Sunday, January 27, 2013

Loaf, Interrupted


I have tried three times this weekend to make bread.

Friday I made the dough for the twelve-hour, no-knead country bread recipe from Cook's magazine, one I've made at least half a dozen times before and always successfully. Imagine my surprise when I took the rising bowl out of the microwave (cook 1 cup of water for 2 minutes, remove the water and use as a rising oven.  No drafts.  I always set bread to rise in the microwave), instead of a high, wide and handsome Clint Walker batch of dough I got Gabby Hayes.

Oh, well, the weekend was young.  On Saturday I set my bread machine for a loaf of wheat bread.  What the machine produced -- again using a trusted recipe -- was a densely compacted tan brick with a decided list to starboard.

Was it the yeast?  Is my bread flour too old?  Am I perhaps a bit slapdash in putting my dough together?

This morning I downloaded this recipe from the Fleischmann's website and followed the instructions to the letter.  Unfortunately as I was in the middle of the mixing process the phone rang and I had to speak with a young lady from the Red Cross who wanted me to donate blood next week.  I returned to my batter, finished the kneading, placed it in the rising bowl and the rising bowl in the microwave ---

-- turned around and saw the package of yeast cleverly hiding from me behind the stand mixer.

It's a good thing the spousal unit likes whomp biscuits because that's what he's getting with his dinner tonight.

3 comments:

  1. It's the weather. This from a non-bread baker, but it's a good excuse. Some things don't work when the weather is rotten.

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  2. Life gets in the way. It is so irritating to have to throw out the ingredients, not to mention the time that was wasted.

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  3. easy fix. flatten out your dough as best you can, sprinkle some of the yeast on the dough, roll up and knead a few times, and do it again, and again until the yeast has all been incorporated in the dough. Proceed as usual.

    A bit more work, but what still an easy fix

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