Bread-baking

Earlier in the week, I decided to try my hand at bread-baking. I've made hand-kneaded yeast breads only once or twice before in my life, so I pulled up The Bread by Hand eBook by Kimberly Eddy (available at her website, Adventures in Mothering). It's a very readable instructional booklet on making homemade, hand-made breads. She recommends starting out basic, so I halved her white bread recipe and set to work. I started the sponge as soon as I got up on Monday and then tended to the bread throughout the morning in between a two-mile walk, an errand to the city, and lunchtime. The timer on the oven dinged just as we were finishing up lunch.


Kimberly explains why breadmaking is not an exact science and warns against following any recipe to the letter without accounting for variables (such as the humidity of your kitchen). When you're baking on your own, a little trial and error is in order. I added a little less flour than called for and yet my dough seemed quite substantial. Douglas punched down the dough for me after the first rising, and his comment was that it didn't completely collapse like his mom's bread doughs did. What that means I'm not quite sure -- too much flour? Not enough yeast? The baked bread's taste and texture seem fine to me -- actually, more than fine. When slathered with butter and drizzled with honey, it's an absolute treat.

So, chalk up the first attempt as a success. Next time I'll try adding some nutrition to the bread. ;-)