make much better breads than I do, so I should take advantage. I usually make some sort of homey bread, like my grandma's oatmeal molasses brown bread.

Also, one time I made brioche. I had no idea how much butter went into one. SO MUCH. It's delicious.

knottygnome said...

i have that book and i love it. i've found that for me--the bread tastes better if i cut back both on salt and yeast, so i usually only use 1tbsp of each instead of 1.5.

i also usually bake it in a lidded dutch oven like the nytimes recipe. i have a stone but hate doing the water tray thing.

VeganCraftastic said...

Your bread looks awesome, I looove homemade bread, maybe a little to much :)

Knitting Out Loud said...

It looks wonderful! There is nothing as good as home made bread. My husband makes the no-knead bread which is very easy and very delicious.

Cadillac Air Conditioner Compressor said...

I see that you’re interested and fascinated in food stuffs. This is awesome roots.

kaetrn said...

i love the bread and the breadline talisman sweater! with bread like that...theyll be standing in a line for you!

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