Lesson #1: When you have a lot of time to kill on a cold winter’s day… you can make enough bread to last until spring. If it doesn’t work out, at least you will have the nice aroma of freshly-baked bread permeating your kitchen.Lesson #2: Don’t expect it to save you any money. Buying a loaf at the grocery store will set you back $2.00 or $3.00, but why buy it when you can make your own for a lot more time, effort, money, and hydro?
Lesson #3: You just can’t rush a good loaf of bread. The more you rush, the worse it gets. Don’t skimp on the kneading or the proofing.
Lesson #4: Read my lips: fermentation is a GOOD thing.
Lesson #5: The “sponge” method is necessary if you are baking with whole grains. (No I am not talking about the object you wash your car with). It is actually really cool and somewhat revolting at the same time. Gets you in sync with nature, and smells vaguely like beer.
Ok, those were some lessons I learned this weekend while engaged in therapeutic kneading activity. I used up a good half-sack of flour and half a jar of active dry yeast, which itself caused some panic because it refused to “foam” at first… So Lesson #6 would be: Always use yeast at room temperature.
I’ve never made bread before and who knows why I decided to fritter away a perfectly good weekend up to my elbows in dough. It was cool, however, to watch the bread rise in the unheated oven (with the oven light on!) because the temperature is pretty much perfect in there for proofing… it kept out the drafts of winter air, seeing as my window was open for a bike trainer session.
And I suppose in the end, all that hard work was justified… or so I thought while chowing down on a baguette fresh from the oven.
