Adventures in Baking - January 2011

Historically yeast breads have not been my friend. I have attempted white bread, wheat bread, potato bread, beer bread and many, many more. Typically they don't rise like they should and often become dense. I keep trying though because I love to bake. 

I bake when I am bored, I bake when I am anxious, I bake when I am happy, I bake to relax or to celebrate or to vent. Unfortunately the things that are the easiest (and often most fulfilling) to bake are sweets; Cakes, cookies, brownies, muffins, etc, This is not only a problem for my waistline but quite honestly my family doesn't really eat sweets. So I can bake an entire batch of brownies only to throw half of them away. If I could master bread though I could bake to my hearts content and there might actually be a chance that my family would eat it. So the showdown with the yeast continues. 

Last week I made a wheat bread that was ok (Facebook Pic). This week I took a crack at French Bread. I used 1/2 white and 1/2 wheat flour and I must say in came out quite good (yay me!)

There are a few things I have changed in my yeast bread making endeavors that may have contributed to my recent success: 1. I keep any eye on the expiration date of my yeast. It does go bad. 2. I changed brands and now use the active dray yeast in a jar rather than the one that comes in a packet. The packet isn't quite a tablespoon and I am finding it is better to measure your own. 3. I add a couple of tablespoons of local honey in with the warm water before I add the yeast.

Today's french bread was fun. I did take a lot of attention though. During the first rising process you have to beat it down every 10 minutes or so. This is done for about an hour. Then it is separated into balls and rests. Then it is rolled out (like a pie crust) into a rectangle which is rolled up like a jelly role and set to rise again. Finally it goes into the oven where it fills the house with that beautiful just-like-mama aroma.

Now what will it be next week?

Adventures in baking is brought to you this week by St. Donatus Estate Balatonboglari Merlot. A rather sweet red with lots of berry and a soft finish. Not bad considering it is $5.99 at Trader Joe's.