Tag Archives: bread

sourdough/ week three

I get so proud of the bread dough. Since we grew the starter ourselves from scratch, I am very mother bear about the yeast. I am so pleased when they do their best.

This recipe was for French bread. It is very, very similar to traditional sourdough, except that you also spritz the oven with water during the first 15 minutes of baking. This witchcraft magically makes the bread chewier, with a softer crust than normal sourdough.

Look at that sourdough starter at work! My chest swells with such pride.

This is the kitchen utensil I never knew existed, but now use all the time when making bread. You can lay down a nice, even flour bed for the dough with it. You can also use it to grab more flour when you need it and sprinkle it down, instead of reaching your dough hands straight into the flour, and then throwing it down in a big clump.

I accurately predicted the outcome of the finished product. YUM. The crust was lighter and softer, from the oven spritzing I assume, and the bread was amazingly delicious and chewy. We ate it just as is, no butter or jam necessary. Its that good. Well done, my little yeast children.

cinnamon and raisin buns

sourdough/ week two

sourdough/ week one

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My goal is to make at least one loaf of bread a week. Last week, I made 3 loaves of sourdough bread. Not because we went through it that quickly, but it took me three tries to get the hang of it. What do they say about that third time?

My ma and I grew our own sourdough starter last November. I brought half home with me, so we share it. I love that its alive, and I have to feed it, and make sure its happy.

The first loaf was very flat. It was a good first try, and I started to get the hang of the 3 proofs, and the timing, but I don’t think the starter was active enough. I also decided that kneading is a great workout.

The second loaf was better, but I think it needed more flour maybe? I attempted a round loaf, and it kinda just went everywhere on the pan. It did have some bubbles in the bread, but it was still very flat.

At least I learned from all the mistakes! The third loaf looked much different after the dough proof. I tried it in a loaf pan again, and the dough actually came up to the top! I am having a hard time making the slashes in the loaf before baking, and need to find a better tool for that. It keeps exploding on one side. But the slices look like real bread, and taste like it too!

I am excited to see how my next loaf turns out, and can’t wait to try some variations!

raisin focaccia bread

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A while back, my ma and I decided to try to make foccacia bread, but my brother said that it wouldn’t taste as good as the bakery kind. So I got to write in my diary that my brother thought wrong, because it tasted just as good, if not better.

This time, I tried raisin foccacia. I made half a batch, since we don’t need a monster amount of bread around here. I made sure to put as many finger pokes in the top as possible. I also made sure to spill half the raisin water on the floor, but if I were you, I would leave that part out.

There is just something about freshly baked bread. Its perfect. We ate this warmed in the toaster for breakfast for a couple days, then I sent the rest off to the office. But now that I’m thinking about it, we should have warmed it, and put a little butter/cinnamon/sugar combo on top for dessert. Oh darn, I’ll have to make some more.

small success

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I attempted bagel making yesterday, and made the best discovery. I found the place in the house that dough likes the best! It only took 3 months of experimenting, but it likes it best on the floor in the bedroom by the laundry basket next to the window. Success!!

BUT… I got caught up in how magnificent the dough was, and I totally forgot to oil or flour the pan when I let them do the second rise. So they stuck all over, they wouldn’t let go of my fingers, and most deflated trying to get them into the boiling water, so they came out a hot mess. I think the taste and texture really have potential though, so I will try again, with all the knowledge combined!

zucchini muffins

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Speaking of baby-sized squashes- zucchini muffins are delicious. Whoever thought of putting vegetables into muffins and spreading the rumor that it makes them healthy is a genius. (Fun fact: According to the internet, the zucchini, like many of its garden friends, is actually a fruit.) These ones taste more like maple and walnuts than zucchini, which is probably why they taste so good.

Next time, I might try this recipe for chocolate chip zucchini muffins (no butter or sugar!).

spontaneous evening bread making

crazy for croissants

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I got this idea in my head that I needed to make croissants this weekend. I started the process on Friday evening. By Sunday morning, my shoulders were sore from all the rolling, but I didn’t care because it was time to put the croissants in the oven. I had a little brunch party with some of my favorite people, and we ate fresh from the oven, flaky croissants with whipped butter and jam.

(I used a combo of these two recipes here and here. I used the dough from the first recipe, but next time, I might try the other one. I mixed it for all the time it said, and I thought the dough was a little tough. But it turned out fine in the end!)

not quite everything bagels

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There is something so satisfying about kneading dough. Also, it is a great arm workout, especially after you just did an hour of yoga and have rubber band arms.

We made “everything” bagels. The guy was in charge of putting the holes in the bagels, and making the spices and such to go on top. We used salt, sesame seeds, and some minced garlic. It was our first time making bagels, and it wasn’t really that hard at all. We followed these directions mostly, and ours turned out really good. We ate them fresh with a little cream cheese. Bagelicious.